The Sims 4’s new Lovestruck enlargement isn’t a large overhaul to gameplay, but it surely provides an entire bunch of parts that make The Sims 4 a greater sport — particularly for individuals enjoying for the romance. A type of key options is the sport’s upgraded relationship system, which permits for extra complexity in relationships. The Create-A-Date menu is how dates are arrange in Lovestruck: There are a number of sorts of dates to select from, whether or not that’s the primary date, a romantic date, or a relationship restore date.
No matter what you select, the setup is similar: First, select who’s invited to the date. (You possibly can carry company alongside, say, for a double date.) Then select your actions from a large record — issues like dancing, drinks, stargazing, video video games, or lots extra. Then, you’ll select the place to go. The actions are mainly the targets for the date, very similar to how relationship labored beforehand. You’ll get a reward for finishing the targets, but in addition a lift to the connection you’re making an attempt to construct.
However the largest change, which is able to apply to the bottom sport as properly, is that random sims who aren’t a part of the date will thoughts their very own enterprise. Throughout a press occasion epicgamejourney attended forward of the enlargement’s launch date, a Maxis developer mentioned that dates will likely be interrupted by strangers a lot much less usually. Beforehand, that was in all probability one among my most irritating experiences with having sims exit into the world collectively — and even simply keep at house. Folks would ring the doorbell or begin chatting up the couple, completely derailing no matter romance was imagined to occur.
After all, when you invite company into your date, they’ll nonetheless work together, however sims simply hanging out on the bar gained’t become involved as a lot. That is what I imply after I say The Sims 4 feels extra reasonable with the Lovestruck enlargement — you’ll be able to see that the devs at Maxis are listening to little particulars that add up. An entire bunch of those little quality-of-life updates make relationships in The Sims really feel extra complicated: As one developer mentioned throughout the press occasion, you gained’t have the ability to high-five your solution to marriage.