The Sims 4has finally made parenthood as rewarding (and intense) asa sim gamecould possibly get. I already talked about how the brand-newGrowing Together expansion creates uncannily complex family dynamics, but now I want to wax lyrical about the slew of ways it rewards you for caring and engaging with your Sims' new child.
All that being said, raising even pixel children isnoteasy. It is a lot more fun, though, when you’re the one causing the problems. Infant Sims are completely controllable, and while they can’t do much initially, as you work with them on their movement skills and teach them to babble, you unlock more and more ways to interact with the world.
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And that means you unlock more and more ways to cause utter chaos. At one point, I had my infant crawl all the way up the stairs, just to decide she was too afraid to come back down. you may choose to cry at just about any moment for no particular reason at all, and it’s definitely a lot more fun directly making that happen versus just dealing with the aftermath unexpectedly. So if you fancy bursting into tears to make Mom rush to your side, dropping the dinner she was making and interrupting aperfectly nice momentbetween your parents? You can do all that and more — you can even pull the classic “wait until Dad is changing your diaper to pee” maneuver (and unlock a Milestone for it.)
But as amazing as that all is, there are alsosomany beautiful moments to experience. Watching my infant try foods for the first time was a delight, and I was surprised that she developed likes and dislikes so quickly. Homemade Hummus was a favorite, as was the Smashed Lemon (surprisingly), but she couldn’t stand Mashed Peas. She earned a milestone for blowing a kiss to her grandfather as he played with her, and before long she was pulling herself along as best she could, navigating her room to her playset with surprising ease.
Growing Together also introduces quirks for your infants. They’re completely randomized, and they really do make each baby unique. Some babies develop into messy eaters — they just can’t keep their faces clean whether they’re eating finger foods or crushed carrots. It became clear early on that my infant absolutelylovedbeing held, and while that made positive Moodlets easy to get, it also meant she was more prone to crying if she wasn’t held often. That proved to be an issue because, apparently, good parenting in The Sims is putting your baby on a play mat on the floor whenever you’re done holding them.
Parenting gaffes aside, I love this new layer to raising children in The Sims 4. In the past, babies seemed a little one-dimensional, even as toddlers. Newborns still don’t do much besides cry and eat (which is fair enough), but the addition of the infant life stage makes the transition between newborn and toddler just a bit more natural and, crucially, more chaotic.
