There’s a brand new video of The Sims 4 for the game’s German speaking fans that reveals quite a bit of previously unmentioned information about the game.
The video lasts about nine minutes in length and serves as a ‘let’s play’ by German Sims fansite SimsFans.de, which managed to get an early hands-on with the game ahead of pretty much everyone else.
Watch the video below.
Thankfully for non-German speaking gamers, a redditor named NJ-5 managed to translate the whole thing into English with a play-by-play of the details contained within the video, timestamped for your viewing pleasure.
Here’s what’s going on:
0:00 Showing off the Park in Oasis Springs
0:45 Interaction with the pond: Go fishing, Catch frogs!
1:00 "Hidden" Mineshaft you can unlock with Handiness 10 – not so hidden after all ^
1:21 Herbs (Sage) that can't be harvested since the Sim's gardening skill isn't high enough
1:29 You can dig up those mounds to find fossils (and probably gems, ores etc) Talks about every neighbourhood has public spaces with thingsand collectibles to discover
1:55 you can modify ALL lots at any time by going into Build Mode (at least public lots – I'm not sure about other housholds)
2:20 instant transition from live mode to build mode
2:30 shows Information to the lot, enabling you to edit the lot (from top to bottom) Residental, General, Bar, Library, Fitness, Lounge, Museum, Nightclub, Park
Also shows the requirements for each lot e.g Fitness needs 4 Exercise Machines, 1 shower, 1 toilet and 1 sink
2:55 switch through times of day (dawn, midday, dusk, night)
3:25 chose colours of premade room
3:30 shows how you can also pick individual items within the room to place down on your lot
4:00 Designtool – lets you change the colour of objects
5:05 shows how you can position objects on walls freely if you hold down Alt
5:45 you are able to stack wall objects and windows. They have asked the devs at Creators Camp who said that players should be given more freedom. So if you want to put a deco on your window – you can do so.
5:55 shows different room heights
There are also 3 different window sizes each (that was news to me!)
6:05 Entire house changes with wall size
6:10 shows modifications of the roof. Pressing and holding Alt while modifying lets you change each side/corner individually
6:35 roof decorations can be placed anywhere. Smoke comes form the chimney if you have a fireplace – no matter where the chimney is on the roof
7:20 ability to switch off the snapping of counters!
7:40 top shows premade rooms, 2nd shows items sorted by rooms and 3rd sorted by function
7:55 shows search function
Judging from what the video has to offer, the game borrows a lot of its features from previously released expansions of The Sims 3, such as the interaction with the pond and the design tool which lets you change the colors of objects. This is in addition to all the new stuff that’s on the way for the game.
The Sims 4 is set for a September 2, 2014 release on the PC. A version is planned for release on the Mac later this year.