The Sims 4: Island Living adds one massive new feature that should delight fans of underwater living — you can become a mermaid and use a variety of spells on your sim friends. There’s a whole lot that’s new to the system, and it’s completely optional; you can even disable mermaids with the ‘merwoke’ toggle and avoid anything completely unrealistic invading your paradise.
So, what do mermaids do in The Sims 4: Island Living expansion? They do a whole lot! For starters, you’ll be able to customize a tailfin for your mermaid (which can be a boy or a girl) — though the tailfin only magically appears when you’re swimming in water or taking a bath. It’s like a whole new swimwear option for your Sims, and it lets you move faster in the water than even a Level 10 Swimmer.
The best part of being a mermaid are the magic powers. There are many, including a few that are only available to characters that have strayed from the good path. I’ll explain everything below — how to become a Mermaid, and what that means for your Sim.
How To Become A Mermaid & Unleash Water Spells
Mermaids are available to households that are ‘merwoke’ — that have experienced mermaids before, and can experience them again. If your household isn’t ‘merwoke’, you won’t have to deal with these supernatural creatures.
- How To Become A Mermaid: It’s really easy! Just purchase the Mermadic Kelp from the Rewards menu for 500 Satisfaction.
- To transform back into a Normal Sim, eat two Mermadic Kelps. You’ll lost your powers and turn back to normal.
After eating the Mermadic Kelp, you’ll get a -strange sensation-. Enter water, and you’ll transform into a mermaid. Now you can customize your fin. As a mermaid, you have access to new water-based spells, and you’ll get a new stat called ‘Hydration‘ that replaces ‘Hygiene’.
Instead of having to keep clean, your Hydration will go down the longer you’re outside of water. You can increase Hydration by soaking in a bathtub or swimming in a pool, you don’t need to swim in the open ocean.
While outside the water, you’re a normal Sim with legs. You’ll only swap to a fin when you’re diving into water. You’ll also gain a bunch of special magical powers you can use to make Sims happier or uncomfortable. Here’s a quick rundown of all their spells.
Mermaid Spells List:
Call Azure Dolphin: Summon a magical dolphin pal. Gives +2 Mood for many, many hours.
Mermaid’s Kiss: Special kiss — you can kiss regular Sims, or get an extra romantic underwater kiss when interacting with other mermaids. Gives the target +1 Mood.
Siren’s Lullaby: A song you can sing with four variations that give positive or negative moods for 4~ hours.
- Inspiring Berceuse: Gives +2 Inspired mood and removes Uncomfortable mood.
- Charmer’s Lullaby: Gives +2 Flirty mood and removes Embarrassed mood.
- Night’s Requiem: Gives +2 Sad mood and removes Energized mood.
- Aegean’s Question: Gives +2 Stressed mood and removes Focused mood.
Weather Control [‘Seasons’ DLC Required]: Plays a conch shell and changes the weather instantly. You can summon rain, a thunderstorm, and make it a clear day.
Fishing Lure: Use this when fishing to increase the chance you’ll catch fish instead of other junk.
Siren’s Call: Sings an evil song that draws sims to their doom. Sims will be drawn to your mermaid, and then pulled underwater. Gives +100 to your Mermaid’s Motives, but gives +3 Uncomfortable Mood to the targeted Sim.
Summon Ocean Threat: Pulls a targeted Sim underwater by an unseen sea monster. Gives +2 Uncomfortable Mood to the targeted Sim.
