A host of new information on Maxis's The Sims 4 has been revealed including details on the Willow Creek game world, loading screens, story progression, and much more.
Willow Creek is the first confirmed game world and is inspired by New Orleans. The city is divided into six neighbourhoods and only one neighbourhood and lot can be active at any single time. You'll need to try for a baby if you want families to remain active too, because otherwise they will die out and townies will move into their house.
Here's what we know about Willow Creek, courtesy of Sims VIP.
- World – The world is split into 6 playable neighborhoods, but is not an “open world” like The Sims 3. Only one individual neighborhood can be active and played at one time.
- Neighborhoods – There are 6 confirmed neighborhoods in Willow Creek. Five neighborhoods have up to five lots within them (both residential and community), and the sixth neighborhood is a large park called Magnolia Blossom.
- Lots – There can only be up to 5 lots in each neighborhood, and only one active lot loaded at a time.
- Public Spaces – Public spaces are the open areas of a neighborhood that are not part of a lot. In The Sims 4, public spaces in each active neighborhood will be fully loaded at all times, and Sims will be able to roam these areas of the world freely.
Players will encounter loading screens when moving from world to world, from neighbourhood to neighbourhood, from lot to lot, when switching between Sims on different lots, and when switching from a Public Space to an inactive lot (but not from a Public Space to an active lot). Maxis has stated that loading times will be significantly less than they were in The Sims 3, typically under 30 seconds.
You will be able to send active Sims out into the world; follow them, and to a certain extent, control them using away actions. Away actions allow you to “choose other specific Sims for them to socialize with, you can build specific skills, can sleep, can have them maintain their needs…things like careers have their own set of away actions that are more relevant to their work.”
Players will have the option to have just their Sims family age or have the entire game's NPC population age as well.
Producer Sarah Harding has confirmed that there will be no school lots, grocery store lots, or rabbit holes in the game. While you could follow your Sims to work or school in The Sims 3, you cannot do so in The Sims 4.
The Sims 4 is coming to PC in September.
