The Sims 4 Snowy Escape has been announced as the next expansion coming to the long-running series. Coming in November, it'll whisk you off to a new world inspired by Japan where your Sims will be able to ski and go rock-climbing at picturesque Mt. Komorebi.
This new expansion is coming pretty quickly on the heels of The Sims 4: Star Wars game pack, which I enjoyed (I got to hug Kylo Ren) but which made a lot of Sims 4 players unhappy. Many Sims fans were hoping for a more grounded expansion, and are still waiting for new skin tones (which are due in December) and other fixes and improvements that don't involve lightsabers and astromech droids. Snowy Escape looks like a more traditional expansion, so we'll see if it goes over better with diehard Sims 4 players.
"The Japanese-inspired world offers a variety of activities for Sims to enjoy, from unwinding in the mountain’s onsen bathhouse, meditating on mindful walks or testing their limits with exciting, and sometimes dangerous sports activities like skiing, snowboarding and rock climbing," says EA.
There's also an interesting tweak to the Lifestyle traits system in the Sims 4, as well as the addition of a system called Sentiments. Rather then determining how your Sims will react to something based on the attributes you've given them, it sounds like the things your Sims do will shape their personality and give them new traits as a result.
"For the first time, up to 16 Lifestyles will manifest in response to a Sim’s actions and habits, changing their behaviors significantly more than Create a Sim traits as they reflect a Sim’s lived experiences," says EA. "Sentiments represent how two Sims can feel differently about the outcome of a shared experience and have a lasting impact on Sims’ relationships to each other, affecting their social interactions."
Sounds interesting! Hopefully we'll have more information about those systems soon.
Snowy Escape will also give you new clothing to keep your Sims warm in the snow, plus new items to build with, many with a Japanese theme, like a Koi pond. Interestingly, Snowy Escape will be the first Sims 4 world in which players can both build themselves a home in one of the three new neighborhoods, or just rent a place for a vacation.
The Sims 4 Snowy Escape will cost $39.99, and is coming on November 13.
