Gamescom 2020 brought lots of exciting gaming news to the table, including the announcement ofThe Sims 4: Journey to Batuu. After much speculation fromThe Simscommunity, it was confirmed the new game pack would beStar Warsthemed, but the announcement left many players disappointed and upset with the directionThe Simsteam is taking.
Twitter gives Simmers a unique opportunity to communicate with Sim Gurus, being able to tag them in tweets for a higher chance of being noticed and replied to, leading to players being vocal about all the things they want out ofThe Sims 4that haven’t been implemented yet.Star WarsDLC was not high on many player’s wish lists, leading to backlash fromThe Simscommunity.
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Comparatively speaking, the announcement trailer forJourney to Batuuhas the most dislikes in any recent game pack from the last two years.Jungle Adventure,Realm of Magic, andStrangerVilleamassed 8,500 dislikes between all three announcement trailers, meanwhileJourney to Batuualready has close to 100,000 dislikes in just four days. IfStar Warsisn’t whatSimsplayers want, what is it they want instead?
Improved Babies and Family Game Play
Simmers have been extremely vocal abouthowThe Sims 4lacks interactive family dynamics, including how babies operate within the game. It’s common that babies are referred to as “objects” inThe Sims 4because they are stationary to their bassinet, and Sims can only interact with the baby by clicking on the bassinet and choosing options from there.
This development, or un-development, rather, is an anomaly inSimsgames. BothThe Sims 2andThe Sims 3gave players many interactive animations with their babies, including the ability to have sims walk around while holding their baby. If these abilities were already implemented in previous franchise games, why choose to omit it from the latest installment?
Nifty Knittinggave Simmersa taste of improved baby interactions. With this DLC, players can knit baby onesies and put them on babies. It’s not a hefty overhaul of how players can interact with babies, but it does give some previously unexplored customization options.The Sims 4: Parenthood, released in 2017, added a taste of what players have been asking of the development team with aspects like the Parenting skill and a Manners system that changes based on parental interactions with children and teens.
It seems, however, that Simmers are looking for family game play more akin toThe Sims 3: Generations. This Expansion released in 2011 was comprehensive in giving new activities for all ages, from toddlers to elders.The Sims 4has been critiquedin the past for only focusing on young adult sims, so aspects catered to toddlers and elders, whether in a new pack or patched into the base game, would be welcomed with open arms.
Meaningful, Re-Playable DLC
As a life simulation game,The Sims 4should provide many routes for player’s sims to take, leading to different outcomes, jobs, and overall game play each time. Each story should feel unique and strive to encapsulate a sense of wonder for how a Sim’s story will play out. InThe Sims 4base game andits multiple DLC packs, players find that it doesn’t live up to that expectation like otherSimsgames have in the past.
For DLC to be considered re-playable, it should be able to be used repeatedly without feeling tired or boring. For many players,Journey to Batuufeels like DLC that will be exciting at the start but lack the desire to play multiple times. This isn’t the firstSims 4DLC to be critiqued in such a manner.
The Sims 4: StrangerVillefollows a similar path.Simmers can solve the mystery of StrangerVilleand earn a lifetime achievement for doing so, but once that’s completed there’s little else to do in the town. Aside from interesting Create-A-Sim and Build/Buy Mode items,StrangerVilleseems to be a one-and-done DLC option.
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However, whenThe Sims 4: Moschino Stuffreleased in 2019, many fans garnered the same reaction as that ofStrangerVille. Initially, many Simmers thought the DLC would add new Create-A-Sim items and not much else. The critiques were ultimately unmitigated, asMoschino Stuffprovides high quality re-playability with the Photography skill and Freelance Photographer career.
Improved Skin Tones
On Twitter,Simsplayers have been the most vocal about the skin tonesfound withinThe Sims 4. Namely the fact that they’ve been dubbed “broken”–highly pixelated and ill-rendered in a way not found on lighter skin tones. Because of this, many Simmers resort to downloading Custom Content (CC) to fix these issues and add even more skin tone variety to their game.
The outcry for better skin tones is not new. Black Simmers have spoken about this issue for years, but it’s recently gained even more traction online with many speaking out about getting improved skin tones.The Simsprides itself on being alife simulator to create all kinds of people, but has unfortunately fallen short in this regard with pixelated eyebrows on darker skin and makeup that only shows up on lighter skin tones.
Thanks to the outcry on Twitter,The Simsteam announced otd plans to revisit and revamp the existing skin tones in the game, as well as adding additional swatches. By the end of this year,Simsplayers can look forward to a patch with newly improved skin tones. This issue being addressed shows thatThe Simsteam listens to its playersand takes their feedback to heart, so why are some players still so upset with the announcement ofJourney to Batuuand saying thatThe Simsteam doesn’t listen?
Why Star Wars? Why Now?
Back in April, EA released a road map ofThe Sims’ trajectory, teasing new Expansion, Stuff, and game packs. Odds areJourney to Batuuhas been in the works for awhile now. As such, it doesn’t feel fair toThe Simsteam to say it’s ignoring their players when the reality is this pack was probably in development for many months, long before the announcement at Gamescom or the road map post. Plus,EA already has licensing agreements with theStar Warsfranchise, so it makes sense to collaborate withThe Simsfor this DLC.
The fact of the matter is that development of new things takes time, and there’s no way of knowing whatThe Simsteam has up its sleeve next. It’s easy to feel disappointed thatJourney to Batuuisn’t what players were expecting and to feel like this DLC isn’t compatible with some Simmers’ style of game play. It’s completely valid to not feel excited for a game pack if it doesn’t pique interest.
As shown with skin tones,The Simsteam is listening. Just becauseJourney to Batuuisn’t what some players wanted right now, it doesn’t mean it’ll be a bad DLC. It also doesn’t mean the other requested developments aren’t being worked on, either. For now, Simmers will have to wait and see what game play will be like forJourney to Batuuand if other requested developments come in due time.
The Sims 4: Journey to Batuuwill be available July 09, 2025, for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
