Image: Electronic Arts
The Sims 4 is getting a horror-themed Life & Death expansion for Halloween.
Electronic Arts has officially announced The Sims 4’s next expansion, and it’s a morbid one. The social simulation game is getting a Life & Death expansion on October 31, adding all sorts of horror-themed content for players to enjoy this Halloween.
The expansion’s content ranges from more realistic features like writing wills and arranging funerals, to more fantastical features like taking on a grim reaper career and romancing spectres. Here’s a trailer:
The Sims 4 gets horror-themed expansion this Halloween
The Sims 4's Halloween-themed Life & Death expansion fleshes out the game’s afterlife features - both in terms of what happens to Sims after they die, and what happens to the Sims they leave behind. Sims will have the chance to craft a Bucket List, resolve any Unfinished Business in the afterlife, use Ghostly Powers to affect the real world, and even be reborn.
The new expansion pack also allows players to explore Ravenwood, a new realm with three different neighbourhoods where the barriers between life and death have waned a tad. Here, Sims and Ghost Sims live together in a strange kind of harmony. Sims who complete their Bucket List will earn the ability to experience Rebirth, which is this game’s version of reincarnation. Ghosts can also complete Unfinished Business to unlock an even more powerful form – or be Reborn with the Burning Soul trait.
Sims now have a Soul’s Journey, giving each Sims a list of goals to complete in exchange for various rewards. Upon completing a Soul’s Journey, Sims can be Reborn with the Burning Soul trait as well. These Reborn Sims will get to unlock older traits, Childhood Development Skills and Infant Milestones, and discover ties to older Sims from their past lives.
Sims can also stay behind even after death as playable household members, acting as either poltergeists or friendly ghosts by influencing objects around them. According to EA, Ghost Sims can also now pair up for “a special, spectral Woohoo inside objects of all shapes and sizes,” so, uh, there’s that too. Additionally, two new Careers are being added to the game: the Reaper profession and the Undertaker career.
If you’re looking for less ghostly content relating to death and mortality, this expansion has that covered too. Sims can now create Wills to assign heirlooms to specific individuals and specify how they want their remains and funeral to be handled upon passing. Four types of grief have also been added to the game, allowing Sims to display more complex reactions to the deaths of their loved ones. More elaborate funerals can now be organised, allowing players to dictate which Sims are in attendance, what the Dress Code is going to be, where it will be held and more.
You can check out EA’s official announcement here for more details. The Sims 4: Life & Death Expansion Pack launches on October 31, 2024.