The Sims 4 Lovestruck Preview: A Dynamic Start

Summary

• Lovestruck adds diverse mechanics, including romantic boundaries, and relationship dynamics, making building relationships more realistic and organic.
• New romance interactions create blissful harmony or Love Island-style chaos in the game.
• The DLC focuses mainly on interpersonal dynamics, adding life to romances in a refreshing way.

The Sims 4: Lovestruck is the first DLC to focus on your Sim’s lovelife since The Sims: Hot Date way back in 2001. The Sims has maintained a cheeky reputation ever since with the inclusion of things like the Vibromatic Love Bed from The Sims: Livin’ Large, and several incarnations of the scantily clad dancers we first saw in The Sims: House Party, but there has been no official love-themed DLC for over two decades.

Lovestruck pushes the boundaries of its teen rating once again with the inclusion of two new woohoo spots, one of which is a picnic blanket you can place outside, and friends with benefits, known as woohoo buddies. It also introduces the series’ most diverse romance mechanics to date. Polyamourous or open relationships are also now on the cards, thanks to customisable romance boundaries, which make this expansion both progressive and realistic, while maintaining its sense of fun.

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Watching trailers for Lovestruck is a strange experience because they simply cannot convey the contents of the pack well. The core focus is very much on the romance dynamics between Sims and it’s only when you really play with them in depth that you can see how they affect your gameplay. You can now set boundaries for Sims to dictate if and when they get jealous. You can decide whether flirting, physical affection (excluding woohoo), or woohoo are where your Sim draws the line. Or none of them. You can also decide if they are willing to discuss these boundaries and compromise.

This alone already makes all romantic relationships feel more realistic, as it avoids Sims flying to a rage at the tiniest hint of a partner unveiling their flirty nature. Reactions feel more organic, and it works especially well on Sims where you want them to be more open in their relationships. By not only setting boundaries but also allowing a Sim to be open about them, you can have scenarios where a couple have different desires when they meet, but come to a compromise that suits both. These boundaries also set you up to be able to pursue polyamorous or open relationships without having to worry about jealous arguments and broken hearts. Well, mostly.

Before you go off on a homewrecking spree take note. Thanks to the new broken heart death you may end up as an accidental black widow.

The return of turn offs and turn ons also improves relationships, affecting romantic interactions in a similar way to how likes and dislikes affect friendships. Many of these seemingly minor gameplay features can be easy to dismiss on their own, but at this point they combine to make Sims autonomous reactions more authentic than ever before. If you want to see how much, go into create a sim and set up some sexuality and romance boundaries for your Sims. The relationships will evolve more naturally in line with these, helping create a more diverse town.

If you think you have what it takes to help the town find romance, there’s a new Romance Consultant career you can enter to give advice to others. Alternatively, if you prefer to seek romance you can participate in some online dating. This simple but effective app, Cupid’s Corner, can be accessed on a phone or computer and lets you see a few basic traits and preferences of some Sims in the world and gallery. Not only does it let you scan through some Sims you may never see otherwise, but it also allows you to directly add them to your contact list or even invite them straight on a date. No more running round the block hoping to meet an eligible partner. You can now land (and go on) a date without even leaving the house. From forging a long lasting connection to inviting a random Sim over to hook up, the choice is yours.

Challenges like Black Widow and 100 Baby will be less stressful to complete thanks to Cupid’s Corner. New victims delivered to my door? Yes please.

Depth, realism, and diversity are absolutely key in this pack. Clothing styles include items that look good on different sizes and genders, and many gendered terms have been replaced. You can now use spouse, partner or even your own alternative term for your significant other.

Unfortunately, the clothing and build items are disappointing in places. There are no wedding, promise, or engagement rings, which feels like an odd choice, and some of the inclusions feel very similar to ones we already have elsewhere. The build and buy items also focus mainly around building places you could go for a date, so venue builders will love this, but there are fewer regular household items than usual here.

Despite this, there are still a few more flexible gems included, including new plants which are always welcomed with open arms, and some cute clothing. There’s also what may be the most divisive new item in the game, the costume trunk. I have no idea how the team came up with the random array of options here but I applaud it.

Lovestruck is an expansion that truly focuses on its theme, at least in terms of gameplay. As well as the dynamics mentioned, there are new romance interactions, social events, an interactive option to take up relationship counselling, and a new venue type that attracts single Sims.

If you’ve ached for more romance or drama in your game, this pack is the solution. It fleshes out romantic relationships with a wide range of options and helps create both blissful harmony and Love Island levels of chaos. It’s not the most diverse in terms of its build catalogue, or even the create a sim options, as the focus is fixed firmly on interpersonal dynamics, but it adds life to romances in a whole new way.

The new world, Vista Hermosa, is appropriately beautiful and compliments the last world well. It’s also good to see the tradition of Simmers who love to build being brought in to design the pre-built lots continues. At this point, I still consider myself to have only scratched the gameplay surface, but so far, so good. With so much flexibility in terms of relationship customisation it will take time to explore all the different dynamics.

Now to the important questions. Blanket woohoo or motel woohoo? And should I keep the peach costume on?

An Early Access version of The Sims 4: Lovestruck was provided for this preview. All images are from this early access version and may differ slightly from final release.

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