EA has released a surprise free update for The Sims 4 Neighborhood Stories which allows Sims in non-active households to make important life-altering decisions without requiring you to manage them. If turned on, this adds to the believability of the Sims world, allowing your neighbors to change careers, move to a different location, adopt children, or perhaps even die in an untimely accident.
What comes in The Sims 4 free update for Neighborhood Stories?
An earlier version of the Neighborhood Stories free update was launched last November and allowed NPC Sims some autonomy, so long as you approved of their decisions. As detailed in The Sims 4 official blog, this update removes that requirement and gives them full autonomy without having to pester you through in-person conversations or phone calls. Depending on the traits of the NPCs, they can become pregnant with their significant other, adopt a pet, retire from a career (especially if they are an Elder Sim), or move from one lot to another.
That said, if you wish to have more control over these systems, the update now provides the ability to fine-tune how far you want NPCs to make their own decisions. Through the Manage Households panel, you can enable or disable any of the aforementioned life-changing decisions either as a global setting or a setting for each individual household. This allows you to configure your Sims world as you like it.
If you’re interested in how the Neighborhood Stories system has impacted your Sims world, you can click on any mailbox and see all recent decisions made by other Sims, just like a more personal town bulletin.
In other news, EA has chosen to cancel their typical EA Play Live event this year in favor of smaller news items throughout the year, and EA Origin keys in the Humble Store will expire in just four days.
