Fans ofThe Sims 4have new content heading their way. Although the base game has been available for almost a decade, the Growing Together expansion pack is slated to release in the coming months. Some might be surprised at the advent of new content forTheSims 4whileThe Sims 5 -aka “Project Rene” - is already in development, but Growing Together is shaping up to be a fan-favorite pack due to its themes around family gameplay. However, family pets appear to have been left out of the fun.
The Simsfranchise is known for its wide variety of paid DLC content, allowing players to customize the base game depending on their interests. Notably, almost everySimsgame has included an expansion that contains pets, even if some argue that animal Sims should be included with the base game. While adding pets is significant,The Simsfranchise struggles to integrate cross-connected gameplay between DLC packs given it’s hard to know which ones will be purchased together. While playersneedTheSims 4: Cats & Dogsto have pets in their families, it’s still odd to see a complete lack of pet-based gameplay in its next family-oriented pack.
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No Pet Content in Growing Together is Indicative of a Franchise Problem
Although the announcement trailer forThe Sims 4’s Growing Together pack reveals various new features for Sim families like an infant life stage, it’s disappointing to see pets are omitted.Growing Together emphasizes family connections between Sims,The Sims 4: Cats & Dogsis centered around the bonds created between people and their pets. Thus, it’s odd for Growing Together to walk back on the importance of Sim pets as family members.
Long-time fans ofThe Simsfranchise may already know that this lack of cross-connected paid content isn’t new. FromThe Sims 3: World AdventurestoThe Sims 4: My Wedding Stories,paid DLC packs often add new content without integrating everything into the core game systems. The same issues apply in a way that could undercut the value of Growing Togetherin the eyes of pet-centricSimsfans.
How The Sims 4: Growing Together Could Include Pets in its Family-Oriented Gameplay
Although the release date forThe Sims 4: Growing Togetheris fast approaching, there’s still a chance that the expansion pack will include pet-related content that hasn’t been announced. If so, it would be great to see animals included in family dynamics, particularly in terms of training, caretaking, and building relationships. A family member could have a favorite pet, just as elder Sims will have favorite grandchildren in the upcoming pack. Also,the addition of infant Simscould inspire new interactions with pets that are unique to the life stage.
While it appears that expansions and game packs will remain estranged from each other throughoutThe Sims 4,the upcomingSims 5has a chance to rectify this issue. Not only couldThe Sims 5level up how Sims interact with pets, but pets should ideally be included with the base game. In addition, packs could be designed for use with each other, allowing for special events and mechanics to be available depending on what packs are in play. Ultimately, the lack of pet content in Growing Together isn’t just a missed opportunity, but another example of a long-term issue to be solved.
The Sims 4is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, and Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S.
