Sims 4 addresses lack of Story Progression with new feature

The Sims 4 has launched a new base game update introducing the Neighborhood Stories feature, in response to a long-standing request from the community.

Made available to all players last week, the newest patch aims to "bring more life" to Sims who aren't part of the player's current household by implementing something comparable to The Sims 3's Story Progression.

Fans have been bringing up the game's lack of Story Progression for years. Until now, Neighbor Sims didn't really lead lives of their own beyond carrying out day-to-day activities.

The developers are rolling out Neighborhood Stories over multiple updates, so not everything they have planned has been released yet.

But the first part of the feature, out now, adds the possibility of Sims who have some connection to your household – such as friends, co-workers, and acquaintances – going through life changes. For example, they may go for a promotion at their job, change careers, start dating (or break up with) another Sim, or have a baby with their partner.

These Neighbor Sims can arrive at these decisions autonomously or after some influence from your own player-controlled Sims.

It's also possible to keep Neighbor Sims as they are, if you're not keen on this new feature. A Neighbor Sim autonomously deciding to make a life change will always reach out to one of the player's Sims to ask if they should go through with it, so the option is there to simply say 'no'.

Coinciding with this feature's debut, there are two new Aspirations: 'Neighborhood Confidante' and 'Villainous Valentine', the latter of which is reserved for Sims who love to use their influence to break up couples.

Neighborhood Stories will be further fleshed out over time.

Elsewhere in the update, a new window has been added. First seen in promotional art for the Industrial Loft Kit, the oversized window is finally added to the game for all players.

Meanwhile, the Modern Menswear Kit is the latest paid content to be released for the life-simulation game.

A collaboration with London-based fashion label Stefan Cooke, the Kit comes with 23 clothing items specifically for adult masculine Sims in mind. Many of the pieces actually look pretty great, including more androgynous options that were previously lacking in Create-a-Sim mode.