The Sims franchise is built on a foundation of letting players “play with life,” which means creating their own stories and Sims in the game. However, The Sims games also come loaded with pre-made Sims families, known as “townies,” that players’ own Sims can interact with. The Sims series doesn’t follow a linear storyline, but there is a certain story that’s told with The Sims 3 being first, followed by The Sims and then The Sims 2, with certain Sims families being bigger parts of the lore than others. The Sims 4 changed this formula.
Unlike the other games that tell a story, albeit not chronologically, The Sims 4 is technically placed in an “alternate” timeline compared to its franchise predecessors, which hasn’t exactly been praised by players who have been with the series for multiple games. The main reason for the pushback is there’s no lore like in the previous games. Premade Sims families give players a starting point when they don’t want to create their own stories, and The Sims 4 doesn’t have a lot of that going on. Some family’s descriptions say they know each other, but then the Sims family shows they have no idea who the other is. Despite this, The Sims 5 can redeem The Sims 4’s lack of lore.
The Sims’ timeline doesn’t have to stop with the events of The Sims 2. There’s not much known about The Sims 5, but it could be a good move to set the series’ next installment much further down the generational line. The Sims has iconic townies who have been there from the beginning, while others have come and gone throughout the franchise’s different iterations. It would be interesting to see a game where the townies included are descendants of some of the well-known townies.
Alexander Goth could marry someone and have not only kids, but grandchildren or even great-grandchildren. There’s no rule that states The Sims 5 must only follow the rule of debuting the next generation of the Sims’ family bloodline. Dustin or Beau Broke (grandchildren of the famous Bob and Betty Newbie of The Sims) could continue their family bloodlines as well, and for extra fun, maybe the illegitimate offspring of the nefarious Don Lothario could appear in The Sims 5. A sequel set much further on down the genetic line could be a great idea for the franchise.
One the opposite hand, a prequel could also be a good idea for The Sims 5. Rather than jumping in advance to generations further down the line, The Sims 5 could go back in time beyond The Sims 3 and let players play with families that have only been mentioned in-game. People like Pollination Technician 7 (a relative of Nina and Dina Caliente) or one of the many older Goths present in the family tree could make an appearance, giving players a new perspective of the timeline and gameplay.
Despite the technology and look of the game changing throughout The Sims’ many iterations, that never stopped the developer from continuing to tell a nonlinear storyline. A prequel set in a time period further ahead than The Sims 3 would be interesting for a lot of reasons, but mainly because it still has a lot of storytelling potential with classic Sims townies without feeling out of place or forced.
No matter what happens with The Sims 5, it’s sure to be an interesting installment to the life simulation series. There seem to be a lot of different aspects that players want added back into the game, but starting with lore on a base level would create a richer, more fleshed-out storyline and gameplay experience for all players.
The Sims 5 is in development.
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