Adventure Awaits, the next Expansion Pack for The Sims 4, is right around the corner. And, if the trailer is anything to go by, it looks like it’s going to be completely crammed with new venues, skills, traits, and more. With a runtime of just shy of four minutes, the trailer promises a dizzying number of new features.
Get ready to take your Sims on an Oceanic adventure on incredibly customisable new venues, embark on a new career, or even spend all your time collecting butterflies. Or, repurpose the Pack’s functionality to run alternative living facilities or create a bizarre gameshow.
Whatever your playstyle is, this DLC’s going to have something to offer you.
Adventure Awaits you on Gibbi Point
Adventure Awaits comes with Gibbi Point, a decently sized coastal world with three neighbourhoods. The neighbourhoods vary from the tree-covered Wanderwood Wilds, to the self-explanatory Jellyfish Junction, to a bioluminescent bay known as the Crystal Valley. Within those neighbourhoods, there are 13 lots total, with two of them being empty.
The pre-built lots boast a few different lot types, including a couple with unfamiliar icons. One of the two new icons is a swingset, while the other is a flat-roofed building with a pencil on it. The Expansion introduces a couple of new lot types, as represented by these icons.
One of the lots is Camp Gibbi Gibbi, a custom waterfront venue with Great Acoustics and a custom schedule of activities. If you’ve played Businesses & Hobbies, the customisation overview is probably going to look familiar, as it offers a similar level of personalisability as small business venues.
Beyond lots and venue types, Gibbi Point looks to be full of geysers, palm trees, and fairy bread. No, fairy bread isn’t from Enchanted By Nature – it’s a sugary-sweet delicacy from Australia and New Zealand, confirming the inspiration for The Sims 4’s new map.
Dive into your dream Getaway
Getaways are oriented around schedules, which you can customise or rely on presets for. These presets are super varied, suggesting you can use the Getaway system for creating all kinds of different custom venues and events.
The Getaway presets shown in the trailer are:
- Fitness Retreat
- Outdoor Kids Camp
- Romantic Competition
- Cooking Competition
- Cosy Bed and Breakfast
- Creativity Retreat
- Senior Living Community
- Teen Popularity Contest
I’d suspect I’m not alone in being especially excited about the prospect of a bed & breakfast preset. Ever since the Expansion was first speculated on, I’ve been hankering for hotels. I’ve even gone as far as building a semi-functioning hotel using For Rent’s Residential Rental system before, albeit with very limited success – so I have very high hopes for this addition. Let’s just hope it doesn’t cause any more corruption problems.
The Getaway planning system itself is reminiscent of other customisable events that have been added to The Sims 4 over the past few years, like weddings and funerals. You can plan out exactly what activities Getaway-goers can expect to enjoy on an hour-by-hour basis, as well as select a location and date.
Plan a perfect vacation, or a nightmare gameshow
It seems like Getaways can also be set up to recur automatically on set days – so you can send the kids off to stay with Grandma Goth every Saturday, if you want to. It also looks like it’s a bit of a free-for-all in terms of which lots you can book a Getaway on, including custom venues and regular old residential properties. We can finally drop by Kyle Kyleson’s place to give him a taste of his own medicine.
Rules are another interesting aspect of the Getaway system. We didn’t get heaps of insight into them, but there were 14 available to choose from. The selection included several elimination challenges – which I imagine are how you’re going to be able to throw your Sims into Love ‘Highland’ – alongside a couple of modes and general vibes.
A trip where Love is in the Air, but everyone’s staying in a House of Grudges? Don’t mind if I do…
Play with other packs to create Sul Sul Island
The trailer also confirmed that crosspack compatibility is going to play a huge role in Getaway functionality by showing us a freaky vampiric take on Survivor. In the most literal sense possible, in the case of our poor heliophobic friends, who burn up in the Sulani sunshowers.
At the very least, this confirms that Seasons, Island Living, and Vampires all overlap with Adventure Awaits. However, it’s likely safe to assume that functionality goes beyond those three weirdly specific packs.
Get to know your imaginary friend… Or foe
As we already knew from Adventure Awaits’ previous trailer, The Sims 3’s imaginary friends are back in a big way. The full gameplay trailer gives us a good look at our new buddies and their incredibly varied personalities.
Just when you thought imaginary friends couldn’t get any creepier, The Sims Team has gone and confirmed that some of them are evil. Yes, really. No, I don’t know if that includes the suspiciously Rainbow Dash-coded one or not. Fret not, as some are regular old imaginary friends who you don’t need to worry about burning down your house.
The three other personalities your friend can have are goofball, competitive, and creative. All the personality types your imaginary friend can have overlap with four traits your Sims can have. Presumably, this is at least partly because your imaginary friends can actually come to life if you’re close enough to them.
It’s not clear yet if those not-so-imaginary-anymore friends would take on any other personality traits at the same time, though, or if you’re just going to be stuck with a purely evil roommate who looks like your childhood doll.
Be shaped by your vacation, try out a new career, and learn new skills along the way
That’s not all! No, really, there are still a few more new additions to go. What is this, an Expansion Pack for The Sims 2 or something?
So far, most of Adventure Awaits’ features have focused on lot types and experiences for your Sims to embark on. But, Sims who go on vacation might not come back home the same way. In fact, your Sims have some new traits they can inherit.
If it isn’t too hot for your Sims in the kitchen, they can get the Competitive trait. I’m sure they’ll get along with other contestants just fine. Other traits your Sims can end up with are shaped by their childhood, offering benefits well into their adult lives. You can take the kid out of camp…
Never want the vacation to end? Try the new Park Worker career. From there, your Sim can specialise as a Camp Counsellor or Park Ranger, depending on which branch they choose. The Expansion also boasts four new skills – which I’d imagine you’ll need to excel in the Park Worker career – based around Getaway activities.
You can build up your Entomology, Diving, Archery, and Papercraft skills with the pack’s new Build/Buy Mode objects. I was excited to see the return of the traditional diving board, which was a staple of previous generations of The Sims, alongside some different items like the kayak.
Adventure Awaits is available for preorder
The Sims 4: Adventure Awaits is landing in stores on October 2nd. You can pre-order it online now to receive the Warm & Cozy Digital Content bonus, which is available until November 13th.
