14 January 2026

I’ve Been Playing The Sims For 20 Years, And The Sims 4’s Next Expansion Pack Feels Like An Answered Prayer

By newsgame

For over 20 years, I’ve had the privilege of being a Sims fan. I call it a privilege because no other game has held my attention so vehemently as this one. With this simulator, I’ve reimagined what life can be like. I’ve created silly versions for my friends and me in which we’re all vampires and spellcasters, constructed carefully curated alternative universes for the video game characters I like most, used the Create-A-Sim to envision what my OCs look like, and wreaked havoc throughout entire neighborhoods with people I dislike IRL. Genuinely, I have lived countless lives, and it’s all thanks to The Sims.

Even when the franchise goes in unexpected directions, I do what most Simmers do: hold my breath, brace for news, and hope for the best. Because, frankly, it’s going to take a lot to shake us out of here. And like many players who have played The Sims 4 since its launch year, there have been many, many trials to test that loyalty. With recent news about The Sims 4’s latest Expansion Pack, however, it feels like every single trial and tribulation over the past ten years has been worth it.

The Sims 4’s latest Expansion Pack announcement shook Simmers to the core. Some with absolute joy, others with absolute perplexion, but there is one truth at the center of this—longtime Sims players have had this EP a long time coming. And truly, I am bending the knee in excitement.

After 2,058 Hours in The Sims 4, These 3 Expansion Packs Are Non-Negotiable

I’ve been playing The Sims 4 for over ten years, and I believe every Simmer should have these three Expansion Packs—regardless of their playstyle.

The Sims 4’s Royalty & Legacy Expansion Pack Is The DLC I’ve Been Waiting For

The Sims 4’s leaks about a royalty-themed Expansion Pack circulated during the holiday season in late 2025. There were strong leaks that spread like wildfire throughout curious forums. But for me, I kept telling myself, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Why? For over 20 years, this has been at the very top of the wishlist for me as a Sims player.

When I first played The Sims 2, little-me immediately thought, “I want to be a princess in this game.” When getting my hands on MySims Medieval at 13, I dismissively rolled my eyes and said, “It’d be cool to be Princess Butter or whatever.” Then, The Sims: Medieval filled that yearning to roleplay as a member of a royal court in a big-boy Sims game, even though it was only a Sims 3-era spinoff. But that longing never really quelled inside me—never really getting rid of the fact that all the ways I could play as a royal in The Sims were purely due to mods or imagination.

For years, being royal in The Sims has felt like playing dress-up with one hand tied behind your back. Sure, a Sim could look regal, live in a mansion, and act vaguely superior to their neighbors thanks to their traits, but it was all vibes and no systems. No titles, no lineage, no inherited power: just a very rich person in a fancy hat. I wanted drama. I wanted heirs. I wanted court intrigue, scandal, and the quiet satisfaction of knowing my absolutely awful Sim’s personality traits were being passed down through generations like a cursed bloodline. And for the longest time, that fantasy lived entirely in my head.

How Sims 4 Players Dealt with The Royalty Gap

Vanilla Gameplay: In the absence of any official royal systems, players got creative with what The Sims 4 already offered. Mansions stood in for palaces. Celebrity status mimicked nobility. TS4‘s clubs and clubs-only-access-lots became makeshift courts. Sims could rule households with iron fists, but the game itself never acknowledged their “status” beyond wealth or fame. Royalty was cosmetic, not mechanical, and any sense of legacy relied entirely on player imagination.
Royalty Mods: As a seasoned Simmer, mods and I go way back. Downloading and running my first Sims mod was a pivotal moment where I actually felt technologically literate. Royalty mods became the backbone of this fantasy: custom titles, monarch traits, line-of-succession systems, court events, and even public reactions to nobles. They were impressive, but often unstable after every patch. Also, some players can’t download mods. Mods filled the gap beautifully—but they also highlighted just how badly the game was missing something so fundamental to long-term, generational play.
Throwbacks: The Sims Medieval looms large here. It proved that royal gameplay could be funny, dramatic, and mechanically rich within the Sims framework. Quests, political choices, power struggles, and dynastic stakes all worked. Worked well, in fact. For many players, it became the benchmark: a reminder that this fantasy wasn’t unrealistic or niche. It had already been done. It just hadn’t been brought forward to the modern day.

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If This Is The Sims 4’s Final Expansion, It’s at Least Ending on a High Note

There’s been a persistent rumor circulating alongside the royalty leaks: that this could be The Sims 4’s 21st and final Expansion Pack. With EA increasingly signaling a future focused on Project Rene (and whatever else is quietly waiting in the wings), it’s not hard to imagine The Sims 4 eventually stepping aside rather than being formally “ended.” If that’s the case, a Royalty & Legacy Expansion feels almost poetic.

For a game that has stretched far beyond its original lifespan, closing out with a pack centered on lineage, inheritance, power, and long-term consequence would feel intentional. Even if unintentionally so. Royal gameplay is, at its core, about continuity: what gets passed down, what changes, and what refuses to die. Those themes map uncannily well onto a decade-long Sims entry, preparing to hand the crown to its successor. Even if its successor is itself, since Project X might actually just be a Sims 4 remake.

If the current version of The Sims 4 really is going to bow out, at least it won’t be leaving quietly. It would be going out with a flourish—titles bestowed, heirs named, scandals unleashed. Not a whimper, but a full royal procession. Maybe even a slightly off-key court fanfare that makes someone snicker because it is still The Sims, after all.