The Sims series celebrated its twentieth anniversary on Feb. 4. The Sims holds a special place in most of our hearts whether you might be killing Sims in pools or designing a house no one moves into.
The 2000 game created by Will Wright is a spin-off of the SimCity series and spawned three sequels. Wright found the inspiration for the series after his house burned down in the Oakland Firestorm of 1991.
The first game was released on Feb. 4, 2000. Seven expansion packs were released for The Sims with compilation packs being released until 2005.
My first experience playing The Sims was in 2002 when my sister purchased The Sims: Deluxe Edition. Some early memories of the series are being scared of the Grim Reaper and the ominous music that accompanied prank calls.
One of my favorite expansion packs from The Sims is Makin’ Magic. I could own a dragon and turn all of the Sims in town into frogs. When I was frustrated with someone in real life, I could create them and use magic to banish the Sim. Sorry, mom.
The second game in the series was The Sims 2, which was released on Sept. 14, 2004. The Sims 2 was followed by eight expansion packs and 10 stuff packs. The Sims 2 broke records at the time when it sold one million copies in its first week.
Pleasantview contained a mystery about the disappearance of Bella Goth and introduced players to the romance options of the game via everyone in the town being in love with one another. Strangetown was a desert town that introduced aliens and abduction and Veronaville took inspiration from William Shakespeare’s plays with the two rivaling Capp and Monty families.
The Sims 3 was the next game in the series and was released on June 2, 2009. The game was followed by 11 expansion packs and nine stuff packs. Eleven downloadable worlds were offered inThe Sims 3 Store.
The Sims 3 added an open-world element to the game by allowing all Sims in the town to move around and live their lives without the player controlling them. The open-world setting allowed for the player to run into wild events, such as citizens of the town dying from exhaustion at a protest.
One of my favorite moments was when my Sim was taking part in a protest at the city hall and a wild horse came running through. Something about a horse running through a crowded street and avoiding Sims is so amusing.
The newest main series game The Sims 4 released on Sept. 2, 2014, and currently has eight expansion packs, eight game packs and 16 stuff packs. The newest pack for The Sims 4 was Tiny Living Stuff, which was released on Jan. 21, 2020.
The fourth game had a rough start, but after a few expansion pack releases and patches, the game brought many fun memories. The expansion pack Get to Work notably added a way to get to the alien homeworld of Sixam and see where some other-worldly visitors came from.
Thankfully, The Sims 4 now offers many unique aspects never seen in the series before.
Almost any person you talk to will say they have played at least one game from The Sims franchise. The series has become a staple in the gaming community and has brought many fun experiences to gamers’ for the last 20 years.
