The Sims 4 Growing Together Expansion Pack: Release Date, Trailer, Gameplay And More
The next The Sims 4 expansion pack will be The Sims 4: Growing Together and will focus on the different generations of the same sims family with new interactions, family dynamics and gameplay opportunities.
As such, the pack will include new family-orientated activities, aspirations, build-mode items and more. Read here for The Sims 4 Growing Together release date, trailers, gameplay and more.
- To coincide with the expansion pack release, The Sims 4 are also introducing the infant life stage. Check out our guide to The Sims 4 infants release date for more information.
The Sims 4 Growing Together Expansion Pack: Release Date
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The Sims 4: Growing Together expansion pack is due to release March 16th, 2023 on PC and Mac via Origin, and Steam, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One systems.
You can pre-order now to get your hands on some cosmetic pre-order bonuses. These include:
- Prime of Childhood Swing Set
- Lil' Whalebert Toddler Slide
- PowerWalk Companion
The Sims 4 Growing Together Expansion Pack: Trailer
The Sims 4 Growing Together Expansion Pack: Gameplay
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With a renewed emphasis on family life, The Sims 4: Growing Together will introduce new ways for different generations of a family to interact with each other. Below are all the key gameplay features of the new expansion pack.
New San Sequoia Map
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The new map to be released with The Sims 4: Growing Together is called San Sequoia and will be a bayfront town. This means the neighbourhoods are placed along an ocean bay and will have an emphasis on outdoor activities – perfect for families.
San Sequoia is split into three neighbourhoods like many worlds that have come before it. These neighbourhoods are:
- Anchorpoint Wharf (featuring a refurbished theatre and a public splash pad play area)
- Gilbert Gardens (containing a lake with nature paths)
- Hopewell Hills, which is described by Maxis as 'a relaxed residential locale with a slower pace that seamlessly mixes elements of modern and traditional craftsman-style homes'.
The Sims also mention that one of the neighbourhoods will have a Recreation Centre which is great news for players who wish to expand on their gameplay with elder sims.
- Also, check out our guide to the upcoming Sims 4 Simtimates and Bathroom Clutter kits.
Infant Gameplay
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The pack coincides with the release of the Infant life stage. This release will be a free base game update, however, The Sims 4: Growing Together will add extra content including 18 new 'Infant Quirks' which play in a similar way to traits for toddlers, however, these will be more tailored to suit the Infant stage. Some released examples of Infant Quirks are:
- Self-soother
- Early Riser
- Messy Eater
- Frequently Hiccups
- Gassy
- Good Appetite
- Snuggly Sleeper
- Happy Spitter
- Free-Air Tinkler
With more to be announced, each infant will get three quirks. Along with new items for infant care, (including a Changing Station and Infant Playmat), the pack will also come with infant milestones.
Family Interactions Across Generations
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The main focus of the pack is to add detail to family environments. There are several ways The Sims team are doing this, including the following:
- Elder sims will have more activities like power walks at the park, solving puzzles at the recreation centre, and taking care of the 'family Keepsake Box'.
- Toddlers are also getting quirks, 18 in total.
- There will be four new aspirations for children: Slumber Party Animal, Mind and Body, Playtime Captain and Creative Genius.
- New activities/build and buy mode items for children: A Treehouse, Splash Pad, Bike, Sleeping Bag, Slumber Parties, Friendship Bracelets, and more)
- A new Childhood Confidence mechanic.
- Children can lose teeth.
- A new social compatibility feature which will make family relationships more complex. Some sims will be more socially compatible with others.
Family Dynamics
With the February 23 trailer, we saw a more detailed look at the new family dynamics gameplay coming with The Sims 4 Growing Together.
Players will now be able to customise the tone of their relationships with family members. The current options for this are:
- Distant
- Jokesters
- Close
Players will be able to select these options for each relationship in the same household, so a sim may be 'close' with their father but 'distant' with their mother.
There also seem to be more likes and dislikes added to the game through the expansion and these may affect the family dynamic if you have opposing likes and dislikes or similar ones.
Milestones
Click to enlargeThe trailer also shows new milestones which will have a lasting impact on the sim's memories. It showed an icon for the milestone appearing as the sim completed the task. These tasks vary and include things like:
- Getting fired
- Infant's first bath
- Getting married
- having a baby
- learning to crawl
- learning to stand
- learning to ride a bike
- losing a tooth
- Check out our guide to the Sims 4 update patch where players received new cosmetic create-a-sim items.
