The Sims 4 Neighbourhood Stories: Everything You Need To Know

The Sims 4 Neighbourhood Stories: Everything You Need To Know
Images via Maxis

Written by 

Kiera Mills

Published 

5th Sep 2022 14:32

The Sims 4 neighbourhood stories is a relatively new feature which incorporates many ideas present in popular mods. The update essentially makes the neighbourhoods in The Sims 4 feel more 'lived in', with unplayed sims making proactive choices without the player's input. The goal is to enrich gameplay and make neighbourhoods come alive without the need to control them all individually. For more information on The Sims 4 neighbourhood stories, and tips on how to customise the system to suit your taste, read here.

The Sims 4 Neighbourhood Stories: What's Included

The Sims 4, Neighbourhood Stories options
Click to enlarge

During a playthrough, you'll receive pop-ups from NPCs announcing life changes such as sims deciding to date, trying for babies or changing careers. You'll receive the option to sway the sim's choice and either support them (guaranteeing they’ll make the change), leave it up to them to decide (50/50 chance either way) or encourage them against their idea.

The system emulates popular Sims community mods such as MC Command Centre which was previously the only way to get unplayed sims to autonomously have children, get married and be promoted in careers.

The Sims 4 neighbourhood stories include the following features, unplayed sims can now:

  • Adopt Children
  • Adopt pets (if The Sims 4 Cats and Dogs is installed)
  • Die prematurely in accidents, the risk of which depends on factors like age, traits, and career.
  • Try for babies with significant others
  • Change careers, join new careers, get promoted or leave current careers
  • Get married
  • Go on dates with new partners
  • Go on friendship dates and create new friends
  • Move into different household lots

 

The Sims 4 Neighbourhood Stories: How To Toggle On/Off

How to access Neighbourhood Stories settings in The Sims 4
Click to enlarge

You may wish to keep certain families exactly as they are or pick which story options you want over others. Luckily, The Sims 4 neighbourhood stories update came with options to toggle the system on or off.

To adjust neighbourhood story options, go into the 'Manage Households' menu in-game, here you can choose to enable neighbourhood stories to both your played and un-played households. Click on the arrow icon to the top right of the screen to select which of the stories you want, this will apply uniform settings to every household.

If you wish to set story options individually, the same icon is present on each household profile. You can go into the options and pick which of the stories you want to keep. For example, if you don’t wish for sims to have babies autonomously but want to keep the other options open you can simply deselect the 'Have A Baby' option and keep the others selected.

  • Along with neighbourhood stories, The Sims 4 have also started a new update system called the Deliver Express. Read our guide to The Sims 4 Delivery Express for more details on the free updates and new content.

Kiera Mills
About the author
Kiera Mills
Kiera is a former GGRecon Guides Writer.
Why trust GGRecon?

Established in 2019, we don’t just cover games - we live them. Our expert team is full of dedicated gamers, qualified journalists, and industry insiders who collectively boast decades of experience covering gaming and esports. This deep-rooted expertise allows us to provide authoritative and nuanced perspectives first-hand from a team who are playing, and researching every game covered on our website. 

Our foundation is built on a profound commitment to editorial independence, ensuring our content remains free from external influence and advertising pressures and is held to the highest level of editorial conduct, integrity, and quality. 

Every article on GGRecon comes from rigorous research, informed analysis, and a passion for gaming that resonates with our readers. We uphold these standards through a transparent editorial policy, accessible here, which governs our processes and maintains our accountability.


Trending
The Sims 4 Expansions list of all Kit, Stuff & Game Pack DLCs in order (2024)
How to bring a Sim back to life in The Sims 4
The Sims 4 MC Command Center mod explained, how to get & use cheats
How to graduate from high school in The Sims 4
How to add a Sim to a household in The Sims 4