The Sims 4 development team has announced a brand new story-driven mode of gameplay called Neighborhood Stories. Set to release on November 30th, the update promises to bring new depth to the game series with a focus on individual NPC stories and how they tie into the lives of player households.

The Sims has always been a game about individual choices and lives. Player styles vary in how much autonomy they allow for their characters, but at its core, the appeal of the game is that it allows gamers to create their own unique worlds and stories. A mode like Neighborhood Stories is something players have been clamoring for for years. In fact, The Sims 3 is still a player favorite among many fans of the series because of its well-loved Story Progression mode. While this isn't the first time EA has released new gameplay updates for The Sims 4, this is the first update that stands to create substantial change in terms of player stories and world-building.

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EA announced the changes to NPC households that will be coming with the new Story Progression. The changes fall into two categories: changes a player's Sim can suggest to an NPC, and changes that NPCs will consider autonomously. For autonomous choices, players will still have a say in if they happen, as NPCs will call a Sim to ask if they should do something like have a baby or start a new career. Outside of these autonomous considerations by NPCs, player Sims will now be able to suggest a wide range of social choices with lasting effects to other Neighbor Sims through new interactions. They can trash talk a third party to reduce the social relationship between two Sims, influence an unemployed Sim to find a job, and encourage both new romantic relationships as well as divorce.

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The Neighborhood Stories mode also introduces two new aspirations alongside corresponding new traits. The Neighborhood Confidante aspiration will have your Sim's goals revolve around being a positive force in the neighborhood. The related Confidante trait will help your Sim's conversations go more smoothly and make it easier for them to influence change. Conversely, if you're looking for a more chaotic storyline, the new Villainous Valentine aspiration will have your Sims looking to cause trouble in romantic relationships wherever they go. Stirring up drama will be made easier with the Twisted Heart trait, which allows embarrassed and sad moodlets to fade faster, as well as giving a mood boost to Sims when they perform Mischief or Mean social interactions.

Developers plan for this to be an update released in multiple parts, with increased fine-tuning and options to be added throughout. Eventually, EA aims to have life changes available for Sims in unknown households - currently the changes will only be available for Sims the player has formed a relationship with. Developers also aim to improve upon the options given by the popular Sims 3 Story Progression mode, which only gave the choice to turn the mode on or off, giving players no in-between options when it came to creating their own stories. While there's never been a shortage of creativity in The Sims 4 creator community to keep the game interesting with new ideas and challenges, gamers were always hopeful more elements would be added by developers to keep gameplay engaging, and this update looks like it just might do the trick.

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Source: EA