The Sims Freeplay, like many mobile titles supported by microtransactions, has a variety of timed, seasonal events, and the Snow Problem Quest is among the most elaborate storylines in the game. This questline originally launched in a 2017 winter holiday update, and it has been reoccurring annually since then. Snow Problem is a 13-day long event with goals to meet each day. Completing each day’s tasks unlocks furniture items suited for the Snow Chalet property, and completing the entire quest chain will unlock the Chalet as a new property type for the player. Like most quests in Freeplay, advancing the quest line is generally a matter of following instructions and clicking on the right characters and objects, followed by the most difficult step: waiting.
The Sims Freeplay uses real-time countdowns for Sims to complete tasks in-game. Players can use Lifestyle Points, or LP, to skip the countdowns for these tasks and advance the questline faster. Accumulating LP takes time, although it can be purchased as an in-game transaction. Without using LP, players will need to devote careful attention to the Snow Problem quest to complete each step on time, as many of the tasks involve long countdowns of anywhere from four to twelve hours.
The story of Snow Problem begins with the player’s Sim decorating their home for the holidays, sending greeting cards, and playing in the snow, when the snowfall is abruptly interrupted by a downpour of rain. The Sim first consults a meteorologist, who opines the sudden shift in weather is paranormal, and naturally refers them to speak with a wizard instead. Wizard Wickham, SimTown’s resident expert in matters of the arcane, confirms the rain is supernatural in origin.
Sims Freeplay's Snow Problem Is A 13-Day Holiday Epic
Wickham instructs the Sim to go to the Ice Queen’s palace to investigate further. After hitting a dead end with Mr. Flurry the Snowman, the Sim watches a home shopping channel, Impulse Buys, and purchases a Bad Luck Locomotive which looks like a steampunk Santa sleigh that has seen better days. After reading the manual, the Sim resorts to kicking the locomotive to get it to work, which takes more than four real-time hours, unless the player uses LP to speed things up. Once the locomotive is operational, Flurry provides directions to the Snow Queen’s palace.
There the Sim encounters the Ice Queen, a clear homage to Elsa from Disney’s Frozen, who states a magical weather-controlling machine called the Frostblaster has been tampered with by outside forces. The player will need to bring four Sims to the ice palace to work together to repair the machine. This provides temporary relief, but the snow is again replaced by drizzly rain in short order, as Wizard Wickham advises the villain responsible has a backup plan. Further investigation leads the player to the Snow Chalet belonging to The Grouch, a Grinch Who Stole Christmas look-alike. The Grouch admits to being behind the malefic weather and refuses to stop. The Grouch will repeatedly reject appeals to reason when asked to restore the holiday weather, and the game offers some Dr. Seuss-style rhymes in a loading screen, with, “Your Sim has argued, cajoled, begged and pleaded. In the Grouch’s case, a big stick’s what’s needed.”
The player’s Sim is inspired to bring in the big guns of holiday cheer and ask Santa Claus for help. After jumping through some hoops with Santa’s e-mail system and overprotective elves, the player can meet Santa at his workshop, where he provides toys and advises teaching The Grouch about generosity. The Grouch will repeatedly reject presents until the Sim resorts to the last holiday cheer approach they can think of, a “warm hug,” in the form of a forced embrace between the Sim and The Grouch for an hour and a half. This breaks through to the Grouch, who restores the snowy weather, and grants the player the key and deed to his Snow Chalet. From then on, the player can build the Snow Chalet home type on property lots, and the first one is even free.
Sims Freeplay Could Be More Generous With Players' Time
The Snow Problem quest chain offers several unique furniture items, a special property type, and a fairly charming and amusing storyline along the way. The quest is not generous with time, however, as it forces The Sims Freeplay players to either set a series of alarms and reminders to come back to the game on completion of its various timers, or use a great deal of the valuable LP currency, in order to complete it within its 13-day duration.