The Sims 4: Generations Expansion Explained

The next Sims 4 expansion pack has been teased with the tagline 'It's All Relative!' leading many Sims 4 players to speculate that the next pack will be The Sims 4: Generations. Amongst the images teased in the social post, The Sims 4 team have announced a date for the next Sims livestream to be January 31, where we can expect more details on the upcoming expansion pack. For now, let's take a look at what may be included in the pack if it is indeed a Generations one.

• For more Sims 4 announcements, check out our guide on everything we know about The Sims 5: Project Rene so far.

The Sims 4: Generations Expansion Teaser

Along with a teaser for another expansion pack, the post also mentions an upcoming live stream, two Sims 4 kits, and one big update, presumably the infants update that fans have been eagerly waiting for since The Sims Summit. If it is indeed the infant update, we may have the new baby's life stage as early as February.

Along with the 'It's All Relative!' tagline, the presence of photo frames in a tree has led many to make the connection between that and a family tree, further emphasising the possibility of a Generations expansion. The bear image in one of the frames is also shaped like a tooth, leading many to believe that we may receive gameplay featuring the tooth fairy or have extended gameplay on children's dental care.

Generations as a pack would essentially add depth and detail to each life stage of The Sims. This can be in the form of new clubs, social interactions, skills, or age-dependant items. For example, The Sims 3: Generations pack introduced canes for elders. A previous Sims 4 official teaser for the pastel pop kit also showed an image of false teeth, indicating that we may be able to expect more gameplay for elders, a feature that many sims fans have asked for.

• For more information on the infant life stage and when we can expect it, read our guide to The Sims 4 babies update here.

What Features Will Be In A Generations Expansion?

When discussing what we may expect from a Generations pack, it's useful to review what was included previously in The Sims 3. The following features were added:

• Imaginary friends for children
• The chemistry skill and potion-making, these new skills were used to set off practical jokes and could even bring imaginary friends to life.
• The day-care profession in which sims were paid to look after other sim children
• More pranks for children and teens including whoopee cushions.
• The making memories feature which allowed sims to take videos of life moments and review them on TV.
• The ability to tell ghost stories
• Giving gifts
• New outdoor activities for children
• Children could dress up in costumes
• Boarding schools
• School activities for kids and teens
• Field trips
• New interaction to read a bedtime story to children
• Teens could learn to drive and go on dates
• Prom and graduation for teens
• Scrapbook feature where you could see prominent sims memories
• Young adults could have a mid-life crisis
• Canes for elders
• Teens could throw parties when their parents were away. There were new interactions if they got caught doing so.
• Bachelor and bachelorette parties with dancers to hire as entertainment.

Many of these features are already included in The Sims 4 from previous packs, namely prom, graduation, giving gifts, going on dates, pranks, clubs, and outdoor activities for children. Of the list, teens learning to drive is of course unlikely as we don’t have cars in the game despite it being one of the most requested features from players.

Other than the possibility of having a mid-life crisis, the gameplay addition that has most fans going wild with speculation is the ability for children to have imaginary friends. This was an entertaining aspect of The Sims 3: Generations, with the raggy doll becoming something of a Sims franchise icon.

Extended interactions and gameplay for children and teens would perfectly complement The Sims 4: High School Years expansion, with that we already have the ability for teens to sneak out of the house. Being able to throw teen parties as well is a classic coming-of-age feature that sims players could explore before sending their teens-turned-young adults to university.

So far, we must speculate as this is the only teaser we have, we are sure to discover more during the Sims livestream on January 31.

• For more Sims 4 news and tips, check out our guide on if the Sims 5 will be open world or not.