Sims 4 introducing sexual orientation in free update later this month

Until now, The Sims 4 has presented itself as an enthusiastically flexi-sexual world, where every Sim is open to at least considering all attempts at seduction and WooHoo. That will soon change, however, with an upcoming update giving Sims 4 players the ability to define their Sims’ sexual orientations in a way that better reflects the real world.

Comes as part of a free companion update The next major expansion for The Sims 4High School Years, which will launch on July 28, the feature will add a new Sexual Orientation tab to the game’s Create-A-Sim screen. Here, the player will have the option to tinker with three settings that will impact how which Sims interact with others in the game.

The first option lets players choose whether a Sim is romantically attracted to men, women, both, or neither, which means they will turn down romantic advances made by Sims who don’t fit that profile. Incidentally, while discussing the feature during its latest livestream, developer Maxis explained that it currently uses gender binary terms (despite progress towards add more inclusive pronoun options) for technical reasons related to how The Sims 4, which is built on an eight-year-old architecture, currently handles the genre behind the scenes. He notes, however, that he hopes to expand the feature to encompass more gender identities over time.

Here’s how the new sexual orientation options will appear in Create-A-Sim.

Along with the ability to choose who a Sim is romantically attracted to, there is also an option to choose whether a Sim is still romantically exploring, which can be used for Sims who are still figuring it out. If this option is set to “yes”, a Sim’s orientation may change over time as they encounter new situations, date other people, etc.

And then the last option in the initial Maxis release of the feature lets players decide if a Sim is interested in physical intimacy (i.e. Woohooing for adults, Messing Around for teens) with men, women, both or neither. Maxis says the hope is that this option, when used in conjunction with romance settings, will give players more flexibility to create characters that fall under both asexual and aromantic identities.

The Sims 4 – High School Years: Official reveal trailer.

All Maxis Sims from high school up will use the new sexual orientation settings, but the developer says older ones won’t be updated to do so. However, it is possible to change the sexual orientation of any Sim by importing them into CAS. As for Sims who don’t receive explicit parameters, those will by default have no romantic attraction, exploring romantically and interested in physical intimacy with either gender – in fact, how the Sims right now.

And while we’re on the subject of physical intimacy, Maxis introduces an additional in-game option regarding old WooHoo. Known as Woohoo Partners, it gives adult Sims the choice to establish a friends-with-benefits type relationship with others, meaning they can be physically intimate without romantic attachment.

These aren’t the only additions arriving as part of The Sims 4’s upcoming free update, either; As previously announced, all players will get new body hair options (body hair growth and hair grooming will be exclusive to the High School Years expansion, however), and Maxis has now revealed that a version of the Wants and Fears from The Sims 2 will also be returning to the series after a long absence.

When the free update arrives, all Sims will be able to display up to three possible wishes, each falling into one of three categories: long-term, short-term, and reactionary. The latter will be contextual to a Sim’s current situation, so it might see them wanting a drink if they go to a bar or wanting to work out when they go to the gym.

Fears, on the other hand, will affect how Sims react to certain things throughout their life – for example, backing away from fire if they have acquired the fear of fire. These can stay with a Sim forever, but at times players will have the option to have their Sims face their fears head-on, perhaps by putting out the flames if a fire breaks out, which, if successful, will overcome their fear.

All of the above is discussed in more detail, alongside a host of other new additions coming as part of The Sims 4 High School Years expansion, during The latest Maxis livestream. There is also a separate blog post taking a closer look at the new characteristics of sexual orientation. The expansion and free update will launch on PC and consoles on July 28.