Cooking is one of the most used skills inThe Sims 4, which means players spend a lot of time looking at all the different dishes their Sims can whip up. Unfortunately,the aesthetics of the food inThe Sims 4has always been unsatisfying, which is especially disappointing considering how good dishes looked in previous titles in the series. IfThe Sims 4is going to continue without a new mainline title on the horizon, then small details like food in the base game need to be upgraded.
Players have beenstuck with low-quality base game food since 2014and seemingly will continue to be for the foreseeable future, which is especially disappointing when comparing foods from other cozy games on the market. While the option of finding a mod with better-looking food is there, the fact that even basic details inThe Sims 4need mods to look decent is indicative of an overall problem with the game that doesn’t have a solution.
Food In The Sims 4 Is A Step Down From Previous Games
Earlier Entries Made Dishes Detailed, Despite Limited Technology
The food inThe Sims 4is, in short, downright ugly. Most dishes are simple bowls with round textures applied to the top alongside minimal detailing.Pizza is a perfect example ofThe Sims 4’s downgrade, as bothThe Sims 2and3had highly detailed pizzas with depth and details like a greasy box.The Sims 4is a simple flat yellow circle with some red circles on top to indicate pepperoni. Since food and cooking are a constant element of a Sims life, having more appetizing dishes would subtly upgrade the day-to-day quality of playingThe Sims 4.
10 Things That Make No Sense In The Sims 4
It’s hard to find a game where every little detail makes sense, but at least these things that don’t make sense in The Sims 4 tend to provide humor.
Previous entries inThe Sims, thoughmore limited by the technology of their development, managed to create very high-quality textures. There could be an argument that theevolving art style ofThe Sims, which led to less realistic depictions of Sims and pets, also impacted how realistic food looks. This argument doesn’t quite work for the small details like food on a plate, since an art style change would presumably create something more defined than just pixelated versions of normal dishes.
Cozy Games Need Appealing Food
Tasty Dishes Are Important For Cozy Vibes
Cozy games, a genre that attracts people who want something cute and relaxing to play,generally have good-looking food. Recent titles likeAnimal Crossing: New HorizonsandHello Kitty: Island Adventurehave adorable, stylized food for players to make and display. Cozy game staples likeStardew Valleyalso have cute food, and though you can’t set it down to enjoy looking at, the recipes still look tasty despite only being made of very small pixel art. EvenThe Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, though not a game that fits into the standard cozy game mold, has delicious-looking food.
What Cozy Games Are (& What Cozy Gaming Really Means)
As the genre of cozy games grows, so does the confusion over what exactly makes a game cozy, or even if it’s related to the game or the setup.
The Sims 4, despite being a titan in the cozy game genre,has disappointing food for players to enjoy. While most of the games referenced are certainly much newer thanSims 4,the game still has no excuse, since older entries in the series managed to make good-looking meals and because the developers intend to keepThe Sims 4going for the foreseeable future.
Details Need A Refresh If No New Sims Game Is Coming
The Sims 4 Needs A Base Game Refresh
The developer and publisher behindThe Sims, Maxis and EA, haveconfirmed thatThe Sims 5isn’t happeningfor the time being. Instead, EA intends on keeping The Sims 4, which came out in 2014, going with even more expansions and content packs. While this does allow the game, which is now free-to-play, to continue supporting its huge fanbase and robust modding community, there aremajor drawbacks to keeping a game alive that was not built with that goal in mind.
Best Sims 4 Dishes, Ranked By How Easy They Are To Make
Use this list to make cooking easier in The Sims 4 while discovering these secret easter eggs that make the game even funner and yummier.
One particular example isthe low-quality appearance of food in the game, with no update on the horizon. While small details like food may not seem important,The Simsis a series built on the small details of life, which come together to create a full experience. Having low-texture food may have been okay at the time of release in 2014, but over ten years past and with no new game coming,The Sims 4needs to upgrade these core details.
The Simsstill has an upcoming title called Project Rene in the works, but it’s being positioned as a multiplayer experience rather thanThe Sims 5.
The problem with modifyingThe Sims 4rather than creating a new game with an extremely long lifespan in mind is that the gamewill only focus on expansion rather than on fixing less-than-ideal details of the base game. IfThe Sims 2and3were able to create appetizing food in 2004 and 2009 respectively, then there’s no excuse forThe Sims 4.
