The Sims 4 Lovestruck is set to shake up the world of virtual romance when it launches on 25 July 2024, opening up new avenues for players to strengthen and complicate their Sim relationships. While in the base game, romance is fairly simple, Lovestruck will allow players to personalise their Sim interactions, develop more meaningful relationships, and create more richness in the lives of their Sims.
As part of a recent developer preview, GamesHub learned plenty about Lovestruck, and what players can expect when this expansion launches. Here’s every new feature and change in The Sims 4 Lovestruck we just learned about.
New features in The Sims 4 Lovestruck
Romantic Boundaries
One of the major overhauls set to be introduced in The Sims 4 Lovestruck is the addition of Romantic Boundaries in each Sim relationship. Via Create-A-Sim (CAS), you can now set the conditions which inspire jealousy in your Sims, defining how they react to break ups, cheating, and other romantic events. There are four separate categories to define, relating to romantic partners engaging in non-physical romances, physical romances minus WooHoos, and with WooHoos, and whether or not your Sim can change their mind by talking about it with other Sims.
The default romantic boundary will be jealousy for all Sims, but this can be changed to allow for a range of romantic dramas. As an example, Sims with non-physical boundaries that see their romantic interest flirting with another Sim may become jealous and think of breaking up them, following this interaction.
In addition to this system, you’ll also now be able to set Romance Dynamics for your Sims – they can have Steamy, Strained, Unpredictable, or Wholesome romances, as defined in CAS (or by activity in the game). This system is very similar to the family relationship system of Growing Together.
Turn-Ons, Turn-Offs, and new Traits
When Lovestruck launches, players will gain access to a new Turn-On and Turn-Off system that appears very similar to the one in The Sims 2. If a target Sim fulfils any Turn-On criteria, your Sims will have a greater attraction to that Sim. Likewise, a Turn-Off will mean certain Sims are less eligible as partners (but not impossibly so).
There are multiple categories of Sim Turn-Ons and Turn-Offs, including: Way of Life, Characteristics, Romance Styles, Hair Colour, Outfit Colour and Fashion.
Way of Life refers to the skills, talents and interests of a target Sim, and includes criteria like Nature, Highly Skilled, Health & Sports, Drink Making, Slacker, Taken, Wealthy, and more. Characteristics refers specifically to Sim traits like High Energy, Homebody, and so on. Romance refers to practices like affection, flirting, gift giving, physical intimacy, and WooHooing.
Read: The best Sims 4 expansion packs for beginners
In addition to the appearance of Turn-Ons and Turn-Offs, you’ll also be able to select two new Aspirations when playing Lovestruck – Romantic Explorer (doing different activities with your partner) and Paragon Partner (having healthy romantic boundaries and high satisfaction with partners). There’s also new Traits – Romantically Reserved (Sims will tread more carefully when pursuing love) and Lovebug (Sims are passionate about love, and get caught in the whirlwind of romance).
A combination of romantic interests, Traits, Aspirations, Turn-Ons and Turn-Offs will contribute to the shared romantic score of potential Sim relationships, and determine whether romances are ideal or not.
Additions to Create-A-Sim
Alongside personality and relationship changes for CAS, The Sims 4 Lovestruck will also include new cosmetic additions. First, there will be new eyelash and eyeshadow options when putting on makeup. There’s also new tattoos, and new hair, clothing, and accessories similar to other game expansions. Some new clothes include brown loafers, rolled up pants, a soccer jersey top, and a cute corset-like top.
New town location: Ciudad Enamorada
Ciudad Enamorada is the new town debuting with The Sims 4 Lovestruck. There’s about eight or so home lots in this town, and it has a very large scope of three neighbourhoods. There’s a nice park to walk through, and plenty of scenery in its outer suburbs – and when you’re feeling frisky, you can head into a populated city with a nightclub, gym, and other facilities. The main “mascot” of this town is the humble butterfly, so you can expect to see many in your travels.
As a neat addition, Ciudad Enamorada is also home to the game’s first curved pool. That’s right, you’ll soon be able to build curved pools of any size, to make a cosy space for canoodling.
New Relationship dialogue menu
Another major feature for The Sims 4 Lovestruck is the addition of a Relationship-focussed dialogue menu. This allows you to interrogate another Sims’ romantic desires, figure out their attraction levels, and determine whether or not to pursue a relationship with them. There’s been some reorganising of dialogue in these menus, so it should be easier to chat to Sims and figure out their deal by selecting from the Relationship submenu.
Information discovered using these interactions will appear on individual Sim profile pages, so you can learn more about your potential partners and their likes whenever you need. Dialogue boxes will also let you know when this info is uncovered, and when Sim relationships change for better or worse.
More complex romances
As defined by the game’s new romance mechanics, it will now be more complicated to keep a romance between Sims alive. Compatible Sims will need to share Turn-Ons and Turn-Offs, have similar romantic boundaries, and have a shared love for each other. Any acts that infringe on romantic boundaries, or don’t quite fit a Sim’s profile for love, may inspire a break up.
To keep love healthy, you’ll need to work at it, and pursue loves who fit your Sims’ criteria, including their boundaries and interests. You may also need to work on your new Romance skill, which is debuting with Lovestruck. Building this skill allows your Sim to gain new romantic interactions, including the ability to scan rooms for potential partners, and unleash an Aura of Flirtiness. The more Sims interact romantically, the more they’ll advance.
They’ll also build their Romance skill by checking out Cupid’s Corner, a new Tinder-like app players can use to find single Sims and organise dates. Using this app, you can save particular Sims, and then invite them out on dates when your Sim is ready.
New Date events
There’s multiple new Date types available in Lovestruck, including a Get To Know You Date, and a Romantic Date. These have different objectives and rewards, and allow your Sims to fully explore potential relationships. When your Sim relationships are in dire straits, you can also embark on a Romantic Repair Date that may help fix things.
Prior to embarking on these dates, you’ll be able to select activities like Socialise, WooHoo, TV, Paint, Gardening, Musical Instruments, Board Games, Play Video Games, Star or Cloud Gaze, and more. A minimum of three is required to really get the mood going. New interactions during dates will also allow you to change the date venue, extend the date, or end it early, based on how your Sim is going.
New items like the Costume Trunk will help you get in the mood during (or beyond) dates. This particular item lets you put on a range of special costumes – sexy, silly, and in between – and then take part in roleplay with your partner. If that’s not quite your vibe, there’s also other romance-themed items in this expansion pack, including flower bouquets, a sexy rug for posing on, and more.
Players will be able to explore all of these new interactions and activities when The Sims 4 Lovestruck launches for PC and consoles on 25 July 2024. Stay tuned to GamesHub for more on this upcoming game expansion.
