Following a few early teases last month, EA has formally unveiled The Sims 4‘s spooky new Life & Death expansion, which arrives on 31st October, adding everything from new neighbourhoods where the boundaries between the living and the dead are especially thin to a new grim reaper career and the ability for ghosts to WooHoo in objects small and large.
Life & Death looks to be a particularly busy expansion, touching not only on what happens to the living when a loved one is lost – think Wills and more elaborate funerals – but what Sims experience after shuffling off this mortal coil. That includes spectral romances, ghostly powers, the ability to helpfully haunt their old homes as part of the family, even reincarnation.
Living Sims looking to make the most of their time on earth can create a bucket list as part of the expansion (which players can populate manually based on specific categories or expand automatically based on a Sims traits), and Sims who don’t manage to tick everything off in life can work through that list beyond the veil as Unfinished Business – earning the chance for an especially powerful rebirth, carrying over previously earn skills and traits.
The living, meanwhile, can also plan elaborate Funeral events for their loved ones, specifying the likes of dress code, time and location, even activities that’ll play out during the ceremony. Sims might give a lighthearted eulogy, for instance, serve food, light candles, or plant something in the deceased’s memory. Players can even select specific memorial portraits, urns, tombstones, or decorate gravesites however they choose.
All that ties in with new forms of grief Sims can express when a loved one (including pets) dies, including Denial, Holding It Together, Anger, and Blues. Grieving sims can also Reach out for Help with their friends, attend Grief Counselling, console other Sims, or cope positively with grief by doing creative or productive activities.
Elsewhere, the Sims 4’s Life & Death expansion introduces two new careers; Sims can study to become undertakers, learning grave digging, embalming, and more as they follow their branching career paths toward either Mortician or Funeral Director. Sims can alternatively sign up as Grimterns at the Netherworld Department of Death, working through the ranks to become a reaper, filling their soul quotas, and even decided who to reap or return to life.
Then there’s Ravenwood, a new world split into three distinct neighbourhoods where the dead and living more closely intermingle. Crow’s Crossing, for instance, is an eerie village of cobbled streets where haunts are commonplace, while Whispering Glen is an idyllic countryside retreat that hosts a nightly Moon Revelry festival. “Things get a little wild during the Full Moon,” EA notes, and “clothing is entirely optional.”
And finally for Ravenwood, there’s the gloomy Mourningvale, where Sims can find the Bell Tower, sentient plants, even the Baleful Bog, used to achieve an out-of-body experience or transition into Rebirth. It’s also possible to join Afterlife Anonymous here if they need a bit of help adjusting to their recent transition to the other side.
There’s quite a bit more going on in Life & Death too, including a new Ghost Historian Aspiration, horror novels, new traits (Macabre, Chased by Death, and Skeptic), a new Thanatology Skill, and more. There’s plenty of additional detail in EA’s announcement post if you’re curious, and a new gameplay video is set to be released on 17th October.
The Sims 4 Life & Death Expansion Pack launches for all platforms on 31st October, and players that purchase it between 3rd October and 12th December get the Legacy Family Portrait, the Mournful Melodies Music Box and