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While playing The Sims is fun, it can get stale over time. Players have been thinking up challenges since the early Sims games to add new life to the series. If you need a reason to return, a challenge is likely the smartest thing you can try.
Challenges offer an easy way to spice up the game without worrying about mods. Many of these are called legacy challenges because they last multiple generations, but there are shorter ones that you can start with no issue. Here are some interesting challenges to get you started.
The Sims 4
- Released
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September 2, 2014
- ESRB
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T for Teen: Crude Humor, Sexual Themes, Violence
- Developer(s)
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Maxis
- Publisher(s)
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Electronic Arts
13
Vanilla Legacy Challenge
The Vanilla Legacy Challenge in The Sims 4 is a basic but most popular challenge. You basically have to control one family for ten generations, starting with a single young adult founder who moves to an empty lot with limited funds. The aim is to build a successful family line, choosing an heir for each generation to continue the legacy. It’s a challenge that will keep you going for the long haul, but it is the easiest start off.
Players must earn money, build a house, find a partner, and have children. Money cheats are banned, and gameplay occurs on a normal lifespan with aging on. The challenge ends when the tenth generation finishes their goals, and the eleventh generation becomes a young adult.
12
Random Legacy Challenge
The Random Legacy Challenge in The Sims 4 adds unpredictability to the game. Players guide one family through ten generations, with each generation’s life events decided by using the randomizer as much as possible. You need to make your own decisions for marriages and things like that, but you have to follow these rules randomly. You can use mods, but only for cosmetic reasons.
Aging is set to normal, and if a roll repeats, it can be redone. The challenge ends whenever you want, but many players go at least three generations before saying they’ve completed this challenge. The challenge is fun because it makes you try situations you wouldn’t normally, and the unpredictability makes sure each playthrough is different, which makes this challenge very replayable.
11
Apocalypse Challenge
The Apocalypse Challenge in The Sims 4 is a survival and rebuilding challenge where players face a ruined world with many initial restrictions. Starting with one Sim on an empty lot, you must follow the rules and use your careers to unlock things you can do. You can find each career’s rules on the Sims Legacy Challenge site, but you’re basically kept from doing many basic things until you grow in your career.
Restrictions are removed by maxing out certain careers; for example, selling items might be banned until the Investor’s career is completed, or showering might be restricted until becoming a top reporter. Many careers have interdependent rules, creating a complex puzzle. The challenge ends when all career-based restrictions are lifted. You are basically rebuilding society by going up the career ladder.
10
Runaway Teen Challenge
The Runaway Teen Challenge in The Sims 4 puts you in charge of a teenage Sim who lives alone with zero Simoleons. Your Sim cannot have a job, use electronics, or talk to adults. School is skipped daily, and you must fish, garden, or find items to sell to survive. You’re living the runaway teen dream!
Keeping clean and fed requires creative solutions, like using public showers or cooking without a kitchen. While many players add a $10 fee per trip, that kind of thing is pretty outdated since Sims can walk. The goal is to survive and not get caught by child services until you become a young adult, get a house, a job, and potentially start a family. This one is probably the hardest on this list.
9
Big Brother Challenge
The Big Brother Challenge in The Sims 4, inspired by the reality TV show, turns the game into an experiment. Eight Sims with diverse traits move into a locked house, their outside interactions cut off, and aging potentially disabled. You act as a spectator, as Sims acts freely, creating drama and chaos. Weekly skill-based or social challenges determine who gets eliminated, decided by the player (like painting, playing chess, or working out).
While cheats are generally banned, you’ll need the money cheat and maybe mods to get extra Sims or more interactions. This challenge will need some imagination, as you basically narrate the drama in your head. The last Sim standing wins and receives rewards, but the challenge is over, so they will likely be abandoned by then.
8
Not So Berry Challenge
The Not So Berry Challenge is one of the most popular Sims 4 challenges. This 10-generation legacy challenge assigns a specific color to each generation, which will influence the heir’s appearance and home style. Players create a founder Sim, who must stick to the initial color, and each subsequent heir receives a new color that dictates their fashion, goals, and careers.
Sims age naturally on a normal lifespan, and while spouses can vary, heirs must complete specific career and aspiration goals. Money cheats are mostly banned, though it helps to use the “freerealestate” cheat for the first home. The challenge is fun because it makes you think about how you design the home and forces you to continue to work on it and the items within it over time.
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Asylum Challenge
The Asylum Challenge in The Sims 4 takes one Sim and puts them into a rundown mental facility. This Sim has been sent there by accident, and the goal is to prove their sanity and escape by completing their aspirations while living with seven other uncontrollable Sims. Players start with eight Sims, all young adults with “Insane” or “Erratic” traits, and move them into an asylum built on a residential lot.
Money is limited based on difficulty, and only basic furniture is allowed. Cheats are banned, and free will is high for other Sims. The main Sim must complete two, three, or four aspirations, depending on the difficulty of escaping. There are plenty of rules to keep in mind, which you can find on the Sims forums, about items, jobs, and death consequences. The challenge takes a while to set up, but it’s a lot of fun because it’s so hard.
6
Black Widow Challenge
The Black Widow Challenge in The Sims 4 involves a Sim marrying and eliminating ten wealthy spouses for their Simoleons. You have to create a Sim with specific traits: Romantic, Snob, and Materialistic, as well as the Serial Romantic aspiration. Aging is off for everyone except for the Black Widow, who must remain unemployed post-marriage and rely on their spouse’s funds. Each spouse must be cheated on before being killed creatively, like through drowning or electrocution.
You can make it more difficult for yourself by needing to master skills or cheat a certain number of times a week. Tombstones of the deceased spouses are kept and labeled “Died by Black Widow.” It isn’t as simple as it seems, and if your spouse catches you cheating and wants a divorce, you lose.
5
Plant Sims Challenge
The Plant Sim Challenge in The Sims 4 offers a nature-focused gameplay twist. Sims need to transform into Plant Sims, which is a special type of Sim. To become one, Sims typically reach Gardening Level 10, gather six unique Magic Beans from NPC Plant Sims, and plant them in a Magical Plant Sim Stump, creating a portal tree to obtain the Forbidden Fruit. You must live a perfectly vegetarian lifestyle outdoors while trying to achieve this.
Once you’re a Plant Sim, you have to lead at least three generations of Plant Sims. Plant Sims have unique needs like the Bladder being replaced with Water and Hunger with sunlight or plant energy. Insufficient water leads to withering and reverting to human form, which means you lose.
4
The Nightmare Legacy Challenge
The Nightmare Legacy Challenge is a fast-paced Sims 4 challenge designed for those who prefer an intense legacy experience. It involves 10 generations with short lifespans, requiring heirs to complete numerous goals quickly. Basically, you have to fulfill an aspiration, reach the top of a career, master two skills, and have a child all within a lifespan.
This frantic pace keeps gameplay exciting and prevents repetition. You’ll spend a lot of time in pause mode because it demands efficiency and careful planning. Once you finish the 10th generation, you’ll likely feel more accomplished than you ever have played the Sims, but if you miss any of the aforementioned goals, you fail.