The Sims 4's Create-A-Sim demo is now freely available to everyone (with Origin), and here's a little known secret about all people: they are completely bonkers. Want proof? Look at the bizarre Sims they dreamed up.
OK, let's start at the semi-normal (yet undeniably impressive) end of the spectrum to get ourselves warmed up. To begin, we have:
A Whole Bunch Of Other Celebrities
Hmmm. I think Silent Hills' Norman Reedus might be a teensy bit better.
Michonne from The Walking Dead
Cersei, Arya, and Margery from Game of Thrones
Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones (Sims 3 version on the left)
This one is interesting in that it demonstrates some pretty key differences between character creation in Sims 3 and Sims 4. Dany circa Sims 4 looks way more like the genuine article if we're only talking faces, but Sims 3 (plus upgrades and mods) allows for far more robust clothing options, hair styles, nuanced skin tones, and so on. Sims 4 may well end up being a stronger base, but it's got a long way to go. Fingers crossed that somebody mods in dragons. Or just replaces everyone with dragons. I would play The Sims: Dragons, is what I'm saying.
This has evolved into a vile, formulaic excuse for a show. Really nice recreation of the cast, though!
Star Lord and Gamora from Guardians of the Galaxy
Awww, he looks kinda sad.
The cast of Arrested Development
I mean come on. That looks nothing like an otter.
OK, Now Let's Get A Little Weirder
A Dunmer from The Elder Scrolls
Leave that picture on your screen and go anywhere else in the room. His eyes follow you. Always.
This Sim is about to kiss its own nose.
No, for real: how did this happen? Create-A-Sim's sliders don't actually go that far. Somebody's been messing with their game files.
That's just a small sampling of the weird ways players have forced Sims 4's Create-A-Sim to contort and distort flesh. The infernal Bizarro Engine is only just getting revved up, and once the full game comes out I imagine we'll see modders turning it inside-out almost immediately (hopefully not literally; I do not ever, ever, ever want to see an inside-out Sim).
That said, while this new Create-A-Sim offers some really cool options for molding and shaping Sims' physical features, a number of classic options are curiously absent—even basic things like picking clothes colors from a gradient instead of pre-sets. This video from Lazy Game Reviews runs through a lot of those concerns while showing off more weird Sims:
So yeah, the jury's still out on whether or not this one can beat the any-color-you-want pants off Sims 3 and steal its throne. Sims 4 is omitting some pretty major stuff—that's for damn sure—but the question at this point is what that means.
Maybe the new features will be game-changing enough that we won't miss the old ones so much. Or maybe they won't, and we'll always have pool-and-hair-option-shaped holes in our hearts as we weep like toddlers about toddlers (until an expansion pack comes out). Time will tell.
But enough about that. Post your own creations! Or other people's that you find really cool/funny/terrifying. If you haven't made any Sims yet but want to give it a go, the free Create-A-Sim demo is here.
Top image credit goes to Sims VIP.