The Sims has always been a beautiful series of video games. Save for the occasional foray into high fantasy, however, it's mostly drawn from modern suburbia for its artistic palette. It doesn't have to be that way, though.
Some gorgeous concept art that was recently posted online gives an alternate vision of what The Sims 4 could have been—or, better yet, what it still could be someday:
These two make it look a bit more like a medieval or steampunk-era RPG, don't they? More importantly: don't they just look great? I would so play a version of The Sims 4 that let me build lush, fantastical worlds like these.
These images were made by Tony Ianiro, who worked as a concept artist on The Sims 4 until September 2013, according to his online resume. You can see how some of his other work gets closer to the style that ended up in the final game:
via SimsVIP
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