Occults have always been a part of The Sims, and The Sims 4 is no different. While many of the occults in The Sims 4 are drawn from fairy tales, such as vampires and werewolves, others are original to previous games in The Sims, such as Servos and PlantSims. The quality of occults in The Sims 4 varies greatly, with occults that got dedicated game packs getting far more gameplay and features than occults like aliens or mermaids, which arrived in expansion packs.
It appears that fairies will break this pattern with the new expansion, The Sims 4: Enchanted by Nature. However, another occult type has been spotted in the trailers for The Sims 4: Enchanted by Nature, and its presence may change some lore for the better. PlantSims have been a popular occult type in past The Sims games, but the occult is a shadow of its former self in The Sims 4. Enchanted by Nature‘s Mother Nature isn’t a fairy, with some speculating that she and some other NPCs could be PlantSims. This would be a great opportunity for The Sims 4 to retcon the lore around PlantSims and give the occult the refresh that it sorely needs, but it also can’t walk this back later after committing now.
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The Sims 4’s PlantSims are in a Weird Place
PlantSims are perhaps the strangest occult in The Sims 4 for several reasons. According to The Sims lore, PlantSims are only a recent phenomenon thanks either to pesticides or breakthroughs in science. Becoming a PlantSim in The Sims 4 can be achieved in one of two ways, by playing a scenario, or by purchasing the Magic PlantSim Stump in Buy Mode, leveling a Sim’s gardening skill to ten, and purchasing packets of rare seeds until they obtain a collection of magic beans. Once all the beans are collected and placed in the Stump, the Sim needs to water it to grow a tree with a magic portal that they enter. Upon returning, the Sim will have a Forbidden Fruit, and will become a PlantSim if they eat it.
In both cases, being a PlantSim is only temporary, grants very minor abilities, and only changes the names of certain needs, essentially making PlantSims normal Sims with green skin and hair. Another major issue with PlantSims is that they revert to human in just 20 days. This is very different from the PlantSims of The Sims 2 and The Sims 3, where PlantSims have magical abilities, can self-propagate, have a special connection to plants, and have different needs. While it’s not possible to create PlantSims in Create-a-Sim, their gameplay and appearance made PlantSims one of the most unique occults in The Sims.
The Sims 4 Has a Unique Opportunity
The Sims 4: Enchanted by Nature features two new special NPCs, Mother Nature and Spruce Almighty. Both Mother Nature and Spruce Almighty are not fairies, but instead appear to be PlantSims. This introduces some lore discrepancies, as PlantSims are supposed to be a recent development in The Sims lore, yet Mother Nature and Spruce Almighty are ancient beings. Another hope is that PlantSims may get a refresh with the release of Enchanted by Nature, with at least better gameplay that makes them worth playing.
If Mother Nature and Spruce Almighty are PlantSims, The Sims 4 needs to stick with this new lore, and provide an explanation for other PlantSims. While the pair are both powerful beings closely connected to nature, and could just be powerful PlantSims, The Sims 4 should still take the opportunity to refresh PlantSims as many consider them to be the worst occult in The Sims 4. Walking back new PlantSim lore would be a big misstep for The Sims 4, especially as PlantSims are the only occult in the base game and desperately need better gameplay, or at least the opportunity to be a permanent state.
One reason PlantSim lore could have been retconned from The Sims 2 and The Sims 3 is because The Sims 4 takes place in a parallel world, with different events and rules. Regardless of whether this theory is correct, The Sims 4 hasn’t done much to establish PlantSim lore, and it needs to use the opportunity provided by Enchanted by Nature to do so.