A new Sims spin-off graces the Google Play Store in the form of The Sims Labs: Town Stories. While the game is playable, it’s still in its playtesting phase, according to recent reports. While it banks on the popular life simulator title’s branding, the game will focus more on building, managing, and improving the whole town instead of a single household. Its gameplay is more similar to MySims rather than the mainline Sims games. The Sims Labs: Town Stories also compromises on some customization options, judging from the playtest.
The Sims Labs: Town Stories isn’t The Sims’ first foray into mobile gaming. It launched The Sims FreePlay back in 2011 for iOS, Android, Blackberry 10, and Windows Phone. There’s also The Sims Mobile, a Sims 4-based game for iOS and Andriod, which was launched back in 2018. Despite critics and audiences disliking the microtransactions on both games, they received generally positive reviews. Town Stories will enter a different niche with its city-building gameplay, but it has some big shoes to fill.
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The Familiar Characters and Unique Quirks of The Sims Labs: Town Stories
Bella Goth, and Other Familiar Faces, Return
The Sims Labs: Town Stories calls back to its roots with some returning characters, but with a more focused progression and distinctive art style. This game features characters from previous Sims mainline and spin-off titles, which include:
- Bella Goth: This fan-favorite character seems to be the main mascot of The Sims Labs: Town Stories. She and another pre-made Sims character Bob are the players’ college roommates. Bella is known for her love of the paranormal and strange history throughout the franchise. Aliens abducted Bella during The Sims 2, and she has a career as a secret agent in The Sims 4. She’s made multiple appearances in Sims games, donning her iconic red dress and long black hair. She’s back to her young adult self in The Sims Labs: Town Stories, before she had a family with Mortimer.
- Bob Pancakes: This premade character was introduced in The Sims 4 as an uninteresting loser and a failed husband with an aspiration to become a Master Chef. The players see his love for cooking in the game’s promotional materials. It seems that he’s also turned into a young adult version of himself bunking with Bella while he gets his life together.
- Ms. Nicole Vogue: This fashion expert, clothing business owner, and runway model debuted in MySims (first released in 2007), a city-building game with similar gameplay to The Sims Labs: Town Stories. She’s back to being a young, fledgling designer during the events of this new game.
- Torajiro: This is a MySims Kingdom character who’s made a career as a carpenter who can build any kind of house as long as he has the blueprint for it. He’s a young and short-tempered recluse in The Sims Labs: Town Stories, and the player will likely help him come out of his shell and reach his full potential.
- New Character - Gizmo Cogspin: This character seems to be created for this new title. He’s described as an eccentric inventor whose creations often go haywire.
Limited, Yet Diverse, Character Customization
Those who get to run The Sims Labs: Town Stories’ playtest may notice that it starts with a character selection screen. Here, players can choose from different pre-made characters with different appearances, clothes, body types, and traits. They can also choose from a list of first and last names as well. Despite the limited customization options, the game does give the player a racially diverse set of characters to choose from, and even the ability to choose They/Them as their pronouns. The game also promises full customization in the future.
A More Linear, but Familiar Gameplay
The Sims Labs: Town Stories also has more straightforward gameplay, with premade home layouts and limited exterior colors. However, the player is also responsible for each new character’s routines and furniture placements, which are almost as extensive and customizable as the mainstream Sims games. Its early access gameplay also features SimCash as a quest reward, so players can expect premium content transactions, like in The Sims Mobile, once the game is released.
The Sims 4
-
OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 70 /100 Critics Rec: 26%
- Released
- September 2, 2014
- ESRB
- T for Teen: Crude Humor, Sexual Themes, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Maxis
- Publisher(s)
- Electronic Arts
- Engine
- Proprietary Engine
- Cross-Platform Play
- Xbox, PlayStation, and computer versions of Sims 4 are all separate games incompatible with each other
- Cross Save
- no
WHERE TO PLAY
Unleash your imagination and create a unique world of Sims that’s an expression of you. Download for free, and customize every detail from Sims to homes and much more. Choose how Sims look, act, and dress, then decide how they’ll live out each day. Design and build incredible homes for every family, then decorate with your favorite furnishings and décor. Travel to different neighborhoods where you can meet other Sims and learn about their lives. Discover beautiful locations with distinctive environments and go on spontaneous adventures. Manage the ups and downs of Sims’ everyday lives, and see what happens when you play out scenarios from your own real life. Tell your stories your way while developing relationships, pursuing careers and life aspirations, and immersing yourself in this extraordinary game, where the possibilities are endless
