The Sims 4 is an incredibly popular life simulation game, offering fans a chance to create and control their own virtual lives. With a huge amount of customization options, players can easily make truly unique Sims. With each new update or pack, the game continues to expand and bring more content to the table for players to enjoy. However, even with all the new content, there is still much that The Sims 4 players might find lacking.
Thankfully, there are a ton of mods around to add more realism and depth to the game that players have come to know and love . Whether players are looking for some challenges, to add more depth to the in-game experience, or just want to spice up their gameplay, The Sims 4 modding community has something for everyone. For those looking for an even more immersive gaming experience, there are some fantastic and realistic mods that are must-haves for any player. From new interactions to enhanced emotions, these mods will make The Sims 4 experience even more lifelike.
Updated on March 24, 2023, by Elara Leclair: The latest patch, commonly referred to as the Infant Update, and the recent release of the Growing Together pack have brought significant enhancements to The Sims 4 gameplay, particularly in terms of realism and meaningful interactions as Sims grow and develop. However, due to the extensive changes in the update, many previously existing mods have become incompatible.
Fortunately, some mods have already been updated to work with the new patch, and they offer additional layers of immersion and realism without disrupting the core gameplay of the base game or any other expansion pack. These mods can enhance various aspects of the game, from more realistic pregnancy and birth experiences to more detailed character customization and additional immersive gameplay features.
12 MC Command Center By Deaderpool
MC Command Center (MCCC) is a mod that allows players to control almost every aspect of their Sims' lives. With this mod, players can utilize a lot of functions, including cheats such as modifying Sims' jobs, relationships, traits, skills, and more.
This can be useful for players who are looking to create Sims that aren't starting from scratch, as well as making the townies feel more developed and interesting. MCCC provides functions such as child support, and probabilities on events like divorce, adoption, pregnancy rate, and more.
11 Child Birth Mod By Pandasama
The Sims 4 provides limited immersive actions for a pregnant Sim, such as a set of pregnancy-related moodlets, visual changes, and a few interactions. However, to enhance the realism of the whole process, the Child Birth Mod offers additional features. Pregnant Sims can now call an obstetrician and get ultrasound scans (if players own the Get to Work expansion pack).
Additionally, while going into labor, pregnant Sims can now choose to ask for an Epidural or discuss dilation, among other interactions, which come with their own set of new moodlets. Players can also choose between a home or hospital birth. This mod is perfect for players who want to expand their families to experience the infants update and make the pregnancy and childbirth process even more immersive and realistic.
10 Have Some Personality Please By LittleMsSam
Have Some Personality Please adds more realistic personalities to Sims. With this mod, Sims will act more realistically according to their traits, age, and relationships with other Sims. This mod is perfect for those who want to create more realistic stories in The Sims 4.
The features of the mod include increased autonomy, interactions based on traits, moods, conversations, and relationships, toddlers and animals behaving according to their personalities, and limits on social activities such as romance until a stronger bond is established between the Sims.
9 Wonderful Whims By Turbodriver
Wonderful Whims is an incredible standalone mod that offers players many of the same features as the notorious Wicked Whims mod, yet without any explicit adult content. The addition of Sentiments, Likes, Dislikes, and Sim Profiles to The Sims 4 base game, has increased its social and romantic aspects.
To meet the demand for a more immersive experience, the Wonderful Whims mod enables both veteran and new players to explore their Sims' connections and romance even further. Players can enjoy a wide range of social, relationship, pregnancy enhancements, and much more.
8 Meaningful Stories By RoBurky
Meaningful Stories is a mod that completely reimagines the way moods and emotions are experienced by Sims. Featuring a host of major and minor changes, this mod enables Sims to better express their humanity, making the events in their lives more impactful and turning the task of managing their lives into an intriguing challenge. With this mod, players can create elaborate storylines for their Sims, as well as create dramatic conflicts and choices that they must face. This mod is perfect for those who want to create more engaging and meaningful day-to-day experiences for their Sims.
7 Sims Eat And Drink Faster By Bynicol
With The Sims 4 base game becoming free to play, the game has become much more accessible to new players. Players who have been playing for a while are already aware of how much time Sims take to complete their meals in The Sims 4. This is because of the number of unnecessary animations Sims partake in the act of eating, which was crafted to make their behavior more realistic.
This mod does an amazing job of eliminating these pauses and providing us with an efficient eating/drinking animation without actually speeding up the animation. Therefore, Sims are able to eat and drink quickly without any disruption to the game's mechanics.
6 Career Overhaul Suite By Kuttoe
If players are looking for a more engaging career experience in The Sims 4, they might want to try Kuttoe's Career Overhaul suite. While the Growing Together expansion pack offers some career-related features, such as Work Rivals, Lay-offs, and midlife crises, it doesn't add any new careers to the game. Kuttoe's mod, on the other hand, while also not adding any new careers, revamps the game's existing careers to make them more challenging, immersive, and realistic.
The mod includes significant changes such as lowering pay rates at lower levels, making pay growth more exponential with promotion levels for most careers, and aligning top-level pay rates to be more realistic with their real-life inspirations. The mod also implements higher skill demands for all career paths, as well as introduces realistic promotion objectives such as obtaining certain degrees, befriending colleagues, and achieving fame status depending on the career.
5 Slice Of Life By KawaiiStacie
Slice of Life Mod enhances gameplay by allowing players to experience more detailed everyday activities, such as applying skincare and makeup, attending after-school activities, getting sick, and having a variety of different personalities. Consuming alcohol is an exceptional option this mod offers, for those who don't want to use Basemental Mods.
This mod also adds a memory system, which allows Sims to remember special moments and discuss them. The complete edition of the mod provides a multitude of modules that players can customize to suit their individual preferences. It's compatible with other mods, such as Wonderful Whims, however, this way, players can select the mod that best meets their needs, even if multiple mods offer similar features.
4 Height Slider By Luumia
The Sims 4 allows players to customize their Sims with diverse looks and characteristics, but unfortunately, height is not one of them. This mod adds a new level of realism to the game by allowing players to modify their Sims' heights. With this mod, players can create more diverse and unique Sims.
Players should be mindful that there may be a reason why this wasn't included in the base game; as different heights can cause Sims to appear strange when interacting, or clip into each other without proper animation rigging. Players should try to keep the heights within acceptable limits for the mod to perform as intended.
3 SNBank By SimRealist
This mod intends to create an extensive financial/banking system similar to reality as much as possible. Features include owning accounts, making Simoleon transfers of funds to another Sim inside or outside a Sim's household, managing bills, and loans, accessing a comprehensive welfare system, and receiving an inheritance.
The Financial Center, an adjacent mod of SNBank, brings a realistic, physical banking experience to the game. Players are able to access a variety of SNB options in person, allowing them to keep that off-the-grid feel while still being able to access SNB services without needing to use their Sim's cellphone. As this is an ongoing project, players can expect even more features in the future. Furthermore, SNBank comes with an additional extension, namely SNBank Bills, which also makes household bills management much more immersive than before.
With the recent addition of the San Sequoia world in the Growing Together pack, The Sims 4 offers players an even wider variety of wonderful worlds to explore. As a result, many players may be interested in owning multiple houses to fully experience each world or to use them for different purposes. The R|E mod from the same modders who created the SNBank and provides a realistic and immersive experience for players who want to delve into the real estate market within the game. It requires SNBank Bills to be able to work. The mod features a detailed buy-sell process, fluctuating house values based on certain criteria and ability to put houses for rent. The player is required to hire a Realtor and engage in property bidding wars, and even manage tenants. Although the mod currently does not include San Sequoia, it is fully compatible with every other world in the game. With the R|E mod, players can enjoy an enhanced gameplay experience that adds a layer of realism and complexity to the real estate market in The Sims 4.