The Sims 4's Imaginary Friends Missed a Golden Opportunity

The Sims 4’s latest expansion, Adventure Awaits, came with a splash. With long-sought-after campsites, zen retreats, and even Love Island-esque getaways, Adventure Awaits offers Simmers a break from the hustle and bustle of routine gameplay. This latest Expansion Pack is packed with activities for all Sims, from children to elders, featuring unique opportunities for adventure tailored to each and every playstyle.

Children received special attention in this Expansion Pack. Unlike traditional Expansion Packs, which focus primarily on activities for adult Sims, Adventure Awaits offers engaging content for all life stages in The Sims. Wonder starts in childhood with new skills, memories, and systems to help Simmers step into a world of childlike imagination and a spirit of exploration. And the one new feature spearheading this innovation was the Imaginary Friend. Imaginary Friends made their comeback in The Sims 4 with a proper facelift from their Sims 3 counterparts. And with all the whimsical gameplay added to this Expansion Pack, Imaginary Friends still fell short of one golden opportunity that could have made them a non-negotiable experience for The Sims 4.

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By Carla Carmona

The Sims 4’s Imaginary Friends Fall Flat When The Magic Fades

Imaginary Friends in The Sims 4 had a lot of potential. In the trailer alone, they conspire with their child and promise sweet Formative Moments. The actual gameplay is strikingly similar to this premise. A child's adventures with their Imaginary Friends can vary from playful to mischievous, as the Imaginary Friends’ dolls each have 4 distinct personalities that influence activities and a child’s evolving personality.

The fun doesn't need to stop at childhood. Once a player decides to age up a child in The Sims 4, an Imaginary Friends can age alongside them through magic that makes them real. As they mature and turn fully human, Imaginary Friends can join a household as regular members—attending high school, aging into adulthood, getting jobs, WooHoo, and even marrying. However, it's during adulthood that Imaginary Friends lose their charm. An Imaginary Friend’s whimsical origins have no bearing on who they eventually become. And that feels like a massive oversight.

Imaginary Friends’ Adulthood Means Nothing

When Imaginary Friends in The Sims 4 finally become real, the magic vanishes faster than a Sim in a pool without a ladder. What should feel like a major, emotional payoff for a child’s lifelong companion instead lands with an oddly hollow thud. The transition is missing both narrative weight and gameplay depth, making the Imaginary Friend system feel like a concept half-remembered from childhood rather than a fully realized feature. Here’s where things fall apart:

Imaginary Friends lose all sense of identity: When a household gets an Imaginary Friend in The Sims 4, their arrival from Imagination Land is magic. Their existence is magic. The fun they offer is magic. But when they turn real, they don’t retain anything that sets them apart from a standard Sim. Apart from visual quirks and randomized traits, they have no special powers and no trace of their whimsical origins.
Imaginary Friends should have been an occult life state: The game treats an extraordinary transformation like a routine event. Imaginary Friends could’ve been a hidden or unlockable occult form, not available in Create-A-Sim, but discovered through play. That would’ve made them feel genuinely magical instead of just newly corporeal.
There’s zero emotional or narrative recognition: No special fanfare, no bewilderment from other Sims, and no sign that anyone finds it odd or wonderful that a stuffed doll just became a roommate. It’s a moment that should feel profound. Instead, it barely registers.
An Imaginary Friend's legacy disappears completely: Other occults in The Sims 4 pass down defining traits, from fangs and bloodlines to newborn howls. Imaginary Friends pass down nothing. Even The Sims 3 gave their offspring distinctive physical features as a playful reminder of their origin. Here, that sense of inheritance and identity is gone.

Imaginary Friends had the potential to embody what makes The Sims so beloved: its ability to turn childhood imagination into tangible, playable stories. Instead, they fade into the background. Unfortunately, this may stand as proof that sometimes, The Sims forgets how to hold onto its own whimsy.

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