by theygamesA piece of Sims 4 art surfaced online – or resurfaced, to be more accurate, since it first appeared in 2014 – that seems to show a rather different vision of what Maxis’ life game might have been if the team followed through on their vision. Redditer saltydungeonmaster unearthed a piece of concept art in The Sims 4 Studio, the tool used for making the best Sims 4 custom content, showing a vast, open field that, on first glance, seems like the setting for your average Sims neighborhood. Look a bit more closely, though, and you see there’s quite a bit more going on.
A water wheel is in the center of the map situated on a river (of course), while castle ruins dot the landscape, and a windmill sits outside what looks like a bustling medieval town. Whether this means Maxis was planning a historical Sims 4 or, as some commenters suggested, intended to expand the time machine feature isn’t clear.
The Sims 3 time machine let you travel back to fix issues between your Sims and generally tinker with the timeline. While there were references to the distant past, such as mummies arriving home with your Sim, you never actually got to explore times gone by. The idea of making medieval friends and doing some of the worst jobs in history – urine-soaked dyer career, anyone? – opens up so many possibilities for what The Sims could be like and how Maxis could change the formula.
Without a fancy time machine of our own, we’ll just have to wait and see whether that ends up happening in a future Sims game.
Meanwhile, if you’re hoping to shake up your Sims game in the present, our list of the best Sims 4 mods has just the thing you may be looking for. And if those aren’t spicy enough, there’s plenty of Sims 4 sex mods to add some NSFW flair to your fantasy life.