A Confusing Sims 5

I've always been excited when there's a new Sims game to be released. Yes, including Sims Medieval. Sims is a staple in my computer. But I'm rather confused about EA's recent announcement to Project Rene, codename to the upcoming mainline Sims game. And despite the amount of content in Sims 4 - we still can't shake off the feeling of something lacking. Here are four things that I'm wary about The Sims 5:

1. Project Rene to support mobile and PC experience.

I'm not sure how this will play out graphics and performance wise. We still have no information on whether mobile will translate to cloud servers or local files. But logging in to play Sims itself (not logging onto a launcher) is not what I'm excited to do. Having a third party launching the game serves as a gate to actually owning the game. What happens when it's time to move on to Sims 6? Until now, I enjoy Sims 2 because it runs without any launcher.

Sims 5 may use local files to run on the PC - such as to speed up loading. Does this also mean installing local files on the mobile phone? How much files are we talking about in its lifetime? Cross-play will be an interesting addition since this 'sequel' focuses on multiplayer.

I wonder how the mobile version will perform compared to the PC version. Perhaps they meant cloud gaming on the mobile. We will have to wait for more info about this cross-play ability. I am concerned on how they will integrate custom content in the cross-play -  wait a minute... how will players without a "DLC" cross-play with those who own said DLCs? So perhaps it does look like Sims 5 will be dependent on the game running on the PC. Thus mobile gaming translates as streaming it from your PC.

2. Project Rene to coexist with other Sims game.

Hence we don't know if we should still call it Sims 5. Perhaps we expect Project Rene as a spin-off instead. But judging with how much hype it's getting, Project Rene seems to be The Sims 5.

During a developer WIP update, Project Rene will coexist with Sims 4. Hence EA will continue to churn out DLC packs for The Sims 4. However, I'm not too sure if this support means integration between the two, marketing The Sims 4 and Project Rene separately, or keeping milking The Sims 4 for as long as possible. 

3. No energy mechanic.

Did they mean the energy bar is gone? Or did they mean no limit to actions or play per session? When I first heard this no energy mechanic, I thought they were getting rid of the energy bar similar to removing the comfort bar in Sims 4. Now if it means the latter (no action limits), it should be a GIVEN. 

Limiting number of plays per session on a game bearing the Sims 5 title is a tragedy. It's a marquee titled sequel and not a social media  app / or mobile focused game. It will be a disaster to place an energy mechanic limiting players can perform tasks per day on a Sims 5 game. 

I also cannot imagine a Sims game without the need to sleep. Or drink coffee.

4. The base game is free-to-play, but what does it mean?

It's inevitable since Sims 4 has embraced this. If you check Sims 4 on the Sims store, you would be paying at least CAD 1500 for all Sims 4 content. If we convert CAD 1659.28 and divide it by 109 months, we would have paid CAD 15.22 each month. Still looks expensive to me just to play Sims. However this would also mean buying everything at original price - and I buy DLCs when they get on sale.

Let's be real: Sims isn't a game to grind on everyday.

But hey! At least the base game is free.

I'm not sure how this will translate to Project Rene - for example how would a free account look like compared to a paid subscription. If I've been paying for a subscription after a new expansion, and then opted to go free - would it suddenly render all my paid content useless? There has to be permanence factored in your account. Perhaps paid tiers may have to do with the multiplayer function.

I'm a little skeptical on the subscription. There are those of us who wish to build our Sims game on what we think is worth having rather than being forced a content we don't wish to purchase. So maybe we're going to see a more active Sim Store in the future.