By Nakaylah Kelley

The Sims 4 has come up with an amazing new pack called “Life or Death.” The pack came out on October 31st, 2024. I played their game over the weekend and let me tell you, the pack takes the Sims 4 into a new direction. From a Sim becoming a ghost to writing a will, inheriting an heirloom, taking a Soul Journey’s, obtaining a mystical tarot card deck, and the new world Ravenwood. Heck, you can even be the Grim Reaper.

Before the EA came up with this new pack, Sims would just pass away and they would have an urn. The passed away Sim could appear sporadically where their urn was located. Now the Sim could be played as a ghost and use their ghostly powers such as being invisible, possessing items, breaking items, scaring Sims etc. 

When a Sim becomes a ghost, they have a mastery that they develop over the course of time. After leveling up, your Sim is given points that can be put towards gaining ghostly skills. The ghost mastery has 5 tiers, Wispling, Ethereal Novice, Phantasmal Ascendant, Spectral Luminary, and Transcendent Wraith. You can decide if your Sim is either a good ghost or an evil ghost by what abilities you select. After you have decided, your Sim gains a tattoo that states what type of ghost they are. If you’re a good ghost you can perform deeds that combat the bad ghost’s evil acts, for example after a bad ghost decides to throw trash on the ground, a good ghost can magically make the trash disappear. 

A Sim can write a will that addresses what they want to happen at their funeral, or if they want one at all. The will allows the Sims to distribute their Simoleons (the currency in the Sim world) to the Sim of their choosing, assign a caretaker for their dependent Sims, and pass down heirlooms. 

The best thing about the new pack is being able to be the Grim Reaper. Your Sim starts their job off in the Netherworld, where you can go with them to the Grim office or let them work there on their own and focus on other Sims if you have them. Regardless of what you select, your Sim will continue to gain career experience that will allow them to be promoted in the future. There are 10 job levels from Grimterm to Reaper. This job is similar to the Get To Work Expansion Pack with the Detective. The Grim (your Sim) must establish a cause of death, talk to witnesses, and investigate the other items that may be found on the lot before they reap the souls. There is a soul quota of 25 you must reach before the end of the week, or you won’t receive special items from the original Grim Reaper (your Sims boss). You can always buy some souls from Waylon Warez, the merchant that can be found in Ravenwood graveyard at any time. 

Ravenwood is a mystical world that has three different cities that can be explored: Crow’s Crossing, Mournvale and Whispering Glen. These are good areas to start a Sim family. Exploring these cities will help you acquire the mystical tarot deck cards of Lady Ravenwood that are said to be lost. If that’s not your cup of tea, you could always buy the tarot deck with 8,000 satisfaction points. 

Lastly, there’s the Soul’s Journey, the Soul Journey has nine levels that you can move up by completing goals set by your Sims or goals you set yourself. The levels go in this order: Making Headway, Finding Purpose, No Regrets, Quite Journey, Dreams Fulfilled, Newfound Purpose and The Big Picture. After achieving The Big Picture, your Sim can now reincarnate and maintain the skills they had and gain new skills too. 

On top of all these exciting new paths, there are new skills like anthropology and new personality traits too, but you’ll have to play the game to find out for yourself.

Image credit: © 2024 Electronic Arts Inc.