Steamy new Sims 4 expansion Lovestruck is all about the WooHoo

And the emotions that go with it

EA/Maxis

EA and Maxis are cooking up a new Sims 4 expansion, and this one has relationships and all their intricacy at its foundation. It’s called the Lovestruck expansion, and yes, there’s a lot of WooHoo involved.

The Sims 4 Lovestruck expansion is one part romance game, where your Sim develops their romance skills in Ciudad Enamorada, a large new world designed with “romantic encounters” in mind. Ciudad Enamorada has three neighborhoods, including a swanky upscale one and a middle-class suburb, along with a night club, bars and cafes, foodstalls, and parks all made with date spots in mind. 

You can take your date back home for an intimate night in, and there’s even what sounds like a love hotel – a place called Beso Rapido (roughly translated as Quick Kiss) where your Sims can rent a room for the night. No prizes for guessing what goes on there.

The Sims 4 Lovestruck expansion also adds new aspirations – romance related, naturally – along with a love skill that develops as you date and explore romantically.

The new Cupid’s Corner dating app lets you plan dates with matches, including picking locations, date types, and invitees, while choosing potential partners whose traits and interest, hopefully, align with your Sim’s

That’s where things seem to get more interesting. The other part of the Lovestruck expansion is what aims to be a big improvement in how Sims relationships work in general. Romance Dynamics is part of these improvements, a set of four different relationship types that determine how your Sim and their love interest interact. These include wholesome;where things are happy and fine; steamy, which is focused on the physical, strained, which needs no explanation; and unpredictable, where Sims fight and make up at random.

At the center of this is attraction and compatibility. The Lovestruck expansion adds turn-offs and turn-ons where different traits, interests, and even hairstyles might repulse or attract a potential partner. Romantic interactions and general behavior contribute to romance satisfaction, or the lack of it, as your Sim gradually becomes attached to their current relationship or can’t wait to get out of it.

The Sims 4 Lovestruck expansion launches for PC and console on July 25, 2024.