Laundry you say? Wash clothing you say? Stinking undergarments? Soiled Pants? That sweater your Sims have had at the bottom of the pile since Sims started? Well…
You asked for it! EA is giving it to you! Time for Sims to do laundry. That’s right, Sims will join the world of the living being able to have a laundry at home. As per community request, Sims will do laundry with the new stuff pack, The Sims 4: Laundry Day, coming your way January 16.
I had a chance to delve into the smelly business of Sims wash loads and sneak a peek of the new pack. While there are no new aspirations or traits, there are plenty of new interactions for doing laundry and one silly interaction that your Sims can play on each other.
I’ll start off with doing laundry. There are three clothes baskets to choose from. Each clothes basket has a limit and seems to hold its own laundry. You only need one in the house for all the Sims in the household, but since it’s limited, unless you want to do laundry everyday, I would have one for each adult Sim. And unlike The Sims 3 (happy happy joy joy), they do not have to be in the room when they change. Throw clothes anywhere on the lot, and the clothing magically goes in the basket.
Now we all know that EA has a great sense of humor. They have included several wash options. Have a small apartment in the city? Then you can have a shiny new double loader. Have the space? Then you can have the deluxe side by side washer and dryer. Wait, your Sims are broke? Not to worry, they can have fresh laundry too with the handy dandy wash tub! Complete with the wash board to work on those abs! The water must be changed in tubs after every wash, and toddlers can play in the water. It’s too darn funny.
Clicking on the laundry basket gives you the interactions for doing laundry or searching pockets. I found some change. It wasn’t much, but my broke Sims appreciated it. Four Simoleans. We eat tonight!
Then it’s on to the washer, or washtub depending on what you have available. If you have both, then both options come up. Once you have your laundry in the washer (or washtub), you can choose doing the laundry or simply dropping it on the floor.
Your Sims have the interaction to watch the laundry. I suppose if you have an unemployed, very bored Sim, watching laundry can seem almost exciting. Rumor has it that some Sims can get dizzy on the spin cycle. I tried, but alas, couldn’t get my Sim dizzy. Upgrading your washer can give you even more interactions, but unfortunately, my Sims are great at food and arts, but there are no handy Sims around.
After your wash cycle, of course you have to dry the clothes and EA put a really nifty clothes line in game, but I suppose if you really have to, you can waste energy and use the ever boring clothes dryer. Do not forget to clean the dryer lint trap. Doing so can result in the dryer blowing up in yet another way to possibly kill a Sim! Ahhh, gotta love EA!
Of course, I did both to show you the new interactions.
(isn’t he cute)
One really COOL thing is that laundry ages. So the older the clothing, the dirtier it gets until that infamous green toxic fume hovers over your clothing. If you hover over the clothing you can see the state of the laundry. For the purpose of giving you a screenshot, I went ahead and just dumped them from the washer.
Sims that are slobs will change and dump items on the floor. If you don’t pick them up, then you will have a horrible smell in your house after a while. Clean clothing ages as well, so it’s best to wear fresh after a wash.
I found that butlers and maids keep up with laundry, however that really bad maid just dumps the clothes on the floor. My maid in my well-to-do Sims’ house just dumped it and left at the end of her day. Pfft. She’s fired.
With that I give you some new items coming with this pack:
Clothing
Objects
EA decided not to make this Stuff Pack too cumbersome like the washing was in Sims 3. So those of you who toiled and worked and really thought washing was something you wish you never installed in The Sims 3 days, do not worry. It’s a fun, interactive, not too cumbersome version of Sims having laundry. While I ended up uninstalling The Sims 3 version, I’m keeping this one. It’s fun, funny, and a better take on laundry in your sims life.
