The Sims 4 launch day patch fixes babies, Death, and the "Big Hat of Shame"

The Sims 4 launched today, and you know what that means: The day-one patch is here! The first update to the new Sims game fixes a number of oddball issues including problems with Glitter and Abs, hibernating babies, and a Grim Reaper who really just isn't that into you.

Most of the problems addressed by the patch sound relatively minor as these things go, although a couple of crash bugs have apparently been corrected. But the real trouble seems to be with babies who were "incorrectly hibernating within household inventories," a strange bit of behavior that can result in various undesirable outcomes, including being locked in the household inventory if you manage to kill off every other Sim in the house and what sounds like a sort of runaway asexual reproduction. That's really more of a feature than a bug in my book, but I'm not a Sims player so maybe my perspective is skewed.

Also fun: Dating with Death. "Fixed several issues with Sims attempting to go on dates with the Reaper, resulting in non-responsive game states," the patch notes explain. "The Reaper still loves ya baby, he is just too busy to go on a date with every lovelorn Sim that vies for his attention."

The full breakdown of what's what is up at EA's help site . The Sims 4, as mentioned, is out now.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.