EA's bug-blasting mission in The Sims 4 continues, with its latest patch preventing Sims from WooHoo-ing in broken steam rooms and rampaging werewolves from getting distracted by Tiktok

Late in September, EA committed to two months of maintenance for The Sims 4, as its community reported a growing number of bugs afflicting the 12-year-old life sim. The publisher wants the ageing sequel to continue as the primary platform for virtual soap operas for the foreseeable future, rather than replace it and its many expansions with a full-on sequel. But the bugs piling higher than a locust swarm in a grain silo threatened to undermine the game's foundations.

The first batch of bugfixes landed with immediate effect, addressing issues like deformed pets and vanishing ghost children. Slightly later than planned, the second QoL patch has now arrived, fixing more than 150 problems raised by the community on the EA forums and social media.

As with any systems-heavy game, The Sims 4's complex web of interactions often produces patch notes that read more like a comedy script than an actual changelog, and this latest update includes some classics of the genre.

For example, EA has tweaked "relationship decay" on couples who have a baby because it was "too fast and destroying relationships" (which frankly sounds realistic to me) while Sims have also been instructed to put items like food, drink and books into the relevant storage area, rather than "random inventories like the ICYA-Chest or Sticker Storage Box."

Elsewhere, EA has toned down some of the Sims' kinkier traits. They've adjusted the behaviour of Sims trying to get steamy in steam rooms, ensuring they "can only WooHoo in steam rooms that are indoors and not broken" and will "stop unsuccessfully attempting outdoors". Quitters. Meanwhile, in defiance of the Randy Newman song covered by everyone from Joe Cocker to Tom Jones, EA has made it so "Sims will stop wearing hats while in their nude outfits".

My favourite from the list, though, relates to The Sims 4's werewolves expansion pack, simply stating "Werewolves will not use their phone when rampaging." Even rabid lycanthropes cannot resist the hypnotic allure of short-form video.

Alongside the many bugfixes, EA has also added a new, free collection of items into The Sims 4 themed around West African culture. Created in partnership with the Pan African Gaming Group and Sims players with direct connections to West African countries, the collection lets you create a sim with fashion and accessories inspired by West African designs, cook plates of jollof rice with sides of chicken drumsticks, and decorate home with aloe plants, woven baskets, hiwe area rugs, and more.

This latest update represents the end of EA's quality-of-life initiative, though the publisher's original post on the subject notes that "ongoing work" will be shaped by players "utilizing the EA Forums and casting your votes". EA is also planning a larger technology refresh for The Sims 4 at some point in the future, at least according to an interview EA president Laura Miele gave to Variety in July.

Whether this will be affected by EA's recent acquisition remains to be seen, though The Sims 4's content creators have already departed in droves due to the Saudi-backed buyout, while the developers have stated that the game "will always be a space where you can express your authentic self".

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