The Sims 4 is a noisy game, especially once you've piled on a few expansion packs. You're constantly fielding stray notifications and unsolicited calls from acquaintances asking you for advice, and before you know it you've soiled your pants and bowling night is ruined. Thankfully, the headlining note in a recent Sims 4 patch is a stab at "clearing the noise."
As the update blog notes, there are loads of new menu options for in-game alerts. You can silence your phone entirely, for instance, and toggle festival notifications for each individual pack.
Some nonsensical cases of unwelcome calls have been accounted for explicitly: freelancer sims will no longer receive calls regarding careers they aren't in, the grim reaper will only bother recruiting sims if they’re already tagged as macabre (see our guide on that if you think claiming the souls of the dead actually sounds pretty rad), and sims on your front lawn won't call you to ask about your childhood anymore.
There are a lot more notes like that, so I'd check out the blog if you want to ensure the thing that bothers you in particular was accounted for. Beyond that, there are over 70 bug fixes to peruse as well—among them, sims created as romantic partners shouldn't errantly become siblings all of a sudden anymore, doors and windows should clip less, and the gallery UI should be less buggy.
As always, The Sims patch notes are simultaneously a bizarre read and a relief to regular players who are well-acquainted with the life simulation's innumerable quirks. As it turns out, simulating human life in a videogame comes with some challenges. If you'd rather introduce some new bugs, take a look at our list of the best Sims 4 mods, and if you're looking for a change, try our list of the best Sims-likes.
