Maxis has released the official blog for The Sims 4 High School Years Expansion Pack!
[The PA system crackles as it turns on and the principal starts their morning announcement.]
Good morning, students and faculty of Copperdale High! Welcome back to another adventure-filled school year. For those of you that are new to our school and town, we’re excited to have you joining our dear community! Once renowned for its booming mining industry, Copperdale is a small town nestled on the banks of Lake LaSuli where you can truly live out your teenage dreams, explore your identity, and test boundaries through choices and growth.
We are so proud of our community creators and the seven lots they built in Copperdale, including MsGryphi, who built ThrifTea–the thrift store and local boba hangout, xfreezerbunnyx, who built the library, and JOL1990, who built the high school principal’s old money mansion.
We’ll be giving tours of the school and town after the final bell today, and all are welcome to join.
Here’s to all the memories we’ll be making together this school year.
Go Copperdale Womp Womps!
Carving Your Own Path in High School
Copperdale High is the center of your teen Sims’ world. Inside these halls, Sims participate in everything that makes high school such a formative time in life, from building lifelong friendships, to selecting our favorite extracurricular activities and graduating into adulthood.
During school hours, Sims attend class, hang out with friends, have lunch in the cafeteria, take weekly exams, and hopefully avoid being scolded by the principal who patrols the halls! After school, students can participate in activities like football, cheerleading, chess, and computer clubs, go to events like the science fair, or head home to their poster-filled bedroom to complete their homework.
In terms of extracurriculars, teen Sims can join an after-school club or team like football or cheer, practice these skill related activities, participate in competitions, and experience the highs and lows of winning and losing alongside your teammates.
You’ll even have the opportunity to navigate through the challenges and joys of young love, whether it’s the blissfulness of the crush stage, or the woes of a teenage breakup. A word of advice: Plumbite Pier is the perfect date spot! There is an amusement park with a haunted house, tunnel of love, a ferris wheel, and a photobooth for memories!
Explore Your Teen Identity
Teen years and high school are the launching points for self-discovery. Creating even more ways for Sims to explore their identities, a free base game update will go live alongside the release of High School Years, introducing an additional new feature that will add more choice and opportunity for discovery to your Sims’ lives.
The free base game update will also introduce body hair. For those with the High School Years Expansion Pack, Sims will be able to groom and trim their body hair’s natural growth over time, celebrating that transition through puberty.
You can learn more about the new base game updates coming to The Sims 4 on Friday, July 15, 2022 at 11am PDT on Twitch and YouTube.
Express Your Creativity With Pranks and Style!
What is high school without a little mischief? In High School Years, discover an all new mischievous side to your teen Sims as they pull pranks. Mark up the whiteboard, leave a stink capsule in your classmate’s locker, or mess with the school’s PA system, but don’t get caught! Successfully pranking other Sims will increase your mischief skill, but being discovered will have consequences on relationships, as well as lead to trust issues.
Back at home, you can make your teen Sim’s bedroom an oasis that fully reflects their personality and style, as unique as they are. Teen Sims can hang out in the bedrooms, with Sims now able to sit crossed-legged on the bed together and have pillow fights. Need to sneak out of the house after curfew? Sims can exit the house via The E window and trellis ladder, and climb down the side of a house.
Fashion is the ultimate form of self-expression, and has always been a huge part of The Sims. As part of The Sims 4 High School Years Expansion Pack, your Sim’s fashion options are growing even larger via a collaboration with Depop, the circular fashion marketplace app where the next generation comes to discover unique items. Sims can discover clothing items designed by real-world Depop sellers Jeremy Salazar, Sha’an D’Antes, Lapoze McTribouy, Selena Williams and Bella McFadden in-game at the local thrift store and boba hangout, ThrifTea, and earn Simoleons by selling outfits they curate and hype on the new in-game Trendi app and become a “Simfluencer” in the process.
Take pictures of your Sims’ new outfits at the mural from artist Monica Ahanonu, displayed on the side of ThrifTea, drawing inspiration from The Sims x Depop collaboration.
Star Quarterbacks, Prom Queens and Valedictorians
It wouldn’t be a true high school adventure without prom and graduation.
Perhaps the most nerve-wracking yet exciting night of a teen Sims’ high school years is prom. You’ll be able to customize every aspect of your Sim’s prom, beginning with prom preparation and the event itself. Sims can go solo, ask someone to the prom, go with friends, or skip out altogether. From there, players can dive into the details including creating and presenting a promposal sign, selecting outfits, having friends over to get ready, and voting for prom royalty. Players can also plan out their dance routines, music, snacks, and more. How a Sim prepares for and participates in prom will impact their relationships going forward!
And then, of course, the high school experience culminates with graduation, the ceremony bookending a Sim’s time at Copperdale High. It’s a chance to celebrate with friends and family, and welcome in the next stage of life. Sims can prepare before the main event by inviting guests, deciding their outfit, and acquiring gifts for friends and teachers. All the decisions your Sim has made throughout their high school journey will impact how their graduation plays out. Sims can choose whether or not they attend, but they won’t be invited to graduate if their grades don’t meet the mark!
No matter how you choose to live out your High School Years in The Sims 4, there are no wrong answers. Unless it’s a test you forgot to study for.
Join us for a deep dive of High School Years and learn more about the new base game updates coming to The Sims 4 on Friday, July 15, 2022 at 11am PDT on Twitch and YouTube.
Preorder* The Sims 4 High School Years Expansion Pack now to start playing immediately when it launches on July 28, 2022 for Mac/PC on Origin and Steam, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation®4 and PlayStation®5.
*Conditions and restrictions apply. See https://www.ea.com/games/the-sims/the-sims-4/packs/expansion-packs/the-sims-4-high-school-years for details.
