‘Sims 4’ bug is turning scared Sims into pyromaniacs

The latest update to The Sims 4 has seen the Wants And Fears trait develop several fire-starting bugs.

Following the announcement of The Sims 5, it was confirmed that Sims 4 would be free-to-play. An update followed last week (October 18) but it seems to be causing further issues with the Wants And Fears trait.

Originally launched back in August, Wants And Fears allows Sims to desire things, but also sees them develop fears based on negative experiences.

So, if a Sim burns themselves while cooking or accidentally starts a fire, there’s a chance they might develop a fear of fire. However, in what seems to be a bug, that fear of fire now makes the scared Sim far more likely to start an accidental fire, with several players reporting constant, devastating and expensive fires ruining their game.

@TheSims @Xbox You should really work on fixing all the bugs and crashes for console too… my whole family just died in a spontaneous fire for the second time ???? I’ve updated my game to the best I can an I just don’t know man.

— ℓαυяεη (@LaurenAshly3) October 23, 2022

“It’s gotten so bad my current family has been living off of garden salad and watermelon salad to avoid using the stove or grill. They just don’t have the money to replace a $400 stove almost daily,” wrote one Reddit user. “There have been several times where the stove caught fire twice in one day and had to be replaced each time.”

“4 Sims died in an apartment just now from a random fire from the toilet,” added another player. “The firemen couldn’t put out the fire since the bathroom was too small. It was a kid’s club gathering and they all ran inside the bathroom when the fire started. I left without saving the game, I couldn’t handle the tragedy”.

Is it just me or is there a bug in the game? My sims are randomly insulting each other and other sims, and fires randomly break out. #Sims4 @TheSims

— ???????????????????????? ???????????????????? | ???????????????? ???????????????? ????️ (@Queen_Larios) October 22, 2022

Other players are reporting that their Sim can’t turn into a vampire if they’ve got a fear of the dark, while issues with the loyalty trait are seeing Sims turn mean.

There are a couple of workarounds for this bug. If you force the Sim to confront their fear, they will apparently get over it or players can use a “fear be gone” potion. There is also the option to disable fears entirely, but some players have found this route to be buggy as well.

According to developer Maxis, The Sims 5 is still a “couple of years” away from release.

In other news, it looks like the upcoming The Last Of Us multiplayer title may be a free-to-play game, with Naughty Dog looking to hire someone with proven experience in that field.