Best Sims 4 Realism Mods For Realistic Immersion

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We play EA’s Sims 4 to experience a detailed simulation of human life.

It’s fun to watch the wacky situations our sim counterparts get themselves into… or the situations we force onto them for our amusement.

But The Sims contrasts substantially with human life in its cartoonish nature. Everything is funny, absurd, and sims just take everything as lightly as possible. For them, life is simple.

Well not anymore! Thanks to the tireless work of some amazing modders, we can re-introduce some of the more nuanced aspects of human life into the game, increasing the simulation’s complexity and often making everything just a little bit darker, grittier… more real.

For anyone interested in making their Sims experience as real as it can be, here are the some awesome mods for increased realism.

20. Realistic Reactions

Realistic Reactions Sims4

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Have you ever been cheated on?

Hopefully not, but let me tell you it isn’t chill.

For this reason I always found it unrealistic that sims would just get angry at their cheating spouse for a little bit before returning to normal, at least whenever infidelity was actually discovered.

Creator Scaldwellhu agrees. And they made a mod to make cheating as big a deal as it usually is in real life.

Now couples will be devastated by the event, and it’ll take a lot of work to get things back in order. Even the kids will feel upset when their parents are in this situation!

19. Miscarriage Chance

Miscarriage Chance mod

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Pregnancy is a beautiful process. But sometimes there are complications, and that’s just a fact of life.

This mod by LittleMsSam introduces a slight chance that one morning, a pregnant Sim may wake up with cramps and abdominal pain, prompting them to go to the hospital.

While sometimes they’ll come back with a healthy baby and make everyone in the household relieved, more often than not they’ll return with dark news despite the doctor’s best efforts.

It’s sad, it’s dark, and it’s incredibly realistic.

Now on the flip side, if you want pregnancy custom content that’s a bit more light-hearted take a peek at our pregnancy mods list. Not as much realism, but a whole lotta fun in there.

18. Pregnancy Overhaul Mod

Pregnancy Overhaul Mod

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Creator LittleMsSam doesn’t just want to put a damper on your reproductive fun.

She just strives for realism, which we can find in her Pregnancy Overhaul Mod.

Not only does it replace the absurd pregnant belly size found in vanilla for something more anatomically correct, but it removes the exaggerated pregnant walking animation as well.

It also lets expecting sims continue practicing yoga, swimming, and other such activities up to the beginning of their third trimester, as is normal for would-be-moms in real life(which I had to Google to confirm, I mean I’ve never been pregnant so…)

17. Risky Woohoo & Try For Baby Chances

Risky Woohoo Sims4 mod

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Normally you can actively choose whether you want a sim to have safe Woohoo with a partner, or outright try for a baby and get them pregnant.

But that’s not quite how it works in real life.

Modder PolarBearSims came up with some tweaks to make the Woohoo experience more immersive by replacing it with Risky Woohoo, and implementing a complex fertility system affecting all sims.

Depending on their fertility levels, location of the encounter, and some other factors, some sims will have more of a chance of becoming pregnant accidentally than others. Sims may also become infertile, requiring them to get fertility treatments to actually get pregnant. If that isn’t real, I don’t know what is.

16. More Best Friends

More Best Friends Sims4 mod

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I’ve never been able to give a definitive answer when someone asks who my best friend is.

I would never be able to pick just one. They’re all key parts of my life!

Thanks to creator LittleMsSam, your sims won’t have to pick just one either.

Now the “become best friends” interaction will have a 30-minute cooldown rather than a one-time use, allowing you to create inseparable squads of Sim besties.

15. SNB – Sim National Bank

Sim National Bank Sims4 mod

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The way money and bills work in The Sims 4 is pretty basic for a game made for simulating human life.

Sim National Bank by SimRealist is an in-depth mod that endeavors to overhaul the financial system in TS4, letting sims manage bank accounts, take out loans, pay their bills individually, and so on.

Quite honestly, this is one of the most realism-enhancing mods I’ve ever seen.

But only the most hardcore players will actually have fun introducing accounting into their sim lives, which is why I don’t place it higher in this ranking.

But let it be known, this mod is exceptionally realistic.

14. Personality Please!

Personality Please mod

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Sims are notoriously less complicated than humans. They take life one day at a time and often choose what feels right in the moment, rather than what makes sense in the long run.

Personality Please! by PolarBearSims is a mostly romance-centric rework that makes Sims considerably less promiscuous by making traits, aspirations, and past events greatly affect their relationships with other sims.

Now they’ll actually need to be compatible if you want them to get down and dirty.

Other than that, the mod also gives cats and dogs more varied personalities, and sims can learn traits and choose careers just from having deep conversations with others. How cool!

13. Automatic Beards

Automatic Beards Sims4

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Ever since I turned 14 years old, my ever-growing beard has been an important part of my life.

Every morning I decide whether or not to shave, and the choice has important ramifications on how my life plays out. The same should be true of our digital friends.

This mod makes sim beards grow automatically over time, requiring constant shaving. Unless you want your sim to become Gandalf the Grey, that is.

12. SimDa Dating App

SimDa Dating App Sims4

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Dating and finding partners is astoundingly easy in Sims 4 compared to real life. Which is why we needed dating apps, and they don’t – until now.

The SimDa Dating App by LittleMsSam works a lot like a streamlined version of Tinder, allowing your sims to schedule meetings, set up blind dates, or simply call somebody over for a one night stand.

Each of these interactions has its own interesting features and possibilities.

You can start relationships, have some fun… and even get someone pregnant by accident. Just like real life!

11. The Explore Mod

The Explore Mod for Sims4

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While there’s a lot of places to visit and activities to enjoy in The Sims 4, there’s always room for some improvement.

And more autonomy is always good.

The Explore Mod by KawaiiStacie lets your Sims go out and explore the world autonomously, either alone or with friends.

They’ll have adventures, gain skills, meet people, and maybe even change their world view!

This mod adds several entertaining activities like gambling, getting your nails done, doing temporary work for an extra buck, and even going out to get takeout if you’re too lazy to cook. All very realistic and very immersive.

10. Height Slider

Height Slider Sims4 mod

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One of the most frustrating and unrealistic things in the game is how every sim is exactly the same height as others of the same age group.

Well thanks to this mod by creator Luumia, you’ll be able to give your sims different heights through a slider in CAS.

Everything else will, of course, scale proportionately to height.

As a bonus, Luumia included a hip shape slider and neck length variation for even more Sim variety.

9. Extreme Violence

Extreme Violence SFW image of mod

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The world is a very violent place, and even peaceful suburban areas like see their fair share of violence from time to time.

Extreme Violence by Sacrificial Mods adds the possibility for wrongdoing sims to attack others in a wide variety of ways.

Shooting them with machine guns, cracking their necks, chopping them up with a machete, and even crushing their skulls by sitting on them are only some examples.

I mean, I guess it’s realistic?

Not only does it add the acts in themselves, but a bunch of added functionality revolving around them, like the possibility for sims to acquire the Serial Killer trait, or paying a gang to off someone your Sim doesn’t like. Yikes!

8. Meaningful Stories

Meaningful Stories mod

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Sims don’t take life too seriously, and they’re incredibly fickle.

They may be completely devastated by the death of their pet one moment, then ecstatic because they watched a good movie the next with no in-between.

This mod by Roburky reworks the mood and emotion systems to make them more nuanced and realistic.

A depressed sim will need time and help from their friends to get out of a rut, and something like a first kiss will make them feel happy like never before.

Transitions between emotions also take time, and there are transitional periods when they’re feeling a bit of everything.

7. Passionate Romance

Passionate Romance mod

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The romance system in vanilla TS4 is pretty basic.

You can flirt, go on dates, Woohoo and get married, but it never really feels like a relationship.

Passionate Romance by Sacrificial Mods improved this greatly by adding several new interactions like snuggling, hugging romantically, taking a romantic selfie, and even grabbing each other’s butts like they used to in TS2.

6. After School Activities

After School Activities Sims4 mod

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Going to school has never been just about learning history or science.

It’s also about making friends, acquiring skills, and finding yourself.

With this add-on by amazing creator KawaiiStacie you can add all these things. It endeavors to flesh-out educational experiences by adding over 30 after-school programs for children and teens.

Examples include the Anime Club, the Yoga Club, band, and basketball.

Sims partaking in these activities will learn skills, make friends, gain motives, and may even apply for scholarships depending on their performance throughout their school life.

5. Wicked Whims (NSFW)

Wicked Whims mod Sims4

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If there’s something humans never get tired of, it’s sex. We love it, and so should our Sims if we’re to have a realistic experience in-game.

Wicked Whims goes a long way to develop everything sex-related in TS4, from turning the Woohoo interaction incredibly graphic to giving female Sims a fully-functional menstrual cycle complete with mood swings, cramps, varying fertility and a need for pads and tampons.

This one goes deep.

It even introduces contagious STDs! Now if that isn’t seriously realistic, I really don’t know what is.

4. Basemental Drugs

Basemental Drugs mod

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Alcohol and other drugs have been a reality of life since time immemorial, and that’s not about to change anytime soon.

Basemental Drugs endeavors to introduce this reality of human life into TS4. It lets your sim pals acquire, consume, and sell alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, and many other mind-altering substances.

Sims engaging in these activities may become addicted, have problems with the law, get arrested, and even go to rehab… and that’s only the tip of the iceberg.

It’s not pretty, but it is the real world.

3. Basemental Gangs

Basemental Gangs in Sims4

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If you like Basemental Drugs, the Basemental Gangs expansion is sure to pique your interest.

It fleshes out the entire drug dealing aspect of the mod, allowing you to create a criminal empire and become the leader of one of four gangs.

Again, dark but quite brutally realistic.

You’ll have underlings, earn loads of blood money, and there’s even an entire skill system to become a better thug. It may not be wholesome, but it sure as hell is realistic.

If you’ve ever wanted a little more GTA in your Sims experience, this mod is the ultimate crossover.

2. Life’s Tragedies

Life’s Tragedies Sims4 mod

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As you may have realized by now, not everything is glitter and candy.

There are tragic and difficult moments in everyone’s lives. And they can arrive when you least expect them.

Life’s Tragedies by Sacrificial Mods adds a wide variety of possible tragedies that may befall your Sim or NPCs close to them. Like randomly being run over by a car, getting jumped by a homicidal maniac, or even contracting a life-threatening disease they’ll need surgery to overcome.

It may seem a bit intense, but don’t worry. You can control how often these tragedies happen, so you can either turn your Sim’s life into a horror story or just inject a tiny bit of dark realism into your game.

This will be absolutely hilarious, devastatingly upsetting, or some kind of in-between, depending what you’re looking for.

Just note the download page includes a lot of other mods from this creator, so look towards the lower part of the screen for their “Life’s Tragedies” download file. It does get updated from time-to-time so if you want the absolute newest version definitely grab it from the link above.

1. Slice of Life

Slice of Life Sims4 mod

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Easily the most comprehensive and complete realism overhaul for The Sims 4 is Slice of Life by KawaiiStacie.

It’s an extensive mod that touches almost every aspect of life in the game.

Your sims get visible emotions, recurring memories of past events that’ll affect their moods, a complex fitness system, and reactions to their own appearance. Among many other things!

One of the most impressive features of the mod is giving every single sim a personality based on the Myers-Briggs 16 personalities test, which affects the way they behave and interact with other sims to a great extent.

It also adds many features we’ve already seen in previous mods such as functional alcohol, serious sickness, and a complex menstrual cycle, all in a single polished CC pack affecting every sim in your world, including NPCs.

This is truly the ultimate realism mod for The Sims 4, hands down.

If you need a one-stop shop realism mod then give this a try before anything else. You’ll be surprised how much it offers.

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Nelson Chitty

Nelson Chitty is a Venezuelan expat living in Argentina. He’s a writer and translator passionate about history and foreign cultures. His ideal weekend is spent between leisurely playing games of Civilization VI and looking for the next seinen anime to marathon.