You know what’s great? Building a cute little cottage in The Sims 4 and raising a well-adjusted Sim family with excellent career prospects, grandchildren, and sustainability. Complete with a functioning homestead, beekeeping field, and candle making station. That is the life.
But, do you know what’s better? Being the town’s villain by cursing random sims as a witch, operating a resturaunt that only sells grilled cheese and sushi, or trying to make a living by having dungeon painters.
Yes, dungeon painters.
In honor of my debut sims series Petals and Peril, I’ve curated this list.
If you, like me, occasionally crave a little digital feral energy, here are my favorite ways to take The Sims 4 from a mild life sim to full-blown gremlin-core sandbox. No mods required (but mods absolutely encouraged for maximum chaos).
Give Your Sims Extremely Conflicting Traits.. and DONT Intervene.
Make a Sim that has Animal Enthusiast, Outgoing, and Evil. Watch the social meltdowns unfold every time they try to fulfill their social obligations. Full autonomy. No controlling your sim.
Bonus points if they’re also a neat freak who lives in a swamp.
Or my personal fave: a Self-Absorbed, Gloomy, Dog-Loving celebrity who’s terrified of being outside. They never leave the house, but their fame somehow keeps increasing. What are they doing in there??
The answer: video game tournaments.
Embrace the Occult and Use it for Tomfoolery
Aliens? Spellcasters? Vampires? Fairies?? Ghosts? Yes.
But also.. make a household of Sims who don’t believe in the occult. They’re skeptics, hot heads, and party animals. One thinks he’s just cold all the time and easily gets sunburnt. Another keeps lighting things on fire by accident without needing to cook anything. Another is disguised in human form 24/7.
No one questions it. They’re a throuple.
Or! Combine every occult type into one hybrid monster Sim. Glowing eyes, ghost aura, vampire thirst, and a spellcaster butt-buddy named “Fredward.” Let them loose in Innisgreen without a house. Observe.
*hybrid features may break your game.
Plant Cowplants Where You Shouldn’t in Your Sims World
Cowplants are misunderstood, really. They just want love (and maybe a snack). They’re the best of both worlds for vegans. It’s not exactly a cow. (though, get one of those too.)
I like to hide cowplants in innocuous places:
- Inside the home gym
- Near the kids’ treehouse
- Right next to the mailbox
- In the yoga studio of a luxury spa
Then sit back and wait. Invite your in-laws over. Be patient. Then collect any urns and make a private graveyard or shrine room.
Make a Haunted AirBnB
Build a gorgeous little vacation rental in Granite Falls or Sulani.
Then:
- Add a tragic backstory
- Add unhinged lot traits like gremlins, haunted house residential rental, and gnomes.
- Hide weird items like urns, creepy dolls, or locked rooms with only a chair and a cupcake
- Watch NPC Sims rent from you and lose their minds
Horses… But Wrong
With the Horse Ranch expansion, you have a whole new avenue of chaos. Turning dogs into canine-horse hybrids is soo outdated.
- Name your horse something like “Steve the Tax Evader” or “Emotional Support Meatball” and enable playing as your pet
- Give them traits like ornery, needy, and aggressive
- Ensure your sim knows nothing about horses
- Enter them in competitions with the Worst Possible Training and lowest temperament score
- Let them run loose in San Myshuno and pretend no one notices
Also: tiny cowboy hats. I don’t need to explain. You get it.
Play With Townie Lore (and Break It)
You know that Sim with a tragic marital backstory? Mr. Bob Pancakes? Steal his wife, and post about it on simstagram. Vladdy Daddy who haunts Forgotten Hollow? Send him to college and get him a young hot girlfriend from Britechester. Or.. Lillith.
Y’know Penny Pizzaz? Cheat on your husband with her.
Or…
Marry every single member of the Caliente family into a shared household with Don Lathorio. Then: delete all the doors.
Or better: turn them all into toddlers with full autonomy and no parental supervision. Unhinged daycare simulator. Make their designated adult a runaway teenager.
Public Hygiene Is a Myth
Delete every sink. Every tub. Every toilet.
Now watch how long it takes for things to fall apart. Spoiler: not long.
Even better, build a public bathhouse with exactly one sink and no doors. Place it in the middle of town in a 64×64 and assign it as a wedding venue. That’s just good storytelling.
Modded Mayhem
If you want to go full gremlin, mods are your best friend:
- MC Command Center – micromanage or macromanage the world into oblivion
- Extreme Violence Mod – chaos. Just chaos.
- Slice of Life – dramatic mood swings, random nosebleeds, crying in public. A vibe.
- Wicked Whims – you already know. Or maybe you don’t. That’s okay too.
Also: just fill your Sim’s inventory with grilled cheese and see what breaks.
Final Thoughts From the Sims Gremlin
The Sims 4 was made to be unhinged. No doubt about it.
Underneath the pastel UI, cottagecore vibes, and wholesome aspirations, there is a world that wants to be weird. Lean into it. Embrace it.
If it wasn’t meant to be, we wouldn’t be able to build walls around a pool.
Make your save file a cryptid documentary. Make your Sims go on bad dates and summon ghosts during brunch. Give your horse a top hat and your toddler a nemesis. Why? Just because : )
And most importantly? Tell me all about it on my instagram, youtube, or on the contact page.
Want to see my own unhinged Sims content? Check out midnightsidequest on youtube!
