The Sims 4: How To Create A Legacy Challenge (2024)

In The Sims 4, players embark on a journey to create unique families, encounter obstacles and challenges, and craft tales of a Sim's life. When these players tire from the quiet life of their save files and crave something new, they often turn to challenges to spice up their gameplay. Legacy challenges offer the opportunity for players to dive deeper into the lives of their characters and several generations that follow them.

While many turn to the Not So Berry Challenge or the Decades Challenge, others may desire something different. Those who are eager to design their own generational storyline and create a legacy challenge of their own are in the right place. After providing the established rules and goals for the challenge, invite fellow players to join in on the fun. With this formula, players can create a legacy challenge for The Sims 4 that ranks among some of the greatest.

What Is A Legacy Challenge?

Before creating a legacy challenge, it is important to know what they are and how they differ from other challenges in The Sims 4. Legacy challenges tell the story of a Sim and the distinctive generations after them. They are written by players from the Sims community, giving players a roadmap on how to play the game and enjoy the story of a family's journey through life.

After establishing the theme for the challenge, lay down the law with a founder Sim. The founder desires to set their family up for success and pass on their ideals for generations to come. Players must choose an heir for the generation, which will be the Sim they follow to continue the bloodline. Creators often decide specific traits, aspirations, skill or career level requirements, and personalities for the heirs of each generation. Completing all the creator's tasks and following all of their rules leaves players satisfied with a completed storyline and a successful challenge.

General Rules

Now that an understanding of a legacy challenge has been established, it's time to build the backbone and decide on the rules for how the challenge will progress. First, decide the theme for the challenge. It could be as simple as following an alphabetical naming pattern or colors or as intricate as matching historical stories. The theme of the Barbie Legacy Challenge, for example, challenges each player to create strong female heirs who excel in their careers.

The following are some examples of rules that most legacy challenges follow:

• Money cheats (motherlode, kaching, rosebud, money x, etc.) are not allowed. The free real estate cheat is allowed on the founder's house, but the heirs must purchase every other house they move into.
• The founder and each heir who succeeds them must complete the career, skill, and aspiration requirements for their given generation.
• Keep the lifespan normal (or short for an extra challenge). Players may only pause aging for storytelling purposes.
• All goals and requirements should be met before moving on to the next generation. After all generations, players are free to continue the storyline or write their own rules for their legacy family.

In order to tell specific storylines, players may need specific content in the game. The Sims 4 has many expansion packs that add new features as well as extra depth and variety to the legacy challenge. For example, if an heir must be an alien, players must have the Get To Work expansion. Be sure to write out exactly what packs players will need for this challenge. Make the challenge more of a collaborative effort by allowing players to modify the rules to keep the challenge more engaging and enjoyable. Players with a large following may enjoy taking input on decisions such as choosing the heir, naming their children, and deciding which world they will live in.

Generations

Once the general rules and themes have been established, it's time to write the backstory. Why is the founder motivated to start a legacy? Perhaps there is an object they'd like to pass down, or they'd like to build a hefty inheritance so that their children will never be poor. Creators should also write personalized storylines for the founder and heirs, delving into their personalities or other specific requirements. Should they have a certain trait? Should the heir's name or their appearance be reminiscent of the theme? Try not to fixate on the gameplay mechanics for the backstory. Encourage players to think about the overall storyline and direct them towards certain interactions and relationships between family members.

After the intricacies of each Sim have been decided, set goals for each generation to achieve before moving on to the next. Many legacy challenges ask players to maximize relevant skills and careers to their storyline. There are plenty of tips about how to learn skills faster or how to get promotions quicker in order to keep the player's priorities on the story. Add secondary challenges like completing collections or aspirations or accruing a set amount of money before the next generation begins. Remember to keep the goals realistic, considering rules about time or age restraints.

Finally, decide how the next generation is chosen. Common methods of heir selection include choosing the oldest child or using a random generator. Some creators write specific rules about the heirs, specifying their gender or occult species. Many leave this choice up to the player.

Platform

A challenge won't go far by word of mouth or shared between a few friends. Before publishing the challenge, creators should play test their challenge to see if the parameters are possible. Then, it's time to involve the rest of The Sims 4 community and invite them to the fun by sharing the challenge on social media. Many creators choose to share the rules to their challenge on Tumblr, The Sims Forum, or Instagram. This will establish the creator's name and Sims-themed profile on social media.

Consider taking and transferring screenshots from the test run playthrough to enhance the post's visual appeal and make the legacy challenge stand out from the rest. Hashtags are a great way to ensure the post reaches the right audience and could also help players of the challenge share their progress.

The Sims 4 is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

MORE: The Sims 5 Needs To Accommodate Legacy Challenge Players