The iconic The Sims franchise has brought us all sorts of bizarre things from aliens to Cowplants, but the morbidly intrigued of us have always been fascinated by how your characters can die.
We’ve all been there, making an inescapable pool to watch our nemesis Sims drown, right?
EA’s life simulation game series has spanned over two decades, jam packed with kooky expansions and unusual characters. The Sims doesn’t shy away from making weird things happen to your characters – alien babies or possession anyone? But nothing hits quite like the truly strange ways your Sims can meet their demise.
With The Sims 4: Paranormal Stuff Pack announced, we thought we would look back at the 12 weirdest ways your Sims can die across the entire series! To keep it fair we are not including deaths where you require a mod or if your Sim dies in a normal way under weird circumstances. This means no death by WooHoo, sorry guys!
12. Death By Rally Forth (The Sims 2: Open for Business)
The Sims 2‘s business expansion pack featured all sorts of new options, enabling you to open and run your own business. But how can that end in death, you may ask? You see, your Sims can use the ‘rally forth’ action to boost their employees’ moods and abilities. However, you Sim can die if their needs are too low. Rally Forth has its own unique ghost which fittingly includes the microphone used in the interaction. This death just catches you off guard and we love the unique ghost!
11. Death By Skydiving Simulator (The Sims: Superstar)
The early sim days are by no means excluded from having weird deaths! If your Sim decides to go for a leisurely thrill in the skydiving simulator, they may get more than they bargained for. If your Sim is blocked in the simulator for a long time, the machine will actually eject them into the air to their death. To make this even more brutal, your Sim will not even receive a visit from the Grim Reaper. Some say these Sims are still being ejected to this day…
10. Death By Toadification (The Sims: Makin’ Magic)
Following up with The Sims Makin’ Magic, we’re sure no sim expects to be eaten by their pet cat… or dragon? Practitioners of magic can turn sims into toads, who can then unfortunately meet their demise by their pets’ insatiable hunger. The only reason this death isn’t higher up is that it’s not overly animated compared to others, and you don’t really see your Sim-toad get eaten.
9. Death By Guinea Pig Disease (The Sims: Livin’ Large)
From one pet betrayal to another, The Sims: Livin’ Large made it possible for your Sim to meet their demise by their fluffy pet guinea pig. This can happen when your Sim is bitten by a guinea pig who has a dirty cage or from another infectious Sim. If your Sim is not treated soon enough, they will die. But as noted, your Sim can be treated so it’s not a complete death sentence! For the same reasons as the previously entry, the only reason this death isn’t higher up is because it is not overly action packed and you can’t really see a lot. This of course is likely to be because the game is over 20 years old so not as animated as later instalments!
8. Death By Hysteria (The Sims 4)
This is the first entry that does not require any expansions, hence why this death gets a bit of a boost! Death by laughing is undoubtedly a bittersweet way to go, but there is something quite unsettling about how this death plays out. This plays out if Sims with the hysterical emotion are not calmed down, and then begin to wheeze from laughing and eventually run out of breath. Horrifying? Absolutely.
7. Death By Satellite (The Sims 2)
Like the previous entry, this death is in The Sims 2 base game and can easily be described as a freak accident. The way this happens is basically if your Sim stargazes or looks at the clouds, there is a 1% chance that they will be struck by a falling satellite and die. So the best way to avoid this is to not consistently stargaze! This death is dramatic and animated, with just the right level of “what just happened?”
6. Death By Flies (The Sims 2 and The Sims 4: Eco Lifestyle)
If your Sim is unfortunate enough, they may find themselves being eaten alive by flies! Something straight out of a horror movie. This was first introduced in The Sims 2, but has made a reappearance in The Sims 4: Eco Lifestyle. In The Sims 2, this death can occur if there are a large number of dirty objects with green clouds in a room. If your Sim walks through this fly infested area, there is chance that the flies will swarm them until there is literally nothing left. The only positive is that you get a cool purple ghost out if it!
In The Sims 4: Eco Lifestyle, it works slightly differently. The death can be triggered if your Sim attempts the ‘bond with flies’ interaction. Unlike The Sims 2, the flies cover the Sim but do not consumed them. At least they’re a little more courteous! However, the Sim’s ghost will always be surrounded by flies.
5. Death By Beetles (The Sims 4: Eco Lifestyle)
This one is cool for a whole different reason. This death occurs if your Sim drinks ‘beetle juice’ three times in a row. Sound familiar? However, unlike other deaths on this list, there is no dramatic death animation as the sim turns straight into a ghost. Beetle juice can be made at level 10 of the mixology skill. It’s show time!
4. Death By Time Anomaly (The Sims 3: Into The Future)
Sticking with pop culture, this death might also ring a bell! The way death by time anomaly can occur is with excessive use of the ‘Wellsian Time Portal’. Your Sim may notice that they have picked up a moodlet called ‘Time Paradox Sickness’. If the Sim has the ‘Blinking In and Out of Existence’ moodlet, you may notice they will have an arm or leg vanish and reappear. Even further along, your sim may get an action and moodlet called ‘Do I Even Exist?’ In this case your sim will disappear and reappear. But at this stage, all hope is not lost as your sim can admit themselves to hospital to be cured!
However, if you do not go to a hospital in time, your Sim will die by time anomaly, meaning they will disappear and not return. This is nightmare fuel! Even the gravestone of the sim who dies by time anomaly will show them partially faded.
3. Death By Mummy’s Curse (The Sims 3: World Adventures)
If your Sim is unfortunate enough to encounter and fight a mummy, you may notice them casting a haze onto your Sim. Your Sim is now cursed! There are lot of ways to break the curse including pleading with the sphinx, rebuilding the ‘Blessed King’s Sarcophagus’, meditation, and loads more if you have other expansions. You have two weeks to lift the curse before your Sim will die. As the time gets close, you may notice a black haze around the borders of your screen when you play as the Sim. Three hours before death, a mummy’s face appears on the screen and fades in and out, as well as becoming gradually blurrier.
If you don’t make it in time, your Sim will be surrounded by a sandy hurricane before being reduced to a pile of dust. It is very animated and creepy! The Sim’s ghost will have a hazy colour as a ghost.
2. Death By Jelly Beans (The Sims 3: Supernatural)
You’d like to think tucking into jelly beans wouldn’t result in death. But in the world of The Sims, anything is possible. If you grow a magical jelly bean bush from The Sims 3: Supernatural expansion, you can receive so many things. This includes a whole lot of positive moodlets, but right there at the bottom there is a 1% chance of death. This happens if your Sim seemingly eats the wrong jelly bean. Your Sim will grab their stomach as though they will vomit, before keeling over dead!
However, your Sim’s ghost will be making a statement with the bold purple and blue color scheme!
1. Death By Cowplant (The Sims 2: University, The Sims 3 Store, The Sims 4)
The top spot couldn’t be anything else! The Cowplant, also known as Laganaphyllis simnovorii (try saying that after a few drinks) could in theory be some eccentric lovable pet. But let’s just say it isn’t afraid to bite. The brilliance of the Cowplant is that if you nurture it and eventually milk it, you will receive the elixir of life, adding extra days or even resetting your Sim’s current life stage in The Sims 3. But this certainly doesn’t come without risk!
In all of the games, the Cowplant will stick out its tongue with a tempting looking cake on it which it will use to lure sims for a sneaky bite. The Cowplant will attempt to or will succeed in devouring your Sims for a meal they may not have been anticipating! This can of course vary across the three games, as your Sim can be spat back out in later instalments. Your Sims’ ghosts also vary in color from green in The Sims 2 to purple in The Sims 3.
The Cowplant deserves top place as the rewards it can give are extremely tempting, but the risk is also there. The Cowplant is animated and truly strange with the deaths being equally animated and unsettling!
What’s your favorite way to make your Sim meet their untimely demise? Think we missed any in our list? Let us know in the comments!
