Ghosts are back in The Sims 4, swimming pools and new careers are on the way

By Will Fulton October 1, 2014

the sims gender fluidity ghosts — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Ghosts have returned to haunt your Sims in the first free content update for The Sims 4. Maxis has also announced two upcoming free updates that will add in the much-requested swimming pools and some new career options.

On death your Sims can now return as ghosts to haunt the living. Their behavior in death is affected by the means by which they died–someone who died horribly in a fire might be prone to setting a few fires of her own, for instance. Ghosts can be taken in as playable members of your household, and there are even means of bringing them back to life, letting you torment your Sims in an endless cycle of death and resurrection.

Today’s update also introduces, just in time for Halloween, four Star Wars themed costumes for your Sims to wear: Luke Skywalker’s X-wing pilot uniform, Leia’s white robe, Darth Vader’s imposing black suit, and Yoda.

TS4_344_SWCS_02_006 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

November 2014’s free update will bring back swimming pools, whose absence at launch had angered a lot of fans. Soon you will be able to augment your horrific experiments in life and death with the classic maneuver of editing the ladder out of the pool once your Sims are swimming.

December will introduce a variety of new career paths and rewards. All of the patches will also include minor updates based on community feedback, such as more eye colors.

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Will Fulton is a New York-based writer and theater-maker. In 2011 he co-founded mythic theater company AntiMatter Collective…

Gaming

Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways leaves me hopeful for a Resident Evil 6 remake

Ada Wong holds a gun in Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways.

This year’s Resident Evil 4 remake was an important victory for the horror series. Not only did it successfully reimagine a beloved classic, but it finally concocted the perfect action formula for the series at large. That’s an important milestone considering that Resident Evil has historically run into trouble when fully dropping survival horror in favor of blockbuster action (see the misunderstood, but undeniably sloppy Resident Evil 6). The remake paves the way for Capcom to once again evolve its series, taking another crack at the third-person shooter genre it struggled to nail.

In that sense, Resident Evil 4’s new Separate Ways DLC feels like a taste of what’s to come. Capcom uses Ada Wong’s solo chapter to push its action formula even further, weaving in some exciting new tricks that are already leaving me hungry for a true spinoff. It’s not the series’ finest DLC, playing more as an asset-reusing victory lap, but it gives me hope that Resident Evil’s second decent into pure action will be much more successful this time.
Grappling forward
Separate Ways follows Ada Wong, the anti-hero mercenary on a quest to retrieve a Plaga sample for Albert Wesker during the main game. The lengthy bonus episode is a remake in itself, but it's perhaps even more radical than the base game’s reinvention. Right from its completely new opening scene, it's clear that Separate Ways is diverting pretty far from the original DLC. That’s a sensible decision considering how much the new version of Resident Evil 4 reworks Ada Wong. She’s no longer a careless hired gun, but a nuanced character struggling to balance her professional responsibilities with her moral ones.

Gaming

Resident Evil 4 Separate Ways DLC: How to solve the shield wall puzzle in Chapter 4

A wall of shields

As you progress through Resident Evil 4's Separate Ways DLC, you'll eventually need to help Luis score some ingredients for a fresh batch of medicine to aid in fending off the infection ailing both Leon and Ada. As you begin your quest to find the ingredients, you'll first have to solve a lithograph puzzle to open a door leading into a room filled with shields on the wall. In this room, you'll have to shoot specific shields in a specific order to open a cabinet revealing your first ingredient: red ink. Here's how to solve the shield wall puzzle.
How to solve the shield wall puzzle in Chapter 4
After solving the lithograph puzzle and opening the door, you'll enter an area where you can interact with a printing machine to get a piece of paper that hints at interacting with (shooting) the shields hanging all along the walls of the room. The problem is that, well, there are a lot of shields in this room. To find the correct shields, turn around from the printing machine and look at the fireplace along the wall behind you. To the left of this fireplace are the five shields from the picture that you printed.

You need to shoot three of these shields in the following order:

Gaming

Resident Evil 4 Separate Ways DLC: how to solve the lithograph puzzle in Chapter 4

A wall with lithographs

Part of the way through Chapter 4 of Resident Evil 4's Separate Ways DLC, you'll find yourself needing to track down some ingredients to make some new medicine. One of the first things you'll encounter while doing so is a wall of lithographs that must be placed in a specific order to open a hidden door leading to a shield wall puzzle, which itself yields one of the necessary ingredients you're seeking. Here's how to solve the lithograph puzzle.
How to solve the lithograph puzzle in Chapter 4
When you first set off to find the ingredients, you'll probably come across the wall with two lithographs set in it alongside two empty slots. This means you'll first need to find the other two stone tablets – both of which are nearby and require minimal effort to round up. One tablet is easily found in the same room as the lithograph puzzle, while the other is on a desk in a room further down the main hallway.

When you've obtained both lithographs, return to the puzzle and place the tablets into the empty slots. Notice next to each slot is a symbol (two of which are partially scrubbed off) that corresponds to one of the symbols on each of the lithographs. In order to solve this puzzle, you'll need to not only match the appropriate symbol, but you'll also need to select and flip the lithographs to the correct colors, too.