I tried to replicate my current lifestyle in a way. Living alone in a small house, intentionally avoiding contact with most people, I am quite happy. In my free time I write, play video games, watch movies. I find it difficult to balance that with work and chores, but it's doable. Not so much in this game.

My Sim started out alright, but gradually began running out of some stats. In particular Fun and Social were difficult for me to maintain because I prioritized Energy and Hunger, you know, to not die. But even with the prioritization, I could barely keep them at an acceptable level. My character slipped into a persistent depression and constant bursts of insanity. I had to quit my job, I had no time to watch movies or play games anymore, and couldn't write because of "bad mood". And it's like the worse you're doing with some stats, the more of a hit the other stats take. It's a slippery slope. Before I knew it, my guy was pissing everywhere and randomly passing out. I wanted to commit suicide, but the game gives you no such option.

Eventually I ran out of patience and decided to kill him the only way the game would allow me: the long and painful one. I sold everything and essentially made him homeless. He couldn't make it through the winter.

In the end the game scolded me for killing my Sim. Saying it's a game about life. Is it though? Is it really? If life was as miserable as you depict it in this game, I don't think anyone would've bothered with it. Though of course you sell it wrapped into this yuppie suburban paradise package. Let's be real for a second though. A game like The Sims only really made sense in the 90s and the early 00s. The world in which it exists is long gone.

But I really wonder if the other games in the series are as relentless. I remember all of them being pretty chill. This experience was a very unpleasant surprise.

EDIT Mar 24, 2023:

Just watched a video about the game, and apparently purchasing more expensive items and having a family makes the game easier? No wonder I could barely keep my Sim alive. What kind of message is this sending? If you're content with solitude and simplicity, you're living your life wrong? Seems like some kinda neoliberal capitalist propaganda. "Spend, consume, procreate! You'll never be happy until you have a bigger house with more stuff. You'll always be lonely unless you find somebody that loves you and make children with them"

This is like the opposite of what every major religion teaches. Laozi, Buddha, Jesus and Muhammad would've all died in this game.