The Sims’ iconic Goth family gets a makeover

polygon.com:

The Sims 4 is giving the Goth family a makeover. The game’s most prominent family — Mortimer, Bella, Cassandra, and Alexander — has been a staple in the life-simulation game series since The Sims, with a few different variations and storylines over the years. The family has more or less stayed the same over the years, though with each new game each family member has gotten an update, whether that’s better graphical fidelity or a new outfit.

The new iteration on the family builds on their legacy and lore, while keeping some traditions intact: Bella’s still got her red dress, and Cassandra’s still wearing pigtails. You’ll certainly recognize the family as the Goths. Just a new era for them.

And the Goths have certainly been through a lot over the franchise. If you’re not in deep with The Sims lore — yes, there’s lore — then you might not realize that each Sims game has “threads connecting the lore,” senior creative director Anna Huerta said. The timelines between the games are all mixed up; for instance, The Sims 3 is set in a time period before The Sims 2, with a young Mortimer Goth and his parents, and Bella’s abducted by aliens in The Sims 2 — so she’s not living with the family. The Sims 3 leads into The Sims’ timeline, in which Mortimer, Bella, and Cassandra are starting their new life.

The Goth family in The Sims 4 is basically an alternate timeline for the family, a world in which Bella was not abducted by aliens. The family legacy now feels like an extension of the family in The Sims, after Cassandra has grown up and her younger brother, Alexander, has been born.

The Goth family timeline is chaotic and intentionally vague; the family seems to operate outside of the laws of time and space. The fun of the Goth