Lauren Morton 🔜 GDC '26

Going to start using my government name on AO3 just to prove I know ball.

I almost missed these 4 excellent cozy games launching in February February is surprisingly light on cozy game launches but we're looking forward to these chill picks you shouldn't miss

who's that on the cover? 👀

www.pcgamer.com/games/new-co...

I am a Sims luddite who keeps everything locally and never uploads to the gallery 💀 this is what I deserve

Over half The Sims development team is working on 'the next evolution' Here we are again trying to divine the future of The Sims from an announcement about the future of The Sims.

I beg of you to know when you see this one floating around the internet that she is my own personal Nina Caliente glow up redesign that was tragically lost to my latest Windows reinstall back in December.

The Sims 4's most notorious sex mod gets launched 400,000 times a day, which is more people than I realized were even playing The Sims every day One of The Sims 4's biggest mods is putting up numbers a triple-A game would be jealous of.

Reddit seemed to like this, but mostly I'm just proud of spending the extra half hour to go stage original screenshots in The Sims 4 for a lot of our stories. Small joys.

I said what I said!!!

Finally some good buyout news: A writer just bought back the game she co-created from a blockchain company so it 'doesn’t end up being turned into AI slop' Novelist and game writer Naomi Alderman has bought back the rights to the Zombies, Run! exercise app she's been writing episodes of for more than a decade.

A little games industry buyout win, as a treat.

"I think the best strategy in the age of AI is: bet on yourself," Alderman told me.

www.pcgamer.com/gaming-indus...

Like going to the office in Animal Crossing: my most productive work-from-home experience this year was spending all day online in this virtual co-working game Body-doubling is now 100% cozier.

I'm working I promise

The 'Stardew Valley-like' genre desperately needs a real name and I have the perfect answer We can't keep calling them Stardew-like, farmlife without a farm, and "basically Animal Crossing" forever.

It's 2025 and I'm trying to make "fetch" happen.

www.pcgamer.com/games/life-s...

Inzoi screenshot of a character that looks like Billie Eilish with green hair streaks and a credit to the player IngridBee for the Zoi Canvas template.

Inzoi screenshot of a character that looks like Billie EIlish with black and red hair and an image credit to Drewlagged for creating the Zoi Canvas teamplate.

Ditto for the Billie Eilish ones I've taken that I guarantee you've also seen on other sites lol. Less fussed about that, it ain't my face, but I make sure to credit the players who create the templates and other folks definitely do not.

Take your own screenshots, nerds!

Hah not worried about cash or credit that much I just wish people would either use official screenshots or take their own. A lot of us at PCG spend a ton of time taking original screenshots in games. Plus just...that's my face guys!

Screenshot of a Zoi character with my face, showing the Steam screenshots interface and a taken date of August 21, 2024.

Took a screenshot of my Inzoi self months ago during the character studio beta and now other gaming websites and also youtubers are using it for their coverage?

Immensely odd seeing my face just doing the rounds because, presumably, people think it's just a generic screenshot they can lift 🫠

Monster Hunter Wilds - a hunter wears a blue and red scaled outfit with a wide-brimmed scaled hat that has a red feather

I hunted (a few) monsters

My favorite new cozy game trend is the return of desktop pets I can't believe desktop pets are actually back and they're more fun than the early 2000s.

I am 8 again and everything is great.

www.pcgamer.com/games/life-s...

got to play the Sims re-release today and this is what I have to show for myself, for some reason

I never quite took to Monster Hunter World, despite wanting to, I think mostly because of how the clunky mission system and co-op trip over one another in an unsatisfying way.

I sure do really want to become a whole monhunt sicko for Wilds though.

Patiently awaiting the day when she isn't magnetically drawn to men who she witnesses taking shit from her home. The Sims 3 has been a REAL ride me me as someone who normally can't maintain interest in Live Mode.

Since then: she started dating the burglar, gave him a makeover, forgot to pay her bills and had one of her lawn flamingos confiscated, was instantly attracted to the repo man, and dumped the criminal thief for the legally sanctioned thief.

Last time on The Sims 3: Bea Brewer became a professional car thief, spent a night in jail, got robbed (because apparently there's no solidarity in crime), and was instantly attracted to the burglar stealing the toilet in her home.

We've already covered a lot from today's announcements on the site here: www.pcgamer.com/the-sims-4/

But we're still preparing even more for the actual series anniversary on February 4!

YouTube video by PC Gamer Sims 4 updates, MySims cozy bundle, future plans and more | The Sims 25th Anniversary Interview

A great interview that @mollietayy.bsky.social and I got to record for the Sims 25th anniversary with series lead Lyndsay Pearson.

Today's official Behind The Sims wound up being quite short, so there's a lot of extra conversation in here for fans who wanted more!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fmtw...

I didn't know about them either until I wanted to try this! Turns out you can come by them honestly and bring them home from a spooky island in the Cats & Dogs world if you wait around at night.

In The Sims 4 a woman sim stands in a graveyard at night cuddling with a ghost cat.

In The Sims 4 a woman sleeps in a bedroom with six ghost cats sleeping on cat beds around her.

A rare stint in Live Mode for me trying to create a family of one woman who adopts seven ghost cats. Just one more ghost stray to go

At last I've finished The Witcher books.

Final tally of the number of times Sapkowski stares directly into the camera to declare that abortion is a fundamental right: 3

I'm back at reading the final two Witcher books and they continue to be a lot fucking funnier than I ever anticipated.

getting emotional over my girl Ciri in her prime and still with all her own righteous fury? maybe a little

my girl, that's my girl!

Time to finally play Infinity Nikki for real and all I want is to meet up with fashion goddess mommy again

I just found out you can become a car thief in The Sims 3 and somehow it led to love at first sight with the man who burgled my home Kleptomania in The Sims 3 is basically boundless and I'm loving it.

I've been spending time in The Sims 3 lately and finding that less really is more.

The Sims 4's 10 year feature glut gives me choice paralysis but I've spent several nights completely absorbed in Live Mode in TS3.

www.pcgamer.com/games/the-si...

this year of my career is dedicated to the girls