The Sims 4 Scenarios That Make Players Pull Their Hair Out

Pull up a chair and prepare to do some deep breathing exercises as you embark on this guide to the five most frustrating Sims 4 Scenarios.

A while back, The Sims 4 introduced a new feature to the franchise: Scenarios. Scenarios were inspired by the Sims challenges, which have been a staple of the player community almost since the game’s inception.

Like a challenge, a Scenario is a form of guided gameplay. However, unlike the fan-made challenges, Scenarios are an official part of the game. Players can launch a new Scenario from the main game menu and will be prompted to select an existing family of Sims or start with a new household. Scenarios can also be put into a new save file or added to an existing one. There are several unique scenarios to choose from, each with its requirements and special features. New and limited-time scenarios are occasionally added to the game, so be sure to watch them!

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Why Should You Do Scenarios In The Sims 4

There are several reasons to start a Scenario for new and longtime players alike. Certain Scenarios are targeted towards beginner players and help them learn more about the features of the game, while other, more complicated Scenarios are aimed at longtime players looking to shake up their gameplay. There is no wrong way to play a Scenario or wrong Scenario to start with. Advanced and novice players can succeed (or fail gloriously, if that’s your thing) in any Scenario. If you’re looking for a Scenario that will have you alternating between laughing at your Sim’s antics and gnashing your teeth in frustration, read on!

Below, you will find a collection of the most maddening Scenarios, guaranteed to make you want to pull your hair out.

Too Many Toddlers

• Difficulty: Intermediate
• Household Requirements: One Sim who is a young adult or older, three toddlers
• Goal: Have each toddler reach lever three in four skills
• Outcomes: Either the toddlers level up or grow up
• Reward: Satisfaction points
• The Catch: If you strictly adhere to the household requirements, your adult Sim will be badly outnumbered. Juggling the needs of the three toddlers and your adult Sim while making sure they have enough money to keep the lights on is tricky enough, but with the added skill requirements, things will doubtlessly descend into chaos. Plus, there isn’t much time before toddlers age up, so you need to work fast!
• Pro Tip: Keep an eye on the ages of the toddlers— they might not be the same age! You only have as much time as it takes for the oldest toddler to age up. Outsource some of that parenting! Hire nannies and invite some NPCs over. There’s a chance that the NPCs might interact with the toddlers, keeping them entertained while you focus on training them one at a time. Get satisfaction points as quickly as you can and use those rewards to keep your Sims focused and on task!

No Skills, No Problem

• Difficulty: Intermediate
• Household Requirements: One young adult or older Sim
• Goal: Acquire 400,000 Simoleons
• Outcomes: You manage to raise the money, or your Sim meets their demise while broke
• Reward: Satisfaction Points
• The Catch: Your Sim cannot gain any skills while in this scenario, severely hampering their ability to make money
• Pro Tip: There are other approaches to making money. In a career, make sure your Sim is “working hard” during all their shifts and has a positive relationship with their boss. This scenario does not disable fame if you have the Get Famous expansion pack. Being famous can open some money-making opportunities for your Sim! There are, of course, also some less savory ways to make money. If your Sim has the “kleptomaniac” trait, they can always commit thefts and sell their ill-gotten goods to raise money. If all else fails, they can always marry rich… as many times as they need to (as long as they’ve got a swimming pool handy).

Aliens Stole My Parents

• Difficulty: Intermediate
• Household Requirements: One Sim who is a young adult or older, one Sim who is a teen, one Sim who is a child
• Goal: Raise funds and raise the child Sim without adult supervision.
• Subgoal breakdown: Have 15,000 Simoleons, raise the child’s grade to an “A,” raise the teen’s grade to an “A,” complete an aspiration with the child Sim, group cook together, have the teen Sim get a part-time job, hire a nanny
• Outcomes: Either you complete all the goals or the child Sim ages up
• Reward: The Mentor and Speed Reader traits (and the return of the adult Sim)
• The Catch: At the beginning of this scenario, your adult Sim is abducted by aliens and disappears from your lot— and takes the household funds with them. While most of the requirements for this Scenario are fairly easy, raising the money is not. Part-time jobs do not pay very much and between working, keeping their sibling fed, and trying to raise their own grades— your teen Sim will undoubtedly end up stressed. Especially if you try to give them a social life on top of all their new obligations.
• Pro Tip: As stated above, a part-time job simply will not pay enough to raise the required money before a child Sim ages up. While you can turn aging off to give yourself all the time you need, or use cheats to get the money, that somewhat defeats the purpose of a Scenario. However, part-time jobs are not the only way teen Sims can earn money. They can search for rare collectibles hidden around town, or pick up a lucrative hobby such as painting, fishing, gardening, photography, or vlogging.

Unlucky Chef

• Difficulty: Hard (currently the only Scenario ranked at this difficulty)
• Household Requirements: One Sim who is a young adult or older
• Goal: Achieve your Sim’s dream of becoming a master chef
• Outcomes: Reach the top of the chef career… or decide to settle for a safer option and reach the top of the mixologist career instead
• Reward: Satisfaction Points
• The Catch: Your Sim is very prone to setting fires while cooking. Like, very prone. This ruins their meals and frequently puts them in mortal peril.
• Pro Tip: Keep your Sim safe by immediately investing in a fire alarm and putting it in their home kitchen. And remember, there is more than one way to earn cooking skill! Your Sim can read cookbooks and watch cooking shows. There are also safer foods your Sim can make… like salads. Your Sim can also advance in their career faster by selecting “work hard” during their shifts and having a positive relationship with their boss. However, it wouldn’t hurt to have a good relationship with the local firefighters as well.

In The Moodlet

• Difficulty: Easy
• Household Requirements: One Sim who is a young adult or older
• Goal: Manage your Sim’s mood while working retail
• Subgoals: Get into a positive emotional state (immediately cleared at the beginning of the Scenario when starting with a new household), get into a more intense emotional state, create five emotional paintings, enable the emotional aura on an emotional object, calm an angry Sim down, share insecurities or tell a self-deprecating joke to another Sim while embarrassed, take a shower while uncomfortable, call the sadness hotline or cry it out while sad, vent or complain about problems to another Sim while tense
• Outcomes: Manage your Sim’s emotions or let them languish in their job forever
• Reward: Potions from the satisfaction points store
• The Catch: While this is a simple Scenario based around showing players how to deal with the different moods their Sim will experience throughout the game, the Scenario starts with your Sim stuck in a soul-sucking retail job. While this job does not come with all the customer service stress of an actual retail job, the goals for this scenario mimic the real stress that retail workers experience.
• Pro Tip: The best thing your Sim can do here is buckle down and try not to get too overwhelmed (at least not once those goalposts have been met). Make sure your Sim has a good support network of friends they can interact with. Indulging in hobbies and participating in festivals if you have the City Living expansion are both good ways to put your Sim in different emotional states. The Tea Magic Personal Brewer is also a quick way to cycle through different emotions. Keep up that art therapy and your Sim may be well on the way to a more rewarding career by the time this scenario is through!

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Each of these Scenarios can bring you, and your Sims, to the brink of tears of frustration. Embrace the chaos or strive against the odds for success, the choice is yours! But, whatever Scenario you start, be sure to remember to lean into it and have some fun.