The Sims teases new Ingmar Berman-themed expansion pack

leafless trees line a bleak, cold road. the Sims expansion

Maxis has shown off some of the features for its upcoming Sims Ingmar Bergman-themed expansion pack.

The most striking change is that, after download, the game is rendered in black and white, the screen is reshaped to the traditional Academy ratio of 1:375 and none of the Sims smile anymore.

“This pack will let you really play out that fantasy of living in a Bergman film, with all the harrowing insights into the bleak existence of man that entails,” said lead designer Kelly Grace.

“Each new game will bring with it a tiny amount of hope that is slowly obliterated as the Sims slowly come to understand the futile nature of their existence as the game goes on. There are also new costumes.”

The most striking new addition will be a Death Sim moving into one of the free lots in your town spends his time coming for the different Sims to lead them to the afterlife or hanging out in the park by the chess boards.

There will also be the option to play as either an actress or a nurse who both move into a free lot and slowly appear to adopt the each other’s personalities for reasons which are never made entirely clear.

“Those are the specific Bergman references, there are also other new additions that just add to the Bergman flavour of the game, like an old woman who sits quietly on different benches, just sobbing to herself. There is a farm with a failed harvest, and a Sims couple in one of the lots who realise that their marriage is essentially an empty, loveless sham but continue with it because the alternative is loneliness and isolation.”

It is understood that following the Bergman expansion, there will be a Tarkovsky expansion that will explore the spiritual and metaphysical nature of Sims and will be quite difficult to understand.


Some links to other bits of the blog that you’ll love*…

*Alright, perhaps ‘love’ is pushing it, maybe ‘be mildly diverted by’

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Or, if links aren’t your thing, here’s an old article you might like…


Michael Caine reveals that we are all currently still in Inception

Michael Caine has revealed exactly what the final moments of Inception mean.

In a typically Chris Nolan mind-bending twist, the wobble of the spinning top in the final minutes prove that all of humankind is still in Inception.

“I remember being a bit confused about what the ending meant,” said the Zulu legend (to clarify, that’s the film Zulu that he’s a legend for).

“I asked Chris and he started banging on about dimensional switching, paradoxes, and inverted dream theory.

“So, I made myself a cocktail, and let him go off on one.

“After an hour or so, he said that the spinning top wobble means that all of humankind basically exists within the film Inception.”

The Blame it on Rio star was remarkably sanguine about being a fictional construct in the imaginary world of a film.

“Yeah, I was a bit shaken up at first, but that’s just Chris for you. All his films are a bit of a trip. You get used to it.”

The concern for humankind, after the revelation that we are all merely part of a film, is that the film credits will roll, the film will end and human beings will cease to exist.

“Ah yes, but don’t forget that this is Chris Nolan we’re talking about here,” chuckled Mr Caine.

“For all we know, we could actually be in a film within a film, so even if the film ends, the other film would still continue.

“Basically, just have a cocktail and don’t worry about it.”

Wise advice for all of us.

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