Summary
Players recently noticed an issue withThe Sims 4romance that should probably be addressed as soon as possible by EA Games. Like the rest ofThe Simsseries,The Sims 4places certain restrictions onthe types of romance that are availablein the game. While certain restrictions have been rightly lifted over the years — like allowing same-sex couples to marry starting inThe Sims 3— the game still does its best to restrict romances that would be seen as illegal and immoral. At least, it is meant to do that.
According to some players online,The Sims 4has struggled to keep these romance restrictions consistent. Whether this is the result of a bug with the game or a glitch caused by popular custom content for the game is unclear, as the players who have shown these issues have admitted to having some mods installed for the game. Luckily,The Sims 4continues to receive updates, and recent patches may have addressed the issue in question.
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Players Notice The Sims 4 Accidentally Allows Romance Between Family Members
Reddit User loversickgirls13 Shared This Glitch
In a Reddit post, userloversickgirls13shared that one of their Sims wasforming a romantic connection with that Sim’s uncle. While this would seem like an anomaly, other users quickly flocked to share their own stories of an unexpected relationship popping up in their games. Everything from pairs of brothers to other unwanted romantic pairings had popped up in these players’ copies ofThe Sims 4.
Typically, romance within a family unit is restricted byThe Sims 4, so it’s unclear why so many users are suddenly experiencing this issue. One thing that is important to keep in mind is that these reports should be taken with a grain of salt. There is little context provided about these Reddit users’ games and what might have caused their copies ofThe Sims 4to have these types of issues. It’s worth first examining if this issue is actually present in the base version of the game before trying to determine how this could happen.
Romance Between Family Members Is Not Currently Available Within Families In The Sims 4
The Sims 4 Does Not Allow Romance Options Between Family Members
Using a base copy ofThe Sims 4to test things out, it wasnot possible to recreate a relationship between a Sim and their uncle,as was shown in this post. Even when both characters reached maximum affection for one another, both had the romantic trait, and both had an aspiration to be serial romantics, they were not able to romance their family members.
Checking to see if any of the other relationships mentioned were possible, it became clear thatThe Sims 4would also not allow for a father and daughter to be in a romantic relationship or two brothers to date or even flirt. Whatever issues that were happening with these Redditors’ gamesdoes not seem to be an issue with a bog-standard copy ofThe Sims 4.The Sims 4also has less family dynamics than previous games where this type of thing could be explained away.
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InThe Sims 3, the game accounted for in-laws. Theoretically, a Sim could have a romantic relationship with another Sim who later became their in-law. However,The Sims 4doesn’t have in-law mechanics, so there is no possibility that the Sim in the screenshot had a relationship with an unrelated Sim before that Sim became their uncle through marriage. The most likely explanation is that players experiencing this type of bug may have some issues with their game caused by custom content.
The Family Romance Issues Were Fixed In A Patch
It is entirely possible that this issue was actually caused by issues withThe Sims 4itself, buthas since been addressed. This wouldn’t be the first time thatThe Sims 4had an issue with family members romancing one another. Back in 2022,Kotakureported on a similar issue that had to be addressed in an official patch for the game. That said, it doesn’t seem like this issue has been something referenced in the game’s most recent patch notes.
The most recent update forThe Sims 4took place on August 17, 2025, and there is no mention of addressing issues with romantic relationships. The only mention of romance in the update before that one was a fix made to the use of pronouns during romantic relationship phone calls. That said, the users who have reported these issues may be just playing with an even older version of the game that is still experiencing these types of glitches. Seeing as it’s a problem that the game has had previously, it’s not impossible to think these complaints are legitimate.
Custom Content May Have Caused This Sims 4 Glitch
Players Use Mods To Widen The Scope Of The Sims 4’s Romance Options
The Sims 4players will often downloadmods for their games that allow players to expand romantic optionsbeyond the borders typically provided by the base game. One of the most popular mods,Wicked Wims, allows players to pretty much cross any boundary and also provides players with a large array of custom interactions. When in use, this mod doesn’t restrict its use to just Sims that are actively controlled, but instead, all Sims will have the ability to romance whoever they like. This could easily create the type of situation where a Sim automatically romances their sibling or uncle.
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Some of the players in the initial Reddit thread did mention having mods and custom content installed for their game. It’s very possible that these mods could have contributed to these unwanted romantic connections. Even if the users weren’t using a mod like Wicked Wims that was designed to erase these types of boundaries, there is also the possibility that the presence of custom content could cause issues with a game. Having too many or faulty unofficial add-ons can often causeThe Sims 4to have issues. However, there is another possibility players mentioned as well.
While attempting to recreate this strange glitch with the base game didn’t work, it is also possible that it only occurs with certain expansions forThe Sims 4downloaded. If more players come forward with the same type of experiences, EA will likely have to address this issue with a patch like they did back in 2022. Players likely hope this patch comes sooner than later, given the uncomfortable nature of this glitch.
