I have a love-hate relationship with Love Island. Yes, it’s terrible and completely brain-numbing, but there’s just something about it that I enjoy. Perhaps it’s the drama, the suspense, or the way you’re removed from it all so none of it really matters. It’s like being on holiday with a group of mates where drama happens constantly, but you merely look on, uninvolved, sipping a piña colada. Bliss.
Non-British readers may be wondering what I’m on about. Love Island is a reality show in which attractive people, supposedly in search of romance (and a few extra thousand Instagram followers), are shipped off to an island to whine about being ‘genuine’ and ‘loyal’ in between bouts of sex filmed on sterile night vision cameras. They pair up, couples are eliminated by the public, and at the end, the couple that looks most in love, or appeals most to the audience, wins a ton of cash.
So, simply, there’s a house with loads of almost artificially attractive people, completely separated from the outside world. These characters have conversations – conversations sometimes so meandering and inarticulate they may as well be in another language. Characters fall for one another and eventually want to partake in, erm, ‘woohoo’. See where I’m going with this? Doesn’t this sound just a little like the Sims?
How to make Love Island in the Sims 4
The Love Island House
There are many speed builds of the Love Island House on YouTube. They can get really impressive, but it looks like that might take a lot of time and planning. Yorkie has a good take on the house (above), as does Plumbella, so if you want your Sims Love Island experience to be perfect, you can follow along with them.
However, we’re talking about your Love Island experience. Why not have a new house, just as extravagant, but more your style? I mean, why wouldn’t you want a suburban mansion with beautiful white interiors? How about this Bazaar, an intricate townhouse with lots of places to ‘pull someone for a chat’? Or even this mod to start your own Santorini villa, which fits the Love Island holiday vibe.
And if none of that is to your taste, then, fortunately, it actually isn’t too difficult to make a really nice mansion in The Sims 4. Just make sure you have enough beds and places for your Sims to lounge or talk and you’ve got yourself a winner.
Swimwear mods
In Love Island, everyone has to be in swimwear all the time. No exceptions. No pyjamas, jeans, or hoodies – just swimwear. So let’s get everyone looking accurate. High-waisted bikinis? Check. Bikinis that look like you can’t swim in them? Check. Bikinis that look like ‘80s workout gear crossed with mankinis? Check. And I haven’t forgotten about the dudes. Hawaiian trunks? Check. Speedos? Check. Shorts that look like a mix of those two styles together? Check.
These mods will get your Sims to look like your own cast of Love Island stars instantly. Strutting your stuff in almost nothing is a staple, but where, oh where, are they supposed to strut?
Emotional Turmoil
Perhaps a little dramatic, but that’s what Love Island is all about, isn’t it? The drama! *jazz hands*. Conversations can set off such shockwaves throughout not only the villa but the world that Twitter trends feel the effect. Now, how can we replicate that in Simlish? We can’t get them to say ‘chaildeesh,’ but we can get their physical reactions on par.
If someone says something particularly insulting, maybe posing as if injured is a really good way to show how deeply you’ve been wounded? If your Sims are just trying to talk it out, to find a way through their troubles, this animation mod gives your Sims the opportunity to DMC (deep meaningful chat). Poses can get a lot across that Simlish simply can’t.
Poses
Love Island contestants spend a lot of time posing on lounge chairs, so why not make your contestants also pose on lounge chairs? I’m almost certain that that’s all the cast do for recreation, except talk and argue – a subset of talking.
But wait, how could I forget? Every episode of Love Island has posing videos of the contestants in slightly awkward positions. And for that, there are male poses and female poses for you to enjoy. Don’t worry they’re just as stiff, strangely arrogant, and odd as the real contestant’s.
Traits
Where would Love Island be without a little personality? Trait mods allow you to add additional behaviours for your Sims that go above and beyond. Here are just a few examples that you might want to add to your game.
The Drama Queen trait adds a little more, well, drama to the house. The description TheDarkGod gives their mod couldn’t be more perfect for Love Island: afflicted Sims “can make a show out of the smallest details”. Sounds like reality TV would suit them.
The Two-Faced trait might also be worth a download if you want someone to instantly dislike in the house. TS4World describes the trait as making its bearer “untrustworthy, dishonest and backstabbing”. Makes for great viewing if you ask me.
The WooHoo Lover. I mean, come on. We all know that putting these very attractive individuals in the same space is bound to produce some chemistry. And inevitably, some WooHoo may occur. Getting a fun and flirty contestant is always fun, but if they’re just interested in WooHoo, there may be some broken hearts.
Useful Sims cheats
During Love Island, there are frequent rematching processes. A liked X, but A now likes Y. Sometimes these recoupling ceremonies become very, very embarrassing. Sometimes even mortifying. So bad that you think you might die of embarrassment. And the Sims can actually die of embarrassment, so if at any point your Sims characters are brutally rejected in a recoupling ceremony, you might find this cheat useful. Use ‘sims.add_buff buff_mortified’ to kill your Sim if their crush insults them so badly they can never recover.
Another crucial cheat – if you’re being Love Island-accurate – is sunburn. All your lovely contestants are going to get progressively darker, more orange, or red during their time in the villa. Use ‘cas.fulleditmode’ to edit a Sim to get them nice and crispy after several weeks in the sun. If you’d like to browse other Sims 4 cheats to see if anything else might come in useful, we have a bunch of them.
The Love Island Challenge
So you’ve made your house and Sims look the part. But how about actually playing a Love Island experience? Never fear, creative internet forums are here. Scarlet-V Games made a challenge that you can find here to make your own Love Island in the game. Winner takes all – and by all, I mean they become your main Sims family. The rules are pretty similar to real Love Island: don’t leave the house, Sims sleep in the same bed as their partner, no physical fights, etc. Scarlet-V has done a great job replicating the atmosphere of the real villa, so if you want to control your own little experiment, give the challenge a go.
And before we go, a disclaimer: as with all mods, be cautious about what you download to your PC! You don’t want any of those nasty viruses. With great Sims 4 mods comes great responsibility.