'The Sims 4' Infants Operate Differently if You Have the "Growing Together" Expansion Pack (EXCLUSIVE)

The team behind The Sims 4 team sent shockwaves through their fanbase when they announced that infants were coming to the game. Then, in the wake of that exciting announcement, they teased the "Growing Together" expansion pack, a family-focused pack that fans have been begging for for years. Now that both the base-game update and the expansion pack are available to the public, fans can't get enough of the newest (and second-tiniest) members of their Sims' families.

However, while infants have been added to the base game, you may be surprised to learn that they'll behave differently if you have the "Growing Together" expansion pack installed. What's up with that? Well, we spoke exclusively with The Sims 4's Lead Infant Producer, Graham Nardone, to get the scoop.

The new "Growing Together" expansion pack introduces plenty of new features to enhance your family gameplay, and that extends to infants. Milestones will help you keep track of your Sims' special moments, Family Dynamics will change how they interact with one another, and of course, new items, interactions, and a new lot type will give you plenty more to do with your infants.

However, aside from the obvious additions, the pack will fundamentally change how your infants grow.

Lead Infant Producer Graham shared that, with the base game, you have "All the basics that you would expect to be in place. You know ... being able to go into Create a Sim and create an infant from the ground up, clothe them, give them personality traits, bring them into Live Mode ... being able to experience a lot of the basics that you would expect for any age, whether it's caring for their needs, managing their emotions, building sentiments, and forming attachments with other Sims."

However, "For players who want to go deeper into that experience, that's where they're really going to love what 'Growing Together' has to offer," he told us.

One major difference in the infants between the base game and the pack is in how quickly they develop. "The way I try and explain it to people is, you know, in the base game, you're gonna get an infant who has the abilities of approximately an eight-month-old," Graham shared with us. "So, think about how different the experience is going to be where, in the base game, your infant can already crawl around; they have some basic mobility to start exploring and getting into trouble."

On the other hand, "Growing Together" infants will have a much more seamless transition from newborns, according to Graham: "With 'Growing Together,' your infant actually starts out with the abilities of a two-month-old. And they go all the way up to 12 months." In other words, your Sims will actually have to put in some work to help the household infants to fully develop. "Your infant actually starts out fully immobile; they have to learn to sit up and rollover, and they can start doing basic butts scoots to get to things very close in range to them. But it changes the whole evolution of how you play with that age."

Essentially, while you're able to play with infants if you have the base game, they'll take a lot more time, effort, and involvement with the "Growing Together" expansion pack. While this may seem like a lot of unnecessary work to some, others may feel that their game is incomplete without it. So, if you think this new life stage will be a significant part of your gameplay, you may want to consider purchasing the pack if you haven't already.

Reporting contributed by Sara Belcher.