The new Sims expansion lets your Sim be a landlord

Yesterday was the worst day of the month for many people — rent day. And if you really love to torture yourself, I have great news for you.

In the upcoming Sims 4 For Rent Expansion Pack, players can have their Sims relive all the joys and annoyances of renting life. Players can build multiunit housing in a tropical, vaguely Southeast Asian-inspired town called Tomarang, and units can be anything from basement apartments to duplexes.

Aspiring landlords, take note: the game expansion allows you to try your hand at managing rentals by becoming a property owner. Landlord Sims can make money from their savvy investments and can live on-site or have their home on a separate lot away from tenants.

Also, housing insecurity is a thing in The Sims now. Apartments can have insect infestations, faulty plumbing and electricity, and even mold. (As someone who just had an exterminator come last month, this is hitting a little too close to home for me.) The game also introduces a new fear for tenant Sims: being afraid of getting evicted. Is there a housing crisis in Tomarang, too? There is something deeply hilarious and twisted about making little landlord Sims and having them evict each other. Also, if a Sim resembling DJ Envy or his business partner shows up offering advice, run.

To be fair, I remember as a kid being obsessed with the Sims 2 Apartment Life expansion pack when it was released — something about having a noisy neighbor on the other side of the wall was exciting to preteen me. But at least in that version of the game, the landlords were just sort of there, occasionally collecting rent and otherwise tending to the shrubs.

The future of The Sims could be radically different from the game we know. Though the next generation is reportedly “years out” from releasing, EA has said it will incorporate multiplayer features in addition to the traditional single-player format. We also now know that the basic features of the game, codenamed Project Rene, will be free to download — users will only pay for additional packs of activities and features.