Earlier this year, Fear was introduced into Sims’ daily lives, which brought about new exciting ways to manage a household in The Sims 4. Find out how fear affects your Sims, how they manifest, and how to get rid of them in this guide!
Wants and Fears are new features that got added along with the release of the High School Years expansion pack. Whims had a total overhaul and got renamed into Wants. If you haven’t been clued in on whims, these are the daily wishes of Sims that can be fulfilled for Reward Points. A Sim’s whims are typically influenced by their traits and life aspirations.
Wants are just the same as whims. However, your Sims’ Basic Needs or current Mood can impact their wants. In addition, some unresolved wants become the cause of fear springing up in their headspace.
Understanding the Fear Mechanic
Fear affects Sims just like how real people get controlled by their anxieties in their day-to-day lives. If their fear continues to bother them, they get Negative Moodlets. Sims experiencing negative emotions like being tense or terrified affect the quality of their performance in work, school, and everything else.
When Sims develop a fear, it shows up in their Traits panel, where it will be considered one of their characteristics. Sims can accumulate three fears — luckily, they are only temporary traits and can be easily cleared away.
How to Remove Fears
Players can get rid of fears the standard way, in which Sims must tackle them to overcome them. Some Sims may get the fear of living an unfulfilled life that is if they haven’t been completing their wants. To resolve this, they must put some effort into completing their wish. After that, they should talk to a family or a friend about their nagging feeling of dread.
The free-to-play, base game of the Sims 4 currently has a total of 12 fears. While the High School Years expansion pack comes with five unique fears relating to the sticky circumstances teenagers deal with in high school. (Fear of homework, exams, after-school activity, disappointing parents, and even disappointing dead parents)
Below you will find the different types of Base Game fears and all the methods you must do to remove them.
| FEARS | POSSIBLE TRIGGER/S | SOLUTION |
| Fear of Being Cheated On | A Sim who is constantly ignored by their romantic partner, or feels embarrassed by a Poorly Performed Woo-Hoo can develop this fear. | You can get rid of this fear by making the anxious Sim’s partner console them. They can also discuss their fears with their beloved to overcome doubt in their relationship. |
| Fear of Being Judged | Sims being insulted by someone may get this fear. | Look for the one who initiated the Mean conversation and click on Work Out Differences to rectify this problem. |
| Fear of Cowplants | They may develop a fear of Cowplants after getting swallowed by them. | Get your Sim in a confident mood, and then feed the Cowplant with Milk. |
| Fear of Crowded Places | Those who stay in a crowded lot can induce fear of crowded places. | Make your Sim entertain a crowd while feeling confident. |
| Fear of the Dark | Sims being in a haunted mansion is susceptible to acquiring this fear. Making them interact with occult-type Sims like vampires or werewolves can also trigger their fear of dark places. | Sims afraid of the dark can face their fears by staying outside of the house while feeling confident. |
| Fear of Dead-End Job | Sims not getting a promotion after a while can trigger this fear. | A fear bubble will appear at the top of your Sim’s portrait. You can click on it and select Regain Passion to help them get back on track. |
| Fear of Death | A Sim seeing their loved ones can give them a phobia of death. Some Elderly Sims may also randomly develop this fear. | They can face their fear by discussing them with an Elderly Sim or a Ghost, or presenting a Death Flower to the Grim Reaper. |
| Fear of Failure | They may develop this fear after doing poorly in school or at work. Crafting a low-quality handmade item can also result in them triggering a fear of failure. | You can make them create a good-quality item and showcase it to another Sim. Sims may also ask for a Performance Review at work to remove this fear. |
| Fear of Fire | Those who cause or witness a house fire may trigger this fear. | You can fix this problem by letting your Sim extinguish a fire. |
| Fear of Ghost | They can get this fear after having a bad interaction with a ghost. A Sim living in a Haunted House Residential and encountering Temperance can highly likely trigger this fear. | You can have them engage in a fight with the paranormal or any occult-type creatures. |
| Fear of Swimming | A Sim Swimming in the pool with low needs or negative moodlets may get this fear. | While feeling confident, your Sim can dip in a pool to remove their fear of swimming. |
| Fear of Unfulfilled Dreams | They can trigger this fear if they stop paying attention to their wants. | Your Sim must fulfill their wants and discuss their fear with a Sim they have a close relationship with to remove this fear. |
Other ways to remove Fears
For players who want to put more focus on other aspects of the game and want to find ways to remove fears quickly, here are the things you can try:
Fear-Be-Gone Potion
Have your Sim drink the Fear-Be-Gone potion and their fears and worries will be gone in an instant. The Fear-Be-Gone potion can be purchased in the Rewards Store for 300 points.
UI Cheats Extension Mod
When Simmers think of a mod that can quickly resolve their problems with the fear system, the UI Cheats Extension Mod by Weerbesu is the first thing that comes to mind. UI Cheats is a comprehensive mod created for Sims who want to alter the user interface, like the time of day or a Sim’s trait, without the hassle of typing in long cheat codes.
Those who haven’t tried using mods before can start by downloading this mod from Weerbesu’s Patreon Page. After downloading the file, extract it from the Mods folder found in the Game Folder. Next, launch the game and go to Game Options in the Main Menu.
Look for the Other tab, and under that section, you can click on the check box beside Enable Custom Content and Mods. Restart the game and enjoy playing seamlessly with the UI Cheats mod.
If you want to support Weerbesu for their creations, you can subscribe to them and donate on their Patreon page.
“Get Rid of Your Fears” Mod
Get Rid of Your Fears is a useful mode made by Krzydek and found on Modthesims. With this mod installed, your Sim can interact with a mirror and click on Get Rid of your Fears to remove all their trepidations and doubts.
The mod requires the XML Injector files to work, which you must also extract to the Mods folder. Make sure that the Script Mods are also enabled in the Game Options. You can also support this mod creator by donating to their page on Patreon.
Turn off the Wants and Fears system
If you want to stop the game from displaying your Sim’s wants and giving them fears, you can do so by heading to Game Options, selecting the Gameplay tab, and unchecking the box next to Show Wants & Fears.
However, some Simmers are currently encountering a bug that makes this option ineffective. Wants and Fears continue to bug their Sims even after toggling off the feature. For now, you can keep an eye out for updates that include a fix for this issue.
And that is all you need to know about the Fear system in The Sims 4. For more useful guides and tips on The Sims 4, you can check out our articles here on PlayerAssist.com!
