The Sims 4's Grim Reaper event seems pretty neat actually but, surprising no one, it's also very bugged
The Sims 4 is running another login rewards event and although, yes, it's still a little weird for a singleplayer game to run a limited time login event, this one actually has some short but fun quests to play through. The trouble is, and this is going to shock you I'm sure, it's pretty buggy for a lot of people.
Maxis announced the Reaper's Rewards event last month as the second of its new battle pass-like reward dispensers. Unlike the prior Happy at Home event which just let you redeem a reward for logging in, Reaper's Rewards actually has some quests for you to complete in Live Mode all revolving around helping the Grim Reaper. It kicked off earlier this week and will run for a total of eight weeks, carrying on through the launch of the similarly-themed upcoming Life and Death expansion.
There are two quests in this first week in which you'll help Grim learn about a magical substance called "ambrosia" by asking around town, cultivating plants, and doing some cooking too. For completing them, you'll earn event points that you can use to start unlocking rewards like clothing, decor, consumables, and even a "lot challenge" you can apply to future builds.
Bespoke themed quests and rewards are actually a great addition to the game. I see other Sims players asking one another "what should I do if I'm bored of the game?" all the time and this seems like a great way to hop in and play for a while without too much pressure. I'm into it! Or I would be, if it weren't totally bugged for me and lots of other people.
At the moment, I can't do the Reaper's Rewards quests at all because the quest goals aren't showing up in the interface. Lots of other players are having the same problem, as reported in the Sims 4 bug reports forum. Others are having issues like tasks not getting checked off after being completed and thus not getting credit and also rewards from the prior log in event disappearing.
This comes as no surprise for The Sims 4, as most players will be aware. Earlier this year EA dedicated a team to "invest in the core game experience" by fixing big lists of bugs. Personally I think it's going to take some more serious structural improvements if EA wants The Sims 4 to be the foundation of another many years of the series as it also recently announced.
As for Reaper's Rewards, the silver lining is that there are six weeks worth of quests and rewards to earn but the event itself actually lasts for eight. EA said this is so you don't have to play absolutely every week and can miss a week or start late. So hopefully I and lots of others will be able to start cooking up ambrosia next week.