Sims 4 ‘face bug’ makes everyone look… off

The Sims 4 got a small update on Tuesday meant to fix several different bugs — and to add new underpants — but, instead, the update ended up creating some new problems for players. Namely, players are reporting that their Sims’ faces just look… off. Eyes are crossed and sunken in, teeth are misshapen and misaligned. Even dogs and cats have slightly altered faces, making everything just look off. Lots of players report that it’s not just single Sims in a neighbor, it’s everyone.

More than 1,200 players have reported the problem on a The Sims 4 support thread, posting pictures of their Sims’ mysterious new faces.

Thankfully, Electronic Arts has investigated the problem and is working on a fix. There’s no expected release date for the patch, but the company said it’s looking to fix the issue “as soon as possible.” Sims created before the April 18 update will get their faces back when the update is eventually released. Sims created after the update will see “minor adjustments as a result of them being correctly rendered.”

The minor tweaks to Sims’ appearances may not seem like a huge deal, but it’s often messing with hours of work that players put into designing their characters. There are huge communities around creating the perfect looks for Sims, whether using mods or not. Anyone who’s played around with any games’ character creator knows the challenge of creating a passable-looking person. For lots of The Sims 4 players, it’s not only the work inside the game, but finding the right mods, too. The Sims 4 has been around for nearly a decade; some players still play their very first Sims from around the release; it makes sense to become attached to them and how they look.

With that in mind, The Sims 4 players are relieved to hear that their Sims will return to normal when an update is issued. Two new kits were released on Thursday, the Greenhouse Haven Kit and the Basement Treasures Kit — letting players create lush green spaces and grimy gremlin basements. The face bug certainly dims the excitement for those two additions, while some players refuse to update in fear of permanently mangling their Sims through the face glitch.