The Sims 4: Mermaids (Island Living)
With the addition of, The Sims 4: Island Living, we were given a brand new type of occult sim, the mermaid! Mermaids were added along with the brand new island world, Sulani, and are a fun and adorable addition to the game with their own characteristics and abilities.
In this guide, we are going to discuss how you can become a mermaid, how to take care of your mermaids needs, and all the powers and abilities that come along with being a mermaid. And of course, we’ll talk about how to stop being a mermaid if you just want to go back to normal sim life.
How to Become a Mermaid
To become a mermaid in The Sims 4, you have two options. You can either create your mermaid in create-a-sim, or you can find or purchase mermaid kelp.
Becoming a Mermaid in Create a Sim
When in create a sim, you can create a mermaid the exact same way you would create a vampire or an alien sim using the occult option. You are unable to change an already created sim into a mermaid using CAS but you can use the mermaid kelp option.
When creating your mermaid, you’ll get to create both their mermaid form and their regular sim form. Their sim form will be designed just like any other sim you create, you’ll get to choose all of their clothing options and go about it like you would any other sim.
Their mermaid form will only have swim wear and no other clothing options, as these mermaids only exist when your sim is in water. You’ll get to choose your mermaids tail and the colour options of the tail which are all quite vibrant and colourful.
For female mermaids, you’ll be able to choose a bathing suit top (including sea shells or cocounuts, haha) for the top half of the mermaid, but male mermaids don’t need to wear anything up top. You also have some new interesting face paint to choose from that you can match to your mermaids fin.
There are even special eye options for mermaid sims which can make them look even more interesting and mermaid-like!
Becoming a Mermaid with Kelp
Mermaid kelp can be found in the rewards store for the very low price of 500 satisfaction points, so it’s extremely accessible for your sim to transform into a mermaid without having to pay a ton of points.
You can also choose to go the harder route to find mermaid kelp and try to discover it somewhere in Sulani. If you dive near any of the water buoys you may find some kelp, or when you explore the cave that is located on the side of the mountain in Mua Pel’am.
Once you’ve acquired your mermaid kelp, you just need to consume it and you’ll have the ability to turn into a mermaid. However, you need to make sure your sim goes into the ocean sometime within the first 24 hours or the mermaid kelp with have no effect.
Taking Care of a Mermaid
Unlike Vampires in The Sims 4, Mermaids are much more like humans and only have one need different than a regular sim. Their hygiene need will transform into a hydration need. The rest of their needs will be just like a regular sim, so don’t worry too much about not knowing how to take care of them.
To satisfy your mermaid’s hydration need, you just need to get into water. This could mean taking a shower or a bath, or going for a swim in the ocean or a swimming pool.
Don’t worry, your mermaid’s hydration doesn’t work like a vampire’s vampire energy. Your mermaid won’t pass away or turn back into a human if their hydration gets completely empty. They’ll just spend a bit of time being really really uncomfortable.
Fun Fact: When your mermaid gets into a bathtub, their mermaid tail will appear and hang over the side of the tub! So don’t waste your time with boring showers!
Mermaid Powers
Mermaids have a number of powers that they can use to change other sim’s emotions, bring different animals towards them, and possibly even make another sim down. Mermaids are seriously powerful, and can do a lot of things with these powers.
Siren’s Lullaby
The mermaid’s siren’s lullaby powers can be targeted at another sim and each of them will use -30 hydration. They are used to change the way a sim’s feeling with their emotions.
- Night’s Requiem: Will make the Sim who’s targeted feel sad
- Inspiring Berceuse: Will make the Sim who’s targeted feel inspired
- Aegean’s Question: Will make the Sim who’s targeted feel tense
- Charmer’s Lullaby: Will make the Sim who’s targeted feel flirty
Aquatic Lure
Aquatic Lure will cost your mermaid -30 hydration, but is done right by water, so you can easily get that back. You can only use this at a fishing spot or when your sim is on a boat.
Your mermaid will blow directly into a conch shell and this will bring more interesting and rare fish towards you as well as way more fish for your mermaid to catch. You can also get a small boost to your sim’s fishing skill building.
Mermaid’s Kiss
Mermaid’s kiss will cost your mermaid -30 hydration. This makes it so a mermaid can kiss another sim without ever having to build a romantic relationship which makes this extremely valuable if you are trying to get your sim to do the 100 baby challenge, or complete the serial romantic aspiration.
You can use the mermaid’s kiss on land as well as in water, however, it is much more effective and powerful when used in water.
Call Azure Dolphins
The Call for Dolphins will cost your sim -30 hydration and is used to bring dolphins toward your sim. Dolphins are great for mermaids because they can become best friends and they help your mermaid’s social need.
Any sim can start to build relationships with dolphins, but mermaids are the only ones who have the ability to call dolphins towards them.
Summon Ocean Threat
Any mermaid with the good trait is unable to use summon ocean threat, since they wouldn’t want to cause another sim harm. This one costs your sim -30 hydration and can only be done in water.
Your mermaid will start to sing and this will cause whoever the mermaid is targeting to start flailing in the water. This can lead to that sim drowning if you do it more than once, so for an evil mermaid this is a great way to have a sim die.
Siren’s Call
This is another one that is not available to a mermaid who has the good trait. Your mermaid will get another sim to come near the water and into the shallow water and the mermaid will go underwater and drag the sim down.
A lot of the time, the sim will get tense and leave the water. However, if they are unable to get out of the water fast enough they have the chance of drowning. When used, the Siren’s Call will give your mermaid’s motives a +100, and fill them entirely.
Mermaid Abilities
Mermaids are mysterious creatures and have a few abilities that a regular sim is unable to perform, so they can definitely be a fun addition to any player’s game.
First off, mermaids are able to swim as a mermaid inside of a swimming pool and their mermaid tail will appear anytime they are in a bath tub, so that leads to some really fun animations! Mermaids also have the ability to talk to fish that are in an aquarium, finally a use for an aquarium I can’t stand behind.
Mermaids are able to swim faster than any other type of sim, this makes them swim just about as fast as the Aqua-Zips that sims are riding around on, and can travel anywhere rather quickly.
Mermaids are able to free dive at any stage of the fitness skill, not just when they have reached level 3. They are also known to make a few dolphin noises when on land, so make sure you have your sound on at least once to hear the wonders.
A pregnant mermaid is able to go for a swim even when they are in their 3rd trimester, an since regular sims aren’t able to do any real physical activity in their 3rd trimester, a pregnant mermaid can be fun!
Mermaids are able to go sunbathing in the water and get a tan. They can also sleep in the water! This means that the only time a mermaid needs to leave water is to eat, so you can make your gameplay entirely water based if you choose.
Controlling the Weather
If you have The Sims 4: Seasons in your game, your mermaid has the ability to actually control the weather. Doing any of these interactions will make your mermaid’s hydration decrease -75, so you should get them into water ASAP after to avoid being uncomfortable.
There are 3 ways for your mermaid to control the weather:
- Call Rainstorm: This will summon a rainstorm
- Call Clear Skies: Not possible for a mermaid who has the evil trait, but this will get rid of any rain or thunderstorms that are currently happening
- Call Thunderstorm: Not possible for a mermaid with the good trait, but this will summon a thunderstorm
Changing Back Into a Regular Sim
If your mermaid sim is just sick of being a mermaid, they do have the option to switch back to a sim. All you’ll need is two mermaid kelp, which you can get in the rewards store, and access to the ocean.
To reverse your sims mermaid-ness, you just need to eat two mermaid kelp in a row and then get your sim to get into the water and their hydration need will switch back to hygiene and they will have normal legs in the water again! So you don’t have to be a mermaid forever.
Final Thoughts
Being a mermaid in The Sims 4 can be a really fun level of game play that adds a fun new occult, and for some players occults are the best type of game play! Are you a fan of the mermaid system in The Sims 4: Island Living? Let me know how you feel in the comments!