In the children’s rooms of Sims 4, a seemingly harmless drawing will soon appear. However, it hides a “spoiler” to the story of the Endwalker expansion that only fans of Final Fantasy XIV will recognize.
This is the image in question: On March 16, athe “Growing Together” expansion (via GameStar) will be released for Sims 4, focusing on children, family, and growing up. As usual, it brings a whole lot of new features and items, ranging from clothes to furniture, but one thing stands out even before release.
It is a board where Sims kids can pin and display their drawings. In a screenshot, alongside colorful pictures of gloves and mushrooms, there is also a blue bird in space that will set off alarm bells for some FFXIV fans.
The name of the bird is Meteion, and it has triggered an apocalypse in the last expansion of the MMORPG, Endwalker.
What kind of bird is it? In the story of Endwalker, everything revolves around the impending end of all life in the universe. The reasons for this catastrophe lie thousands of years in the past, when the world of FFXIV was not yet split into 14 mirror worlds.
Back then, a scientist named Hermes created the being Meteion and her sisters and sent them into the vastness of the universe to seek the meaning of life.
As it had to happen: Meteion’s sisters discovered nothing but death, destruction, and terrible suffering on their journey. Their logical conclusion was that the best option was for everyone to die so that no one would suffer anymore. So, they set about cruelly exterminating life in the universe.
Although Meteion plays an important role in the overarching story of FFXIV, she only takes the stage very late. It is difficult, if not impossible, to recognize her as a spoiler without certain background knowledge. Even fans who are currently involved in the second-to-last expansion Shadowbringers will know nothing about her. Therefore, it is a very well-hidden “spoiler” from the Sims 4 developers.
Is the world of Sims 4 now threatened by an apocalypse? That is rather unlikely. This is not the first reference to FFXIV that the Sims 4 developers have brought into their game. Back in summer 2022, fans discovered some items with names and descriptions that contained more or less subtle references to Square Enix’s MMORPG.
For example, there is the furniture piece “Racked Teak-a Greatshelves,” which refers to the Rak’Tika forest, an area from the Shadowbringers expansion.
- In the description, it mentions the “Warriors of Write,” which refers to “Warriors of Light,” i.e., the Warriors of Light.
- The line “One brings shadow, one brings the light” came from the main song of Shadowbringers, which was written by Masayoshi Soken.
- And RIDING HOOOOOOOOOME was the first thing players heard upon logging in at the release of Shadowbringers.
The drawing of Meteion thus joins the ranks of the witty references to FFXIV that can be found in Sims 4. And if the Seventh Confectioner’s Calamity Firewood has not summoned a meteor containing Bahamut and triggered a catastrophe, then an image of a blue bird will not either.
The next expansion for FFXIV is reportedly set to be revealed at the upcoming fan festivals in Las Vegas, London, and Tokyo, but there is trouble:
