Dave Miotke and Morgan Henry from The Sims 4 on life and death and whether they would make good reapers

In front of my Sim's front door stands a statue of Moppy the goat, a beloved animal that helped found Ravenwood. It's unusual for a goat to found a village, but this place is just as bizarre. As you walk around the area, you'll see traditional rural staples: wooded areas, a river and bay, a town square and amazing architecture. Only when you look closer will you see the secrets that lie beneath.

Ghosts roam the playground by the square, often joined by full-fledged ghosts of long-dead Sims playing chess or relaxing by the fountain. Along the dirt roads, you'll find a crypt, an ominously good-looking, and a lectern with a book that tells of an ancient society bound together by a common and sacred mission. There are also two houses near the town hall with some interesting and uninvited residents. And that's just one of the three distinct neighborhoods of Ravenwood.

The Sims 4: Life & Death is one of the most packed expansions we've seen in a long time. I've been playing for a week now and I'm still discovering little secrets in his world. To find out more about what the expansion has to offer, I caught up with Production Director Dave Miotek and Producer Morgan Henry to talk about life, death, and whether the Baleful Bog is truly scarier than the Underworld's rifts and numerous crypts.

“We really wanted to play with death. explains Miotke. “Our slogan is 'Play With Life' and on the death side we really wanted to do some fun things with the Grim Reaper. We knew that burials were an area that was missing from The Sims and could be added, so yes [the initial idea] was just a general concept of death and then we built several pieces around that.”

Funerals have never been covered in the series before, so I had to ask, why now? Miotke says the team felt the time was right. “We knew we were going to have a Halloween starter pack. So we wanted to do a little follow-up to that spooky season. And we had all the pieces. We felt this was a package we could make on a technical level.”

After examining the deck on my terms, this direction makes sense as Life & Death expands on several existing features. Reaper careers are based on the existing active career engine, while burials draw from the holiday and wedding systems. Crypt exploration uses the choose-your-own text system already seen in many existing hidden locations, while the Souls Journey mechanic is an extension of wishes, whims, and desires.

Getting to grips with the specifics of Death himself, known as the Grim Reaper, is a frequent staple of The Sims, and this pack gives him his time to shine, as your Sims can now join the Reaper career and usher their own clients into the afterlife. This is a fully active career that gives you a lot of options and is clearly not dissimilar to Miotke and his team working on The Sims 4.

“I would say probably our own work life,” Miotke says of the influences on a new career path. “There's a lot of good office humor and office hijinks. I happen to be Morgan's boss. So when she makes a joke about how gloomy her boss is, it always makes me laugh.”

Given the similarities, I asked if the pair thought they could shine in a new career path, if they were available in real life of course. They decided to comment on each other's suitability.

You'd be terrible at it [the reaper career] because you have such a big heart and you would have to meet your quotas – Morgan Henry

“And then it would be like, Dave, again, you didn't meet your quota. You didn't take a single soul.”

“I'm a bit anti-authority, so I think I would definitely rebel against quotas,” agrees Miotke. “I think you'd do great, Morgan. The only thing you wouldn't do great is burn them all.”

You have a fire bug so you shouldn't have a problem harvesting, but it would always be by the fire. – Dave Miotke

Henry's penchant for starting fires, especially on live streams, is well-known in The Sims community and was only highlighted in the build-up to a live press broadcast, resulting in two more fiery deaths. In case you were wondering, she decided to jump with it.

“I was really upset at first,” Henry admits. “Because I was happy, I don't remember the last time I saved. I will have to reboot. And then I was like, no, let's do it. I think people think I do it on purpose, but I really don't. I'm just really unlucky.”

Going back to the pack's contents, Miotke explains that they had three core features: the Grim Reaper career, the Ravenwood world, and the Souls Journey system. These form the pillars of the expansion, with the real focal point being the world in particular.

“We wanted to be the best in the world. Not only the size and number of lots, but [also with] lots to do there. Lots of activities, fun festivals, interesting NPCs and points of interest to interact with. The world was very, very important to us,” explains Miotke.

“Our world is loosely inspired by Romania.” Henry continues. “We have three quarters. The first two are a bit more realistic and probably show more Romanian influence. One is the countryside, the other is the village. Then the third is the afterlife. It's really scary with the vines and the sounds and the swamp. That's a little more fantasy. I think they took inspiration from different fields and media to do that.”

“We also took inspiration from previous Sims games,” adds Miotke. “This is a lore heavy pack, and I don't want to give away any spoilers, but the deeper you dig into it, the more interesting references you'll find from the past.”

I've mostly been in the countryside while playing, which is my natural home, but both Miotke and Henry told me they'd settle elsewhere if given the chance. “Crows Crossing.” Henry says without hesitation. “I don't want to live in a haunted ghost town. I think it might be a little too much for me. [While] the countryside is beautiful, I like some amenities so the village is a happy medium. It's just a little scary, so it's still a little fun and beautiful.”

Miotke, meanwhile, is trying much harder to settle down. “I'll be moving every few weeks,” he tells me. “I don't want anyone to know where I rest. I will continue to pursue them.”

The world also has some unique haunting elements, including explorable crypts with dark secrets, an ominous swamp where a quick dive can temporarily turn you into a ghost, and rifts in the underworld that hide all sorts of things. But which one would you rather face? It's a tough decision, but since neither Miotke nor Henry are horror fanatics, they're both careful with their choices.

“I saw this question before me and gave it a lot of serious thought,” Henry informs me to my delight. “Not the crypt. I'd be too scared to actually do it, and I think I'd be too smart to put my hand in the crack. I'd probably do the pernicious swamp thing. If I knew I could make it and be safe one day, it would be really fun to be a ghost for a while.'

Miotke disagrees. “I'm putting my hand in the crack,” he decided. “That's natural, as if nothing happened. The crypt is too scary because no, it's a trap. And the ominous swamps, just thinking about something beneath the surface, like brushing my leg. I can't see the bottom. I don't want to swim in it. By no means.”

I am personally in this Miotke team. It took a while to get up the courage to let my Sim stick his hand into the cracks, but it was worth it. So far, the rewards outweigh the risks, so it's a crack. Now I'm off to find the secrets of tradition. I'll let you know what or who I reveal.

All images in this article are taken from the Life & Death alpha build and are subject to change.