The Sims 4 is getting firefighters, repo men, and the ability to freely place doors and windows

The Sims 4 is due for a big update ahead of the upcoming Eco Lifestyle expansion.

The Sims 4 developer Maxis hosted a livestream yesterday that showed off a number of new features coming to the game in a free update. The patch, due for release June 2, drops just a few days ahead of the Eco Lifestyle expansion.

Most of what the update is adding will be available to all owners of the game. One of the biggest new additions is firefighters, which the developer showed arriving to the scene to put out fires at the character's house. There also appears to be an option to call the fire department, but because that segment was at the very end of the stream, we didn't get much info.

What we did get more details on was the upgrade to repo men. They will now visit your house and grab items of equal value to the bills you haven't paid. Repo men have been in the game since the Discover University DLC, but their jurisdiction was limited to college students who are behind on their tuition fees.

Speaking of bills, Maxis showed off a little bit of the new bills and utility system. Under the mailbox, you'll find a new menu that'll help you keep track of all the bills you need to pay along with a detailed breakdown of their value.

The power bill, for instance, will say which items in your house are using power. This ties nicely into the Eco Lifestyle expansion because the game will allow players to sell power generated (through solar panels etc.) back to the power company.

Outside of that, the stream also showed a few updates to the building system in The Sims 4. The most noticeable is the ability to freely place windows and doors without having to tie them to a grid, as well as the arrival of ladders.

Thanks, Sims Community.