In the For Rent expansion pack, you can discover Sims 4 secrets about your neighbours and use them to your advantage. Discover secrets by eavesdropping, snooping, and even breaking into their homes and rummaging through their stuff to uncover all the dirt on them, then confront them with what you know and either keep the secret without strings attached or blackmail the Sim for simoleons!

Snoop on your neighbours to uncover (and exploit) all their juicy secrets!

In this guide, we’ll show you all the ways your Sims can uncover secrets about their neighbours and what they can do with those secrets once they discover them. This aspect of For Rent is absolutely perfect for players who enjoy more mischievous gameplay and want to wreak havoc in their save files!

Discover and Exploit Sims 4 Secrets

Before you can go around blackmailing all your neighbours, you’ll need to know what secrets are and how to discover them. You can’t blackmail a Sim if your Sim isn’t aware of any of their secrets. Read on to learn how to uncover secrets and exploit them for profit!

What are Sims 4 Secrets?

Just like real people, all Sims have secrets. Now, Sims 4 secrets can be discovered and viewed on a Sim’s profile, but only if your Sims discover them, first. Secrets are like info tooltips that can be viewed on a Sim’s profile once discovered. There is a new section for secrets on every Sim’s profile. If your Sim has discovered a secret about a Sim, that secret will show up in this section of their profile. Hovering over the secret will bring up a detailed description of the secret.

In typical Sims fashion, secrets are not particularly dark or sinister. Most of them are either funny or embarrassing (or both), but they are still things that a Sim might not want other people to know about them. Secrets don’t serve any functional purpose beyond being able to blackmail Sims; they’re mostly just fun tidbits of information to add some storytelling, lore, and personality depth to your Sims.

How to Eavesdrop in The Sims 4

One fairly low-risk way of discovering Sims 4 secrets is by eavesdropping on conversations. You can do this just about anywhere as long as there are two Sims having a conversation somewhere in the area. You can also travel to someone’s home and listen through the front door if there are at least two Sims having a conversation inside. You can do this on any residential lot, including apartments, haunted houses, and rental units.

When out and about, click on Sims who are involved in conversations to eavesdrop on them. Your Sim will pull out a pair of binoculars and try to spy on the conversation. If your Sim’s spying is fruitful, they’ll uncover a secret about one of the Sims in the conversation, which they can view by opening the Sim’s profile in the relationship panel.

You can also eavesdrop on Sims by going to their home and clicking the Eavesdrop option on the front door. The Eavesdrop option won’t always be available. More than one Sim needs to be at home and engaging in conversation inside. Since you can’t really see inside a home you haven’t been invited into, this is a bit of a trial and error situation. Our advice? If you can’t Eavesdrop, wait around for an in-game hour or two and keep clicking on the door periodically to see if the option becomes available. If it doesn’t, just move on to the next house. You might have better luck spying on someone else.

How to Break Into Houses in The Sims 4

Another way to acquire Sims 4 secrets is by breaking and entering. Of course, this is much riskier as there’s a higher chance of getting caught. If the Sims return home to find you snooping through their stuff, they aren’t going to be very happy with you at all. But the thrill might be worth it for some.

You can break into any residential lot, including apartments, haunted houses, and rental units. Just travel to the home/apartment/unit you wish to break into, click on the front door and select Start a Break In. This will reload the lot without the homeowners or renters at home so you can carry out a Sims 4 break in without being seen.

When the lot reloads, a Breaking and Entering event will start with a timer. You must get inside the home, snoop around, and get out before the timer runs out. If you’re still in the home when the timer ends, the Sims who live there will return home and be pretty angry with your Sim for violating their privacy.

Naturally, you don’t have a lot of time to snoop around someone’s home and the timer starts as soon as the lot loads, before you’ve even broken in. You’ll have to actually break open the front door to gain access to the inside of the home, which can eat up precious time if you don’t succeed in getting in on the first try.

When breaking in, look for objects that are likely to contain Sims 4 secrets. Objects like mailboxes, trash cans, dressers, computers, bookshelves, and beds are prime locations for hunting down Sims 4 secrets. Click these objects and select Snoop to try and find a secret. If you don’t want to risk eating up most of your limited time just trying to get in the front door, it’s a good idea to start with things that might be outside already, like the mailbox and trash bins. You might get a secret from these objects without ever having to get inside the home.

Once you are possession of a secret, you’ll want to get out of there as fast as possible. You don’t want to be inside the home when the timer runs out and be confronted by the Sims who live there. Sometimes, you may not uncover any Sims 4 secrets in time and have to leave empty-handed.

To Blackmail or Not to Blackmail?

So what do you do once you have some Sims 4 secrets? Well, that’s up to you and what kind of Sim you want to play. If your Sim is just one of those nosey types who likes to observe drama but not be an active part in it, you might want to just hang onto the secrets they discover. Just knowing all the dirt about their neighbours is enough to satisfy them.

But more malicious Sims might be inclined to exploit those secrets for personal gain. When you’ve discovered a secret about a Sim, you can then confront the Sim about the secret. The Confront About Secret social is located under Friendly > Gossip in the social pie menu. Once you’ve confronted a Sim about a secret, you can choose to keep the secret for the Sim or blackmail them for simoleons. Keep Secret is located under Friendly > Gossip. Blackmail is located under Mean > Malicious.

You don’t gain any rewards for keeping a secret but the Sim in question will be relieved that you chose to do the right thing. If you blackmail a Sim, they’ll pay you $100 in exchange for your silence but they won’t be very happy about it.

Loved our guide to uncovering Sims 4 secrets? Check out how to earn satisfaction points for being a nosey neighbour with our Aspirations Guide!