Secret Child Mechanics Explained + Storytelling Tips
Note: English is not my native language, so I used a translator to help write this post. Thank you for your understanding.
I started a discussion about this topic before, but after doing more testing, I felt it was necessary to create a new one. I hope my gameplay experience can help other players.
After playing for several days and running multiple tests, I think I understand how the new Secrets and Scandals system works. Here are some points:
An undiscovered scandal counts as a secret, and it has an expiration timer. If it isn’t discovered before the time limit runs out, the secret simply disappears. This feels a bit strange, since we also have the option to pay the Information Broker Sim to “erase” the secret. In practice, you can just take the risk and wait for it to expire on its own, since that will eventually happen anyway.
While the secret is still active, there’s a chance it can be exposed. Other Sims may call asking for money and threaten to reveal everything, which is actually pretty fun! But your Sim can still manage to avoid having the secret exposed.
Scandals seem to follow this same logic, and honestly, it’s still entertaining. It becomes even more fun when secrets are actually exposed and turn into full-blown scandals.
I believe some secrets shouldn’t simply “disappear,” especially the “Secret Child” secret.
After the baby is born, the mother can choose to lie about the paternity, which generates the secret. The child appears as a secret child only in the biological parents’ family trees. For the child, it only shows the “official” (fake) father.
I absolutely loved this feature!
However, if the secret isn’t discovered and the child never learns the truth, after some time the secret disappears completely—and there’s no longer any way to find out who the real father is.
That leads me to this point: at least in the case of the Secret Child, there should be some way for the child to discover who their biological father is, instead of living a lie forever.
As I said, it’s much more fun when secrets are discovered, even if they don’t turn into scandals. Sims who find out react with shock and may even distance themselves from the Sim who caused it!
So, if you’re trying to build a Secret Child storyline like I am, here are some tips:
The Secret Child secret is only generated if the mother is married and has a baby from an extramarital affair (it doesn’t matter whether it’s with her designated secret lover or not). The child’s mother must be married; being engaged or simply living together is not enough. That said, the Secret Child secret is NOT generated when the father has a child outside of marriage—unless his lover is also married. In that case, the mother generates the secret, and the biological father becomes her accomplice. Personally, I think this mechanic is problematic and could be improved.
If you want some time to develop the storyline before revealing the truth, I recommend making the child discover the secret before it expires. That way, at least they become aware of it, and their true biological family tree will be revealed—even if there are no parental care relationships with the biological father. For storytelling purposes, this is much more interesting.
Don’t let time pass naturally for too long! The secret has a time limit. If the child doesn’t discover their true family tree within that timeframe, there will be no way for them to learn the truth later. So you may need to age up the child (and other family members, if necessary), have them uncover the secret, and only then continue the storyline.
Unfortunately, if you want to maintain a “natural” progression of time, you’ll have to accept that the child may never learn their true origins. If you want them to know the truth, you’ll need to age them up earlier than planned so they can discover it in time. These tips are especially helpful for players who start with a main Sim and want to build complex family connections before fully diving into gameplay.
After the February 19, 2026 update, even if the child doesn’t know about their biological father, romantic interactions between them are no longer possible. This used to happen (which was obviously a bug), but it seems to have been fixed—at least based on my testing.
This post is based entirely on my personal gameplay experience, with the goal of helping those who, like me, enjoy creating deep and complex narratives for their Sims before officially “starting” the game.
Sorry for the long post!
And thank you to everyone who read this far!
