The world that comes with the base game won't have any residents at all, just some empty lots. You'll get to create exactly one family per save, with no sliders or color wheel and only a few preset features to choose from. A full CAS experience won't show up until a year later, in an expansion pack called "The Sims 5: Totally Unique." Townies will be sold separately in a game pack entitled "TS5: Make Some Friends! YAY!" Official family relationships won't exist at all until the release of the "Family Bonds" EP, when they relent and enable for the first time all the age stages below teen in CAS and finally (in a piece of store content put up for sale a week later) let couples "try for baby" to add to the family. But if you want your sims to die and return to haunt your lot, you'll have to wait for the Ghost pack to be released.
On the plus side, the internet celebrity career will be fully developed on day one, with ten levels and bonuses each time your sim goes viral with an insensitive and completely inappropriate social media post or soda commercial.
Edit: I almost forgot, to access any of these features, you'll need to stay logged in to EA's servers so that they can *ensure an optimal gaming experience*, otherwise you're stuck watching your virtual grass grow on an empty lot.
