I bought The Sims 3 for my ex. She loved the series, and I thought this would be the perfect game for her. I still remember watching her play, getting lost in the world of virtual lives, creating stories, and designing houses with so much excitement. But that excitement didn’t last long.

She told me that The Sims 3 felt a bit empty without the expansions. The base game was fun, but it lacked the depth and variety that The Sims 2 (which I had bought with all the DLCs) had. In the end, she went back to The Sims 2, and The Sims 3 became more of a passing moment rather than a lasting favorite.

Still, every time I see The Sims 3, I can’t help but think of her—the way she laughed when her Sims did something ridiculous, how she meticulously decorated every house, and how, for a brief time, this game was a part of our story.

Even if the game didn’t stay with her, the memory of it stayed with me.