It looks nice, but I bet that lawn is a bugger to mow.

EA has capped off a busy few weeks with another major announcement, this time a new iteration of its most popular casual franchise, The Sims. The new game transports the action from modern suburbia to the distant past, where players must manage the day to day activities of a small population of semi-autonomous kings, queens, knights, bards and many others. The title of the game? The Sims: Medieval.

Unlike previous instalments in the franchise, the new game will be objective based, with hero characters actively participating in quests. As much as we all enjoy vacuuming the carpet and going to the toilet, the idea of locking horns with a wicked sorcerer also has a certain appeal. It will be interesting to see if long time fans of the series embrace this new direction.

Currently in development for PC and Mac, The Sims: Medieval will join the likes of Kingdoms of Amalur, Darkspore and Create on the publisher’s growing release schedule.