The Sims is a hit game for a good reason: there’s just something so satisfying about living out your dream life with a cast of tiny characters.
And, while I grew up with Sims 2, these days it’s more smart and sophisticated than ever. The latest iteration, Sims 4, boasts high-quality graphics, more sophisticated controls and, most importantly, a massive array of expansion packs that can be used to add more flavour and colour to your Sims’ lives.
Here’s our roundup of the best.
For all those who have ever thought, what would it be like to spend my leisure time simulating work: well, I have good news for you. Get To Work lets you set your Sim off on one of three career options and game out its days in the office (or indeed set up a business from home). These are police work, lab work or hospital work (the three cornerstones of society, clearly) and they come with the opportunity to get promoted, get a pay rise and level up into new responsibilities. Also, those on the lab track can visit the alien planet of Sixam.
The minus? You may be grinding a while before leaving planet Earth. The tasks are pretty repetitive and they lack variety: rather too much like actual work.
Living the eco-life in Sims 4
EA
Though the title doesn’t exactly scream a good time, there’s still a lot to get stuck into here. The main addition is a new eco footprint mechanic, which judges your area on how green it is – and also lets you sweat about how to reduce the smog emanating from its new industrial regions.
If saving the world is your jam, the Sims will let you do it in miniature: the pack gives you the ability to create insect farms, generate biofuel and create a Neighbourhood Action Plan to really crack down on eco-criminals. A word of warning though: beware of having too many electrical appliances in the house.
Extremely wholesome, even if it doesn’t add much to your Sims’ lives beyond where they go on their winter holidays. The main appeal of the expansion pack is the chance to explore the beautiful, Japanese-flavoured world. That includes the traditional buildings, but also Mt. Komorebi, which comes complete with hot springs, bamboo forests and the chance to take up skiing and snowboarding. Also rock climbing for the real adrenaline junkies.
Fill in the gaps in your education with High School Years
EA
Yes, there’s a Sims University, but this is the better version: more fleshed out, and with more to do. And while the prospect of heading back to full-time education might sound terrifying, this proves it can actually be a rather good time.
As the name implies, this lets you follow your teen Sims to school – and even into their classes, though there is enough free time for them to roam around and make friends too. There are new social dynamics to tackle but also the chance to go to prom, decorate your locker and hang out at the amusement park and pier with your pals. Also, as you might expect from an expansion pack about teens, there are a lot of fun new hairstyles and outfits to choose from. Mod away!
Surprisingly good. The strength of Get Together (which, as it advertises, offers new ways for your Sims to interact) is in the amount of new lots it opens up in the European-influenced town of Windenburg. There is an insane amount of content here: Sims can visit (and dance in, or DJ in) nightclubs, visit bars and cafes, or even create a club of their own. As you level up your standing in the community, it’s even possible to create stuff like a Grilled Cheese Appreciation Club. Add in the stonking 27 new lots and it’s a winner.
EA
Discard all thoughts of house prices going up and instead live in a fantasy where you are the landlord instead. For Rent is a very satisfying entry into the Sims canon – mostly in the way it lets you subdivide your house into apartments that can then be inhabited by tenants – but also in the way it lets you be the landlord from hell. In addition to raking in the cash, your Sim can also eavesdrop on and blackmail your poor sub-lessees.
Plus, it also introduces the small, but nicely flavoured world of Tomarang, which is modelled after South-East Asia and introduces fun ideas like visiting an animal sanctuary or leaving offerings at the local Spirit House.
The Sims equivalent of Stardew Valley – so is it any surprise that this pack is indecently wholesome, and also packed with new stuff to do. Invest in a cottage-core aesthetic! Grow massive crops! Tend farm animals!
The setting of Henford-on-Badgley (presumably a British countryside town knockoff) is bucolic and cute, and there’s the opportunity to visit that town to run errands and visit the town fairs, or even go foraging. Great value for money, regardless of whether your passion lies in building or living the good life.
Surely this is the purest form of wish fulfilment. Get Famous is a surprisingly comprehensive expansion pack that does what it says on the tin: your Sim can become a superstar. And though you can do it the conventional way (ie, by becoming an actor), there’s also the interesting option of achieving success by levelling up your writing or cooking skills. Or, you know, you could just opt to livestream going to the toilet in the hope of clicks.
The more famous you get, the more fame perks (and “quirks” – the bad version) you’ll unlock as you climb the greasy pole. The only downside: there isn’t a great variety of lots to live in, which feels unnecessarily limiting.
Growing Together focuses on family life
EA
Yes, Sims do age as the game progresses but this expansion pack is actually a bit of a gem in the way it fleshes out their dynamics and personalities too. In addition to the Social Compatibility feature, which lets Sims forge stronger friendships with certain people (and beef harder with others), there is a strong family angle here too.
Now, those with kids can have more on an impact on how they’re raised: encouraging confidence in kids will mean they have more of it as adults, for instance. Or on the flipside, if you don’t hit enough Milestones (also a new feature), your adult Sims can have a full-on mid-life crisis. Fun!
I might be biased, but what game isn’t improved by adding cats and dogs (and foxes and raccoons) to it? And with this pack, you get to own them! Pleasingly, there is a customisation option, and a large number of ways you can interact with said pet: petting, hugs and praising. Of course, there’s also the small issue of keeping them alive and happy, which is harder than it sounds, given that there isn’t really a way to gauge how they’re feeling. But hey, doesn’t that add an element of authenticity to it all?
And the winner is … Seasons
Seasons is a classic for a reason. In addition to introducing actual weather into the in-game universe (goodbye, bland forever summers!), it also has the benefit of adding in festive holidays and the ability to garden.
There are some downsides – the danger of your Sims freezing to death in a snowstorm are sadly, all too real – but they’re all part of the fun. Enjoy the blustery spring, clean up leaves in the autumn and rejoice in the fact that the concept of the years passing actually means something. Plus, this means that your Sim can celebrate Christmas (here tactfully renamed as Winterfest) and flirt with Father Winter. Again, what is not to love here?