September 2014, the very popular PC simulator game, The Sims 4 was released to the world and nearly four years on, content is still being developed and sold in the bucket loads. Since release, EA have released five expansion packs, several ‘game packs’ and a lot more ‘stuff packs’, which see’s players return to the classic game. The latest expansion, Seasons, was released 22nd June and we got sent a copy to try out!
As expected, the Seasons expansion pack revolves around the four seasons of the year, winter, spring, summer & autumn, and includes several new activities and items for you to play with. It’s been a while since I played The Sims, so after a fresh install, I went about creating myself, in Sim form. So, what’s new?
With each season, comes different temperatures, which plays a role during the game. If it gets hot, your sim will get hot, they will become uncomfortable and hygiene levels will decrease, until you put on a change of clothes and/or have a wash. Likewise, in the winter, you need to stay toasty and warm! There is an in-game thermometer, allowing you to monitor the temperatures. If you do not like what the weather is doing, you are able to change the weather to suit your needs, via the weather machine. Be cautious though, with great power comes great responsibility and you don’t want to kill your sim, do you? Get struck by lightning, overheat or freeze and your sim may suffer a painful death.
Seasons work off a calendar, and there are premade holidays from the get go, including a valentine’s day, Halloween/thanks giving for the American folk, Christmas and New Year’s. You can also add your own yearly holidays into your sims calendar. Stay in your bed, eat popcorn and play games day sounds good!
A big thing that I wasn’t aware of, the lack of gardening career within the core game, which apparently has had fans disappointed for some time. Fear not, that career is now part of the Seasons expansion and allows you to become a Florist or Botanist. However, if you’d rather be a chef, yet still like the idea of working with flowers, you can purchase a flower arranging table and begin levelling up your skills that way. You will also notice bee’s hovering around the screen during the spring & summer seasons, and that’s because you can now become a bee keeper and produce your very own honey. Yum!
There must be near on 100 new items in the game, from clothing, furniture, ornaments and characteristic items such as different faces, hairstyles & beards. As you may have guessed, most of these items relate to one of the seasons. For example, you can get a festive Santa outfit, or an Easter bunny look, pumpkins for Halloween, and ice rinks for the winter. Enough fresh loot to keep you amused for some time.
After creating my sim, purchasing a stock home that someone else in the community created, I played for some time, running through each season and trying the new features out. The new season feature’s added more to the game than I thought it would, as it’s quite an important element to remember and think about. With the seasons, especially Christmas, it becomes more lifelike and realistic, as in real life, you look forward to these events & seasons. If you like The Sims, this is one of the better expansions in my mind, up there with Pets, as it adds a fundamental core element to the game.
The expansion is available to purchase now, with an RRP of £34.99, purchasable via Origin or EA.com.
P.S After looking into it, there seems to be synergy between the expansion and other packs, which is great to see. If you have the pet’s expansion, you will notice your pets playing differently with each season.
P.S.S Patchy The Scarecrow, get one, stick him in the garden and if you’re nice to him, he will help out in the garden and may leave special treats in his pockets for you…
