I like this game! I would play it to help further design the story of my OC's and the way they live. I unfortunately spent a lot of money to get some of the DLCS (AT LEAST OVER TIME) and it does give the game a lot more content, if not bloats it. Mods are a thing and they help bloat up your doll house experience some more. I generally love how expressive the sims are and how customizable this game is and seems to be the only game of its kind (apart from the upcoming paralives). Looking back at the older Sims games does feel disappointing though, with how much more this game honestly could have been.

“One Microtransaction Too Many”

A once-celebrated game franchise, “The Sims'' has gone down the path of many series in the modern gaming landscape - copious amounts of monetization and DLC. While the core gameplay loop is similar to older titles, many features have been stripped away leaving a relatively barren game in its wake. EA has instead opted to repackage these features as expansions for their franchise, and “The Sims 4” is the biggest offender with this practice. What could’ve been a great entry to the franchise has instead turned into an abomination of a deal for gamers, and something that I can't support despite its okay gameplay loop.

The tutorial for these games has never been great, but it doesn’t keep me from being disappointed that more effort isn’t extended for explaining its mechanics. Buying and selling items for yourself and managing expenses are some extra details that should have been expanded upon. It makes things even more confusing when you are trying to figure out various forms of travel, interacting with other Sims, or just training your Sim’s abilities - there’s a lot of discovery to be had, but for less experimental players like myself they end up being overlooked and appear missing to the experience. A more fleshed out in-game tutorial would help out a lot as an option for those less familiar with the mechanics.

Gameplay is typical for “The Sims” as a series - you create a Sim, give them quirks, and shape their lives however you’d like. You can play actively or passively with their lives, and there are opportunities to grow your Sims’ career, love life, etc. Adding components to your Sims’ house is convenient through the menus. Traveling is restricted compared to earlier entries, but has more modern options as well.

While there are a lot of opportunities for customization and creativity in “The Sims 4”, it feels wrong to say it's a quality game when many features have been stripped out of previous games. When the ability to have certain pets, or the chance to go to University and experience campus life, are limited by paid expansions, I see that as a problem. This title was released when the idea of free-to-play was still taking off, but also the idea of “live service” titles as well. Therefore, the “full experience” of this game is locked behind hundreds of dollars of expansions, all of which could have been introduced for a free price while saving cosmetic packs as cheaper paid bundles. Gameplay should not be locked behind another paid service, especially when those features used to be a part of the series in previous installments, and it put me off of supporting the game even if its gameplay loop is quality and addicting enough to warrant a recommendation in many ways.

Thus, I would Not Recommend this game despite its solid gameplay loop and presentation. It feels like a rip-off since so many potentially cut features are repackaged as DLC, especially when a lot of them are older content in the series. While it still captures the essence of “The Sims”, it also represents some of the worst pricing models the industry has to offer. That in itself is shameful, and I expect the next “Sims” title to have fairer pricing models to reflect an industry that is hopefully going to start moving towards fairness for the consumer…

Final Verdict: 5/10 (Average)

The best of the sims games, structure wise, held back by there being barely anything to do in the base game besides have a family, go up the work promotion ladder, and build a house.

Customization is very limited in house building with several items only having one option or just not being there,e.g. game consoles, several skills only being possible on the computer item like writing, etc.

Also if you want any things to do be prepared to buy the 8000 dlcs.

7/10

A fun unique game where instead of defeating enimes, you take on the ultimate challenge of being social and raising a family. "Dark souls music starts playing"

Allways down to sink dozens of hours into this game with new stories and characters I've made up.

❗❗HUGE CON❗❗
Why the absolute fuck does getting all the DLC for this game costs as much as a Car?! Also the base game feels so empty without the DLC, it's like as if it was all according to plan; sell an empty game then charge an arm and a leg for basic features like having a Sim own a pet, be a parent or being able to wash thier clothes.

EA's Greed = { -2 ★ + 🏴‍☠️}