The Sims 4: Outdoor Retreat is really really good. It focuses on the weakest part of the original game, going outdoor and socializing. So it adds a bunch of new items to make outdoors more fun, it includes 154 new items overall, it includes a new aspiration, a new skill and a new trait and on top of all of this it includes the most beautiful Sims world yet with Granite Falls. As the first representative of game packs, I think this DLC does a pretty good job. And for 20 dollars, I would say it includes at least 5-6 hours of fun just to experience everything the DLC has to offer. Which is good for me.
The Full Review:
A Totally Different Kind of Pack
The Sims 4’s paid DLC is actually not a stuff pack or an expansion pack. It’s a game pack which is a totally new kind of pack first introduced to the series with this game. It goes for 20 US Dollars and it’s that perfect middle ground between a 40 Dollar expansion and a 10 Dollar stuff pack. It features more stuff than a typical stuff pack and throws in a few new gameplay as well but it isn’t as feature rich as an expansion.
Before going into the gameplay let’s quickly get through the new stuff. There are 74 new Create A Sim items for your Sims. Many of them are outdoor and woods themed. I have to say that I liked the female options a lot while male options especially lacked in the hair front. New male hairs are pretty bad in my opinion. However, I really like the outdoorsy look in outfits in real life as well so seeing it in Sims 4 really makes me happy.
There are also 80 Build Mode items. Again, many has a wooden theme around them and I think the items are just incredible. It might not be suited for a normal household but I think they still look cool and I would like to put them in my normal houses as well. I don’t care how weird it looks. So overall, 154 new items mostly outdoor and woods themed. I am pretty happy with the selection we got.
The real deal with this game pack though is of course the new gameplay. Our Sims can now go on vacation. If they have vacation days from their job, they will be able to go to vacation while still getting paid for their working days and having no performance drop. But if they don’t have vacation days available they will gain 0 money and their performance meter will drop. Which might lead you to getting fired.
You can select to go on vacation from your phone and invite your Sim friends as well. After selecting that you will come to the world selection screen where you will see that we have a new type of world. Vacation Worlds. This game pack introduces only one vacation world called “Granite Falls”. It’s a forest area that has 5 lots and a full on, forest.
You can select any one of the 5 lots. They are ranging from cheap options with 1 bedroom and 1 bathroom to 4 bedroom 3 bathroom ones. Or you can go for the cheapest option that has no house. It will just be a campground and you will need to set up a tent. Each lot has a cost and it will be multiplied with how many days you are staying in there. You can get a maximum of 7 days at first but closer to it ending, you can choose to extend your vacation as well.
This new world looks absolutely incredible and has plenty of opportunity to go out and do some stuff. Very appropriate considering that the biggest problem with the main game was that it wasn’t an open world and that forced you to stay in your home all the time. The game is still not an open world but this new location is begging to be explored and some new gameplay features promotes socializing with your fellow Sims.
Like a campfire. You can light it, you can cook some stuff on it with options ranging from marshmallows to beetles. Yeah, I wrote it right. You can also tell some stories as well. Particularly ghost stories who can make other Sims scared. That’s just really fun. We also have horseshoe pits where you can compete with your Sim friends.
One of my favorite additions from this DLC though are tents. They are just, tents actually. If you go with the cheapest option in your vacation and select the campground, there will be nowhere to sleep so you will need to buy a tent. You can sleep, relax or nap in it. Just like a normal bed. This might bring a question to your mind. If it’s a normal bed, can we do THAT stuff? Yes, we have our first post launch WooHoo spot with the tents. You can do woohoo’s or you can try for baby in tents. And the animation for it is hilarious.
We even have options like stargazing at night and cloudgazing at morning that will make your Sims inspired and it will make their relationship better with the person they chose to do that activity with. But back to Granite Falls for a second. You have the location where all 5 of the lots are. You also have a forest. Both of these areas are fully explorable and they include a bunch of collectibles like insects or unknown plants.
There are also fishing spots if fishing is your thing. There is even a secret area in the forest. Just look around for a black hole covered with vines around that map. It will lead you to a very good looking place. If you want to have a checklist of these new features, the game got you covered because the DLC includes a new aspiration.
Outdoor Enthusiast aspiration has 4 tiers of challenges all about Granite Falls and it’s new features. It’s a great idea to give one of your Sims this aspiration and complete the challenges to learn about these new features. This new aspiration will ask you to maximize the new skill added with this DLC called Herbalism.
Herbalism is about plants. Remember those undiscovered plants I mentioned? Well, you need to collect them and attempt to identify them. Both a failed and successful attempt will increase your skill level and of course in order to identify some of these undiscovered plants your Herbalism will need to be at a higher level.
You can also brew herbal remedies to increase your Herbalism skill with using those collectibles like plants and insects I mentioned before to craft things that will give you certain buffs. One of them is elixir of fertility for example which will increase the chance of having twins or triplets for the Sim who drinks it. Finally, there is also a new trait called Squeamish. If you give this trait to your Sim, it won’t like going outdoor much because of the bugs and plants and dirt. It’s like the exact opposite of the main game trait called “Loves Outdoors”.
I said that was the final thing but I want to mention that we also have a new party type. It’s called Weenie Roast and as you can guess by it’s title, it’s about roasting stuff over the campfire.
The Sims 4: Outdoor Retreat is really really good. It focuses on the weakest part of the original game, going outdoor and socializing. So it adds a bunch of new items to make outdoors more fun, it includes 154 new items overall, it includes a new aspiration, a new skill and a new trait and on top of all of this it includes the most beautiful Sims world yet with Granite Falls. As the first representative of game packs, I think this DLC does a pretty good job. And for 20 dollars, I would say it includes at least 5-6 hours of fun just to experience everything the DLC has to offer. Which is good for me.
The Full Review:
A Totally Different Kind of Pack
The Sims 4’s paid DLC is actually not a stuff pack or an expansion pack. It’s a game pack which is a totally new kind of pack first introduced to the series with this game. It goes for 20 US Dollars and it’s that perfect middle ground between a 40 Dollar expansion and a 10 Dollar stuff pack. It features more stuff than a typical stuff pack and throws in a few new gameplay as well but it isn’t as feature rich as an expansion.
Before going into the gameplay let’s quickly get through the new stuff. There are 74 new Create A Sim items for your Sims. Many of them are outdoor and woods themed. I have to say that I liked the female options a lot while male options especially lacked in the hair front. New male hairs are pretty bad in my opinion. However, I really like the outdoorsy look in outfits in real life as well so seeing it in Sims 4 really makes me happy.
There are also 80 Build Mode items. Again, many has a wooden theme around them and I think the items are just incredible. It might not be suited for a normal household but I think they still look cool and I would like to put them in my normal houses as well. I don’t care how weird it looks. So overall, 154 new items mostly outdoor and woods themed. I am pretty happy with the selection we got.
The real deal with this game pack though is of course the new gameplay. Our Sims can now go on vacation. If they have vacation days from their job, they will be able to go to vacation while still getting paid for their working days and having no performance drop. But if they don’t have vacation days available they will gain 0 money and their performance meter will drop. Which might lead you to getting fired.
You can select to go on vacation from your phone and invite your Sim friends as well. After selecting that you will come to the world selection screen where you will see that we have a new type of world. Vacation Worlds. This game pack introduces only one vacation world called “Granite Falls”. It’s a forest area that has 5 lots and a full on, forest.
You can select any one of the 5 lots. They are ranging from cheap options with 1 bedroom and 1 bathroom to 4 bedroom 3 bathroom ones. Or you can go for the cheapest option that has no house. It will just be a campground and you will need to set up a tent. Each lot has a cost and it will be multiplied with how many days you are staying in there. You can get a maximum of 7 days at first but closer to it ending, you can choose to extend your vacation as well.
This new world looks absolutely incredible and has plenty of opportunity to go out and do some stuff. Very appropriate considering that the biggest problem with the main game was that it wasn’t an open world and that forced you to stay in your home all the time. The game is still not an open world but this new location is begging to be explored and some new gameplay features promotes socializing with your fellow Sims.
Like a campfire. You can light it, you can cook some stuff on it with options ranging from marshmallows to beetles. Yeah, I wrote it right. You can also tell some stories as well. Particularly ghost stories who can make other Sims scared. That’s just really fun. We also have horseshoe pits where you can compete with your Sim friends.
One of my favorite additions from this DLC though are tents. They are just, tents actually. If you go with the cheapest option in your vacation and select the campground, there will be nowhere to sleep so you will need to buy a tent. You can sleep, relax or nap in it. Just like a normal bed. This might bring a question to your mind. If it’s a normal bed, can we do THAT stuff? Yes, we have our first post launch WooHoo spot with the tents. You can do woohoo’s or you can try for baby in tents. And the animation for it is hilarious.
We even have options like stargazing at night and cloudgazing at morning that will make your Sims inspired and it will make their relationship better with the person they chose to do that activity with. But back to Granite Falls for a second. You have the location where all 5 of the lots are. You also have a forest. Both of these areas are fully explorable and they include a bunch of collectibles like insects or unknown plants.
There are also fishing spots if fishing is your thing. There is even a secret area in the forest. Just look around for a black hole covered with vines around that map. It will lead you to a very good looking place. If you want to have a checklist of these new features, the game got you covered because the DLC includes a new aspiration.
Outdoor Enthusiast aspiration has 4 tiers of challenges all about Granite Falls and it’s new features. It’s a great idea to give one of your Sims this aspiration and complete the challenges to learn about these new features. This new aspiration will ask you to maximize the new skill added with this DLC called Herbalism.
Herbalism is about plants. Remember those undiscovered plants I mentioned? Well, you need to collect them and attempt to identify them. Both a failed and successful attempt will increase your skill level and of course in order to identify some of these undiscovered plants your Herbalism will need to be at a higher level.
You can also brew herbal remedies to increase your Herbalism skill with using those collectibles like plants and insects I mentioned before to craft things that will give you certain buffs. One of them is elixir of fertility for example which will increase the chance of having twins or triplets for the Sim who drinks it. Finally, there is also a new trait called Squeamish. If you give this trait to your Sim, it won’t like going outdoor much because of the bugs and plants and dirt. It’s like the exact opposite of the main game trait called “Loves Outdoors”.
I said that was the final thing but I want to mention that we also have a new party type. It’s called Weenie Roast and as you can guess by it’s title, it’s about roasting stuff over the campfire.
The Sims 4: Outdoor Retreat is really really good. It focuses on the weakest part of the original game, going outdoor and socializing. So it adds a bunch of new items to make outdoors more fun, it includes 154 new items overall, it includes a new aspiration, a new skill and a new trait and on top of all of this it includes the most beautiful Sims world yet with Granite Falls. As the first representative of game packs, I think this DLC does a pretty good job. And for 20 dollars, I would say it includes at least 5-6 hours of fun just to experience everything the DLC has to offer. Which is good for me.