The Sims 4: the kits arrive, our considerations

The Sims 4

We were all convinced, we and the entire Simmer community, that after the release of Paranormal Phenomena we would not soon see other expansions for The Sims 4 and instead Maxis and Electronic Arts have released three new kits for PC and consoles on March 2, 2021: Retro fashion, country cooking and spring cleaning. The Kits are a new cut of expansions, even smaller than the Stuff Packs, sold individually for € 4.99 each. We tell you more about their content in this special.

Don't Touch My Fluff!

The three released kits individually focus on a different element of The Sims 4: Retro Fashion is all about CaS, especially sports-flavored clothing definitely 80s; Country Kitchen includes a country style kitchen complete with every element and finally, Spring Cleaning introduces a little game dynamic dedicated to cleaning, especially dust. If there are very few words to spend on the first two, since they are basically clothes and furniture, the third is more interesting. By installing Spring Cleaning (originally titled "Bust the Dust", much nicer) we will be able to activate the dynamics of dust and dirt, linked to unique aspirations, mood, objects and interactions. Already in the Create a Sim mode we will have the opportunity to see the two new aspirations for our Simmers: under the Place macrofamily you can find "perfectly immaculate" and "fabulously filthy", adjectives referring to your home of course, and the objectives related to these two aspirations they are quite intuitive from the name of the aspirations themselves. At this point you just have to buy a vacuum cleaner and a handheld vacuum cleaner for your Sims to give them the opportunity to do the cleaning properly. You will understand how clean the house is based on the appearance of the furniture and floors: if you see glittering stars in the Mastrolindo advertising style it will mean that your house is clean but as you live it, you will see stains appear on the counters and clusters of dust on the floor. You can always check the state of the dust with the appropriate interaction, seeing the Sims give life to a funny animation by swiping their finger on the surfaces and carefully checking if there is anything left attached.

The most interesting mechanics is linked to dust clusters because small dust rabbits can be generated from these. These piles of fluff are definitely cuter than those that form in our homes and will become real critters to interact with. Of course, if you are misophobic (or simply heartless) you can vacuum them or even step on them ... but if you can't resist their button eyes then you can feed them with more powder, make a friendship, give them a name but above all ask them to look for them. valuables in the house. The dust rabbits will come back to you with items forgotten under the bed or lost among the sofa cushions or, better yet, with some change. Becoming friends with the dust rabbits will allow you to host the beast in the house without it disappearing after cleaning, in short: you will not have to keep the house filthy just to enjoy the company of your dust rabbit. It is interesting to note that the more crowded a house is, the dirtier it will get; the combo children and pets has a very powerful impact on general cleaning!

A great potential

In the face of the following contents it is inevitable to stop and reflect on the kits, intended as a type of expansion . If you follow our coverage of The Sims 4 since the launch of the game you will probably know the opinion of the writer and has edited trials and reviews for all these years: in fact we have never found the offer of The Sims 4 expansions problematic because despite the total sum of all the available Stuff / Game / Expansion packs is not negligible it is also true that the possibility of taking advantage of significant bundles and discounts over the years has always been there and, more importantly, the lack of an expansion does not affect the gaming experience; it is not said that to fully enjoy the Sims 4 it is necessary to own them all, you will simply do without certain neighborhoods and game dynamics. However, these kits mix the cards in a significant way and, as much as we have welcomed these mini packs, we are not fully convinced that the real potential of these add-ons will be seriously exploited in the future.

Developing kits focused on single aspects of the game makes us understand how the kids of Maxis are aware that the players of The Sims are not all the same and that everyone prefers a certain aspect of the experience; therefore having Kit only for the CaS, only for the Build and Buy mode and small additional game dynamics is very interesting ... but what if this logic were extended to all expansions? Starting from the assumption that the € 4.99 is correct only for the gameplay kit and hardly justifiable only for a bit of clothes or a kitchen (for us the right price would have been between € 1.75 and € 2.50 ), at this point why not consider, in addition to adding material, also separating it from the larger sets? Because if we find correct the intuition of dividing the Kits into three different types based on the "macro-preferences" of the community, then this should also apply to the other DLCs.

It is true that some expansions have aspects that are very interconnected with each other but it is also true that certain elements can be easily sold separately: maybe you would like to be able to build houses by the sea but without using the dynamics of the Sirens or owning a contemporary wardrobe without feeling the need to play with apartments or, why not, the idea of ​​being able to build a traditional Japanese house teases you but you don't give a damn about winter sports. This, with a retroactive view, would be an important change of gear for the franchise that certainly exposes the brand to a more crowded and confusing store but at the same time could silence some discontent among the community, even if we doubt that the potential kits will be exploited in this way; it is much more likely that we will see "simple" content expansions and nothing more. Finally, the release of the Kits certainly raises a big question: Maxis has decided to add these mini packages because the release of The Sims 5 is still far away or we are instead at swan song and we are witnessing the decisive squeeze to squeeze the last straw of the brand?