So bad it’s good... but still bad

Very few singleplayer games have frequent maintenance updates 12 years after release. Even fewer have consistent new content. The Sims 4 is one of these with new downloadable content (DLC), collaborations, limited time events and new basegame additions nearly every other update.

I personally have spent over 1,500 hours on the game and have put hundreds of dollars into it. Despite such a huge investment, or perhaps because of it, The Sims 4 is the first game I’ve played that I refuse to recommend.

Graphics: 3/5

Sims 4 graphics aren’t the worst. The game features a cartoonish style that isn’t hurt too much by age. Visual errors are frequent but often easily fixed.

Storytelling: 2/5

The player guides the story, but no playthrough will be exactly the same as another. Your sim can be virtually anything or anyone. Every interaction is different, including varied reactions, unguided responses and surprise interactions. A sim could drop in for a visit at any time, call or text in the middle of the night and even sporadically cheat if in a relationship. Assigning traits gives your sim a base range of behavior but doesn’t limit them from participating in anything.

Your sims’ story loop can get a bit stale. It can also take a huge time investment to accomplish meager goals and make meaningful progress in your file. Pre-made challenges offer guidance for new storylines but can be lackluster or tedious. Certain items and books share random background lore that can be a bit interesting and even inspiring at times, but this is far and few between.

Characters: 3/5

There are pre-made sims called townies who populate the world. They have storylines baked in that you can disregard or follow at a whim. Traits do have an impact on sim behavior and can create drama within your playthrough with player guidance. For example, Don Lothario is a notorious womanizer with the romantic and noncommittal traits and should your sim fall for him, they may wind up with a broken heart as he runs off to chase skirts.

However, after those townies die, the new townies are randomly generated and boring. They’re typically little more than aesthetic filler with subpar fashion sense at best. Randomly generated townies are flat and rarely do much to catch attention without player guidance.

Game Mechanics: 2/5

The base game offers very little for the player to do, mostly allowing them to press the same three buttons to interact. A sim is almost like a Tamogotchi pet that you can pause. You’re essentially playing with dolls except you must make sure your sim uses the bathroom, eats food, stays clean, sleeps when tired, has fun and socializes or else they’ll die.

DLC are either half-baked, broken or essential. Parenting, having pets, actually traveling to work with your sim and weather are all in different DLC packs. While boasting interesting features, certain packs are so buggy that they’re nonconsequential or even detrimental to gameplay.

The Sims 4 boasts tons of customization with create-a-sim and build buy mode being the two biggest points of intrigue. You can build whatever you please with the materials provided by the game. Similarly, your sims can look however you please, except for height and hair color.

There are set heights for gender and age meaning every female young adult sim is the same height. The same applies to each age and gender category. Hair colors are limited to a number of swatches ranging from 18 to 24 swatches per age. Children do not have access to unnatural hair colors. Certain hair styles have a secondary color like an ombre or accessory, which you cannot change. The secondary color is locked to a swatch and each swatch has a different secondary.

The vast majority of cosmetic and functional features are locked behind a paywall. Most of the careers, owning a store or restaurant, being anything other than human, sleepovers, clubs, college and disciplining your sims’ children are all locked behind different paywalls. Different worlds are also locked behind paywalls.

Controls: 4/5

Controls aren’t too difficult at all. Hovering over an icon tells you what to press. Icons can generally be clicked instead of having a button pressed if one chooses. There are also multiple camera modes for player comfort. My only two complaints are the lack of a rewind feature and how slow or buggy the fast forward function is.

Accessibility: 1/5

The Sims 4’s base game is currently free and available on PC, PlayStation 4 and 5 and Xbox One and Series X|S. However, the base game is severely lacking in content. Where is this gap filled, might you ask? With multiple different DLC packs that have been released over the game’s 12-year lifespan.

The exceedingly low accessibility score comes from the DLC price. Features that should most certainly be base game, like parenting your sims’ children for example, are locked behind a DLC. There are four price tiers of DLC you pay for with real money, $40 expansion packs, $20 game packs, $10 stuff packs and kits which typically range from four to five dollars. To purchase every DLC, disregarding sales, you would have to spend over $1,500. Additionally, there is in-game currency, which you purchase with real money, that you can use to buy additional content made by players.

Grade: 15/30 F

I would most certainly not recommend playing the Sims 4. It is full of bugs and aggressive monetization, free mods created by players being the only reason I ever picked the game up. I only own eight expansion packs, five game packs, and two stuff packs meaning I’ve spent over $250 dollars on The Sims 4, despite only buying on sale and getting the base game for free.