The Sims™ 4 Seasons

Seasons is an expansion pack that brings a whole wealth of new options to players of the Sims 4. Regular Sims players can generally know what to expect with content packs. They're a perennial standard of the Sims series now and a way to provide added shelf life to games supported by an incredibly enthusiastic community, but the options these new packs bring can vary wildly. Luckily, Seasons sits on the stronger end of the spectrum, playing on old systems to create interesting new wrinkles in the aging Sims formula. While it's unlikely to transform those skeptical of the series into true believers, it adds a refreshing bit of diversity to the proceedings that dedicated Sims fans will love, and it may even bring lapsed fans back into the fold.

As one might expect based off of the name, Seasons brings the idea of time to the Sims 4. Whereas the vanilla core game suggests a world where the environment remains static and your sims and their friends groups are the only changing variables in the setting, Seasons injects some cool new functions through the idea of changing seasons. Each of these new seasons adds new regular activities to engage in as well as bringing new holidays and festivals to the formula. If you want to explore everything, you can't just stay in the same formula that long term players can typically fall into. This can be most readily seen through the addition of gardener as a new occupation for your sims. While developing the essential skills to build out your green thumb is important, there's an added difficulty in the fact that certain plants only grow during particular times of the year. Whether you're looking to grow vegetables and fruit to sell at market or flowers to liven up your apartment, you'll need to pay careful attention to the time of year and rotate your crops accordingly.

The other big addition are the holidays. While some of these replicate familiar holidays, such as Winterfest and Christmas, others are entirely new creations designed to play on the core gameplay principles of the Sims series. The Day of Grudges, for instance, is an opportunity for characters in your setting to dig up old beefs and air their grievances. It's a cute way to emphasize the social mechanics that sit at the heart of these games.

The Sims 4 is a sandbox, and this add-on gives you the same level of control over your setting as the core game does. You can change the length of seasons to accommodate your needs and determine which holidays you want to engage in. But it's an expansion well worth diving into if you're already a fan of the series. The cosmetic effects of the seasons alone are a nice breath of fresh air.