I have been playing The Sims for as long as I can remember. Throughout my life, I have spent thousands of hours playing The Sims 4, in particular. I have owned the physical copies of Sims 1, 2, 3 and Sims 4 – now, I play The Sims 4 on Steam where I also purchase the add on expansion packs.

Although there have been some problems I have experienced with Steam, such as failure to launch and prevention of me opening the game even after being logged in for unknown bug reasons, I have overall had a good and accessible experience playing the Sims 4 via Steam on my laptop. In fact, The Sims is the only reason why I use my laptop anymore. There was a notification on my Steam account a few days ago that said they are actively looking in to the failure to launch messages – assuming it wasn’t just me who has been having trouble launching sometimes. I do yearn for The Sims 4 disc still, though. There was something so much more simple about it and I hardly ever experienced any failure to launch messages when I was playing The Sims via physical PC CD’s. It’s pretty easy enough to visit the Marketplace once logged in to Steam, purchase an expansion pack, then download the package. At first, I had a little bit of trouble actually locating the download, it wasn’t where it was supposed to be under Purchases and because my Steam settings were not set to automatic download once purchased, I probably spent around 1 hour trying to fix this which was frustrating. Once I changed these settings, any expansion packs I buy are automatically uploaded to my current game and will manage the worlds for me in that way.

The first package I bought was Sims 4 Horse Ranch. The ranches, cowboy boots and hats, farm animals and activities absolutely hooked me. Then, I purchased Sims 4 Enchanted By Nature. I wholly recommend the packages I have bought, but there is something special about this game. The interactions remind me of the kind of unexpectedness that the thieves brought to the game in Sims 1 and 3, where it isn’t just you playing the game, there are extra factors that seem somewhat out of your control that you then have to try and combat. Then, I purchased Sims 4 Get Famous because my cousin recommended it, playing it for the first time kind of rocked my world. Not only are there a great choice of careers to take-part in, but the extra activities available in this game seems very fitting to the era we live in right now. You can stream, record videos to post online, reply to online comments as well as have your celebrity Sim walk the streets and be recognised by others, participate in events such as Meet & Greets, Talent Shows and get involved in movie sets.

My next purchase was Sims 4 Cats & Dogs although I have not played it yet. I want to add my dog, Lady, into my world and also my new cat, El Gato. I also feel like I HAVE to make the Spellman House, complete with Sabrina, Hilda, Zelda and Salem (now I have the pets package). I have also been wanting to purchase the Royalty & Legacy expansion pack after hearing really good reviews. According to The Sims Wiki, there’s storylines and activities that contain elements of The Sims 2 and The Sims Medieval which I really like the sound of.

Although the basic formula of The Sims 4 is great, the expansion packs provide the areas you can really sink your teeth into. I was locked in a few days ago getting my character to World Class Celebrity status on Get Famous and was truly submerged in the game for hours.

For some reason, playing The Sims 4, I am reminded of other games I love such as Hogwarts Legacy and Red Dead Redemption 4 that also has somewhat similar elements. Although there are timed tasks and activities, you are basically free to roam and create your own path, which is what I personally seek in video games. I do however enjoy some of the Star Wars games, purely because I love the story, although the newer games such as Star Wars Outlaws focus more on open-world free-roaming which is right up my street. What is unique about Sims 4, is the fact that all worlds kind of collide – now, due to the packages I’ve downloaded, I have a famous celebrity fairy who lives on a horse ranch with a lot of animals. I have been thoroughly enjoying playing The Sims 4 again because I like the handpicked aspect to my game that I am building – knowing I can dip into a bit of magic from one, play certain careers in another, then use the furniture from one of the other worlds.

I get in to a habit of starting an expansion pack, then Sims 4 releases a new pack that also sounds really great – before I know it, I am buying another expansion pack without having finished the other. I guess their marketing team is working well. For example, I haven’t completed all of the Horse Competitions on Horse Ranch and not yet completed all of the careers in Get Famous, yet I am wanting to try Royalty & Legacy.