Farming and the country lifestyle have finally come to The Sims 4 in The Sims 4 Cottage Living Expansion Pack. Players can explore the charming town of Henford-on-Bagley, inspired by the English countryside, meet new and returning NPCs, including the infamous Crumplebottoms, build a rustic cottage, and raise oversized crops, chickens, cows, and llamas. The Sims 4 Cottage Living also introduces new skills to learn, including canning and cross-stitch, new aspirations and traits to flesh out a Sim's personality, and new events like the weekly Finchwick Fair and Lot Challenges.
Gameplay in The Sims 4 Cottage Living feels more varied, rewarding, and replayable than what past Sims Expansion Packs have offered. Players have the opportunity to run an entirely self-sustaining farm, which takes a great amount of effort. The added farm animals need to be properly fed, watered, cleaned, and socialized each day to maintain their happiness and encourage them to continue to produce necessities like milk, eggs, and wool. Oversized crops are prone to developing weeds or attracting bugs, and Sims will need to be vigilant to ensure their prized pumpkins and watermelons don't wither. As Sims develop their skills in the garden or pick up resources from their animals, they can do research and learn more about the plants and animals in their care. Sims will also need to make sure to purchase groceries or grow, harvest, or forage their own food if they want to cook meals. These extensive and varied requirements ensure no two saves will ever be completely identical, giving players far more to do and experience across multiple games.
Sims fans have been clamoring for a farming pack for many years, and while The Sims 4 Cottage Living doesn't include horses or quite as many crops as the community had hoped for, it does deliver a refreshing experience that significantly affects gameplay even outside Henford-on-Bagley. While running a farm can be tedious and require some micromanagement at first, it is ultimately a rewarding experience and a game-changer for Sims 4 fans looking for more to do in-game.
Animal care is the standout feature for The Sims 4 Cottage Living. Apart from cats, dogs, and small rodents in the Cats and Dogs Expansion Pack and My First Pet Stuff Pack, Sims have had few opportunities to engage with animals. In Cottage Living, Sims will need to care for their livestock as they would a pet. Not only can Sims chat with and pet their livestock, but they can also feed them special Treats. These Treats may alter the creature's appearance, as well as the kind of resource they produce. Sims can visit the Creature Keeper in the Bramblewood to purchase clothing for their cow or llama to further customize them. Many of these interactions contribute to the animal's happiness, and happier animals produce better quality resources.
The addition of wildlife around Henford-on-Bagley helps make this new Sims 4 world feel more alive. Sims can enter the Bramblewood to interact with wildlife, or find creatures like rabbits, foxes, and birds on their lot. Sims will need to interact with these creatures, usually by talking to them, observing them, or giving them gifts. Eventually, Sims can befriend rabbits and birds and will have the option to place a home for these creatures on their lot. Even these smaller animals are well-designed and fun to watch and interact with, offering a variety of new experiences, including new potential Sim deaths.
The Sims 4 Cottage Living synergizes very well with other DLC in the series. While a change in the weather in The Sims 4 Seasons won't affect oversized crops, it will affect the berries and mushrooms Sims can forage from the Bramblewood. Pets in Cats and Dogs will react to the farm animals. Sims can go completely off the grid and be self-sustainable or get involved in the Henford-on-Bagley community with the help of items and features from Eco Lifestyle. Families can work together to cook and care for the farm, and this can improve their development and a Sim's parenting skills in Parenthood. The options in The Sims 4 Cottage Living should allow players to create more varied, dynamic stories and take on new Sims 4 challenges.
The new Build and Buy and Create A Sim items included in The Sims 4 Cottage Living are rustic, similar to those in Laundry Day Stuff. There are many new options to choose from, especially for Child Sims, who have often seemed like an afterthought in previous Expansion Packs. There are some great new objects and options for creating the perfect cottage, rental property, or venue, and cozy-looking clothing items that fit the cottagecore aesthetic.
Players who don't want to grab The Sims 4 Cottage Living just yet will also benefit from a few new mechanics that came in the free base game patch. All players will now be able to cook or garden as a group activity with Child Sims. The Calendar from The Sims 4 Seasons is now part of the base game, allowing players to plan and track special events. Players can now add ponds and natural water features to their lots with the free Pond Tool. Sims can now order more than Pizza with the Zoomers delivery service, a riff on GrubHub and DoorDash that will allow households to order full meals. Finally, all players can add Lot Challenges to diversify a playthrough and tell more interesting stories.
The Sims 4 Cottage Living is a much-needed return to form for The Sims franchise, bringing deep and developed gameplay mechanics and more options for creative character creation, builds, and storytelling. The addition of activities children can participate in helps improve family gameplay and further flesh out more neglected Sim life stages. Though the upkeep of a self-sustaining homestead can feel like a difficult balancing act and grind at first, the addition of so many more, deeper options and interactions keeps these features feeling fresher longer. Cottage Living's gameplay feels far less repetitive than that of previous DLC packs, and players see tangible rewards for hard work, including better resources, happier animals, and more delicious meals. The Sims 4 Cottage Living has the potential to become one of The Sims 4's essential Expansion Packs in the eyes of the community, forever altering gameplay like Seasons and Parenthood did. There is a lot to like about The Sims 4 Cottage Living, and with luck, Sims 4 fans will see more like it in the near future.
The Sims 4 Cottage Living is available now for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. A PC code was provided to Screen Rant for the purpose of this review.