Sims 4 Expansion Packs are one of the most exciting parts of Sims 4. Expansion pack releases cause a lot of happiness in the community, rightfully so, they can be so great; but they can also be not so great.
As a simmer who has played thoroughly with these expansion packs, I thought it would be fun to rate them according to my experience with each one of them. I will rate them as fairly and as objectively as possible. To do this I will rate them out of ten based on a few things.
Quality
Depth
Replay-ability
World
Build/Buy
Cas
I will then add the total number up and those will be the rating for the expansion packs. To make this simpler I will rate them in chronological order and give my reason for each of the ratings. Please keep in mind that these are only opinions. You should comment on your ratings in the comment section because they will most likely differ.
Ok.
The Sims 4: Get to Work
Quality: For the Sims 4 get to work I would have to say overall I thought the pack was good. I haven’t experienced any terrible bugs so I will rate it a 7/10. The three points I took off were from the simulation lag experienced with the active careers and the bugs experienced with the detective career.
Score: 7/10
Depth: To be honest I felt the depth was lacking. There was some kind of depth with the alien life stage, but other than that the retail system for example could have been so much more fleshed out. It was a disappointment for me and I had high hopes for it. There were only three careers. I think for a game that lasted eight years, GTW could have had more active careers.
Score: 5/10
Replay-ability: I won’t be too critical with replay-ability. Only because this is an expansion pack about working. Even in real life going to work is repetitive. I said this earlier but my replay-ability score is also affected by will also be affected by the fact that you only have three careers. If more careers were structured the same way as the original three that would have been amazing.
Score 6/10
World: Magnolia Promenade could have done more… It just could have. It’s a cute world and all, but extremely disappointing. The world doesn’t have to be big per se, but it doesn’t seem to even be alive. For example Forgotten Hollow is a small world, I would rate that a 9/10. Moonwood Mill isn’t too big either but I would rate it a 10/10. The two worlds I mentioned are also game packs and not expansion packs.
Score: 3/10
Build/Buy
The build and buy were all right. It wasn’t horrible, but it also wasn’t insanely incredible. Overall the build and buy were pretty forgettable.
Score: 3/10
Cas: I like the new addition to CAS. Except for the hairs, those were horrible. The clothes/uniforms were pretty good and I still use them to this day.
Score: 6/10
The Sims 4: Get Together
Quality: It’s funny to think about because I don’t recall having problems with getting Together, I think the pack was delivered with minimal bugs and to this day I think it may be the most functional pack in the game.
Score: 9/10
Depth: Depth is another story though. Get Together feels like a should have been in terms of depth. If Get Together had a baby with the Sims 2: Nightlife it would have been amazing. Certain aspects are great like the club, but others feel very surfaced and overall the pack is better with other packs and not usually on its own which is not a good thing.
Score: 4/10
Replay-ability: The replay-ability with getting Together in my opinion is high. The expansion pack allows for a lot of new ways of using it. It’s not linear and it can be played in many different ways.
Score: 8/10
World: Windenburg. Windenburg is just absolutely incredible. I love this world. It’s huge and given so much life. There are not many worlds in the Sims that I think are better than Windenburg.
Score: 10/10
Build/Buy: Build/Buy is nice. The objects match the world of Windenburg. Nothing is out of context and I think that is just right.
Score: 9/10
CAS: Now CAS is another story. I do not like the CAS with GT. I understand what was trying to happen, but something is just a little off with the CAS in this expansion pack.
Score: 3/10
The Sims 4: City Living
Quality: This pack was a bit buggy for me, but nothing is too noticeable. You can also tell that this wasn’t rushed.
Score: 8/10
Depth: CL brought a lot of new features to the game. Some I still haven’t explored. I loved the new additions and I think it all fits well within the theme of the game. CL is a pack that could work great as a standalone.
Score: 9/10
Replay-ability: This pack was replayable. There are a lot of features I still enjoy. Some of the jobs though can be a bit repetitive. I say this because the jobs offered in CL are jobs that generally have a lot of diversity, but you do not feel that with this pack.
Score: 6/10
World: Here’s the thing. San Myshuno is beautiful it’s a well-done world…but because I have to inevitably input my opinion into this I will have to penalize the world a bit. Now, this is only subjective because again the world is great. I only wish the world could have been less “futuristic”
Score: 7/10
Build/Buy: I mentioned this earlier, but the futuristic themes in this pack just don’t work for me. Not a fan.
Score: 5/10
CAS: I love the CAS in CL. It’s super diverse and I still use the CAS elements in my game that have nothing to with CL.
Score: 8/10
The Sims 4: Cats & Dogs
Quality: Cats and Dogs are part of niche packs that I think you either love or you don’t kind of like supernaturals and stuff. Because of this, the opinions will usually vary. I am a dog lover so this was a pack for me. Now the only thing that bugs me about this pack is the fact that you cannot control animals. For others, they might not mind it so much. I do use a mod to fix that but we are trying to rate these packs of off-vanilla features. I experienced a few annoying bugs with this pack that has gotten fixed over time.
Score: 7/10
Depth: I won’t give it a high depth rating, because the pack is called Cats and Dogs, yet it feels like the cats and dogs themselves haven’t been fleshed out. If it was called Pets and there was a variety of different pets you could have, then maybe I could have given it a higher rating, but there aren’t, so unfortunately it was kind of disappointing. The Ver career was a great addition though I should mention that.
Score: 5/10
Replayability: Replayability is pretty good seeing as I always add pets in my game.
Score: 7/10
World: Brindleton Bay is an amazing world. For some weird reason, every save I have ends up in Brindleton Bay, there’s just something about the world that feels so quaint. It also has personality, the different neighborhoods feel different and distinct.
Score: 9/10
Build/Buy: The BB fits well with the theme of the expansion pack so that is always a positive.
Score: 8/10
Cas: CAS was all right, pretty forgettable for me. But the fact that they limited the number of pet clothes available just to put them in My First Pet Stuff is a huge penalty.
Score: 4/10
The Sims 4: Seasons
Quality: This is probably a pretty popular opinion but Season is/was a great pack. I think it’s one of the best packs in the game. Even with the past games, it was one of the best expansion packs in the game. I don’t think there was a quality problem with this pack.
Score: 10/10
Depth: Depth was good. The new calendar was amazing and the new holidays added into the game with this pack were also great. Could there have been more things? Yeah, I think so. The festivals in Sims 3 were really fun! It would have been nice if we could do something with skating too.
Score: 6/10
Replayability: I mean this is great. The holidays can get a bit repetitive but the game also allows you to change things around. It is definitely, a must-have!
Score: 10/10
World: There was no world with this pack so no rating. But I do wish there was a world, it could have been cute.
Score: N/A
Build/Buy: The BB was good. We got nice seasonal decorations which were nice.
Score: 7/10
Cas: CAS was okay.
Score: 6/10
The Sims 4: Get Famous
Quality: Good pack. But it’s about Hollywood and getting famous could it have been more surfaced? The fact that it also is the only fame pack we’ll probably get in the game hurts because there was so much more to do for fame and Hollywood. The lack of cross-pack compatibility in the other games can also be annoying.
Score: 7/10
Depth: The lack of depth was super annoying in this pack. The new features were cute and all but once you dive into it, it’s super flat. Like the lifetime influencer business, you can create, it could have been so much more fleshed out, but it was just kind of put there and you can’t do anything with it.
Score: 4/10
Replayability: It gets tiring at some point. Once you play with all the features and see the lack of depth you kind of don’t want to play with it again.
Score: 3/10
World: Del Sol Valley could have been so much more! That’s the thing with these Sims packs. You see the potential and you know this is it so it’s super frustrating. Del Sol Valley is tiny. This world is supposed to be a reflection of California. California is huge! It just makes me mad and I don’t want to just rant too much about how disappointing it was. The world is beautiful but the lack of everything in the world is so annoying.
Score: 3/10
Build/Buy: BB was great, can’t lie about that.
Score: 8/10
Cas: CAS was good I use it sometimes, it can fit with a lot of playstyles.
Score: 7/10
The Sims 4: Island Living
Quality: The pack didn’t give me lazy, non-fleshed-out vibes. Sometimes the world can be a bit laggy, but nothing too noticeable.
Score: 8/10
Depth: Again this is probably the only island vacation world we’ll have in the game, so it’s kind of annoying that this is all we’ll get. I get that people are hoping for these pack refreshes to come through but I wouldn’t think about it too much because it might not happen to see as it's a free feature in the game and we all know how EA is. The Mermaids… the poor Mermaids. I would have loved to see fleshed-out Mermaids, but unfortunately, we got the most scrapped version of Mermaids possible.
Score: 4/10
Replayability: A lot of people are disappointed with the replayability of this pack. Not me though. I never play with the odd jobs, but I do use Sulani all the time, for vacation so I love that.
Score: 7/10
World: Sulani is beautiful and I honestly don’t have anything negative to say about it. It’s a very enjoyable world to play even today.
Score: 10/10
Build/Buy: BB was lacking in this IMO.
Score: 6/10
Cas: It’s an islander/swimming/vacation pack why don’t have more things to match those themes?
Score: 5/10
The Sims 4: Discover University
Quality: The pack's quality was good. This was also one of those packs I think the team tried to make innovative. It’s very different from the university-themed packs in other games. Not in a bad way though.
Score: 8/10
Depth: Great in some aspects and bad in others. For example, the organizations you can join were great. But the teams were not so great. The loans are awesome, but the importance of college has on teens in high school isn’t reflected in this pack yet it should be.
Score: 5/10
Replayability: After a while, it can get boring. It’s gotten to the point where I just cheat degrees for my Sims.
Score: 6/10
World: Britechester is an awesome world. I love it.
Score: 9/10
Build/Buy: Pretty good BB objects for colleges and the Britechester world.
Score: 8/10
Cas: There were so many good CAS items in my opinion. I think it was fleshed out and there were many nice items. Of course, there were more items for women than more men, but that’s basically with all of the packs.
Score: 8/10
The Sims 4: Eco Lifestyle
Quality: This pack was the biggest catalyst to the Sims Community becoming a war zone. The star wars pack was the nail in the coffin. Unfortunately, I’m part of the popular opinion who didn’t like this pack and still do not like this pack. I tried the pack with an open mind and still do not like it. The pack was not buggy or anything though. I think it comes down to personal preference.
Score: 7/10
Depth: I did not like this pack, so unfortunately my judgment might not be too fair. The features that do come with the game I tend to turn off if there is a possibility. So keep that in mind with the scoring.
2/10
Replayability: I played the pack once and never touched it again.
1/10
World: The world is alright. When I first played it I loved it. I loved how it looked and I loved the feel. But then I played it again and something just fell off. I don’t even like visiting the world now. I don’t know why, but I don’t know there’s just something that doesn’t make me want to visit the world. The world is good though.
Score: 6/10
Build/Buy: The BB in this game is amazing. I love it! It’s so different from what we had in the past and it’s very well done.
Score: 10/10
Cas: Cas was good too. We got some great new addition. I think the CAS and the BB might be what saved this pack.
Score: 8/10
The Sims 4: Snowy Escape
Quality: Snowy Escape is an awesome pack. This pack was a turning point in the Sims expansion pack quality content. After Eco Lifestyle, a lot of us wondered what was next and this pack was released. It exceeded my expectations as a pack, to be honest.
Score: 9/10
Depth: There are parts in this pack that I have still not explored. I have a lot of fun with it and think that it was well done. It was also great that they didn’t just use this pack to show the touristic side of Mt. Komorebi, but instead, we also got the local aspect. Being a local in Mt. Komorebi and what that entails.
Score: 8/10
Replayability: I still to this day enjoy playing this pack and it blends in well with the other Sims 4 packs. This pack gives me hope that one day we might get other diverse worlds and cultures that are more fleshed out.
Score: 8/10
World: This world is absolutely beautiful. I don’t have anything negative to say about it.
Score. 9/10
Build/Buy: BB was great. I feel like there could have been more traditional Japanese-themed items than modern Japanese-themed items though, seeing as this is supposed to represent a Japanese village and not a big modern city.
Score: 7/10
Cas: CAS was good. Nothing extraordinary. We could have had more, but that’s you can always have more in terms of CAS items...
Score: 6/10
Last but not least:
The Sims 4: Cottage Living.
( High School Years was just released so it has not been out for long enough. At this point, I believe rating it with packs that have been out for 1 year + would not be fair. I will update the ratings with HSY once the pack has been out for longer.)
Quality: This was also a great pack from the Sims team. I barely experienced any bugs and the pack did bring what it promised to the players. There didn’t oversell.
Score: 9/10
Depth: I genuinely think this was one of the best expansion packs in the game, not because of the theme, but because of the effort put into the pack. It brought many new features to the game and a bunch of new systems. There are so many ways to play with this pack to this day and still enjoy it.
Score: 9/10
Replayability: This is kind of subjective because some people might not enjoy certain aspects of the pack, but overall you can enjoy it in many different ways.
Score: 7/10
World: I love the world. I have not even fully discovered it, because with all of the new features added to the pack there is so much to do!
Score: 8/10
Build/Buy: BB is alright.
Score: 8/10
Cas: CAS though is something I love to this day. It fits so nicely with the pack's theme and you get to play a fully-fledged out cottage living life with the CAS.
Score: 8/10
That’s all for the expansion packs. It’s time to calculate the average for all of them and rank them!
Get to Work: Average: 5
Get Together: Average: 7.1666666666667
City Living: Average: 7.1666666666667
Cats & Dogs: Average: 6.6666666666667
Seasons: Average: 7.8
Get Famous: Average: 5.3333333333333
Island Living: Average: 6.6666666666667
Discover University: Average: 7.3333333333333
Eco Lifestyle: Average: 5.6666666666667
Snowy Escape: Average: 7.8333333333333
Cottage Living: Average: 8.1666666666667
Final Ranking (Lowest to Highest):
Get to Work: 5
Get Famous: Average: 5.3
Eco Lifestyle: Average: 5.6
Cats & Dogs: Average: 6.6 & Island Living: Average: 6.6
Get Together: Average: 7.1 & City Living: Average: 7.1
Discover University: Average: 7.3
Seasons: Average: 7.8 & Snowy Escape: Average: 7.8
Cottage Living: Average: 8.1
Well, this is an interesting list. I would like to point out that this is not my favorite expansion pack ranking but the calculation of different factors that created this average. My ranking is a bit different.
What’s your rating for the Sims 4 Expansion Packs?