The Sims 4 continues to grow with the upcoming expansion pack, Cottage Living, taking you to the picturesque village of Henford-on-Bagley. Your Sims can embrace rural life and all it entails including raising animals, growing crops, gossiping with neighbors, and attending village events.
When entering this new world, the first thing you’ll notice is the clear British influence. So much so that the rolling hills, animal sheds, quaint pub, and duck ponds evoke memories of my own upbringing in rural England. Henford-on-Bagley is every quaint village I’ve ever lived in or visited all rolled into one.
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It’s this countryside life that’s the focus of Cottage Living, a pack that blends farming, raising animals, and building cottages with sustainable living and village gossip. The pack takes the main draws of farming – namely, animals and crops – and combines them with a beautiful new world, unique social interactions, and some returning faces to create a gameplay-focused expansion that showcases The Sims 4 at its best.
A farming pack has been requested by the Sims community for years and Cottage Living delivers all that players wanted, adding new depth to gameplay, build mode, and even create-a-sim. Farming itself can be quite niche as a theme but the beauty of this pack is that it focuses on a couple of larger farming themes and compliments them with returning characters and broader ideas to create an expansion that fits perfectly into the DLC lineup.
For builders, the pond tool, which comes with the pre-pack update, is sure to be a much-welcomed addition but the pack doesn’t skimp on furniture either. So much so that there’s even a new kitchen in which to eat your crumpets, bake your Yorkshire puddings and make your cups of tea. Yes, all those are now in the game as well. After all, you can’t have an English-themed world where tea doesn’t exist. There would be a (polite) riot with queues and everything.
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The rural vibe is embraced with a range of country cottage staples including an aga-style cooker and rustic fridge-freezer. Almost all household furniture is covered including a bed, sofa, chairs, tables, sinks, and a bath. The only obvious essential items missing are a toilet and shower. Doors, windows, walls, and flooring are complemented by a range of outdoor decor items that allow new external looks unlike anything you can currently create.
The new clothing selection is also perfect for rural life. It includes farming classics such as pinafores and rain boots, as well as some summer dresses, shorts, and short-sleeved shirts. There are a few pieces that look similar to existing items, and of course, we have yet another t-shirt and shirt combo, but overall the summer countryside vibe is complimentary yet reasonably unique. At this point in the life of The Sims 4 being truly unique is difficult yet this selection still includes some stand-out hairstyles and clothing pieces that are sure to please stylists.
The really outstanding feature is the gameplay. Sims can raise cows, chickens, and llamas as well as befriending birds and rabbits. You’ll need to feed and care for these animals, which will enable you to collect milk, eggs, and wool from them. The milk and eggs in particular are incredibly useful since you’ll need those if you are using the new simple living lot challenge. This new build mode feature requires you to purchase or grow ingredients for the meals you cook. You can grow anything in the existing gardening system as well as new larger crops such as melons, pumpkins, lettuce, and aubergines. These combined with your animal products will allow your Sims to be truly self-sufficient. For those looking for more than just vegetables and dairy, you can also sell animals for meat or set up a fishing pond in your back garden. If you do run out of something, the village square has a grocery stall and there’s also a friendly neighborhood delivery service that will bring groceries to your door.
Budding farmers can use the new aspiration to guide them through the pack, raising animals, making jam, showing off their home-grown vegetables, and generally embracing village life. It’s the lifestyle that’s the star here, as the village is teeming with people who want to make friends, run businesses, and meddle in the affairs of others. You can also enter village fetes to see if you have the best pumpkins in town. Sadly, my Sim didn’t win the poultry competition, instead receiving a participation medal and some cheese. Still, cheese is better than praise and adoration, right? Right…?
As expected, the new world has a bar too, but this one is a little different. Its owner, Sara Scott, is always present and the seats are filled with regulars. It feels more like a homely local pub and is a huge step up from the faceless bars run by a random string of bartenders that we’re used to. This adds to the village feel as you venture outside and encounter Kim Goldbloom’s grocery stall as well as Agnes and Agatha Crumplebottom’s gardening stall. You’ll also encounter a shy park-ranger type Sim, a farming family, and many more village residents.
These characters add color to the world and you can use the new errand system to help them out and learn more about their backgrounds, personalities, and motives. From asking for help with collecting items, to encouraging you to set up some single Sims, you’ll become involved in some short stories which add a new layer to gameplay.
Overall, the pack feels like a full lifestyle experience and one that kids can finally join in with. From stroking animals to cooking with their parents, children can now take part in more activities. They can even learn the new cross-stitch hobby. While some things remain the same, such as the clothing imbalance between male and female styles, Cottage Living does bring a lot of uniqueness to the game. Plus it has Llamas that you can ask about their groove. What’s not to love?