Gamescom 2020 kicked off today with promises of exciting new game announcements, sneak peaks, and trailers. Among the fray, EA has announced a variety of new games, especially those that are Star Wars themed. Debuting in less than two weeks, The Sims 4: Journey to Batuu confirms an entirely new Star Wars world as DLC for The Sims 4.
The Sims 4 players have been expecting a new DLC Game pack since April 6, 2020 when SimGuru Drake posted an update about the team and their projects. Simmers already received the new Expansion (Eco Lifestyle) and Stuff packs (community voted Nifty Knitting) that were teased, so many players eagerly awaited on bated breath what the game pack reveal would entail.
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Then August 2, 2020 arrived, sending Simmers into a flurry of speculation. From theories about farming to winter wonderland ski lodges, everyone had something to say about the leaked Game pack icon. With futuristic mushroom-topped buildings and three floating spheres, it made sense to guess a new space themed pack.
It’s well known in Star Wars lore that many planets have more than one sun, or moon, or both. With the confirmation of Journey to Batuu, it is now known that the planet shown in the game pack icon is none other than Batuu with its three suns. This location is the inspiration behind Disney’s Galaxy’s Edge theme park and will serve as a rich backdrop for Simmers’ game play.
This is not EA’s first Star Wars themed game. In addition to the new titles coming out between 2020 and 2021, EA was the publisher in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. The game was released in 2003 as an RPG set in the Star Wars universe. Knights of the Old Republic lives up to the hype, maintaining exceptionally high critic scores and even making it on Time’s All-Time 100 Video Games list in 2012.
Knights of the Old Republic is an RPG, meaning players can forget about life for a bit and immerse themselves in the world that the game transports them to—in this case, Star Wars. The Sims has always been marketed as a life-simulation game. On occasion, the developer has added in supernatural elements, but they mostly stick to real-life simulating ideas, situations, etc. Which makes Star Wars DLC even more surprising for the EA franchise.
Will the success of Knights of the Old Republic help EA in this case? Journey to Batuu is reminiscent of Knights of the Old Republic with the ability to play a character in the Star Wars universe. Partnered with the ability to use a lightsaber, complete missions, and players’ ability to choose to side with the Resistance or the First Order, it’s easy to see the comparison between the new DLC and the classic game. These similarities may draw old Knights of the Old Republic players back in. However, it’s also safe to say they will be no means be the same game, purely based on the different gameplay experiences each game entails.
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This isn’t the first time The Sims team has partnered with real-life brands to add DLC to the game, having worked with H&M, IKEA, Diesel, and even Katy Perry in times past. However, these collaborations have not always gone over well with Simmers. Which begs the question—is it a smart decision?
Star Wars fans are notoriously dedicated to the franchise, so this hame pack could be a great way to draw in new Sims players who want to experience Batuu in such an interactive way. Plus, with the amount of customization that’s possible in The Sims 4, players can easily make their sim-selves and send them off to learn how to wield a lightsaber or build a droid from scratch.
In the same vein, however, The Sims 4 does already have some Star Wars aspects available in-game for free. There are costumes of Darth Vader and Princess Leia, not to the mention a statue of The Child available in build mode. Is it fair to ask Simmers to pay more money for a continuation of content they’ve already gotten a taste of for free? Whether on the fence or leaping over the moons of Tatooine about this new DLC, it’s likely that this is bound to be an interesting, and possibly divisive, game pack.
The Sims 4: Journey to Batuu will be available September 8, 2020, for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
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