Game Packs are a new addition to the series with The Sims 4, meant to be smaller than an expansion pack while still adding more gameplay items than a Stuff Pack. What each Game Pack offers varies pretty widely - the lines between The Sims 4's different DLC packs can be blurry at the best of times - but in price and performance, Game Packs tend to be a nice middle ground purchase.
With nine Game Packs to choose from it can be difficult to decide which is for you. To help you out, here are some of the best features from every Game Pack released so far.
9 Outdoor Retreat: Vacations
Outdoor Retreat was the first pack to add vacation opportunities to The Sims 4, and as a vacation destination, Granite Falls does not disappoint. Rent a cozy cabin for an at-a-distance outdoorsy or experience, or opt to stay at the campground for an authentic go at living as a survivalist.
There’s even a secret lot with a new Townie, who can teach you a lot about the area if you manage to befriend them. A Ranger’s Tent houses all the new camping items your Sims could ever need, which is good news, considering that you can’t enter build mode on a vacation lot.
8 Spa Day: Wellness Skill
The Wellness Skill determines how well Sims perform at things like yoga and meditation (you can spot new Sims by their form), and how good Sims will be at giving massages. Get good enough at meditating and Sims can even freeze their needs, or remove negative buffs.
Skilled Sims also unlock more types of massages, yoga practices, and even teas and recipes, as you level up in Wellness. The recent Spa Day Refresh has added new massage tables, massage chairs, and yoga mats complete with new features, and Sims with Wellness level two or above can charge Simoleons for their services.
7 Dine Out: Running a Restaurant
Dining out is good (if not a bit buggy), but running a restaurant is more hands-on and interactive. You can control everything about your establishment, from employees and dress codes (which you can establish for customers, too) to menu items. Price markups, ingredient quality, and levels of advertising are also customizable, and can be changed as your restaurant grows.
Just keep in mind that you’re also responsible for training your employees, which you’ll have to do if you want your restaurant to succeed but which also translates to higher costs. Restaurant Perks can also help, and these can range from making customers more patient with wait times to unlocking more staff slots if your current employees are overwhelmed.
6 Vampires: Vampire Powers
Vampire powers can make for either highly specialized or broadly skilled vampires. This is because the Vampire Power Tree has different branches, and you must unlock Powers on the bottom levels to earn successive powers as you move up each level.
But with Strengths come Weaknesses, and after unlocking a certain number of powers, every vampire must also select a Weakness to contend with. Certain weaknesses correspond with certain Talents, so if you’re highly specialized in a certain area, your Vampire will be a bit more starved for choice in terms of Weaknesses. The good news is that, no matter how broadly or specifically skilled your vampires are, all weaknesses are selectable; unlike the Get Famous Fame Quirks, which are based on Sim behaviors.
5 Parenthood: Character Values
Character Values are an underrated way to make your Sims feel more individual, and also, a way to increase the amount of traits they have, sort of. While Character Values add a nice sense of uniqueness to each Sim (especially since Children in particular all feel so similar), they’re also pretty difficult to earn, which adds a necessary element of challenge to The Sims 4.
Character Values like Responsibility are fairly easy to rack up, as many child Sims will automatically clean up after themselves, or autonomously finish their homework. However, emotional Character Values like Conflict Resolution, Empathy, and Emotional Control take dedicated effort to build, as Sims don’t do things like apologize autonomously.
4 Jungle Adventure: Exploring The Jungle
Trekking through Selvadorada's jungle is hard for a seasoned explorer, and maybe impossible for the inexperienced. Stock your Sims up with materials from vendors' stalls. Grilled Cheese Ready To Eat and Shower in a Bottle are nice-to-haves to keep your Sims’ moods in check, but a machete and various types of creature repellent are high on the Essentials list.
Every time you go back into the jungle, previously-traversed paths will be locked, but new ones will open up; even temples reset themselves every time you re-enter. So, even though the general mechanic of exploration stays the same, having new paths to follow, and new treasure to find, increases replay value.
3 Strangerville: The Storyline
Having a more linear narrative was a new direction for the mainline sector of The Sims, and Simmers were wary of the change. We’ll avoid spoiling the ending here, but the Strangerville mystery is a fun one to crack.
You can approach the story from a variety of perspectives, but the main players in Strangerville are Military Sims, Scientists, and Conspiracy Theorists. Plant your Sim into one of these roles, and you can really immerse your Sim in Strangerville’s admittedly scrambled community dynamic.
Waltzing into Strangerville as a mere observer is also fine, and you’re still able to solve the mystery that way), Plus, the storyline is replayable. although if you don’t want to play that storyline again then you don’t have to. Strangerville will stay clean and pristine for as long as you want it to be that way.
2 Star Wars: Journey to Batuu: Accessibility
Batuu is easy to access, both in the Sims sense and the Simmer sense. For Sims, journeying to Batuu is as easy as vacationing in Selvadorara or Granite Falls: it’s just a phone call away. And Simmers don’t need to know a lot about Star Wars to navigate this pack because, in both form and function, Batuu actually functions more like the Star Wars theme park at Disney than a world that is actually native to the Star Wars universe.
World-specific NPCs are actually just regular Sims in costumes, and these Sims share all the same behaviors as Sims from any other world. Star Wars fans may lament the superficiality of the Sims’ tribute to their beloved franchise, and dedicated Simmers may not enjoy the rigid and other-worldly gameplay offered here. But, many Simmers may like being able to have a taste of the world of Batuu without having to make any deep commitments to it.
1 Dream Home Decorator: Interior Decorator Career
Interior Decorating is interactive like freelancing, but you also have the ability to send your Sim alone. You also select Gigs like you do with the Freelancer careers - this is where you’ll choose between Room Renovation, Room Addition, Level Renovation, and Level Addition jobs.
Along with the job Performance stat, your Interior Decorator Sims now also have Reputations. Improve your reputation by excelling at Gigs, and listening to your clients when they tell you what they like and dislike. A good reputation can also net your Sim good referrals, which means more and better Gigs. And don’t forget the client’s budget. As your reputation improves, you may have some wiggle room with trusting clients, but going over budget as a new Interior Decorator will result in automatically failing the Gig.