The Sims 4 has taken another journey into the unknown with its latest occult-themed game pack, Werewolves. Over the years, we’ve seen aliens, vampires, mermaids, and spellcasters added to the game, and now we have werewolves to round out the supernatural selection.
Like Vampires before them, Werewolves have been introduced through a downloadable game pack. This features a new Werewolf life state, including talents and customisation options, a small world inhabited by these human hybrids, a selection of clothing and furniture, and a whole lot of lore.
The Werewolves pack comes at a time when players are hungry for content. Since Cottage Living, which is now over a year old, we’ve been fed on little more than a diet of underwhelming kits. Only the My Wedding Stories pack from back in February strayed from the “bite-sized content” formula - and that release didn’t exactly go to plan. Kits are focused on adding clothing and furniture, so those who enjoy gameplay additions have felt sidelined, with the extensive issues in My Wedding Stories only serving to exacerbate things. However, Werewolves is stepping up to fill that empty void, and from where I’m standing - howling at the moon, naturally - it’s doing a damn good job.
Your Sim can become a werewolf after being bitten in-game by one of the already infected Sims in Moonwood Mill, or you can design a supernatural Sim from scratch. Whichever way you choose, becoming a werewolf will allow you to unlock a wolf form as well as the Werewolf skill tree. You can pick the kind of werewolf you want to be by the talents you select, either one who embraces the wolf, or one who controls it. Your moods will also be controlled by a fury meter, which when filled triggers a transformation. You’ll learn to control your transformations, and your fury, but how you do this is up to you.
There are some skills available early on that allow you to survive entirely in wolf form, able to fulfill your needs without having to keep venturing back home. This means you can fully embrace the wolf life, hunting, scavenging and socialising, all as your furry self, or your Simself if you are so inclined. You can also learn to recover more easily from fights and terrify, or even turn, nearby Sims if you really want to lean into your animalistic nature.
If you wish to have more of a hybrid life, you can, with all werewolves able to wear the majority of Sim clothing in their wolf forms. Some skills will also help you be blessed, rather than cursed, by the moon’s effects. For life as unhindered by Lycanthropy as possible, skills in the tree will also help Sims who wish to try and control the fearsome rage that is so easily triggered. You can negate harmful lunar effects, reduce your rage, transform your temperaments, and help minimize rampages and general harm your Sim might cause to others.
Gameplay is expanded by the presence of two werewolf packs; one animalistic and focused on chaos, the other refined and seeking control. You can join a pack, by completing initiation tasks, and new aspirations will guide you along the way. Secrets can also be uncovered with tunnels to explore, lore to learn, and an unusual Sim to connect with, assuming you can. This helps a great deal with storytelling, as do the unique lots in the new town of Moonwood Mill. The town itself is small, with only a handful of lots, but the locations around them are far more interactive than usual. Each pack has a hangout area you can interact with, and there are areas where you can add items to the environment from your inventory. This comes alongside several entrances to the aforementioned secret tunnels, which you can explore through a rabbit hole, similar to the cave in Sulani, and uncover Lycanthrope lore.
For those looking at clothing, tattered items prevail with all manner of rips, tears, plaid, and exactly what you’d expect from angsty werewolf fashion. Punk is in, with plaid and safety pins making several appearances. However, the real appeal is the presence of accessories and extras. There’s a bunch of new jewellery options and nail designs. You’ll also find tattoos, bandages and a host of scars. There are also some vibrant hairstyles, a couple of which are far more unique than usual. Clothing is mostly for adult Sims, with just a onesie and some dungarees for toddlers, while child Sims get some of the hairstyles, a cute cap, and a jumper.
Furniture wise, the vibe is once again predominantly distressed with a few items being unique reusable aesthetics. They include a drawer used as a planter, shelves thrown together from planks, a door made into a desk, and more. The mend and make-do vibe is perfect for run-down lots or those who want to reduce, reuse, and recycle. There are also some nice warehouse-style windows and doors, although we would have loved to see some dirty and smashed versions, similar to the loft-style we saw in Moschino Stuff.
The pack’s clothing and build buy items perfectly reflect the grungy, dark, and forgotten vibes of Moonwood Mill. They are used well in the unique lots we see in the expansion, most of which were built by James Turner, showing just how well getting content creators to design these lots works. Townie Sims are also more interesting than usual, with some complex backstories and intriguing temperaments. The art direction in the pack is The Sims 4 at its best, and while it’s been a long time coming, Werewolves finally feels like a game pack that’s been worth the wait.
A review code was provided by the publisher for the purposes of this overview.