My favourite (& worst) Sims 4 expansion packs to play with right now

My personal favourite Sims 4 packs right now. The best Sims 4 packs for me change over time with how I play. These are the best Sims 4 packs to buy in 2024 based on my current playstyle.
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[@sarac663]

This is an unpopular opinion but I like that Island Living is not tourism oriented, and doesn't have hotels, spa or restaurants, nor is a touristic pack. Tourism is damaging the islands so much, native people are getting homeless.

[@TheDawnofVanlife]

Agree!! It's my favorite thing about the pack. I love playing the Sulani Natives as modern natives of the island.

[@corabeani]

Same! I use Sulani all the time for historical play or sims in science and environmental careers because it has a bit of everything they need

[@DummyAcount-rs5tj]

But that's boring though also it's a game no need to be so serious imo

[@sarac663]

@@DummyAcount-rs5tj I don't think the Sims is boring for caring about different communities. I think that Island Living could be more in depth, specially the mermaids and the events.

[@DummyAcount-rs5tj]

@@sarac663 yea but the whole thing about tourism hurting islands. No need to be serious. Isn't gaming supposed to be an escape

[@CarrieReneaArt]

I didn't realize till the other day that you can fish from boats in Island living

[@Kimera681]

What?!

[@CarrieReneaArt]

If your sim is on a boat and it's not moving; click on the boat and there should be an option to fish from boat. I just figured it out by accident. Now my sim also is level 10 of fishing so I don't know if that has anything to do with it too.

[@Kimera681]

@@CarrieReneaArt Nice one! Thankyou

[@TheDawnofVanlife]

What?!! I actually love island living and have several families that live in Sulani. This changes my gameplay so much!! Thanks.

[@jg-ez4xf]

I was this today years old when I learned that 😅

[@Ounsook1]

High school years pack may seems boring but how I make them a bit less boring is enter CAS mode to alter the teen's like and dislike and I will make them all dislike a certain music genre then I will put a speaker in each class and blast their hated music out loud to make each sim's fun needs draining rapidly and eventually becoming tense or very angry later they will always end up fighting after class. A bit of a chaos but sometimes it is not necessary to always using positive interaction in the sims 4 to make the gameplay feels less boring

[@samb3209]

I love this for you

[@mossytile]

🤩🤩🤩

[@pretentioussunshine]

I love when the Sims community comes together and shares❤

[@toofu5044]

I would agree with you with most of the things you listed in the video minus the synced calendar/weather. I mean, I wouldn't want to wait 9 months to see snow in my game, no thank you. Not even Stardew Valley does that.

[@Dodada999]

I wouldn’t want to see snow in my game for 6 months straight as I do in real life 😅

[@j4nella1404]

When Cats and Dogs came out, EA also boosted the prices of their DLCs. The first expansion packs DLC were around 25$ CAN. Now they cost 55$ CAN. And it just went downhill from there.. Edit: the price was 40$ -> 52$

[@SimsyHazel]

30 DOLLAR INCREASE?????

[@pyzucha76]

I remember when sims 3 expansion packs were 70 PLN (18 USD) when I was in primary school and I would always save up money from special ocasions to buy one and also I got two sims 4 packs for birthday, they were on a 50% sale and together were 100 PLN (25USD) and after I read Your comment I looked up the price on EA and it's 190 PLN now??? (50USD) That is crazy and horrible!! And the worst part is - You are now getting a lot less for much more money

[@thegamingenderman]

they were always $39.99 in the US so the second number sounds like they corrected the exchange rates

[@yasminni485]

I remember that as well. The base game cost around $80 CAN, and it's not the same base game we have today. The map had no colour, there were no babies, infants, pools, etc. It was totally unfinished and broken.

[@thegamingenderman]

@@yasminni485 I got the game in 2015 for $60 USD and yep it was pretty close to that. It makes me feel less bad about dropping that kind of money now that these free packs ate that cost

[@maxsaboofpiu]

Now we need to know the 5 verse packs

[@Dragonmistress83]

I agree with season and when you have sims in Brindleton Bay...I love that world....but it rains all the bloody time. There is the weather maschine and you can upgrade to make the season weather like if summer and don't want rain and thunderstorm can set it to be hot as summer is hot (in most real life worlds) Like right now in Denmark it is nice and warm, but soon we hit June and July....it is going to rain and thunder I know it. We like some nice sunny weather too please. I do love a good thunderstorm real life, but in the sims I hate it by default all sims are just scared shitless. I get it some are more afraid even in real life, but no need to be all in the sims.

[@TheDawnofVanlife]

I don't know if you've played with retail recently, but shops actually won't self-activate anymore if you visit them from the non-owner household. So unless you are playing the shop owner, the shop won't "open" if you show up as a sim customer from a different family (the vet broke too, as long as shops are unowned, the game will spawn NPCs, but if the shop is owned by ANY played family, it will not open for a visiting non-owner played sim). Rex has a mod that kind of fixes it (it's called "Owned business Fix"). The system broke with the For Rent patch so it may not matter if you have the pack or not (you'll have to test it in game). The mod allows the player to trigger the store open via the cash register as a non-owner and NPCs will come to open the shop. So it still won't "self open" upon your arrival, you have to manually open it. Vets will just work again with the mod installed. At this point, there are so many selling tables that just work better than the retail system that if my Sims are gonna sell craftables, I'd rather do it at a pop-up shop/selling table. But with that you don't have the experience of switching families and playing the shopper/customer instead of the shop owner. Which kinda sucks. Honestly, since I demolished all my apartments I made at launch and started over, I've been getting paid regularly as a landlord. It's still a terribly designed, terribly coded system and the patch still broke things that aren't fixed (see the above) but besides the whole landlord management design of it just generally sucking and not making sense, I am having no specific issues relating to getting paid rent as a landlord.

[@liene4619]

This is so sad.. I wanted to get Get to work just for that..I wanted my sims to have shops..:(

[@TheDawnofVanlife]

@@liene4619 The non-mod work around is go to the store as the ‘owner’, open the store. Switch families in manage worlds, visit store as customer family. But all the loading screens required for that annoyed me and broke my gameplay flow. And sometimes the store just stayed open if I didn’t switch families again and close it so owners paid out to employees with no customers in the store.

[@tropssicle9119]

I actually really like high school years but my biggest peave with it is that only randowm townies go there. When the pack first came out I made other teens thinking that my sim would see them at school and interact with them but that wasn't the case. And I don't really care to speak to randomized sims so its hard to make drama and friends at high school. It was a missed oppurtunity. If anyone knows a way I can get my pre made sims into the highschool I'd love to know how

[@jackofhearts5542]

A workaround for this that works sometimes is if you create other teens and mark that household as "unplayed" then they can show up at that school. I've done this and it works sometimes but not always as the game randomizes which teen sims show up to school. But they definitely won't if the household is still marked as played.

[@TheDawnofVanlife]

If you can use mods, try the "High School More Classmates" mod by Aramiteus or Rex's "Choose High School Classmates" mod. They are similar as both let you choose the student population. I experimented with both and preferred the Aramiteus version as I felt it let me craft the H.S. population more fully (including teachers, janitors, lunch ladies, and grouping the students I wanted into the clubs I wanted). You may need to make some MCCC tweaks btw to let the mod work and I also use Home Regions by Kuttoe, so I had to add the international lot trait to the high school and auditorium as the two mods were fighting for population control there and the mod was only allowing who I choose anyway, so I didn't need the home regions filter active there.

[@henajtr6039]

I personally looove the clubs feature for gameplay, it means I can actually get my sims friends together in a group doing what I want them to do without controlling them all

[@julesauburn8713]

I am SHOCKED at your number one favorite reveal 😂😂😂. That was like serious next level shocking. I’m honestly not sure what my favorite one is. I’m one of those people who spends a few hours in CAS, says I’m going to do a legacy game play and then logs off in an hour. Only to repeat the cycle when I restart 🙄

[@nedrane297]

Ah, sorry, I still love Island Living, can't put a real reason on why, its not just the mermaids, but I do love that one. As a builder, make a good spa or restaurant for Sulani, that's what builder's are for. I'm sure there are some on the gallery. I always thought that ship lot would make a good restaurant but was too lazy to attempt it. The Cats and Dogs pack is very popular because people feel the need to have their furbabies in the game. That's probably just the pretty much only reason. Some find it absolutely necessary. But as I have been playing a lot of Sims 1, yeah, the pets are better even in Sims 1.

[@showyoursims]

I love Island Living as well. I feel that there are a lot of hidden reactions and tidbits that keep surprising me, like getting swept out with the tide, lol. I love the Mermaids a lot more than I expected to, and there's just an ambience about the world that makes me always want to be there. I also feel like we got some unique traits and lot traits and much needed CAS and b/b. It's one of my favorites. I love Cats and Dogs as well, I don't need playable pets and I think the nuanced interactions between pets themselves and pets with Sims (like howling with Werewolves - love that) are entertaining. I do think it should have been an entire pets pack though, and I hate the sickly strays, it's depressing.

[@TheDawnofVanlife]

Yes, another Island Living fan, so many people seem to hate that pack. I am neutral about Mermaids to be honest, I just love playing as a modern/native culture on the island. I have one fancy restaurant and a spa there, but mostly I like playing as a sim family who has a little cabin and can casually go to the beach whenever. It's like a dream life for me and very different from playing sims living in Suburbia or the big city. Part of my rotation is also just rotating thorough different styles of living in the game. My sulani family is off grid, so it forces me to find fun things to do with my sim that fill that fun meter that aren't modern items like TV and video games.

[@deljean]

Yea i love Island Living. I built a restaurant, a nightclub and a gym there. Also added a festival beach

[@rosvokisu]

i agree about cats and dogs, cashgrabby and shallow as hell, but i just need cats and dogs in my game. and they are cute to be honest! i don't need weather, i hate weather in real life but pets? cannot live without

[@nedrane297]

@@rosvokisu Totally! I've been turning off weather in Sims 2 and 3 (don't tell my girls) because sometimes it just gets irritating. I am a furbaby mommy so I need my babies, but it was disappointing to have ONLY cats and dogs after all the pets we had in Sims 1!!!

[@faizaiman5523]

Hope to see more of Shanice's face here

[@annabethkvenvolden7086]

The moment I saw horse ranch was gonna be a thing I immediately knew that would be the worst, highschool years was pretty bad gameplay-wise but the items are so cute!

[@thegpshowtheshow]

I often use the simple living lot challenge on regular houses and apartments to add more challenge and realism to the game

[@Shantelle69]

Cottage living is the only half good expansion pack

[@MoonlightBrillance]

It’s defo the best one out the bunch lol. They knew they had to step it up for the Stardew girlies!

[@Ashling77]

For me Cats and Dogs and Horse Ranch were for the build buy. I build more than gameplay so if I buy something it is mostly for the building options. My sister-in-law is the opposite of me and we share the game so I have packs I never use and she uses all the time. It is a balance that works well. Currently Eco Lifestyle is still my favorite build pack and For Rent I love making apartments. She loves the CAS is Highscholl years and My Wedding Stories. Loved this video, thank you! Have a lovely day/night all! Happy Simming!

[@derralle5705]

I don't care much for school. My teens usually drop out and get rich and successful instead. And yet the pack actively harms my gameplay because most Sims bear grudges against most Sims most of the time because no prom invite. (I have ui cheats installed but it's quite tedious to keep track every single week). There is a mod to cancel proms and I hope it works.

[@corabeani]

The prom is annoying, especially if a teen ages up but your sim stays a teen and has even a slither of romance. The young adult expects your teen to invite them to prom anyway.

[@Simmerplayzsims]

I love building in the Sims 4 and occasional make sims, but I never really play the game. I swear ts4 is a build/cas simulator. Gameplay is just laggy and boring for me personally.

[@aroramccracken2429]

Personally I love cats and dogs, just as a build pack. The gameplay is super shallow yes but the nautical style of all the furniture and the cape cod build style is just so good

[@cottoncandy10291]

I think I'm one of the few people who loves the High School Years pack 😂

[@aasiaackerman4417]

Same

[@lynngoodall3035]

I really don't know what to do as I've been tempted to purchase For Rent but just don't want to mess up my game. I'm not interested in playing Landlord, I'd just like to put my sims in the apartments!!! After seeing this though, I'm going to get it. I love Get Together. I still actually use the clubs lol. Cats and Dogs would have been a bit more bearable if they'd let us play the animals like in the Sims 3.

[@BookloverFantasy92]

Going on a Satch on sims binge, just feel like your content. :)

[@TaylortheBarbie13]

I love a British sims KZbinr! New sub

[@FriedFreezer]

Does residential rental work for tenants? Like if I build apartments can I live in them without the game freaking out? Coz I have no interest in being a landlord but I want FUNCTIONAL apartments

[@politecat9207]

Overall, yes. The only bad experiences I've had are when the landlord doesn't fix things even when you complain, so I just end up having my sims repair and stuff.

[@Jay_and_Meeka]

Absolutely. I've had almost no issues with living in apartments. The events don't work very well, but they do work.. ish? But for the most part it's very functional and works well as a tenent. I can't play without this pack now.

[@TheDawnofVanlife]

Yes, but I would turn tenant events or maintenance events or whatever you call them off in gameplay settings. It's such a pain getting the landlord over and if he/she even comes getting them to actually stop lagging around and fix anything is just not worth it. You'll waste at least 3 sims hours in lag and another 2 waiting for them to get to a fix. I have an apartment in Del Sol valley and I wasted an evening not earning the acting skill just giving up and fixing things myself and my personal gameplay time is too limited for that. But I actually love having my sims live in duplexes and have a set of friends living in a tri-plex, with their various partners and families. You can also turn maintenance events off and add a few lot challenges for your unit if you just want the challenge.

[@netney52]

I love cottage living that city living and snowy escape I get so much use and gameplay from. The one pack I never use is get to work. I’m waiting for horse ranch to be 50/60% sale which I know it will be at somepoint to be able justify buying it

[@awhinawallis8307]

I had almost every pack but can’t remember my old log in on it after it updated 😭😂

[@kittenrants]

We have the same favourites but in a different order 👀

[@haileymorris174]

I use get to work A LOT even though it's the first pack I ever got. Mostly for retail though

[@hehoihallowatfijn]

For sims 3 island paradise you don’t have to remove all the houseboats to have it run well. There’s an instruction on google. You just need to remove a couple of families and I think one particular houseboat.

[@NikkiiTheDon]

“About Dick Cheese” 🐴 I’m laughing so loud 🤣😭

[@StephaniePierre-ck1ns]

Always value your opinion satch!!!!

[@Dollsanity]

Awww, Satch is out here being sweet and giving compliments to Sims 4! Let me get in here and see what he's talking about lol...

[@kimosumiko]

Full agree for those top 2 favorites. Every time I revisit Windenburg I'm reminded of how good of a pack Get Together is, even outside of the essential club feature. The Sims team needs to revisit Windenburg and get their inspiration back for designing expansion pack worlds for us, cuz Tomarang is just not it (pretty, but soooo small and boring). And similarly, I love For Rent just for the residential rentals lot type. I haven't even begun to visit gameplay for the pack, I've been having so much fun building with the pack and redesigning my save files with it. On those top dislike packs, I have to add on with Cats and Dogs that the world of Brindleton Bay is so bland and so ugly to me, it's honestly so bleak in parts of the world it's depressing. It really feels like they didn't leave the desolate feel of Forgotten Hollow behind when they worked on Brindleton Bay, that morning lighting especially is so foggy. Playing anywhere in the Cavalier Cove area is just depressing with that large empty beach area. I just wish BB had more variety in the areas like Windenburg does.

[@jmgirard7]

The only reason I like Horse Ranch is because of Callmekevin and his Jim Pickens horse-man. I would never buy it myself. Cats & Dogs I only bought for the build stuff. I was bummend I couldn't play as the pet.

[@aiiwz0007]

could you do this again but with build mode?

[@habarvaz3142]

Satch how can you say you're fat you look so good in this video ❤❤

[@Brennilabean]

I personally love horse ranch. Mostly cuz I’m a horse girl but it’s the one pack I’ve been constantly playing with since it came out.

[@royalhorse1851]

Hey i wanted to know what laptop computer or pc you have cause i want to buy one that’s good for sims 4 and mods and cc

[@caity_strophic]

seasons is quite of a nitpick. ive just got the pack myself, would there be a cheat that changes the seasons? also they only last a week in sims time

[@digthewarmth]

I will always big up Get Together's club system, because it is the only way to get people to always show up everywhere and be doing something. Sims at the bar flirting and playing games, at the cafe busking and amateur actors acting out scenes, kids at the park playing in the fountain, mean teens at the library, a crowded gym, protesters, etc.😮

[@mirabout]

finally you bottoming

[@ALYSKAHEHE]

I’ve had this glitch recently with one of my sims where they won’t change their outfit autonomously even if they are showering they won’t change I have to do it manually not matter how many times I reset the sim it won’t change and it’s ONLY this sim I’m very confused it’s been going on for months on this ONE sim has anyone ever experienced this bc I never see ppl talk abt it???

[@ALYSKAHEHE]

And yes it’s simple and doesn’t matter that much but it’s very immersion breaking and just odd this sim has almost die multiple times from burning to death as they won’t change the outfit themselves it’s very annoying and I can’t stand it

[@eziowolfy]

The more I play, the more boring I find the entire game.

[@toxickite93]

Didn’t Satch already make a video like this about their favorite expansion?

[@ellarobin3749]

Under a hour gang 👇🏻

[@mercedeslynn78]

High School Years really is the worst. I got a new computer and didn’t reinstall that one. Hated it. I could never figure out how to study for finals, there were no real sporting events, prom was badly implemented, graduation was badly implemented, my teens never got invited to sneak out, there were no “high school personality” archetypes like the advertising said. It was such a bait and switch - people should honestly sue EA for their consistently false advertising, because it’s not like you can return a game these days for being terrible. So bad!

[@christabelle__]

I'm proud of you for making it through a WHOLE video saying 'top' and 'bottom' over and over...and not even one joke about how you're not a bottom!! And yeah, the HSY pack is so boring. There are SO many interactions they could have added! Talking to friends in class, passing notes, cheating on tests, asking the teacher questions, etc. After school activities that you do at school and actually have to participate in, instead of rabbit holes! Ugh. (There's also a reason I have like 32mb of mods in my game...Little MsSam fixes a lot of 'no sims go here' and she fixes gardening, and I use a mod that makes the Sims Worlds have more realistic weather based on the world, and another mod that makes Sims from various worlds stay in their worlds...get outta here Nancy Landgraab.)

[@TheRustDominatorTN]

I find the packs are way to expensive, especially a game that isn't ps5 compatible as this game came out in 2016 i think, so thing like that but i did end up finally getting a few packs, city living and dining out as they. Seemed to be the best for content wise, it's just sad they dont have more and don't fix there bugs which can be frustrating as you play but EA is known for this, especially sports games

[@medusesurunpalmier]

Satch ? Have you been abducted by aliens ? Wear a yellow shirt if you’re in danger. For rent CANNOT be n°1

[@mrscarissa]

This is so off subject but if someone can help me I would appreciate it. I have a crib stuck in the air. If I could figure out how to add a pic I would. It’s taking up space. Can someone tell me how to get rid of it?

[@Berries.creamm]

That is odd..lol have you tried going in build mode and deleting it?

[@D3Hearts]

I love Cottage Living but the gardening glitch does ruin it. The bugs make the game not fun.

[@nyashawilliams3308]

Also mermaids were failed in Island living

[@garcemac]

This is the only game with gardening I own where gardening does not work at all, and they break it even more every time they try to fix it. Give up, Maxis. Just hire Little Ms Sam.

[@digthewarmth]

12:46 I've learned that most simmers are boring. They Love Cats and Dogs and convinced me that I should buy Laundry Day, and I will never understand that or trust their opinion again.

[@n0m3ss]

wdym

[@courtnee1060]

Lets be honest, the sims 4 is a dress up/building game and should be marketed as such. If you haven't played the older games and you are looking for a stress free simulation, that's what the sims 4 is minus all the glitches ofc. If you are gameplay person, mods are an absolute must or go back to older games. I do the latter

[@RaeCharm]

I mean, I can’t call the Sims 4 Pay to Win, because I don’t generally feel like a winner when I buy a new pack and it breaks the game. But pay to have any enjoyable experience, sure.

[@Kualinar]

Get to Work careers ranking : Scientist = great > Detective = OK >>>>> Doctor = very boring and repeating. Cats & Dogs. With it, you need to get the Pets Everywhere mod that allow random cats and dogs to roam the world as well as the Selectable Pet mod that allow you to actively control your pets. Cats & Dogs, Horse Ranch and My First Pet need to be merged into a single pack.

[@yasminni485]

If you play the Sims 3 on pc then you will not have so many problems, it's still playable. If you play the Sims 3 on mac, your sims will not be able to use the ocean since EA forgot to code the ocean as an ocean. Kida defeats the purpose of playing with Island Paradise (which is my favourite. Damn you, EA). EA knows this and refuses to acknowledge this issue that hundreds, if not thousands, of people are having.

[@LeeDee5]

something something i'm not a bottom

[@SamKhan-ij4vv]

Can anyone gift me ts4 island living or high school stories? I can’t afford it even when the sale comes :(

[@bookcat123]

I dare you to uninstall Seasons. Bet it would fix your gardening. 😏

[@SeanNengola-ve8qc]

Its crazy how people listen to his opinion but when others give thier opinion they jst say " who asked", humans are so weird these days :/

[@SeanNengola-ve8qc]

im not hating

[@ksenianovokhatko5343]

Cottage living was my favorite, but it's so broken now...( You can't win Finchwick fair, because a lot of competitions just don't work 🥲 And ALL animals disappear after competitions. EVERY SINGLE ONE. Nice job 👍

[@marissahennen1079]

my fridge is permanently laggy ever since cottage living. so sad bc i love the gameplay and really everything else about the pack

[@suggen08]

I agree that Get to Work, Cottage Living and Get Together is in the top 5 expansion packs, but of course for different reasons. I am sorry to say, but City Living is one of my least favorite expansion packs🫣