Struggling to come up with gameplay inspiration in The Sims 4? Or are you simply a huge fan of Stranger Things? Then, why not download the Strangerville game pack to jazz up your gameplay and unravel the town’s mystery!
One of my toxic sim traits, apart from reproducing until I can’t cope with the abundance of toddlers anymore, is playing out the same storylines. I’m sure plenty of simmers can relate. I have two plot lines that I seemingly follow; either I’m a black widow, seducing my way into rich marriages and killing off spouses when they bore me or I’m a family simmer, who creates everyday conflicts that could rival an Eastenders episode.
So getting bored with the same gameplay, I decided to purchase Strangerville, to inject some newness into my simming life.
Due to the pack’s name, Strangerville, I thought that this game was going to dive further into the strange occurrences of Strangetown, an interesting neighbourhood that was popular in The Sims 2 however, nope! I was left disappointed when I realised that this was inspired by the buzz revolving around Stranger Things.
As someone who doesn’t really watch TV or care for the overhype of Netflix programs, I really couldn’t really connect with the fandom and little easter eggs in this pack, however, I still somewhat enjoyed Strangerville for what it was.
Welcome to Strangerville. Installing the pack will give you a new location, that mainly consists of trailer parks in a run down desert town, surrounded by red sand and where the influence of the military is felt everywhere. Now normally this sort of scenery isn’t my thing, however, for the storyline that I was playing in my head, it fit in perfectly.
Moving in you’ll soon realise that things… are a little off. Firstly, you will notice that there are these weird, purple glowing plants scattered everywhere, and although they are pretty to look at and give the garden a much needed uplift, they’re also a cause for concern.
However, nothing is more concerning than the NPC’s that flock this small town. Most notable are the sims that march around, seemingly in a weird, possessed daze, spurting gibberish and just being odd. Then there is the heavy influence of military personnel and lab coats, that are in and about panicked conspiracy theorists running about the place. You also have the MIB equivalent in this game, trying to cover up the strange goings on and ridding homes of any damning evidence. So it’s clear that Strangerville is very characteristic to say the least.
Introduced in this pack is the new Strangerville aspiration, which instead of providing a list of lifetime achievements that your sims will have to fulfil, will be more like a list of goals and tasks that need to be completed in order to progress the story. The further you progress the story, the more impact it has on the town and its overall aesthetics, thus slightly changing up the gameplay- which is nice. It’s cool to see how your actions can impact a world.
Obviously, by opting to live in Strangerville you’re not forced to play out the story and instead are allowed to freely pursue your own life in the town too! But considering what this pack is about and what it brings to the gameplay, simming along to the plot is probably more desirable- in my opinion.
I briefly touched upon this earlier but the military career makes a welcomed return in The Sims 4 and is a fun career to have characters pursue, where you can eventually opt to go down the army career or span off into new pastures of the MIB.
So, the real question is, should you get this game pack? Considering that this isn’t a fleshed out expansion pack, there is plenty to do and is worth the money. Usually I believe that you should wait for packs to be heavily discounted before you take the plunge, however I personally believe that this is worth the price point. Also those with Gamepass will be happy to know that you can get a 10% discount on all of their packs, including expansion, game and stuff packs, so there is that too!
If you like this review, consider subscribing to cozyshiro.com to stay up to date with cozy gaming content, including bi-weekly Sims reviews.
Comments