Highlights
- Project Rene should avoid repeating The Sims 4’s mistake of releasing too many packs, including those with similar themes such as pets. One comprehensive pet expansion would be more accessible for players.
- The Sims 4’s abundance of packs has caused inconvenience and frustration for some players. Project Rene should follow the example of previous Sims games and focus on creating all-encompassing packs to ensure a more enjoyable experience.
- By taking inspiration from player creativity, Project Rene can make the game more personalized and unique, just like players have done with The Sims.
Even though Project Rene is still far away from an official release, there are some things that it shouldn’t repeat from The Sims 4. Although The Sims 4 is immensely popular in the life simulator genre, it does have one big problem, and that is the amount of packs EA has released for it. At the time of this writing, The Sims 4 has more than 70 packs, which is a lot more than previous Sims games, which have had around 20 packs or fewer per game.
The number of packs does show EA’s commitment to The Sims 4, but it comes with its issues, especially surrounding microtransactions and price per pack. Most of these packs feature new themes and new content for players to enjoy, but there are some packs that follow the same theme as each other. One such theme is animals and pets. With all these packs dedicated to animals and pets in The Sims 4, it might be an idea for Project Rene to take a different approach to pet related content to avoid history repeating itself.
One Popular Sims 4 Community Habit Deserves to Become an Even Bigger Star in Project Rene
Players have always taken The Sims and made it their own, and it’s time for Project Rene to take inspiration from player creativity.
Project Rene Should Take a Different Approach to a Pets Expansion
There Should Only be One Pet Expansion in Project Rene
The Sims has had a history with releasing pets to the game through expansion packs instead of including them in the base game, and The Sims 4 may have taken it a step further by spreading out pet related content through multiple expansions and packs. This has proven to be somewhat an issue compared to other Sims games, and although it could be argued that some players might not mind purchasing all the expansions, others might have struggled to keep up with the sheer number of different expansions in The Sims 4. In total, there have been four different packs that include various animals and pets in The Sims 4.
- The Sims 4: Cats and Dogs – Introduces cats and dogs.
- The Sims 4: My First Pet – Introduces the minor pet type, rodents.
- The Sims 4: Cottage Living – Introduces farm life with animals such as cows, chickens, and llamas.
- The Sims 4: Horse Ranch – Introduces horses and other minor pets, goats, and sheep.
With The Sims 4 having lots of packs and a few being dedicated to animals and pets, it makes sense for Project Rene to release just one pet expansion and have everything to do with pets and animals in that one expansion. Having an all-encompassing pet expansion would make more sense and would allow more players to enjoy having access to different types of pets in one expansion instead of being locked out of a specific animal because it’s in a different expansion or pack.
The Sims 3
equivalent to
My First Pet
and
Horse Ranch
was included in
The Sims 3:
Pets,
which introduced all sorts of pets, such as cats, dogs, horses, and small pets.
The Sims 3
base game includes pets such as butterflies, insects, and fish, whereas
The Sims 4
base game includes frogs and fish.
Why Project Rene Shouldn’t Repeat the Expansion Pack Mistake the Sims 4 Made
The Sims is certainly a trend setter in the life simulator genre, and The Sims 4 has been going strong for 10 years now. However, there is one thing in The Sims 4 that Project Rene shouldn’t repeat, and that is the sheer number of packs that have been released. Many of these releases can easily fit into one pack, especially those that all have a similar theme, such as the pet centric packs.
It might be best for Project Rene to focus on creating all-encompassing packs just like Sims games that came before The Sims 4 to dodge the inconveniences and frustrations of the past. This would allow all kinds of players to enjoy Project Rene to the fullest extent without having to purchase over 50 packs to gain access to all the content they’re looking for.
The Sims 4
The Sims 4 is the latest offering from Maxis and The Sims Studio, serving as a sequel to The Sims 3. Although it was released back in 2014, the game is still going strong today thanks to an array of DLC add-on packs that give players access to more unlockable items and events.
- Released
- September 2, 2014
- Publisher(s)
- Electronic Arts
- Genre(s)
- Simulation
- ESRB
- T for Teen: Crude Humor, Sexual Themes, Violence
- How Long To Beat
- N/A
- X|S Enhanced
- No
- File Size Xbox Series
- 22 GB (November 2023)
- Metascore
- 70
