The Ultimate Ranking of The Sims 4 Game Packs

It’s finally time for me to rank the game packs for the Sims 4! I’ve already ranked the expansion packs, and soon I’ll be ranking the stuff packs. I’m not sure if I’ll do kits. If you’d like to see that, let me know!

Overall, I have a couple of controversial opinions on the game packs. When it comes to kits, a lot of the reviews I see talk about how each individual kit is very niche. They are created with the idea that you will pick and choose which ones you’ll purchase. I think game packs and stuff packs are supposed to work like this as well.

But, I’ve always operated with the belief that I “need” them all. I get major pack FOMO. (Yes, it’s pathetic. I’m very aware.) That alone encouraged a lot of impulse purchases during sales, resulting in me having all of the game packs. But, I would recommend that prior to purchasing any pack, you seriously consider how the gameplay of the pack will enhance your play style.

Read my ranking of the expansion packs here.

My Wedding Stories

Before I dive in, I want to mention that I am not including the newest pack, My Wedding Stories, in this ranking. There are a few reasons for this. Most importantly, the pack is practically unplayable. This pack has been drowning in problems from the initial announcement. The pack wasn’t going to be released in Russia, and then the entire release was delayed so that it could be. When it finally came out, there were so many bugs in addition to the ones found on the version of the game that creators received to review (which isn’t the final software and does change prior to release).

I have yet to find a creator that recommends this pack to anyone. But, I’ve heard about a lot of modders that have done EA’s job and fixed the glitches. Now, after over a week since the release, we finally have a laundry list of bugs that the Sims team is working on fixing in the next patch.

And, because I wasn’t immediately blown away by the pack’s potential, I was never planning on purchasing it upon release. Now, I’m not sure that I ever will. It depends on what happens in the future. No one should require mods to allow the game to function as it should. Besides, I already have tons of mods in my game – I don’t need more.

To learn more about what’s been going on with this new pack, I encourage you to check out these articles and videos…

Articles from Sims Community

(in chronological order)

• The Sims 4 Latest Game Pack is Banned in Russia
• EA Banned My Wedding Stories for the Wrong Reasons
• The Sims 4 My Wedding Stories is Releasing WORLDWIDE Next Week!
• Community Fixes for My Wedding Stories

Videos from YouTubers

• Plumbella (Pack Review)
• Plumbella (My Wedding Stories Was Bound to Fail)
• Lilsimsie (Pack Review)
• Vixella (Weddings are WORSE)

Now, on to my rankings! (from least favorite to favorite)

10. Outdoor Retreat

Outdoor Retreat was the first game pack to be released for the Sims 4 in 2015. Considering it was the first one, I’m not surprised that many people rank it at the bottom. Compared to the newer packs, it’s just a bit boring.

However, when I have brought my sims to Granite Falls for a camping trip, I have genuinely enjoyed it. It’s just not a pack that is easily used every day. Granite Falls is a beautiful world, and comes with a secret world and secret character. Have you found it?

With the Snowy Escape expansion pack, hiking was added as an activity. This complements Outdoor Retreat well, and I’m glad the activity isn’t restricted to Mt. Komorebi.

9. Strangerville

Strangerville is a completely different type of game pack. It introduced a story-centric style play, where you are tasked with finding out why the residents of the town are possessed.

This pack was not popular when it first came out, and it still isn’t. There are houses built by the game developers that are not well furnished, and some base game homes are recycled. A lot of people didn’t like the story-type gameplay. I personally enjoy this type of game play every once in a while. But, once you’ve played it and defeated ‘the mother,’ there isn’t much of a reason to continue using the pack. Especially when the build/buy and create-a-sim items aren’t easy to use outside of the context of the town.

The pack does introduce the military career, which never made sense to me. I’m glad we have that career since it’s been a staple in the franchise. But I’m not really sure why this is the pack that it was in. The military career has no significant role in solving the mystery, and the mystery focuses on the secret lab. And, the members of the military aren’t immune from possession.

Personally, I think an evil scientist or villain type career would have worked well with the pack. Especially since there are many clues in the pack and in the promos for it that alluded to Bella Goth being ‘the mother.’ Having to outsmart a townie sim that was responsible for everything would have been a fun way to introduce the new career, and it would have made it a bit easier to extend your own use of the pack outside of the initial play-through.

8. Vampires

The Sims 4 does occults really well, especially the vampires. I go back and forth when it comes to playing with occults in game, but when I do play with them, I always enjoy it.

The vampires themselves are great. Yes, it’s a little annoying that they’ll constantly turn up at your house at night, but you can actually disallow vampires from your lot by clicking on your front door. I didn’t know that feature existed for a long time. So, if you’re like me and are sick of Vlad complementing your sims’ neck, that option exists.

If you choose to play as a vampire, you have a ‘normal’ form, and a ‘dark’ form. I love this feature. It gives you the ability to have a normal looking sim the majority of the time, but when it’s time to drink, they’ll show who they really are (think Angel and Spike getting all bumpy).

The build and buy items are overall, great. Same for the CAS items. They’re obviously very specific to a certain type of gameplay, but now with the additions of Realm of Magic and Paranormal Stuff, you have more opportunities to use the items in a seamless way. Check out this build that I did for Halloween on YouTube featuring the three packs!

The world is a huge downside. It’s aesthetically beautiful, but it’s so small! Way too small. However, what we get with the world is nice. The starter home is the slight exception to that, but, it’s a starter home. You can only do so much with it.

7. Spa Day

In theory, I should love this pack. But, I just don’w use it very often. This pack was given a refresh last fall, and that certainly increased the pack’s popularity. But, this game pack is one that will probably always be just ‘meh’ for me. I couldn’t tell you the last time I brought a sim to a spa. I do, however, use the items from CAS and build/buy all the time.

I’m glad the pack was refreshed the way it was. Having played with both versions, I can tell you there is a huge difference between the old and new versions. One of the most popular additions is the nail polish feature. As a self-proclaimed nail polish addict in real life, you may think I was ecstatic about this feature. But, I wasn’t. Nail polish was added to CAS as a base-game update. The interaction to get a manicure or pedicure is in the pack’s gameplay as a result of the refresh. But, nail polish has existed in the form of custom content for years. Unless you’re a console player and can’t use CC, this isn’t a revolutionary addition.

The Spa Day game pack brought the wellness skill to the game. The wellness skill is one that I go back and forth on. I like that it unlocks new recipes and drinks. But, I wish it was tied into the fitness skill or some sort of mental skill. Having fitness and wellness as separate skills is fine, but there isn’t enough distinction between the two for me. They feel incomplete.

6. Dine Out

Dine Out should now be called “The OG Broke Pack.” Compared to My Wedding Stories, this pack runs like a dream.

For me, Dine Out is a mix of the Sims 2 Nightlife and Open for Business packs. You can take your sims out to a restaurant and order a meal, but you can also be the one to own and operate a restaurant. It has a great concept. But, it fails in execution. I have yet to manage a restaurant successfully. The game gets so glitchy that I usually stop in frustration. Going out to eat works well about half of the time for me. The other half, my food never comes, or my sims take forever to eat (I’m talking 10 hours in game time).

Despite the bugs, Dine Out is a pack that can seriously enhance your gameplay. If you’re typically a family player, going out to eat to celebrate good grades or a birthday is great- when it works. Something I think this pack is missing is the ability to select a special occasion for your table. Imagine, you’re out to celebrate a birthday, and the waiters come out and sing? Why isn’t that an option?

Either way, if this pack was consistently working, it would be much higher on my list.

5. Jungle Adventure

Jungle Adventure adds another vacation world to your game, Selvadorada. The world is based off of Latin America and has a huge jungle for your sims to explore. Seriously, the jungle is huge. There’s so many paths and sections, including temples that you can enter and each of them has multiple stories.

This pack introduced the Archeology skill. While exploring the jungle, you can collect artifacts and relics for you to later study. Some of them are worth a small fortune. Once you advance in the skill, you can even write books on the subject.

Because so much of the world is interactive, I would have expected a small world like in the Vampires game pack. But, this world contains 7 lots! When you look at the world map, you can see the jungle but you are not able to go to it like you would a standard lot. But, when you’re exploring with your sim, that’s where you are.

This pack comes with a ton of new build and buy items, including the best mirror in the game. (You know, the huge full-length mirror that leans up against a wall.) I wouldn’t tell you to buy a pack for the items. But, that mirror would be well worth it!

4. Journey to Batuu

This is where I get controversial. I know, people hate this pack. Some people say it’s worse than My First Pet Stuff. But, I think people were too quick to write it off.

If you have no interest in Star Wars, then this pack will be pointless for you. Don’t bother with it. Save your money. But, if you like Star Wars, you may enjoy it, just like I do. When it was released, most of the game-changers that I saw reviewing it hated it. But, they had no interest in the Star Wars franchise, so they were never going to love it. The pack assumes that you know some of the characters and some of the basic storylines from the films. If you don’t, it will not make much sense.

As a Sims lover and a Star Wars fan, this game pack ranks high for me. This pack is another story-centric pack, but unlike Strangerville, there are multiple story options. You can play as part of the Resistance, the First Order, or as a Scoundrel, each with their own tasks and challenges. There are 3 aspirations that come with the pack, which are essentially a story guide for how to play. Which is just like the aspiration in Strangerville. So while that may be frustrating, it’s not unprecedented.

While I love the pack, it does have some bad sides. One of them being that you can only visit Batuu. It’s categorized as a vacation world like Granite Falls is. But instead of being able to you can rent a space, you can only sleep and take care of some of your needs through rabbit hole interactions. In order to get there, your sim still needs to use the phone or computer and the ‘take a vacation’ interaction. To add insult to injury, both the official announcement trailer and the gameplay trailer make it look like you’re able to take up residence in Batuu.

And please, for the love of God, let us have the option to disable the invite to Batuu you get at the start of every new save!

3. Realm of Magic

In case you weren’t aware, I kind of like Harry Potter. While Makin’ Magic is the superior magic pack, I love any type of magical gameplay, and Realm of Magic is no exception.

I’m well aware of this packs’ faults. Yes, the world is tiny. There’s a house with a staircase but no door to get inside the house. The magical realm is mainly shells. But, when comparing it to Makin’ Magic, there is one important distinction. Realm of Magic is a game pack. Makin’ Magic is an expansion pack. That alone creates a difference in the level of content within each pack.

The word is divided into the ‘normal’ portion, Glimmerbrook, and the magical realm, which is accessed through a portal. Glimmerbrook itself is ok. It’s not amazing, but it’s also not a significant part of the pack. The magical realm, however, is. If the magical realm was more built up, I think there would be less criticism of the pack as a whole. A magical realm filled with things to do, community lots, and more to explore (like perhaps a dark forest similar to the jungle in Selvadorada) would make up for a mediocre Glimmerbrook. Unfortunately, while beautiful, both sections of the world fall flat.

Realm of Magic introduces a new life state to the game – the spellcaster. Anyone can become a spellcaster either when you’re born or through a rite of ascension. But, because the spellcasters work as an occult, you can’t be multiple occult forms at once. This is such a let down for me. I just want to make a magical vampire family! There are a couple of mods that exist for this, but none of them run smoothly on my game with the other mods I have installed, so… it is what it is.

2. Parenthood

Parenthood is the first game pack I got for the Sims 4. I purchased it in a bundle with the base game, seasons, and laundry day. So I’ve never even played the game without it. While the pack is an essential one for me, it does demonstrate one of the biggest critiques of the Sims 4 – that it’s a millennial simulator.

In the Sims 3, we had generations. As the name suggests, it adds gameplay for all life stages. But, Parenthood focuses only on the parents. Which, yes, it’s in the name of the pack. But, based on previous packs and games, simmers expected something more like generations.

Because I didn’t purchase the pack when it was released, and I knew the details of the pack prior to purchasing, I enjoy it. The pack does exactly what it describes in the trailer. It focuses on the parent sims and the relationships they have with their kids. They can discipline or encourage behaviors, help with school projects, punish kids, and more. With the exception of some build/buy items, the other generations, including elders, are left out of the pack. But again, at the end of the trailer, it says, “What Kind of Parent Will You Be?”

I do wish the 5 character values that parents influence or discourage had more of a strong impact on the sim. As soon as your baby ages up into a toddler, their actions and your reactions influence their responsibility, manners, empathy, conflict resolution, and emotional control. Things like yelling at your kid vs calmly discussing their behavior can influence these traits. If your sim ages into a young adult with a high enough character value ‘score,’ they’ll get a bonus trait. But those traits do little for your adult sims.

1. Dream Home Decorator

When this pack released, I wrote a full review on my blog, which you can read here. It’s been almost a year since this game pack released, and looking back at my review makes me realize how great the 2021 pack releases were. Yes, we got more kits than expected (or wanted), but the three packs that were released (Paranormal Stuff, Dream Home Decorator, and Cottage Living) were all stellar.

Dream Home Decorator is a builder’s dream pack. Since over the last year I’ve really gotten into building and trying to make actual nice builds, this pack released at a perfect time for me personally. The build and buy items are still some of my favorites in the game, and I use them constantly, even a year later. The novelty hasn’t worn off for me. In addition to finally getting sectional couches in the game – something that was in the base game of Sims 2 – this pack comes with a new active career, Interior Designer.

I think this active career is quite unique. Once you join the career on the computer or phone, your sim can pick up jobs when they want. When you go to a job with your sim, you talk to the homeowners and learn their likes and dislikes, and then go into build mode to complete your renovation. But, because you are in the middle of a career event, some things, like changing walls may be disabled based on your career level. I wasn’t expecting that level of detail to the career.

When the pack was released, there were some bugs with the career, but I haven’t had any issues with it after the first patch, unlike other packs such as Dine Out. So, I wouldn’t let that deter you from getting this pack. However, if you are not a builder or are not interested in learning to build, this pack probably isn’t for you. I love the items, but you can also get items that are just as nice or even better from custom content creators. For me, it’s my favorite game pack.

So, what do you think of my game pack rankings for the Sims 4? Leave your rankings in the comments below!