A bit of a holiday away from it all is probably what most of us could do with right now, and The Sims 4’s latest expansion provides just that.
In this, the year of unmitigated bullshit, a bit of a jolly holiday away from it all’s probably what most of us could do with. So consider it fortuitous timing, then, that The Sims 4’s latest expansion, Adventure Awaits, provides exactly that. Unfortunately, like holidays often do, it also comes with a bunch of screaming children. Boo.
Adventure Awaits is The Sims 4’s 20th Expansion Pack and includes pretty much everything you’d expect from these bumper-sized bits of marquee DLC, including a bumper-sized price tag. You’ve got a new world to explore in Gibbi Point, a new Park Worker career, new building bits, new skills and traits, plus new clothing options (this time leaning more toward the chunky and rugged, although you do get a couple of wetsuits thrown in). More broadly, though, its focus is split — with some thematic awkwardness — between expanded gameplay for child-age Sims and all that Getaway stuff.
To date, my sole experience of trying to raise a child involved them catching fire and turning into a ghost (in the Sims, obviously), so I haven’t spent much time putting Adventure Awaits’ kid-focused bits under the microscope. I can, though, tell you they include imaginary friends — and yes, evil ones are possible — new traits, new games, new modular playgrounds (which explains why you can barely move for slides and climbing frames in Gibbi Point), plus a Formative Moments system that influences their skills and specialties in later life. These can also be applied retroactively to your adult Sims, meaning you can turn them into, say, a Childhood Grief Survivor, making them more proficient at Undertaking and more resistant to Fear of Death; an Explorer Extraordinaire who’ll remain energised for longer, or a Danger Kid, who’s more resistant to food poisoning from spoiled food and can better endure extreme heat and cold. The list is long, and even as a brat-averse Sims player, I do like the sense of history it gives the grown-ups.
But that’s not why I was looking forward to Adventure Awaits. I’ve always liked the idea of whisking my Sims away to exotic climes for a well-earned break from the daily grind, but The Sims 4’s actual implementation of holidays has always felt a bit flat.
