The new expansion pack Country Life for Sims 4 takes the Sims to the farm. In our test we find out how exciting animal breeding and everyday life in the village really are.
Country Life fulfils a big wish of the Sims community: For years, gamers have wanted the complete farm experience for their Sims with manure shoveling, milking and sexy hours in the barn. You can also get a taste of the countryside in Farming Simulator, but there are certainly no hens with demon powers or golden eggs.
Through the Sims lens, as always, everything gets a little wackier. There are colourful animals, a bit of magic, likeable villagers with backstories and saccharine animations for the interaction between Sims and animals.
The rural region of Bagford-on-Henley takes us to an idyll with tranquil village life and lots of nature, with a building style modelled on the farming areas in the south of England. But is it really what the fans imagined?
What’s in the new addon
Let’s look at the overall package first: As an expansion pack for 40 euros, Country House Life is a big add-on. This means there are not only several new mechanics, but plenty of decorations and abilities around the farm motif.
With the six new animal species alone, the Sims have their hands full: cows, llamas and chickens need stalls and give milk, wool and eggs once a day. It gets fun when we give the animals one of thirteen animal treats to eat. Depending on the snack, the respective animal product changes or life expectancy and relationship with the animal improve.
It works like this: If you feed a cow a chocolate treat, chocolate milk will flow, making Sims happy all over. If you feed a chicken a veggie meal, it will lay green eggs, llamas will turn green with the same snack, you will shear green wool and so on.
The right ingredients will even create demonic or golden chickens with special abilities! If the animal-loving Sims make friends with wild birds, rabbits or foxes, they will reward you by helping in the garden or being persuaded not to steal anything from your yard.
Bagford-on-Henley also welcomes your Sims into a vibrant community. We run simple errands for the villagers, get to know them better and collect useful rewards. Gifts are also given in between, as part of a good village tradition.
At the four markets, however, it’s no longer peace and quiet. Here, the rural population wants to compete for the biggest fruit, the tastiest milk, the most beautiful eggs or the best animals. We also represent our farm and, with a little luck, win a prize. For those who prefer a more introspective approach, embroider motif pictures, grow five different types of giant field fruit and go mushroom or berry hunting in secluded Bramblewood.
There we also track down the hermit creature keeper, who sells us animal clothes ranging from fancy to hideous. Construction fans can let off steam with the new furnishings and design options in the country house style. Thanks to a total of eight residential plots, there is enough choice for your own projects in different sizes.
Good times for self-catering
At first glance, country house living seems like a bulging fun package with lots of possibilities. Especially the wishes for new animals and authentic farm style are fulfilled by the developers. Bagford-on-Henley feels like a real country community and lets your Sims connect effortlessly…. The add-on consistently takes the approaches from island life and snow paradise further. So does the self-sufficient lifestyle from Sustainable Living, which animal products and shelf-stable, preserved food complement in a meaningful way.
However, Landhaus-Leben is not the big hit apart from the successful visuals, especially with the animals, and fun treats. Too many possibilities remain unused – this becomes especially clear in the animal breeding. While we were still able to breed furry offspring for dogs and cats, in Country House Life we buy fully developed young animals that are collected by the Grim Reaper at the end of their life span.
Animal entertainers instead of animal breeders
Of course the little chicks we help to hatch are cute. But real genetics are left out, as the little animals develop into one of the three chicken colours at most. With a good 180 real chicken breeds, a lot of potential falls by the wayside here.
Dogs and cats, on the other hand, offer Dalmatians, Siamese cats, terriers and Ragdolls as well as many other popular breeds. So the pets have the nose in front, especially since there was also the treat mechanic. We used these to trigger diseases, colourful excretions and other effects.
Thanks to the wild animal gifts, the game’s demands plummet: if Sims make friends with flocks of birds and rabbits, we can bring the little animals onto our property by means of housing. The animals reward their loyal friendship with daily gifts, including the rarest animal treats, even shortly after moving in! So we can actually save ourselves the trouble of running errands or competitions.
Or we voluntarily do without the generous helpers in order to preserve the challenge. You will have the most fun with Country House Life if you want to take it easy and simply spend an idyllic time on a farm. However, tinkerers looking for pretension will quickly get bored.
