The Sims 4: Seasons is out today, and it’s good

The Sims 4’s next expansion pack is one of the most requested for the series—Seasons.

The Sims 4’s next expansion pack is one of the most requested for the series—Seasons.

Previous The Sims games had weather, but it’s here in The Sims 4 now, too. The Sims 4 Seasons adds winter, spring, summer, and fall to the simulation game. Beyond weather, Seasons brings a ton of new cosmetic options, overhauled gardening, and a customizable calendar.

Festive holidays rotate with the seasons, adding events for your sims to look forward to. Each has as a bunch of new activities tied to it, like watching the New Years countdown on TV and making resolutions to opening presents and meeting Father Winter. You’re also able to create your own holidays with unique customs and events. Birthdays show up on the calendar, too.

Weather affects the sims locations, like leaves in the fall and snow in the winter. The transition from each season makes for a realistic experience; leaves don’t just fall to piles at once. When the season approaches, leaves begin to change colors before accumulating on the ground.

Gardening was also overhauled as part of the Seasons patch, just generally making the activity a bit more streamlined and less of a chore. Gardening actions are set forth as an “area-of-affect” activity, so if you hit “Water” on one plant, your sim will water all the plants in a certain area. The same goes for harvesting and selling plants, too—there’s no need to stack actions endlessly with regard to the garden. A whole bunch of new plants were added to The Sims 4 with Seasons, too. Sims can also start a career as gardeners, with promotions all the way up to botanist.

All of these features just add more reality to The Sims 4, and that makes it one of The Sims’ best expansions yet. The little, mundane details of The Sims make the franchise special to so many, whether it be doing your laundry or raking up leaves. There’s still the wacky surprises that make The Sims the game it is, but the game’s tiny moments work well in creating a life-like simulation game.

The Sims 4 Seasons is available for purchase now and requires The Sims 4 base game to play. Seasons costs $40.