How I Finally Made The Sims 4 Fun—After Spending Over $1,600 on DLC
After ten years of playing The Sims 4, I finally discovered what makes the game truly enjoyable—and it comes with a price. The latest expansion, Enchanted By Nature, released earlier this month, brings fairy Sims, magical ailments, and charming new clothes and furniture. As a longtime fan, I jumped back in with low expectations, but this time, things felt different.
- Exploring the new Enchanted By Nature expansion
- The challenge of The Sims 4’s content and DLC model
- How owning nearly all DLC changed the gameplay experience
- Reflection on the series’ evolution and future concerns
What’s New in Enchanted By Nature?
The new expansion adds a whimsical touch with fairy Sims, magical diseases, and fresh outfits and furniture. Creating my fairy Sim, Nyx, was a blast, especially mixing and matching clothes from various DLCs to craft ethereal looks. Soon after moving her in, Nyx got a surprising job offer from the Grim Reaper—a new career introduced in last year’s Life & Death expansion.
After declining the grim offer, Nyx’s story took a fun turn: a night out at a fairy bar led her to meet Nadya, her fairy soulmate. Their relationship blossomed quickly, even leading to the creation of twins through the “Science Baby” option, which allows same-sex Sims to have genetically related children. Tweaking those twins into creepy little nightmares brought back the creative chaos I had missed for so long.
Why The Sims 4 Took So Long to Feel Complete
For years, The Sims 4 felt lacking. At launch in 2014, it missed staples like pools, toddler Sims, and full color customization for hair, clothes, and furniture. EA has been filling those gaps with tons of DLC packs—expansions, game packs, stuff packs, and kits. But many of these additions were buggy or underwhelming, making the gameplay loop frustrating:
- Spending ages creating Sims and houses
- Getting bored or annoyed by bugs and limited activities
- Logging off for months
This cycle repeated until recently. The base game alone just isn’t enough for a satisfying experience anymore.
The Price of Fun: Nearly 100 DLC Packs
Here’s the kicker: I own all 98 DLC packs for The Sims 4. Yes, nearly a hundred. They range from $5 kits to $40 expansions like Enchanted By Nature. To get the full, rich experience, you basically need to invest around $1,600, depending on sales and bundles. Without these, dressing Sims or decorating homes feels painfully limited due to the lack of base game options.
My approach has been pretty purist—I don’t use many mods except for the essential MC Command Center. I’ve bought every expansion for The Sims series since the original game launched in 2000. But The Sims 4 is different. The earlier games were fun and polished from the start, with DLC enhancing rather than completing the experience.
Looking Back and Forward
Compared to The Sims 3’s 20 DLC packs, The Sims 4’s massive number of add-ons highlights how much content was missing at launch. It’s wild to think you now need a four-figure budget to enjoy this digital dollhouse properly.
Despite finally having fun, it’s a bittersweet feeling. It took a decade and a huge investment to get here, raising concerns about where the series is headed. EA seems to be moving towards an MMO direction, as noted in this Gamespot article.
