The Sims 4 expansion pack Country Life lets you move into the farm. Find out what you can expect and what all players get for free in our preview.

The most cherished wish of Sims 4 fans in recent years has clearly been “Sims on the Farm”. With the new expansion pack Country House Life, this wish is finally coming true, even if the horses that many had also hoped for did not find their way into the DLC. We were allowed to test Landhaus-Leben in detail and tell you whether the developers have succeeded in creating the hoped-for hit.

This is what’s in store for everyone in the free update

Simultaneously with the release of the new expansion pack, the daily life of the Sims will change a lot via a free update: Children can now work together with their parents in cooking as well as in gardening. When cooking, we now choose whether a Sim is allowed to chop ingredients alone or seek support from family and friends present. This not only increases the ability to cook for all participants, but also fulfils the social need by working together.

Cooked food spoils noticeably faster when refrigerated. So the days are definitely over when we could feed a single household with the 8-portion party size for meals for almost a whole week without any additional cooking!

Something has also changed with the plots: in the new plot feature category “Challenges” we now find features like “Off the Grid”, which complicate the game experience with their mechanics. How many and whether you choose any at all is up to you. Features with positive and facilitating effects are still classified in the category of plot features, here you choose a maximum of three as usual.

The calendar introduced in the expansion pack Seasons will be open to all players in the future to see upcoming celebrations. You can also use it to plan standard celebrations such as weddings and parties. This provides a better overview at a glance and means that we won’t forget the upcoming birthdays of currently played Sims.

This is how country house life plays

For a closer look at the contents of the new expansion pack, let’s first take a look at the new Henford-on-Bagley area, which consists of three neighbourhoods: The village of Finchwick features a typical English pub, two stalls and the marketplace. There, one of four markets with different competitions takes place once a week, where we compete against the villagers with animals, giant field crops and farm products and scoop useful prizes.

The Bramblewood promises unspoilt nature where Sims can really relax. Wild rabbits and flocks of birds also live there and our Sims can make friends with them, while the creature keeper, who lives as a hermit in the forest, is there to help and advise us. In New Old Henford, apart from a large lake, there are mainly residential plots suitable for larger farms. Everywhere you can see how much attention to detail has gone into the design, the tranquil rural idyll is conveyed in every place. The possibility of actively integrating your own Sims into the village community also fits in well with the basic feeling conveyed.

We run errands for the seven most important villagers and get to know them better in the process, and the local tradition of giving gifts to each other creates an additional sense of community. Really good: Agnes Knautschgesicht, who was already a moralist hostile to romance in all three previous games, now also claps the handbag on the heads of kissing couples in Finchwick. During one of her errands, we even scold another villager for her inappropriate behaviour!

Life on the farm keeps you quite busy away from the village hustle and bustle: cows, llamas and chickens demand regular feed, stalls need to be mucked out and of course every animal wants sufficient attention from its owners. We build up a good relationship with the animal through friendly interactions such as talking or petting. This is especially rewarding when milking, shearing or collecting eggs on a daily basis: The products of happy animals are noticeably of higher quality and can be better turned into money. Or they give you the decisive advantage over the competition in competitions.

If we feed one of thirteen different treats to our animals, we get differently coloured wool from llamas, milk and eggs with new properties or a positive effect for the respective animal. For example, if chickens have eaten chocolate treats, they will lay delicious chocolate eggs, the consumption of which will make Sims very happy. With rainbow treats, we not only dye our llama rainbow-coloured, but also the wool shorn from the animal.

Fans of the self-sufficient playstyle for Sims will now get foods such as milk, eggs and meat in addition to the already available fruit and vegetables after the options for independent electricity and water supply from the Sustainable Living expansion pack. We boil down fruits and vegetables into jam for longer shelf life. The new mushroom varieties available in the region also bring variety to your game with their effect, and cooking enthusiasts prepare typical English dishes such as Filet Wellington, Yorkshire Pudding and Cottage Pie.

If you can’t get enough of hearty home cooking, use the new Cross Stitch skill to embroider pictures of it and display them around the home as decorations! Fending off thieving foxes, mysterious Golden and Spiteful Chickens, and growing five different varieties of Giant Field Fruit round out the game experience in Country House Life.

What do we like so far? What could go better?

Minor bugs: In the alpha version we used, Sims contorted strangely when handling animals, kept fetching a glass of water and didn’t get rewards on some tasks. In view of the far-reaching progress, however, there is a good chance that these problems will be ironed out by the time of release.

No real genetics: We buy cows and llamas as young animals and care for them until they die, animal breeding as in the expansion pack Dogs & Cats only exists in a very limited form with the chickens. Large stables with sophisticated genetic experiments are therefore not possible, so we wait in vain for calves and baby llamas.

Synergies with other DLCs: We were not able to find out how the new expansion pack works in interaction with all other DLCs. The alpha version we were provided with only included the base game and the new expansion pack. According to the developer, however, overlaps are planned, for example, dogs will defend your animals against foxes.

We’ll find out more on July 22, 2021, when The Sims 4: Country Life will finally be released for PC and consoles and will also bring the free update for all players.