It would be an understatement to admit that Sims 4 “kits,” bite-sized servings of new downloadable content, are contentious amongst fans. For some, their introduction represented a devastating downward slide toward the ever more ubiquitous microtransaction. For others, kits as a concept sate the unquenchable thirst for content many Simmers have. After all, a steady stream of minor content is better than months without content. Right?

The answer is unclear.

After all, Sims 4: Book Nook Kit is the twenty-fourth kit in a whopping kit collection numbering twenty-five in total. It can be difficult, particularly in this sputtering global economy, to parse out which kits are worth the investment.

​This series of articles aims to provide guidance through the banquet of bite-sized content options, separating the empty-calorie fast-food fluff kits from the five-star Beef Wellington kits.

So what about Sims 4: Book Nook Kit?

The Sims 4 released its Book Nook Kit in June 2023. It contains 25 new items, which - aside from the stunning layered couches made resplendent with squashy pillows and draped throw blankets- appear mostly unremarkable at first glance. A quick squint at the boring browns and angular items, like a wire basket and yet another set of bookended tomes, might encourage sleepy yawns from fans.

​However, this kit offers more than what meets the eye.

What appears to be simple bookshelves of varying sizes are actually modular shelves for flexible placement. By mixing and matching the shelves, some of which are empty, others partially full, others chock full of books, players can create the enormous bookshelves of their dreams.

​If this were not enough, Book Nook Kit provides book stacks as clutter, allowing players to stack books as high as their hearts desire.

Other pack perks include an elegant, rounded standing lamp, new wooden flooring, fresh candle decor, a modern cream-colored rug, and adorable book trays.

The kit also includes a curved coffee table which doubles as book storage and a new wooden side table.

The inherent coziness of the Book Nook kit pairs well with several other Sims 4 packs.

Its emphasis on natural materials like wood, iron, and glass fits well with Eco Lifestyle, Discover University, Cottage Living, Basement Treasures kit, Everyday Clutter kit, Blooming Rooms Kit, Greenhouse Haven Kit, and perhaps most beautifully, the Industrial Loft Kit.

All in all, Sims 4 Book Nook kit is a must have for builders who want to create the Beauty-and-the-Beast-esque library of their wildest dreams. The modular mix-and-match and stackable nature of the included bookshelves is not to be missed.

The included couches are stunning and comfortable looking, complete with draped throw blankets and squashy pillows, a clear improvement over the earliest boxy Sim sofas of yore.

While both the coffee table and side table are unbelievably oversized - a problem with which Sims 4 wrestled for many years - players can work around this issue by sizing down the furniture in-game, though this renders placing clutter a real pain.

Despite this, the kit is a stunning addition to the game
sure to delight builders around the globe.

What have you created with this kit? Show us on Threads, Instagram, X (formerly known as Twitter), and TikTok at Simmer’s Digest!

​Final Verdict: Hot

Sims 4 Seasons, is seen by some of the one the best packs in sims 4. But could newly surfaced concept art signal a refresh is possible? Thanks to @PattonKieran

What are your thoughts? Leave us a comment below or drop your thoughts in the YouTube Short

The Sims 4 Seasons is an expansion pack for the The Sims 4. It reintroduces weather and seasons, along with other new features such as holidays, temperatures, a gardener career, and a flower arranging skill. The pack incorporates weather and seasonal changes to all existing worlds, and players can enjoy seasonal activities such as ice skating, fall harvest, spring fling, and summer pool party. The Create A Sim feature also includes new options for almost every category, age, and fashion choice.

It’s been months since the sims 4 update for console controls- and the team has finally responded, but many sims 4 players aren’t happy. The update in January changed console controls and has made building and gameplay a challenge for many. On April 27th, a sims 4 community responded.

​Check out the featured short and details in the video below.

The update that was released April 26th, 2023, also re-enables the "lose tooth" feature from The Sims 4 Growing Together expansion pack. The feature allows Sims to lose their teeth, and it has been fixed after some issues. The update also fixes an issue that was causing subtle adjustments to the appearance of Sims in the April 18th update. Any Sim that was created prior to the April 18th update should return to looking as they did before. The update is available for PC and Mac with version numbers 1.97.62.1020 and 1.97.62.1220, respectively, and for consoles with version 1.75.

The Greenhouse Haven Kit is a Build Mode Kit that adds a variety of items to create a tranquil plant sanctuary in your Sims' homes. The kit includes plants, furniture, and decorations that will help your Sims relax and enjoy the beauty of nature.
Some of the items included in the Greenhouse Haven Kit are:

• A variety of plants, including flowers, vegetables, and herbs
• A greenhouse structure with a variety of windows and doors, with a variety of plant-growing spaces
• A variety of furniture, including tables, chairs, and benches
• A variety of decorations, including potted plants, birdhouses, and wind chimes

The Greenhouse Haven Kit is a great way to add a touch of nature to your Sims' homes. It's perfect for Sims who love to garden or simply enjoy spending time outdoors.

Basement Treasures
The Basement Treasures Kit is a Build Mode Kit that adds a variety of items to decorate your Sims' basements. The kit includes furniture, decorations, and lighting that will help you create a unique and stylish space in your Sims' homes.
Some of the items included in the Basement Treasures Kit are:

• A variety of furniture, including couches, chairs, and tables
• A variety of decorations, including paintings, sculptures, and rugs
• A variety of lighting, including chandeliers, lamps, and spotlights

The Basement Treasures Kit is a great way to add a touch of personality to your Sims' basements. It's perfect for Sims who want to create a space that's both stylish and functional.
Both the Greenhouse Haven Kit and the Basement Treasures Kit are available for purchase on the Origin store. They are priced at $4.99 USD each.

• The Sims 4 team has released a roadmap for the upcoming months, which includes 4 new kits, arriving between April and June as well as a "HOT UPDATE"
• The community has mixed reviews about the upcoming kits, and there is a lot of speculation about what they might contain.
• The Sims team has not yet confirmed any details about the upcoming kits, but they are expected to release more information in the coming weeks.

Whether we like to admit it or no, it always seems like we as a community enjoy the speculation time period where we analyze each frame of the video take in the new art styl of the roadmap and even the choice of words used to attempt to guess what will be coming from the Sims team and this roadmap has us all wondering. 

Super Sleuth SimMattically has broken down the simlish lettering on the boxes into the english letters to help us all fuel our imaginations with what they could mean

Meanwhile, many others have turned to the symbols on the box, attempting to identify and started speculating at what they might mean, like our favorite Henford on Bagley resident TheHenfordHen, and even LilSimsie

If you'd like a nice well rounded conversation about what we know, what we were supposed to be getting, and a continued bit of community speculation then tune in to Simmer Erin's Roadmap video

Lastly, we invite you to take a closer look at the box logos, the other content in the video and share you thoughts/hopes/speculations in the comments below.

​Happy Simming!

Sims 4 players are rejoicing worldwide.  On February 2nd, the iconic life simulation game unleashed news of fresh content - an update that frees infants from their previously pixeled bassinet prisons and the highly-anticipated Growing Together expansion pack that imbues the game with deeper intergenerational family ties.  Through these updates, Sims 4 developers hope to fulfill some of the most desperate, longtime wishes of their passionate players.

After all, Simmers are fiercely particular about their pixel people families. Players spend hours crafting the perfect homes, molding the perfect Sims, and playing through simulated life cycle after simulated life cycle, from birth to death.  One of the most echoed and pointed complaints about Sims 4 was this: that the beginning of a Sim's life cycle was extremely limited. Babies were crying, pooping, sleepy objects entirely confined to their designated bassinets.  Although  caretakers were able to scoop their babies up to feed or soothe them, there were no baby bath times, play mats for tummy time, or even baby showers. The Infant Update and Growing Together expansion pack changes all of that - and then some. 

Coming to all players on March 14th is an enormous base game update.  This update will introduce Infant - a brand new life stage - to the game.  Naturally, players will be able to create and modify infants in Create-a-Sim, but that isn't all. Sim Parents can fully change diapers in a fresh interaction; they can also put their infant down for naps or bedtime.  Instead of simply crying and soiling virtual diapers, the new infants will be able to express their needs, emotions, and sentiments. Developers promise that new Sim Parents will experience infants as they are meant to be experienced: through an intense, sleepless fog. 

​But it is through the expansion pack Growing together that Sims 4 developers have truly "freed the infant."  The pack, which releases on March 16th, adds Infant Milestones to the game. These milestones grant babies new abilities that form their adorable personalities and follow them as they grow older. The pack also introduces Infant Playmats, Changing Stations, and baby carriers to the game. Older Sims will be able to transport their bundles of joy on their backs, put their babies down on their bellies for play time, pass their babies to other Sims, and throw  baby showers, a brand new in-game Event.

It doesn't end there! Growing Together offers 18 discoverable Infant Quirks that change an infant's behavior. Among these Quirks are: Self-soother, Early Riser, Messy Eater, Frequently Gassy, Good Appetite, Snuggly Sleeper, Happy Spitter, Free-Air Tinkler, and more.  

Infants promise to be irritatingly lovable as they toot, babble, giggle, and free-pee into toddlerhood. 

On March 3rd, 2023, Simmers will learn more about Sims 4: Growing Together during a Twitch live Stream. Then, players will get a better picture of all that the freshest expansion pack has to offer.  However, between the new pack trailer, developer Tweets, and EA Blog Posts, Simmers have a good idea of what to expect. 

Naturally, Growing Together boasts a brand new world for Simmers to explore. 

San Sequoia, once a quaint fishing village, is a safe suburban town filled with craftsman homes and family-friendly hubs.  The town overlooks an expansive ocean bay with an iron bridge dominating the horizon.  San Sequoia  is filled to bursting with three distinct neighborhoods - Anchorpoint Wharf, Gilbert Gardens, and Hopewell Hills. Here, families can catch movies, go on power walks with grandma at Urban Park, or cool off on the new Splash Pads. 

If this were not enough, Lil Simsie announced that she designed many of the suburban homes in San Sequoia.  This all but ensures that Simmers will enjoy the effortlessly gorgeous stylings of the popular Sims streamer without having to wade through the saturated Gallery. ​

Growing Together offers the best of suburban wear.  It appears filled with the easy tanks and simple knitwear suitable for versatile play. Infants get adorable fruit-themed outfits like apple-dappled onesies and strawberry-printed shirts. Players can expect a slew of cute costumes, carriers, and backpacks for young Sims.

However, the Create-a-Sim star of the incoming pack is skin details.  Developers have added birth marks, vitiligo, moles, and other skin markings to make each Sim more unique than ever before.

While developers have not yet released an official asset list for Growing Together, the trailer unveiled the kinds of cozy furniture bits and bobs one might expect from a suburban paradise. 

Growing Together features: 

• New bookcases
• triangular windows
• sleeping bags
• play mats
• changing tables
• functional treehouses
• new rocking chairs
• puzzle tables 
• new bunkbeds
• New curtains
• New sofas
• Infant toys
• New desks

And much more! Sneak a peek at the official trailer screenshots below. 

The treehouses appear to be structures that Sims can build together in-game.  They feature fun tube slides, fireman poles, fairy lights, and slots where the players can arrange the toys and items their Sims most desire. 

Make no mistake: Growing Together is brimming with new, meaningful gameplay.  In fact, familial relationships seem overhauled in a big way.  Not only did developers add new experiences and interactions to the game, but they have also inserted new features that affect Sim personalities and relationships at all age levels. 

Families enjoy several new group activities to experience together. At Urban Park, Sims can partake in Snowy Escape-like actions such as: walking as a group, learning to ride a bike, jogging, and hiking on nature trails.  They can take in the sights and even go fishing alongside their grandparents after watching a movie at the newly refurbished cinema. After a long day of eating good food at the restaurants along the pier, families can wind down with children's stories at the library or cool off in the new Urban Park Splash Pads. 

Sim families will soak in all of these life-experiences while navigating the Teachable Moments that form personalities and shift family dynamics. Will the exhausted new mother allow her in-laws to finally move in? Will the jokester big brother clash with his more studious younger sister? Is dad more on edge than usual or is he going through a classic Midlife Crisis? In Growing Together, these life Milestones work together alongside Social Chemistry to create unique Sim experiences. Not all Sims will enjoy the company of any given counterpart, and not all families will successfully navigate the many milestones of their members. Failure and triumph during these crucial growing pains will form the foundation of a Sim's personality traits. Even Infants get their own milestones!

Developers did not forget about toddlers for this update.  In fact, like Infants, Toddlers get 18 Toddler Quirks that change their behavior and shift over time.  Some examples include: Aggressive, Picky Eater, Early Riser, Little Singer, Good Appetite, Loves Water, Hates Bedtime, Loves being Carried, and more. If this were not enough, Toddlers can interact with Infants in a variety of heart-warming interations. 

Growing Together also offers an update to the child life stage. For the first time since the launch of base game, children enjoy four new aspirations:

• Slumber Party Animal
• Mind and Body
• Playtime Captain
• Creative Genius. 

Sim kids will have a blast building treehouses alongside their families, aggravating their parents with pranks and pillow fights, crafting intricate friendship bracelets, and engaging in cozy slumber parties complete with cute sleeping bags.

Notably, kids can learn how to ride a bike under their caretaker's watch, but make sure those helmets are secure because children can also lose teeth.  However, not even the Tooth Fairy can keep a Child's Confidence as high as a parent's expert guidance can; children will need to form secure attachments to thrive later in their adult years. 

Check out these new child-toddler interactions! Squee!

Growing Together allows beloved Sim adults to age gracefully into Sim Elders.  Grandma can now Power Walk at Urban Park, complete puzzles, play Scramble at the new Activity Table, serve as caretaker of the family Keepsake Box, give Life Lessons, Reminisce on Good Times, and even have a favorite grandchild. 

Elders take a more specialized ​role in families. They can take care of children while their exhausted parents catch some shut eye and keep their minds sharp at the Recreation Center. 

Sims 4 developers appear to have delivered the massive, generations update for which players have longed. After all, for many, the Sims family experience is the bedrock upon which the franchise thrives.  Through Growing Together, the Sims 4 hopes to render that foundation rock solid.

What are you most excited about? Talk to us on Twitter @SimmersDigest or on Facebook and Discord as The Sims Nation. 

If you are not on Reddit, you may consider joining after you see this next post.
The community at large has an ongoing conversation about tips/secrets in the game that is overflowing with a wealth of information.

Click below to se some of them gems the community is sharing, from secret locations, to lore about the game, to hidden events you can trigger by doing certain things in games, they talk about it all.

While we were getting lost in all the gems from the Sims4 secrets post, we were amazed to discover a method to raise and lower the glasses on your Sims face, something I ( a life long Simmer) never realized was an option. Check out the video below to learn how to.

Lastly, we have to give a shout out to kaisosims who shared a new CC kit they created: The Sims 4 Rodents CC Pack.

While rodents may not be your favorite fuzzy companion, we can think of many Simmers who adore them and this pack is designed for them.

​Publicly availble right now for you to explore and add to your game, just check out their post below for the details.