The trailer for the latest, eye-popping, highly anticipated Sims 4 expansion pack released today, June 10th at 11AM EST.  

For months, players have pleaded for an expansion that would allow their Sims to enjoy the quaint lifestyle afforded by the quiet countryside. Their time has come, it seems, through the newest Sims 4 expansion pack: Cottage Living. 

The expansion pack, dropping July 22nd, boasts an enormous amount of new gameplay systems, fresh activities for child Sims, novel build tools, and a new slew of assets for Sims to live it up the simple way. 

Henford-and-Bagley, the new world folded into the Sims 4: Cottage Living expansion pack, is an English countryside work of stunning art.  It comes with three neighborhoods, each boasting four lots each, including one 64x64 lot.  Simmers will be able to enjoy new roofing patterns and textures such as thatched hay, mossy green, and aged wood.  Perhaps most surprisingly, it appears that players will finally be able to create their own ponds and fishable lakes using a new lake terrain tool. There are of course, many fresh assets at the builder's disposal such as: 

• Chicken Coops which hold 8 chickens each
• Newly styled dormers
• New foliage and flowers
• Cow stalls
• Llama stalls
• New stone and wood fencing
• Garden stalls
• Embellished kitchen cabinets and counters
• Picnic baskets (which Sims can pack and bring along with them to scenic countryside areas. A single interaction will unpack the picnic basket. Sims can scoop the basket into their inventories and then use the picnic interaction at any table, at any time, and in any world. )
• Woodland hollowed logs that serve as happy homes for hopping bunnies
• Country clutter: Jars of jam, casserole dishes, hanging plants, glass milk jugs, and more!

What's in it For Kids?
Speaking of children, there are a lot of new activities for them to enjoy in Cottage Living. The trailer shows live footage of children

• handling baby chicks
• embroidering
• cooking and baking alongside their parents
• Befriending bunnies and llamas
• Gardening/Farming

Meanwhile, adult Sims of course have a barrage of new farmland chores to occupy their simple countryside lives.  

Oversized Gardening
New oversized gardening plots allow Sims to grow large crops like pumpkins, watermelons, aubergines, mushrooms, and lettuce. Sims can harvest these foods for healthy meals (developers added new recipes like beef wellington, milk bread, and Yorkshire pudding to the growing Sims repertoire) or haul them into the Finchwick Fair to compete in the local vegetable growing contest! Of course, if vegetables aren't really a Sim's thing, they can also cajole their chickens into the local chicken contest, or rustle up a homemade pie for the county pie competition.

Game changing Lot Challenges​
Brand new "lot challenges" are a new system in the game which seem to behave like lot traits but with a twist. When the "Simple Living Lot" challenge is active, for example, Sims will find cooking far cheaper but the same Sims must only use the fresh ingredients they have at their immediate disposal. Sims will be able to milk cows for milk, raise chickens for eggs, and forage in the nearby woodlands for berries and mushrooms. Sims will need to procure any missing items via grocery delivery.  They can also buy beef and chicken at the local shop in town. Sims will even be able to "can" goods within the cooking skill. 

When the "Wild Fox" challenge is active, Simmers will have to contend with sneaky, wily foxes who may creep into unsuspecting farms to gobble up hen eggs or run off with bunny snacks! 

Simmers can of course toggle these challenges on and off at their leisure, living their country lifestyle as comfortably as they see fit. 

Village Errands
While there are no new careers involved with this pack, Sims can take part in a new game system called "village errands." It takes a village to, well, run a village, and so the local townsfolk will need much of your Sim's aid when it comes to running their busy stalls and shops.

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Cows, Chickens, and Llamas! Oh My!
Farm life wouldn't be quite as quaint and idyllic without the adorable company of farmland animals.  Cottage Living comes packed with many of the animals for which Sims 4 players have begged developers for years. Gamers can expect: 

• Cows
• Llamas
• Foxes
• Woodland birds
• Bunnies
• Chickens

These cuddly critters help their Sim companions in a variety of ways.  Sims can shear their llamas for wool, raise chickens for eggs, milk cows for a number of flavored milk varieties, and name and befriend rabbits and birds who will fetch valuables through a new gifting system.  Players who take a shining to these cute companions can move their natural homes onto any home lot, but these little hollowed out tree trunks will first exist only in the wild.   With the help of the new Animal Enthusiast Trait, Sims will happily befriend (or gravely irritate) cute critters.  Relationships with each animal color their responses, their moods, and even the flavor and quality of goods they offer.  For example, feeding a cow chocoberries will give the hopeful farmer chocolate milk under the right circumstances. 

None of these animals will take up precious Sim space in a household. Instead, the animals will prove largely self-sufficient, ready to form that special bond with their Sim of choice.  Playable Sims can even make cute little sweaters for their rabbits and special critters!

The animals, not unlike Sims, will age and die, but players can keep them alive forever if they choose to do so. 

Chickens are a Hoot
The chickens in Cottage Living are robust. 
Players will be able to breed chickens as long as a hen and rooster share the same coop. Simmers can dress, name, and gather eggs from their chicken companions. Beware the fox, however! These sly creatures will sneak into hen coops to steal eggs. 

Create-a-Sim
The clothing assets this pack offers appear to range from farmland chic to quaint and country.  Loosely tied hairs, tightly coiled up-dos, conservative quarter-sleeved, floral-patterned dress, hardy waistcoats and vests are the norm for this pack, which is sure to please come July 22nd. 

Right on the heels of the explosive Dream Home Decorator release, Sims 4 developers and Game Changers turned what is usually a quiet, eventless Monday on its head.

June 7th at 11 AM EST, Game Changers began sharing photos of curious postcards on Twitter. The post card hailed from Henford-on-Bagley and was signed by A.A. Crumplebottom, a Sims lore original character. The post card encouraged a visit to Henford, citing its “quaint countryside life” and mentioning a “Garden Stall.”

Taken together, the card suggests that the newest Expansion Pack may be “Country Living,” an experience that may get Simmers farming crops, harvesting goods, caring for animals, and riding horses.

But this has not been our only hint at Country Living. Early in 2020, this Expansion Pack was mistakenly “leaked” at a Target and then promptly debunked.

When Eco Lifestyle was released and was followed by Snowy Escape, players quickly forgot the hiccup. However, many outspoken players continued to plead for some semblance of a farming pack. Some CC creators even made horse stalls and cute cows.

But there may be another wrinkle in this anticipated pack. Earlier, Caylee Hammack, a country singer, revealed that she’s been working on translating some of her songs into Simlish. She signed off this tweet with a fairy emoji and magical stars.

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This tweet, in conjunction with Sim Guru Doi’s acrostic poem posted on Twitter Monday, seems to suggest the upcoming appearance of fairies in game. An acrostic poem, of course, is a poem acting as an acronym, The first letter of each word in Doi’s poem spells out “Henford-on-Bagley” but that isn’t all.

His calculated use of “fairly” which sounds and looks suspiciously like “fairy” and his suggestion of “graceful light encircling you” could also allude to a fairy circle.

What do you think is coming? Tell us in the comments or on Twitter!

Summer is in full swing, and the world of Sims has begun heating up with fresh events and new pack announcements. Sims FreePlay kept players busy with a new garden-themed SimChase, a Produce Market Rerun, and a Moroccan Kitchen reboot.  Just days away from their final few events for the current update, Sims FreePlayers are looking to the horizon for the newest gamut of events for the June and July months. Meanwhile, Sims Mobile kicked off their Modular Wardrobe Treasure Hunt event and began the final stretch of their newest game mechanic: Sim Festivals.  Naturally, the biggest news of the week came from Sims 4, which dropped its long-anticipated "Dream Home Decorator" game pack.  Simmers in all circles are scrambling to decorate, remodel, and snag the best items for their pixel people to enjoy. ​

In classic FreePlay form, Sims FreePlay inundated its players with several, exciting events, sometimes all at once.  On May 27th, players began the newest SimChase: Garden Grapple.  During this event, players complete a laundry list of tasks-- many of which require multiple Sims-- in order to win the perfect pool-side accoutrements. If players are able to beat the "rival" Sim by completing the given tasks within the time limit, they are able to earn special outdoor items like patterned patio flooring, a grand hot tub, modular stone planters crawling with cacti, garage doors, and stone cladding. Not long afterward, on June 1st, Simmers dived into the Produce Market Live Event rerun.  A Live event that encourages Simmers to craft candles, constructor coins, glassware, jewelry, and pottery in return for prizes, Produce Market rewards Simmers with the brightly colored items required to build a quaint fresh farmer's market.  This event is stuffed to the brim with items like checkered store flooring, bread displays and hanging lights, wall signs and cute chalk displays, rustic stone animal stacks, produce freezers, grocery counters, shelves, fruit baskets, and much more.  The grand prize for these crafting efforts is, of course, a grocery store lot already brimming with the offered prizes. 

If this were not enough, just one day later on June 2nd, a brand new Influence Island began for Sims FreePlayers! This Influence Island event is version two of a previous event-- Moroccan Kitchens. During this event, players confuse and cajole game NPCs into friendship.  Their influencing efforts are rewarded with network coins, and these network coins purchase Moroccan-inspired assets like stone counters, squat glass tables, loose-fitting, colorful outfits, beautifully braided hair styles for men, and more.  This event runs for just ten days and will run alongside a SimChase Rerun: Mansion Mania, which begins June 4th. 

The past few weeks have been busy for Sims Mobile, which added a new game element to its growing repertoire-- Sim Festivals.  During these festivals, players complete in-game tasks to earn pink tickets.  These tickets move players along a fixed track of prizes.  Currently, Simmers can choose from two prize tracks.  The first prize track is free and offers a sparse collection of prizes like a lovely armchair, a well-rounded stool, a metallic droplet table, perplexed dresser, and a signed autograph of new NPC Venessa Jeong. 

However, if a player purchases the "festival pass" for $9.99, they earn 60 levels of possible earnable prizes that include Venessa Jeong as an official in-game NPC, in-game currency packs, a fully-furnished house template, a wooden island tub, trendy hair and clothes, and more.

Currently, players are digging and investigating their way through the newest Treasure Hunt event.  As Sims uncover golden bunnies and ancient relics at various excavation sites, they turn in these currencies for such glamorous prizes as gilded modular cabinets, bright lamps, lovely rugs, modular shoe and coat closets, designer shoes, stylish hoodies, cropped clothing, fresh hats, and a new twisted hairdo for men. The incredible grand prize is a backlit vanity desk, tufted chaise, and plush seat. 

Sims Mobile is also nearing the end of its scheduled events for the most recent update, so Mobile players are hungrily watching gurus and GameChangers for word of the next update. 

​This week, the highly anticipated "Dream Home Decorator" pack, a new Game Pack that allows Simmers to enjoy a new interior design career, hit Origin with a bang.  The pack offers many jaw-dropping changes to build mode including modular seating, sectionals, and modular storage units.  In addition, Likes and Dislikes were folded into both base game and Dream Home Decorator. The new interior design career encourages Simmers to remodel the homes of NPCs.  After choosing a gig, Simmers travel to an NPC's home to remodel their room, floor, or commercial space. As Game Changers began releasing their reviews of the Game Pack, offered for $20 USD, the Sims community buzzed eagerly about their joys and disappointments.  While lauded for its beautiful build assets, the pack has suffered from a few unfortunate glitches. In addition, some players, who are not as enthralled with the building portion of Sims 4, complained that the pack did not offer the gameplay that they had hoped. 

Sims 4 players are already buzzing about the next Sims 4 expansion pack promised to arrive this summer, though developers have not yet revealed what the pack will entail. 

Until next time, stay safe and happy Simming!