Vampires Render

Supernatural creatures have a long history with The Sims franchise. Makin’ Magic, back in the days of The Sims 1, introduced a variety of supernatural elements such as vampires, magic, werewolves, etc. In The Sims 2, Vampires became a thing with the addition of The Sims 2 Nightlife where they took on a more traditional look with capes and outdated clothing. With The Sims 3, we had The Sims 3 Late Night and an entire Supernatural expansion pack which built upon Vampires even further. With this long history, it only made sense for The Sims 4 to eventually get them, right?

The Sims 4 Vampires Game Pack takes a different approach to the supernatural scene. Instead of bringing an expansion pack which delves into a variety of different creatures, it focuses purely on Vampires. This ranges from their look, lifestyle, abilities, gameplay, and more. Upon first hearing about a game pack based around Vampires I was skeptical as I found it weird that it wasn’t part of another pack like in the past. But after playing with this game pack, I can say that I have been impressed with the depth and variety that is available which we’ve never seen before.

As always, the question remains as to whether The Sims 4 Vampires is good and therefore whether it’s worth your money. Continue reading our review to find out what’s in the pack, our thoughts, and the final review score! Before we dive into that, here is a high level overview from the game as to what is featured in this game pack:

Create A Sim

Create A Sim is probably the first point of contact that you’ll have with Vampires, if you’re not continuing an existing game or family. In Create A Sim you can now create a Vampire! Sims have their normal form but then their “dark form” which is how they will look when they transform into a Vampire, and you can choose when they switch when you’re playing with them.

Firstly, there’s a variety of new facial features for you to make your vampires look authentic and creepy (or, if you want to go down the Twilight route, you can make them look pretty too). I have made my vampires look like something from Buffy, and let’s face it they were all ugly in their vampire form. You can choose the sort of teeth they have and customise the brows, eyesockets, cheeks, mouth, archetypes, and more. I don’t believe that we’ve had this many customisation options for a supernatural creature in The Sims game before, and perhaps this is because the team were able to focus on just one life state instead of several.

You can see from the slideshow of images above that vampires can have a variety of different looks, and they look absolutely terrifying! Moving on from the fantastic facial additions, there are a variety of new hairstyles both feminine and one masculine style that comes with the pack. It’d have been nice to see a few more masculine styles, but the ones we have are decent. Moving onto other CAS items, there is new makeup and other assets which all come together to create that vampire look.

There’s also plenty of new clothing items in masculine and feminine flavours, which I LOVE! You can see some of them in the slideshow below but everything from the colours to the gothic vibes come together really well, vampires have a really distinct style in this game pack (if you want them to) because of this.

And for those asking, yes, you can create vampire toddlers in Create A Sim if you wish. They will acquire more vampire gameplay features as they age.

Finally, to top it all off, there are new aspirations available for your Sims focusing around Vampires, including Family of Vampires and wanting to become a wise and knowledgeable vampire. This is great if you’re a Simmer who likes to complete a variety of new aspirations and this gives you Vampires something to work towards throughout their lifespan!

Create A Sim is amazing for vampires in The Sims and brings a whole new level of customisation to this supernatural creature that we haven’t had before, achievable through the click and drag functionality in CAS and the style that designers went down with the new assets.

Build/Buy Mode

Build and Buy mode is CRAMMED full of new objects that fit well in this pack. Some previous packs, such as Cool Kitchen Stuff, struggled to identify a clear theme when it came to CAS and objects, but Vampires executes this well.

Let’s dig into some of the areas of interest…

Lot Traits

These were introduced to the game with the arrival of City Living back in November and allow each lot to have unique characteristics and features. With the Vampires Game Pack, the development team have added a few new ones that will bring new unique features to your lots.

The first one is “On A Dark Ley Line”, similar to one already in-game. This lot trait will make it likely that your babies will be born as vampires (mind those teeth!). There’s also an option to be a Registered Vampire Lair, and this means that you will get various gifts in the mail from time-to-time. And finally, there’s the Vampire Nexus which makes it more likely for vampires to visit the area. This trait could be useful for community lots, even in other worlds, if you want it to be a great place to hangout after the sun goes away.

Stylised Rooms

You all know that I adore the Stylised Room feature in The Sims 4. Being useless at building, I find this easy to transform existing houses to include gameplay from various packs or to quickly build up a house. The Sims 4 Vampires brings seven new stylised rooms for you to place into your game.

These incorporate the gothic, “vampire-y” theme well with dark, strong colours and utilise new objects found in build/buy mode.

I personally love these although they have a very niche theme, so I can’t imagine them being used in other worlds or a variety of builds. I feel like they will fit old, rustic homes that players create, which is fine, although sometimes it can be nice to have areas which work well wherever you put it. But all of these stylised rooms will easily allow you to create your Vampire Lair within minutes, if you’re lazy like me!

Wall Decorations

Now I thought this was pretty neat. When you think wall decorations, you’re probably thinking some nice pictures to pop up on your Sims’ walls. Wrong (sort of). There are some really cool new ways to decorate your homes to make them appear as if they are old and falling apart!

This includes items such as brambles and vines to place on walls, which reminds me of things that you may see on the wall of a traditional pub over here in England. Or, perhaps mainly for use inside of your Sims homes, you can get holes in the wall, cobwebs, and other various items. This is such a small thing that was added but I think it’s one of the coolest things about this expansion pack as I don’t think it’s a type of decoration that has been in a Sims game before.

Other Various Things

Of course, to make gameplay of Vampires come to life, there’s a variety of objects created for Vampires. There’s the usual things such as new beds, sofas, tables, and various decorations which you can easily utilise in any build. But also, there’s some new unique things.

The coffin is one of these and is a place for your Sim to rest throughout their immortal life (or WooHoo – more on this later), and there’s also garlic for your Sims to hang everywhere in their homes. When a Vampire is near garlic, they will get negative moodlets which will not allow them to perform interactions – this is perfect for keeping them away from your house and from biting your Sims’ necks!

Vampire Gameplay

Vampires in The Sims 4 come with the most in-depth gameplay that we’ve ever seen for a supernatural creature, in my opinion. Let’s dig into some of the cool things that are brought with Vampires…

Firstly, you need to become a Vampire. There are two ways to become a Vampire – the first being in Create A Sim or if you’re playing with an existing/non-vampire sim, you can ask a vampire to turn you. Your Sim will then go through the process of becoming a vampire over the next few days. Once they are a Vampire, you will be able to tell as they transform but also as they will have a new plumbob with a silver ring around it.

When you’re in the process of turning into a Vampire, you will receive a variety of text messages from your neighbourhood friendly vampire providing you tips and making you aware of what is happening to your Sim. You can ask him to stop texting you, but if it’s your first time becoming a Vampire in-game then it’s pretty useful.

Vampires have their own powers which allow them to do more things, similar to the way that you can level up similar to the system found in Dine Out and Get to Work. This perk-based system means you can earn points and eventually you can level up your vampire.

While you can grow as a vampire and get more power, you will also be held back by weaknesses as you gain in strength. I view this similar to the system found in The Sims Medieval where every Hero Sim had to have a bad trait, and it’s a good thing to have. While you may start creating Vampires that are the best in the business, with all possible powers, it’s good to see that there’s something to balance them out so that they’re not unstoppable machines. You can also use these powers to become a bat, which I know many people like. Unlike in TS2/TS3, you can’t follow your bat-sim as they’re flying about but instead they will fly into the air and re-appear where you want them to.

One thing that I love that Vampires can do, because it’s just so fast, is to walk anywhere super fast. Check out how cool it looks!

Vampires do not mix well with both garlic and sunlight, so keep these away! As mentioned before, hanging garlic up in your home will be a bit no-no for Vampires as I found out when my Sim became one! They HATED being inside their own home (I later realised that was because of a piece of garlic I forgot to delete). Sunlight is another thing to stay away from. You will notice that little orange embers will float off of your Vampires when they’re in the daylight… best avoid this because death is almost certain if you let them catch too much of a tan!

Vampires can also have certain interactions that they can perform. This ranges from being able to recall their mortal life, and other chit-chat related things. They can also drink plasma from other Sims, and unlike previous games they do not have to ask to do it either. They can take it from a Sim, although they may not be too happy about it…

There’s also vampire-vampire interactions including the ability to be able to duel each other and show off powers. This intense battle will see your two vampires fight each other, but don’t worry, it’s only playful (I think!).

Plus, speaking of interactions, your vampire Sims can now interact in a whole new way… if you catch my drift. The Sims 4 Vampires brings perhaps the best WooHoo that I have ever seen in a Sims game. It’s hilarious.

You know that coffin that your vampire sleeps in? Well, there’s now the ability to WooHoo in that very coffin. It’s important to note that Sims with good trait will not be able to use the coffin to WooHoo, but otherwise you’re good to go. Watch the video below and prepare to be absolutely mesmerised.

There are plenty more things that Vampires can do in The Sims 4 Vampires Game Pack, and this is only just a flavour of it. Overall, I’m very impressed with the gameplay that Vampires provide. Although I haven’t played with this supernatural creature too much in previous Sims iteration, the depth and gameplay associated with it in The Sims 4 makes it much more tempting and enjoyable. Oh, and did I mention how much I adore the new WooHoo? Hopefully they won’t get a splinter from the coffin…

Forgotten Hollow

Forgotten Hollow, which I keep accidentally calling Midnight Hollow (Sims 3 World), is a brand new world where your Sims can live out their lives (mortal and immortal) in The Sims 4 Vampires. It features five lots which you can customise to your hearts content and is a similar size to the world of Granite Falls from The Sims 4 Outdoor Retreat.

This world has a unique feel to it – very cold, foggy, and dark. You will notice that the days seem shorter, in the distance a fog is always present and it has an eerie feeling to it as your Sims explore the world. This is the perfect style of world for living our your Vampire fantasies in The Sims! Of course, you can still play as vampires in other worlds, but this was made for this. The pre-built houses feature a variety of Vampire families and unique styles

Forgotten Hollow channels vibes from Midnight Hollow and Magic Town from The Sims 1, in my opinion. There’s a lot of detail to be found throughout the area including crows flying about and landing on objects, dead trees and shrubs, and even small dolls being left beside gravestones. Although San Myshuno is definitely the most advanced Sims world we’ve ever had, I think this world fits perfectly with the theme of the game pack but can also be enjoyed for regular gameplay too, after some renovation of course.

It would have been nice to see more lots available, or perhaps another neighbourhood within the world, as a common complaint with The Sims 4 when it launched was the lack of space to build. But, despite this, it’s a nice world and I look forward to spending a lot of time with my Sims here!

Random Tidbit

One cool thing that I wanted to mention, but haven’t really found a place to put it in the review yet, is the new pipe organ skill. This pipe organ object has been added into the game and it is a neat new object and way for your Sims to skill up!

Conclusion

The Sims 4 Vampires Game Pack brings a lot of things to the table. I will admit I was very hesitant about seeing a game pack focusing around vampires, but now that I have had time to try it I am pleasantly surprised. The team have nailed it in terms of the theme itself and brought a nice amount of CAS items, objects, and deep gameplay. This is the best iteration of Vampires in The Sims to date, but I don’t think it will attract everyone.