Presented by EA GameChangers. A code for Kits was provided by EA for review purposes.
A new type of pack was recently released for The Sims 4 – as if there weren’t already enough – called Kits.
It has caught us slightly off guard considering that The Sims 4 is almost 7 years old. These Kits are designed to fill small, and perhaps niche, gameplay/object/clothing needs in your game. In a nutshell, it feels like The Sims 4’s answer to The Sims 3 Store.
To kick start the release of Kits, Maxis has released three which each have their own unique theme and types of content. Throwback Fitness provides vibrant clothing for your Sims, Country Kitchen brings cute new furniture for your kitchen, and Bust the Dust brings vaccum cleaners to your Sims’ games alongside dust bunnies which spawn on the lot.
Maxis has said that there is no set release windows for future packs, and it won’t be three releasing each time, but that it will allow them to do smaller content drops more frequently.
I get the idea behind Kits, it allows Maxis to quickly release small things to keep the game feeling fresh between expansion, game and stuff packs. I do also feel like there is so much content flowing through that the excitement and hype for it is somewhat subdued compared to previous generations. Things get announced and are released days later – perhaps that’s the reality of The Sims 4 as a live service – but I do miss things being announced and hyped up for a good 2-3 months… but that’s a whole other article!
I’ve been playing with The Sims 4 Kits (courtesy of EA GameChangers for providing codes when they launched) and they are a nice way of filling those niche categories. The CAS items in Throwback Fitness fit the theme well and are vibrant, really giving you that 80s/90s vibe! The objects in Country Kitchen are really lovely and I have been using the items in quite a few of my Sims’ homes. Now, Bust The Dust is an interesting one…
Unlike the other two packs, Bust the Dust brings some new gameplay. I love we have vaccum cleaners and that lots now gather dust, it’s so cool. The downsides though make it a bit frustrating as dust bunnies and dust spawns so fast. I moved my Sim into a brand new house and dust bunnies were almost immediately there (and they can be quite annoying). Maxis have since tweaked this a bit, so hopefully it will be a bit less aggressive.
Another small gripe is that Sims put vaccum cleaners back into their inventory, rather than the place where you put the vaccum in the lot. But, overall, it brings some fun gameplay and something I think many Simmers will like as it falls into a similar category to laundry, which people go crazy for.
Overall, for £4.99 a pack in the UK, Kits are decent value for money. You don’t need them at all and I don’t think you’ll feel left out if you don’t buy them. Perhaps when we get to The Sims 5, EA will re-consider doing a store approach again. I used to be critical of this in the past but feel like it would be the best way to bring fresh ideas in a regular way.
The Sims 4 Kits are available on PC, Mac, PS4 and Xbox One.
