Presented by EA GameChangers. Early Access provided by EA, all opinions are my own. Out of the blue, Maxis recently announced The Sims 4 Tiny Living Stuff Pack was arriving on the 22nd January 2020. This is the first stuff pack since Moschino Stuff, which we’d like to forget about, and if I am going to be honest… I thought it was a joke when I first saw the trailer. Tiny Living? What exactly is that? Those are the first thoughts I had when I saw this stuff pack announced, but as more has been revealed, I am actually quite impressed by the offerings of this pack, the way it promotes new gameplay, and the objects it contains. Create A Sim Create A Sim brings a variety of new items for both masculine and feminine Sims from gorgeous new hairstyles, new styled looks, cute sweaters and other modern items of clothing to spice up your Sims’ look. One of my personal favourites in CAS is the new clear plastic glasses – something I have been wanting to get in real life for a while now – so I am pleased my Sim can look this cool! There’s a good balance of clothing and hairstyles for masculine and feminine Sims too – sometimes you find one category gets more attention than the other, but on this occasion I am impressed with how it was balanced out. And it all looks very good. Building Your Tiny Home Build and buy mode is equally as impressive in this stuff pack, boasting a modern collection of furniture for you to style your Sims’ homes! Not only that, you get a new lot type so you can classify your lot as a ‘tiny home’, which brings new gameplay elements to encourage you to build small. By setting your lot as a Tiny Home, you can work through three different tiers of lots – small, tiny and micro – all which encourage you to build smaller and smaller. A small home is anything 100 tiles or less, a tiny home is anything 64 tiles or less, and a micro home is anything 32 tiles or less. The best I was able to do was a tiny home, which I was quite proud of! By building smaller and achieving these build sizes, you can get differnet lot perks! Skills may increase at double the speed, everything may be more comfortable, bills cost less, and more. I like that this brings an incentive to actually build small in this pack. Who needs big lots anyway? The only slight problem with building this small is that you will need to quickly get good and landscaping, as otherwise your lot will be quite empty outside. Some more new landscaping items, or smaller lots, would have been a welcome addition – but that is wishful thinking for a stuff pack. Click to view slideshow. The styled rooms are also excellent for giving you a head start with building the tiny home of your dream, and come in a variety of great colours. I personally used them and they inspired me to think of how else I could make tiny rooms like it. One awesome thing to note about the new items is that things like the TV and shelves ‘slot’ together – if you put them side to side it gives the illusion that it’s one big unit of furniture which I was VERY impressed with. Buy and build in this pack is extremely impressive. You get a wide variety of modern items and suit the theme of this pack, feel consistent with Create A Sim’s modern vibe, and the new lot types really do encourage you to try building small. The Murphy Bed In addition to Tiny Living, one of the big things that this pack brings is the murphy bed, which returns to The Sims franchise, better than before. This bed sits up against the wall and folds out when your Sim wants to get a good nights sleep (or some WooHoo, perhaps?). Unlike previous incarnations, it can have a sofa underneath it which neatly folds away to make way for the bed – talk about space saving! Your Sims can be squashed by the murphy bed – you will find that every 5/6 times you open the bed that it flattens your Sim. But not to worry, they will not always die. But death by murphy bed is possible!! If your Sim dies by murphy bed they will come back as a ghost, but will have a ‘Z’ instead of a heart, which I thought was a very nice detail for a stuff pack. Too Tiny, or Just Right? The Sims 4 Tiny Living Stuff Pack is honestly one of the best examples of a stuff pack for The Sims 4. After Moschino Stuff and the less than impressive My First Pet Stuff, it feels like the team have finally got a winning combination. The theme of the pack is clear – it feels modern, it brings different gameplay, and the murphy bed is a whole lot of fun. I have really enjoyed challenging myself to build smaller – which yes, you could always do… but this pack gives you an incentive and reward for doing so. The Sims 4 Tiny Living Stuff is great fun and it feels polished. Though, with all of these stuff packs, I really feel like it’s time for The Sims 4 to get a store like The Sims 3 did to fill all of these gameplay niches. Presented by EA GameChangers. Early Access provided by EA. Continue reading...
