What the devs have done with Henford-on-Bagley will be seen as a success by many fans, but I would be lying if I said I was fully won over.

They will show their appreciation by handing over rewards. The attention to detail from an aesthetic point of view is impressive, successfully capturing rural England, and it comes with a decent amount of world-building to sell the place, from Finchwick's weekly village fairs (which you can participate in by submitting your prized animals, vegetables, or pies for judging) to a secret character and some lore in The Bramblewood beyond the national park.įinchwick's sense of community is heightened by the fact that you can run errands for some of the residents – small tasks such as finding single people to matchmake or planting and growing a particular vegetable. It drags the pace of the game down.įor those who've always wanted a world inspired by the English countryside, Henford-on-Bagley does deliver. The more food and ingredients you accumulate, the more cumbersome it is to look through and organise your inventory or fridge. The same issue crops up in Cottage Living. Discover University's cluttered timetable and Nifty Knitting's unwieldy Plopsy store were less than ideal for the purposes they served, while the base game was clearly not built with Journey to Batuu's mission structure in mind. Believe it or not, The Sims 4 is nearly seven years old now, and while packs have never stopped introducing and implementing new gameplay ideas, sometimes the dated user interface holds those features back. That said, one thing that became tedious was using the inventory. The picnic basket may be a fairly low-key new addition compared to the grander features, but preparing food and planning a proper day out with friends and family was one of the personal highlights that came from the pack. Taking care of and building friendship with all of your animals is a key component and includes interactions from cleaning sheds and coops to giving treats – and before you know it, managing everything becomes almost a full-time job, particularly if you only have one pair of hands to take on all of the workload.īeing responsible for providing for yourself is an interesting departure from the standard gameplay associated with the franchise, and it's executed well enough that when it all clicks, there's satisfaction in maintaining that lifestyle. Cows can be milked and chickens lay eggs, while llamas help to ward off wild foxes from your lot (as well as providing wool). Or if you're feeling a little more ambitious, you could go about growing your own produce and raising and breeding animals.

You could order groceries or forage in the wild.

Sims 4 cottage living origin