The Sims 4: Businesses & Hobbies Expansion Pack – Hobbies Overlooked?

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Over the past month, gamers have been taken aback as EA and Maxis unveiled an abundance of entertaining content for titles within the The Sims series in celebration of its 25th anniversary. Notably, the most well-liked game among them, The Sims 4, has been showered with the majority of this new content, including a fresh Expansion Pack and three additional Kits, which were revealed on February 4. The Businesses & Hobbies Expansion Pack is generating quite the buzz among players, but a few have expressed some confusion about its title.

It’s worth noting that when the Motherlode Season roadmap was unveiled on February 4, players started getting teased about Businesses and Hobbies. Then, a sneak peek at the upcoming Expansion Pack came out on February 6. As for now, we’re yet to see a gameplay trailer for Businesses & Hobbies, but the recent reveal trailer appears to emphasize more on the business aspects of the pack.

What’s Included in the Businesses & Hobbies Expansion Pack

Despite the early revelation about some aspects of “The Sims 4: Businesses & Hobbies” in January, its debut trailer continued to captivate Simmers just the same. Similar to other Expansion Packs, Businesses & Hobbies offers fresh gameplay options, along with new Create-a-Sim (CAS), Build and Buy items, and an entirely novel world. The world, Nordhaven, appears to draw inspiration from Sweden and Scandinavia, boasting around twelve lots, six in each neighborhood. The expansion pack is scheduled for release on March 6th at the usual Expansion Pack price of $40.

One intriguing facet of both Businesses and Hobbies lies in a popular game element: players can now transform lots into versatile spaces. These spaces can be open to the public, staff, or exclusively for residents. Essentially, players can construct businesses that include living quarters – imagine a café on the ground level with an apartment above it. Simmers have longed for multipurpose lots, but the developers of The Sims have taken it a step further by making this feature incredibly customizable.

The business sector is set to grow exponentially as nearly all skills can now generate income. From instructing courses to imposing admission fees, even niche abilities can amass substantial wealth for your Sims. However, it seems that the ‘Hobbies’ aspect of the Businesses & Hobbies title has been somewhat overshadowed. Although this Expansion Pack undeniably stands out from The Sims 4’s preceding business-oriented pack Get to Work, the pack’s presented hobbies appear rather unimpressive when compared to its emphasis on businesses.

Businesses & Hobbies is Ignoring the Second Half of its Title

tattoo making and pottery. These fresh skills come with innovative gameplay mechanics and an array of unique items. Pottery, while familiar as it aligns with artistic skill additions, includes the introduction of potter’s wheels and kilns into the game. Players can even employ the traditional Japanese art form kintsugi to repair their pottery creations.

Instead of just adding new tattoo designs to The Sims 4’s Create-a-Sim (CAS) as part of the Businesses & Hobbies Expansion Pack, players now have the ability to create their own tattoos, much like they can with the paint tool for animals in previous expansions such as Horse Ranch and Cats & Dogs. This new feature enhances The Sims 4’s gameplay by introducing fresh items essential for tattoo creation within the game.

In simpler terms, the new expansion pack for The Sims 4, titled Businesses & Hobbies, seems to primarily focus on business-related activities rather than hobbies as suggested by its title. Although a trailer showed candy making, this skill was not mentioned in the official blog post. Most of the pack appears to enhance business experiences, even allowing it to be combined with older DLC. This has led some players to feel that hobbies might have been overlooked. However, others argue that the quality of the new pottery and tattoo skills, which offer complex gameplay and expand a key feature in The Sims 4, justify their inclusion, despite appearing underutilized at first glance.

Starting March 6th, I can’t wait to dive into the “Businesses & Hobbies Expansion Pack” for The Sims 4! I believe that after giving it a spin, players will find the title less confusing as they discover these fresh hobbies within the game.

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2025-02-10 04:04