If you wanna be a cowboy, baby, now’s your time to shine. The Sims 4 Horse Ranch expansion is less than a week away, and will include several features that will get even your most urbane sims saying, “Yee-Haw!’
Okay, now that the Wild West jokes are out of the way, let’s dig into what the pack includes. Though the trailer shared by The Sims’ team earlier this month gave fans a pretty good look at the upcoming expansion, GameSpot recently had the opportunity to attend a preview event that added a bit more clarity to what players can expect.
The Sims 4 Horse Ranch adds the town of Chestnut Ridge to the game–a pastoral paradise where horses can roam freely and lots are big enough for players to create the farm and/or vineyard of their dreams. Chestnut Ridge includes three new neighborhoods–New Appaloosa, Galloping Gulch, and Rider’s Glen–and 13 new lots for players to build on. Additionally, these lots will be fairly large compared to lots included in previous expansions, particularly Galloping Gulch.
Considering the size of these lots, I wouldn’t be surprised if the notion of tending to an area that large seems daunting. Thankfully, Maxis has added a new ranch board players can place at the front of their property that allows them to hire a ranch hand, among other things. The ranch board will also allow players to purchase animals, start training their horses, enter races, and more.
New animals available for purchase include goats and lambs, both of which look adorable. When combined with the Cottage Living expansion pack, players can shear and milk them for sheep wool and goat milk. These can then be used anywhere that llama wool and cow’s milk would be used.
With the addition of all these new features naturally comes new traits and aspirations. Players can now select the “Rancher” and “Horse Lover” traits for their sims, as well as strive to complete the “Championship Rider” and “Expert Nectar Maker” aspirations. Maxis also confirmed that horses will have different traits than dogs and cats, such as aggressive, brave, defiant, free spirit, mellow, and energetic. There are also hidden traits that horses can only attain through breeding.
If you’re less interested in the animal-side of things and more engaged with the game’s farming system, the expansion pack also adds the ability to make wine–er, nectar–using grapes, apples, strawberries, and other produce you grow on your farm. You can even age the nectar you create, increasing its value over time. Additionally, the game’s new western and indigenous-style furniture and Build Mode objects will allow you to create the rustic vineyard of your dreams.
For players curious about any risque or macabre elements that might be included, the team did state there will be no new deaths or “woohoo” spots included in the Horse Ranch expansion. However, there will be “mysterious things” happening throughout the new location, particularly in Galloping Gulch. In the Gulch, you can explore the Dreadhorse Caverns and a few other spooky spots–if you’re lucky, you might even stumble upon a ghost horse.
Lastly, the team did address a new feature coming to the base game, as well as confirm one that won’t. Alongside the launch of the Horse Ranch expansion, ceiling customization is coming to The Sims 4 for all players. The new feature can be found in Build Mode alongside the floor patterns.
GameSpot then got the chance to ask if the team was planning on expanding the amount of family slots available in The Sims 4, considering the addition of pets and horses quickly has made things feel a bit tighter. The team stated there are no current plans on expanding the game’s standard, eight-person family size, explaining that doing so might make the game a bit harder for certain computers to run.
The Sims 4: Horse Ranch releases on July 20 and will retail for $40. Players who purchase the expansion before August 31 will also receive a few preorder items, such as a resonator guitar, wagon wheel art, and a rocking chair.
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