What’s the measure of a new Sims 4 expansion pack at this point? After 11 years and dozens of free and paid DLC releases, it’s easy to imagine that we’ve seen it all, that we may be past the point where a new release can dramatically alter the fundamentals of the Sims 4 experience. But the latest pack, Enchanted by Nature, proves that expectation is faulty thanks to its mix of compelling fairy gameplay, a uniquely verdant new world to live in, and the ability to live self-sufficiently in the woods. Yeah, this pack is different.
Since most of the worlds in The Sims 4 are familiar-looking city environments, it’s always at least a little bit exciting when we get something more distinctive, like Chestnut Ridge in Horse Ranch or Mt. Komorebi in Snowy Escape. Innisgreen, a lush world based on Ireland, is another location that definitely fits that bill, as it’s more like a large region than a singular town or city, thanks to its unique layout.
Innisgreen has three distinctive neighborhoods: the Coast of Adhmor is the local town, Sprucederry Grove is a sort of wooded suburb, and Everdew is a colorful magical forest with a buildable lot that sits on top of a giant tree. That variation from neighborhood to neighborhood is itself a unique aspect of Innisgreen–none of the previous Sims 4 worlds have this type of variety within themselves.
It’s also a massive space for an occult world–Innisgreen is as big as the towns added in the vampires, werewolves, and spellcasters expansions combined. Even better, it’s filled with surprising secrets, and some of the locals have riddle-like quests, called Fables, for your Sim to complete as they explore this strange place. With the inclusion of a couple truly breathtaking natural lots that Sims can live on without building a house, this might be my favorite Sims 4 world since San Myshuno.
When I first looked at Innisgreen’s nature lots, which have big ponds at their center, I assumed they were just like the empty lots that have come with every previous new Sims 4 world. But with the new Natural Living skill included with Enchanted by Nature, your Sims can live in them as is–and they’ve been set up for just that purpose.
It’s an idea that may sound a bit antithetical to some Sims 4 players, since the dollhouse aspect of the game is the selling point for a lot of folks. But that aspect isn’t really missing from these lots, as players can still bulldoze those ponds and build a house if they want, or they can build rooms without the walls. And since the Natural Living skill can be used in any Sims 4 world, players suddenly have lots of new ways to build homes for their Sims.
Fairies are the delightful new occult type added to The Sims 4 in Enchanted by Nature, and they are wild. Fairies are magical creatures with all sorts of strange powers, but with their focus on playing with people’s emotions, they’ve got a very different skill set than the other occults, which typically have powers that function more like personal buffs–spellcasters, for example, are mostly just like other Sims except they can do all their day-to-day activities using magic.
But fairies are more of a game changer than that, because fairy abilities don’t really make your Sim better at doing normal things (aside from gardening). Instead, they’re more about messing with other Sims and the world around them through emotional manipulation. A powerful fairy could make two other Sims fall in love, and then immediately make them hate each other, or they can magically give other Sims a new type of illness called an “ailment,” as well as cure it. A powerful mischievous fairy can even force another Sim to age up, turning them old with a thought. Fairies are delightfully chaotic–they may be The Sims 4’s most fun occult type to date.
Enchanted by Nature also adds a new active career, the Naturopath, through which your Sim will share their knowledge of holistic medicine and natural living with other Sims. But you won’t have a commute for this one, because a Naturopath Sim works out of their home. This is, more or less, a nature-focused variation of the doctor career from the Get to Work expansion, with your Sim charged with curing ailments and teaching other Sims how to live off the land.
Those who’ve spent much time with the Doctor career will probably find Naturopath overly familiar, but the extra apothecary component, where your Sim has to make the medicine for the treatments themselves, is a good new wrinkle. It’s not a bad career though, and it’s especially nice that this is one of the few that never requires your Sim to work more than two days a week.
If there’s any area in which Enchanted by Nature lacks content, it’s with its clothing and accessories for Create-a-Sim (CAS). It’s not that the new clothes are ugly or poorly designed. Quite the opposite, really, since the stuff it does add is cool and unusual, like clothes made out of leaves, and there are tons of customization options for fairies, with varied wing designs and glowing tattoos. It just feels like there’s less clothing than we’d normally expect from a full new Sims 4 expansion pack, because many of these new items can only be used by fairies. But what general-use clothing and accessories that are there are cool and different enough from what we already have that it’s an acceptable tradeoff for me.
It’s the same story with build mode, as Enchanted by Nature comes with the fewest number of new build mode items of any Sims 4 expansion. But these nature-themed items, with tree stump toilets, mushroom shelves, and Hobbit-style doors and furniture, are so distinctive and fresh that it would be difficult to mistake any of them for items from a different expansion. This stuff is so cool.
With most new Sims 4 expansions, I usually hone in on the one or two aspects I like the most and don’t sweat the rest too much. But with its fun new occult type, a wonderful new world, and unique build and CAS items, Enchanted by Nature is a rare Sims 4 pack that feels like a complete experience in itself. I can appreciate that players who prefer the dollhouse side of The Sims 4 may find the amount of CAS and build mode items lacking, but Enchanted by Nature is so much fun as a whole that I can live with that.
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