Playing with Life at a Social Distance: Top Sims 4 DLC

Join friends enjoying the Sims 4 during 2020's social distancing with the top Sims 4 packs to enhance your base game.

If you've been on Twitter lately, you may have seen an influx of discourse about the Sims 4. This could be due to the massive EA Spring Sale that dropped the base game for Sims 4 to $5 and slashed expansion pack costs in half. But more than likely, it's because life under social distancing to limit the spread of COVID-19 makes us yearn for a way to live vicariously through others, even 3D simulations.

The Sims recently celebrated its 20th anniversary, and the fourth installment is so far the largest with a whopping 8 expansion packs, 8 game packs, and 16 stuff packs. This glut of DLC can provide hours of self-isolation entertainment and a much-needed distraction from the 24-hour news cycle. It can also give you a sense of belonging, as the Sims community is well known for its creativity and excitement.

Especially if you can get the base game for 85% off (or for free) and hit a sale on packs, you may be wondering which DLC are worth the money, even at a discount, and which ones to skip. Here are my top choices in each category to enhance your Sims 4 experience during the COVID-19 self-isolation.

Top 3 Game-Enhancing Expansion Packs

According to EA.com, Expansion Packs are "large packs that expand your game and take your Sims on new adventures." These change the game in tangible ways and bring a new variety of activities and storylines to your game. They often come with new game worlds to explore, new challenges, and new opportunities and game mechanics.

Runner Up: Cats and Dogs

I couldn't in good faith leave Cats and Dogs off this list. Though this expansion adds significantly less to the game than the top 3, pets are definitely a game enhancer for those of us who love our furry friends, especially if we don't have our companion during this time of social distancing.

The dynamic Create a Pet system in Cats and Dogs is beautiful and allow for endless creativity, and the new world of Brindleton Bay offers a nautical, American East-Coast feel. The pack comes complete with great new clothing and Build/Buy items to improve gameplay and make your new furry friend feel at home. You can dress them in clothes and put a robot vacuum on your lot to let them ride around. Moreover, stray pets wander around the neighborhood, and your Sims can befriend them, feed them, and even adopt them.

Cats and Dogs also introduces the new Veterinarian career and the chance to build and run your own Vet Clinic. If pets and animals are your passion, this expansion is a great addition to the base game. I recommend waiting for a 50% off sale, as it is more than worth the $20 sale price for the content you get.

#3: Get Together

If you're missing spending time with friends, The Sims 4 Get Together is the perfect expansion to get out on the virtual town. This expansion introduced the new world of Windenburg, a very European environment and the largest in the game, and the new Club system. Your Sims can join a club or create one of their own to go do their favorite activities together. They can also learn how to DJ and dance with the two new skills introduced to the game.

Get Together has faced criticism for being a little shallow in terms of an expansion. I would disagree based on the depth of Windenburg as a world and the volume of fashion and architectural content available.

The Club system is also great for telling new stories or adding convenience to your Sims' lives. Have your teenage and child Sims start a homework club or chore club. Put your Sims in a Grilled Cheese worshipper group. Make a group of Elder Sims that get together to play video games and drink "juice." The possibilities are limitless!

#2: Get Famous

I admit that the first Sims 3 pack I ever owned was Late Night, which added the fame system and vampires all in one go. Because of this, I may be biased when I say The Sims 4 Get Famous is one of the most fun packs I have ever owned and the only one I have ever created a separate game save file to play through in its entirety.

Get Famous improves upon the fame system from Sims 3 by offering you a fame "tree" to give you special perks and weaknesses as your fame grows. It also introduces a reputation system so even if your Sims decide to opt out of fame and "stay out of the spotlight," their public actions affect their public reputation. Sims can become famous for a variety of things, from being the top Surgeon in the Doctor career (requires Get to Work) or a world-renowned Writer or an accomplished Violinist.

Get Famous adds the active Acting career, wherein you can follow your Sim to work and perform the necessary responsibilities like getting into hair and makeup, getting into costume, and running lines with co-stars before getting on set and actually performing. You control whether your Sim performs a risky or safe version of a scene, which each have several benefits and drawbacks. If acting isn't for your Sim, they can also become an online content creator or video personality with the new media production station. They can record and edit videos, track followers and subscribers, interact with fans online, and experience the world of content creation.

Get Famous adds much to the game whether or not your Sim pursues acting or lives in the new world of Del Sol Valley. It can enhance your overall experience and allow you to pursue the glamour of fame, fortune, and Hollywood from the comfort of your own home.

#1: Seasons

Every Sims fan loves Seasons, so it is almost a cliche to put this pack at the top of my list. But, Seasons is the only Sims 4 Expansion Pack to truly enhance and deepen the immersion and experience every single time you begin a new game. It is by far the richest and most impactful Expansion Pack and is my recommendation for the first pack you grab after getting the base game.

Seasons does not bring in a new world, but it more than makes up for that by affecting every other world. It of course brings seasons to the game, along with their various weather patterns, but it also brings in climates depending on location (like monsoons and heavy rain rather than snow during winter in Sulani if you have Island Adventure or Oasis Springs' desert) and holidays. The new Calendar allows your Sims to plan social events and parties, track holidays, create their own holidays, and see the weather forecast.

Holidays are my favorite addition to the game, providing new activities and social interactions that allow your Sim to enjoy the holiday spirit, exchange gifts, and spend time with loved ones. And, even if your Sim doesn't want to participate, having weather running in the background makes the game feel more realistic and allows you to tell better, more believable stories.

Top 3 Game-Enhancing Game Packs

A Game Pack, by contrast to an Expansion, is smaller. These packs "add new experiences to play in new thematic ways." These may introduce new places to explore, skills to gain, and activities to participate in for your Sims. These are often my favorite packs because of their reasonable pricing, interesting themes, and volume and depth of content.

#3: Dine Out

If you want your Sims to be able to go out to eat or to own and run their own restaurant or cafe, especially when so many across America are closed, Dine Out is an essential Game Pack. The pack's theme is, of course, restaurants, and it allows you to customize your own eateries and give your Sims a place to go on that first date.

If your Sim is an entrepreneur with a culinary eye, owning a restaurant can provide a new opportunity. Build and decorate your establishment, set the menu, hire staff, select their uniforms, and train them. Read reviews from hungry customers, earn points to purchase perks, and grow your business with reviewer "stars." As the manager, you can also go around and greet your guests, check on your employees, comp meals, and offer free desserts.

Otherwise, take your Sims out for a nice dinner. You get to order for them, then have them chat and relax until the food arrives. Just be careful not to get spilled on! This pack has enriched my game so much since I've gotten it. And, as an added bonus, if you own Get Together, you can own a cafe, and if you have City Living, you can prepare and serve dishes from around the globe.

#2: Realm of Magic

Not everyone enjoys playing realistically. For those Sims players who need something zanier to escape from the drama of daily life, The Sims 4 Realm of Magic enhances the full game while providing just such an escape. Your Sim can train to become a Spellcaster (or be created as one from the start in CAS) and can improve their skills in all three areas of magic to improve their lives and wreak havoc on enemies.

If you love fantasy stories and all things magical, this pack can enhance your Sims experience. Spellcasters can live in any neighborhood or world in the game, allowing the magic to follow even outside the new world of Glimmerbrook. Realm of Magic gives your Sims the power to create potions, cast spells, and rely on mystical familiars. Even for family players, this game can allow your Spellcaster Sims to create a successful magical lineage.

Magic is fun. It can give us a sense of control when we feel like we have none, and it can put us in a whole new world with new rules, making it perfect for social distancing.

#1: Parenthood

Parenthood is often hailed as the best Game Pack, and it is easy to see why. The game mechanics it adds, whether or not you enjoy playing with families, cannot be overstated. Parenthood's premise is helping Sims become the best parents they can be and raise successful children into adulthood. Every in-game action comes with a consequence, with the child's personality on the line.

Parenthood allows you to take on the challenge of parenting children with the new Parenting skill. As Sims improve this skill by talking to children and teens (even those not in the Sim's immediate family unit), they can offer advice to young people with increasing wisdom. The parents' influence and advice controls the child's development in the areas of Manners, Responsibility, Emotional Control, Conflict Resolution, and Empathy, and helping children's levels of these qualities rise influences the traits and habits they carry into adulthood. You can praise and reward good behavior and discipline bad behavior on a spectrum of severity. You can also do activities together, like building with the Sims' version of LEGO, putting together school projects, volunteering, or, if you have Seasons, celebrating birthdays and holidays together.

This is by far the most interactive and involved Sims 4 pack, and it puts you as a player in the driver's seat, helping children navigate through hard times and tough decisions. It promises a new experience and challenge every single time, and failure to make a decision will still have an impact on the child. This pack is a must if you've ever wanted kids or wanted a uniquely interactive, realistic, and immersive Sims experience.

Top 3 Game-Enhancing Stuff Packs

A Stuff Pack is the smallest kind of pack and revolves primarily around objects for Create a Sim (CAS) like hairstyles and clothing, and Build/Buy Mode items like home furnishings, appliances, electronics, and decorations. There is usually only one large gameplay element, like the ice cream machine in Cool Kitchen Stuff or the Butlers in Vintage Glamour Stuff.

#3: Movie Hangout Stuff

Don't let the odd name fool you; Movie Hangout Stuff is a mashup of ideas and styles that somehow works perfectly and brings color into every game. Movie Hangout Stuff consists of CAS and Build/Buy items in a Bohemian, hippie style (perfectly paired with Get Famous and Get Together), and revolves around the new gameplay items of the home and outdoor theater screens, movies, and a popcorn machine.

Movie Hangout Stuff is great to add a splash of neon to your Sims' home and to create a moviegoing experience for your Sims no matter where they gather together. Even if you don't use the fashion options, Sims can watch a variety of movies on TV and keep a popcorn machine in their home for a fun, easy, nonperishable snack.

#2: Kids Room Stuff

Kids Room Stuff gave a much needed boost to decor, furniture, fashion, and activities meant for Child Sims. The pack is full of new content tailored to young family members to enrich them as they grow up. This pack is a favorite of any family player (like myself) and enhances the base game, which is rather thin on objects and fashion for kids. Kids are also often afterthoughts in all packs, so having content specifically for them is often welcome.

Kids can now play VoidCritters, a Pokemon-type card game that allows them to collect and trade. They can also put on shows in the Puppet Theater. With more to do, kids can improve motor, creativity, mental, and social skills before they age up to help influence their traits and abilities as teens and adults. During times like this, it can be fun to play as a child and return to simpler times, pleasures, and emotions, and Kids Room Stuff is perfect to immerse you in the game every time.

#1: Laundry Day Stuff

Who knew chores could be so much fun? Laundry Day Stuff is a rustic pack built around doing chores, especially laundry. This pack and its items were voted on by the Sims community, and for this reason, it is exactly the kind of pack that deepens the realism and immersion of gameplay. Cleaning up can be somewhat relaxing and give you a sense of control in uncertain times during self-isolation.

Sims can now put washing machines and dryers in their homes or on their lot, and during the day, their clothes will get dirty. After a while, they will need to wash them. You participate in every step of the process, and Sims get a mood boost from having clean, dry, pleasant-smelling clothes. For such a simple concept, this feature adds so much depth to your gameplay. Sims can purchase washtubs and clotheslines to be more eco-friendly (but watch out for rain if you have Seasons!), and dryers left unattended do have the potential to start fires. These small details are why Simmers love the game: it's zany and sometimes random, but can always feel grounded in reality.

Those are my picks for the best Sims 4 DLC to enhance gameplay, especially during self-isolation. Did I miss any you think would be particularly fun and immersive while we live history? Be sure to let me know in those comments below!