Maxis announces The Sims 4: Cottage Living, a new expansion that adds a rural village, new animals, farm mechanics, and more.
Last month, players were offered a summer roadmap of Maxis Studios’ plans regarding The Sims 4, confirming that the game would get several smaller DLCs, as well as a major expansion that focused on ‘bonding’. with nature ”. After much fan speculation about the add-on, the team has confirmed what this next pack will be, announcing the Cottage Living expansion and revealing that it is scheduled to launch on July 22.
The DLC will bring a host of new features and items to The Sims 4, the biggest of which is an entirely new location, with Sims able to explore the small rural town of Henford-on-Bagley. The area comes loaded with rural activities to participate in and unique lots to visit, including a local pub and a market full of stalls selling groceries.
Players residing in the remote village will be able to focus on living off the land, and the expansion will add farm mechanics and lots of huts for players to inhabit. They will be able to own new animals, including chickens, llamas, and cows, and their actions will change the resources their cattle produce, such as the taste of cow’s milk or the color of their llamas’ fur. Rabbits and foxes will also appear, and Maxis claims that players will be able to interact with them.
Crop farming is another great addition, with households capable of planting watermelons, eggplants, pumpkins, lettuce, mushrooms, and more, with sims using their harvested supplies to make new meals. They will even be able to enter contests, and the trailer shows a simulator winning a vegetable competition with a giant pumpkin. Maxis teases that the expansion’s simple life batch challenge will mean that preparing meals is cheaper, but recipes can only be cooked when certain ingredients are in a sim’s inventory, assigning them the task of searching for mushrooms or berries, keep your animals’ milk and eggs on hand, and order groceries at your doorstep.
The pack appears to be another great addition to the world of The Sims 4, trading the game’s variety of huge cities, laid-back suburban neighborhoods, and tropical island retreats for a unique rural setting. It will be the last entry in The Sims 4’s “Summer of Sims” lineup, which is still set to offer two events and three base game updates. The first two entries on the summer-themed DLC roadmap were detailed last month, with the Courtyard Oasis Kit and Dream Home Decorator bundles now available for purchase. The Courtyard Oasis kit added new Moroccan-inspired outdoor furniture and the Dream Home Decorator package implemented a career path in interior decorating.
The Sims 4 is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.