The best Sims expansion packs in the history of the game

While many will be no doubt drawn in by the lustrous sheen of The Sims 4, I beckon you to consider starting your Sims journey from the original 2000 game and discovering its transcendent charm. In spite of its fixed, isometric perspective and considerably more simplified mechanics, The Sims 1 as many of us in the fandom come to refer to it as being, still grants that very same sense of player freedom to do pretty much anything you want with the lives of your virtual family.

The inaugural expansion pack developed for The Sims, appropriately dubbed Unleashed, opened up your neighbourhood to Old Town, a neighbouring municipality modelled after the French Quarter in New Orleans, where you could shop, dine, and socialise with other Sims, in addition to owning pets (!!!).

While the original Sims game debuted the prospect of travelling with The Sims Vacation, the formula wasn’t perfected until the release of The Sims 2 Bon Voyage. Sharing themes with its Playstation 2 standalone, The Sims Castaway, this Sims 2 expansion introduced players to three distinct new virtual biomes: Takemizu Village modelled after Japanese onsen towns, Three Lakes which mirrors American lakeside retreats ala Lake Tahoe, and of course a Hawaiian beachside holiday courtesy of Twikki Island.

From island-hopping escapades that could lead to potential disasters to secret locations that can only be accessed by interacting with locals, The Sims 2 Bon Voyage served as the modern template for all other vacation expansion packs in the game’s succeeding generations.

If you enjoy witches, vampires, and a glimmer of magic in your Sims playthrough, nabbing a copy of The Sims Makin’ Magic is a no-brainer. The prototypical supernatural experience from the franchise, this expansion pack was the lynchpin for all manner of creatures and cryptids to appear in later iterations of the series, among which include the skeletal housemaid Broomhilda, the first appearance of vampires courtesy of Vicki Vampiress, as well as fairies with Faerie Queen Mara.

This expansion pack also granted Sims the ability to brew all manner of potions, in addition to casting spells with a wand of your own.

If you enjoyed the seasonal changes found in The Sims 4 by default, you’ll have The Sims 2 Seasons to thank for that. By default up until The Sims 3, every base game in the franchise came with a default day/night setting, insofar as environmental changes were concerned. But that changed with The Sims 2 Seasons, which as its name implies, introduced weather mechanics to the game in a big way. Climate change aside, Sims could also partake in a host of activities native to each season, whether it be building snowmen during winter, or suntanning during summer by the pool.

But be warned; just like their human counterparts Sims are also prone to the dangers of weather exposure, so don’t keep them out in the snow (or sun) for too long.

Major life chapters in The Sims are often relegated to infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age. But in a bid to better mirror reality, The Sims 2 included a major life stage that took the guise of young adulthood spent among frat houses and sororities with the University expansion pack. Granting players access to three university campuses, you could now follow your Sims along their journey of self-discovery through formal academia, and decide how their time on campus would play out.

This translates to attending classes and submitting your assignments on time for the studious, or doing beer keg stands and sleeping past lectures for the jubilant types.

While pets did make their initial appearance in The Sims Bustin’ Out, their scope of interaction was minimal and were largely relegated to ornamental additions to the overall gameplay experience. That was set to change in The Sims 2 Pets, a full-fledged expansion pack dedicated to the world of recreational animal husbandry. As compared to the presets found in the original Sims game, players now had full control over the creation of their desired feline and canine breeds, from the shape of their snouts to their shade of fur. You can even keep a pet bird of your choice.

Beyond the pet-keeping experience, the expansion pack also added the ability for Sims to turn into lycanthropes if visited and bitten by werewolves.

Just like how Hot Date granted Sims in the original game the opportunity to enjoy romantic escapades Downtown, The Sims 3: Late Night similarly expanded upon the social lives of digital avatars living in its 2009 successor. Unlocking the new urban neighbourhood of Bridgeport, modelled after New York City, it came with a bevvy of chic restaurants, spas, boutiques, and of course, nightclubs, in addition to apartments and penthouses that could be rented out.

Any global cosmopolis is known to attract its fair share of stars and Bridgeport is no different, introducing a celebrity system in the game that allows your Sims to turn into household names in their own right. Be wary of where you choose to spend your evenings, however, as vampires are known to roam the streets by dusk.

Thematically unique, The Sims 3 Into The Future expansion pack functioned on the premise of offering Sims a prophetic glimpse into the future through the miracle of time travel. Taking more than a few cues from Back To The Future, temporal portals transport players into the world of Oasis Landing, set in a distant yet indeterminate time in the future, where flying cars, jetpacks, hoverboards, and robots, have all become part and parcel of regular life.

But most interestingly, this expansion pack introduces a brand-new system of consequence, whereby player actions in the present can affect their Sims’ descendants in Oasis Landing, turning it into either a utopian paradise, or dystopian nightmare.

If variety is what floats your boat, then look no further beyond The Sims 3: World Adventures. Arguably the most comprehensive holidaymaking expansion pack to ever be released under the franchise, this 2009 release added not one, not two, but three massive open worlds to the mix. This included Al Simhara alluding to the enigmatic dunes of Egypt, the Francophile winemaking planes of Champs Les Sims, and the Oriental beauty of the Chinese Shang Simla village.

Obvious vacation itineraries aside, Sims can now go on expeditions with basic questlines, or even dabble in a little dungeon hunting in search of hidden treasures while navigating booby traps and other dangers.

Three generations in, and you’re probably familiar with the prospect of taking your Sims on vacation. As you’ve probably noticed by now, holiday-themed expansion packs tend to rank favourably among fans for including some of the biggest updates in terms of gameplay mechanics as well as new worlds and content. In the case of The Sims 4: Snowy Escape, Sims get to explore the freezing peaks of Mt. Komorebi, modelled after the Japanese ski paradises of Honshū and Hokkaido.

Alongside recreational activities and a new world, Sims also gain a new personality facet dubbed ‘Lifestyles’, which can be acquired when they perform certain correlated tasks. Each chosen Lifestyle will have a direct impact on their behaviour and emotions, which further adds to a sense of depth in each playthrough.

Stylishly ahead of its time, any millennial youngin with celebrity ambitions on their home computer could only bring them to fruition with help from The Sims: Superstar. A microcosm of early 2000s Hollywood celebrity culture in a nutshell, this expansion pack introduced players to the world of stardom through a new location dubbed Studio Town, where record labels, movie studios, and modelling agencies converged to turn ordinary Sims into the next five-minute magazine headline.

Most interestingly, real-life celebrities even make their own appearances in the game, ranging from contemporaries such as Avril Lavigne and Christina Aguilera, to old school mainstays Andy Warhol and Marilyn Monroe.

To feed and clothe your Sims, you need Simoleons, the game’s take on currency. And just like in the real world, Sims obtain currency by exchanging labour through a job. Naturally, this is to say that going to work has always been an inherent gameplay feature that was available in the game franchise from the get-go. With that said, players weren’t able to actively participate in their Sims careers actively. Instead, Sims were transported to work off-screen and would eventually be ferried back home once they’d clocked out for the day.

The Sims 4: Get To Work expansion pack builds upon this experience by introducing three fully interactive career paths: Detective, Doctor, and Scientist, with corresponding locations that players can visit with their Sims to accomplish work-related tasks together. Beyond careers, Sims also have the ability of starting their own businesses, taking the notion of work to a new level.

While this may have lacked a separate game world in itself to fully enjoy, The Sims 4: Seasons expansion pack did bring enough updates by way of mechanics for it to be a truly worthwhile addition to your base game. As is the case before, your Sims will finally get to experience the beauty of temperate seasons in their respective neighbourhoods with a myriad of weather-related activities at their disposal.

But most interestingly, developers have gone a step further by taking into consideration the location of each neighbourhood and how the weather would respond accordingly. For example in warmer regions like Oasis Springs, don’t expect any snowfall to happen!

Yes, taking your Sims out on a vacation to an island archipelago is for all intents and purposes, a pretty familiar concept since the very first game. But what if you could live on an island archipelago? That is exactly what The Sims 4: Island Living proposes. Set in the tropical heaven of Sulani, which borrows heavily from Hawaii, players will be able to explore all manner of island-related activities with their Sim including snorkelling and canoeing, while setting up base in one of the many residential lots dotting the region.

Beyond beachfront property, this expansion pack even adds mermaids to the mix, which Sims can meet and interact with while exploring Sulani’s tepid waters.