5 Sims Expansions Worth the Money and 5 Complete Rip Offs

5 Sims Expansions Worth the Money & 5 Complete Rip-Offs

Caitlin Johnson

Welcome to MojoPlays, and today we’re looking at the “Sims” expansions the game can’t be played without, and the ones you can skip. 

We’re only looking at full expansions for “The Sims 4”. 

Rip Off: “Lovestruck” 

We’re starting with one of the more complex “Sims” expansions to talk about. “Lovestruck” aims to do a lot to improve the relationships Sims can have, including adding a dating app; adding turn ons and turn offs for sims; adding a matchmaker career; and a whole new world. But many devout “Sims” fans aren’t sure that “Lovestruck” is worth that hefty $40 price tag, which is the issue with many of these expansions. The most intriguing part of “Lovestruck” was the addition of polyamorous relationships, with players able to turn off Sims’ jealousy and change relationship boundaries. This, however, was added to the base game with a free update at the same time. So, arguably the biggest draw of “Lovestruck” is free, making it a tough recommendation at full-price. 

Worth It: “Cottage Living”

Build the idyllic, countryside cottage of your dreams in this expansion, inspired by rural England. “Cottage Living” added plenty of animals for your sims to look after, including cows, llamas, and chickens, not to mention having an ecosystem because of the mischievous wild animals like rabbits and foxes. You can grow fruits and veg in the base game, but there’s a much deeper farming mechanic added here, not to mention all the new items for build mode. If you’ve ever wanted to pack up your things and go live off the land in the middle of nowhere, this is the game for you. Well, this or “Stardew Valley”. 

Rip Off: “Cats & Dogs” 

Both “The Sims 2” and “The Sims 3” had “Pets” expansions, but they had a far wider variety of pets - hence them being called “Pets”. There WERE cats and dogs, including the ability to customize them and then play as the pets, but there were other animals, too, namely: horses. “Cats & Dogs” for “Sims 4” is a clear downgrade, removing the ability to play as the pets AND not including any horses. It’s a big disappointment considering how much better the pet expansions for the older games were, containing more options and deeper overall gameplay. Yet again, EA degrades the quality of the game and charges a premium for an inferior product. 

Worth It: “Growing Together”

For a long time, young sims didn’t have that much to do. Only with the addition of various expansions have you been able to really mould the lives of sims in their early years. Just before “Growing Together” there was “High School Years”, which is also a solid pack - though arguably more limited than you’d want - but this next pack really deepend the parenting systems. You can have families interact more with each other, parents can help their adult sims into later life, and for older sims, they go through a midlife crisis or even develop workplace rivals. It adds layers to every stage of a sim’s life - though particularly those early years. 

Rip Off: “Get to Work”

It may be controversial to call this a rip-off, since when it was new, it definitely wasn’t and expanded on the game moderately. It was the very first expansion, dropping in 2015, and added detective, doctor, and scientist as active careers - the FIRST active careers in “The Sims 4”. But in hindsight, these careers aren’t as interesting as many of the careers added in later packs, and you can certainly make a case that it’s a rip-off to pay for such obvious careers in the first place. In other “Sims” games, after all, you can pursue medical careers from the get-go. They’re not active so are therefore less engaging, but still: this really feels like the kind of thing that shouldn’t be paywalled, and in retrospect, adds far less than other expansions. 

Worth It: “Discover University”

There were already “University” expansions for older games, so it was only a matter of time until “The Sims 4” also got a college mode. Britechester has two rival colleges: the University of Britechester, modelled on Oxford and Cambridge, and the science-focused Foxbury Institute. As well as managing the micro-politics of roommates and dorm living, you’ve got to manage your sim’s wellbeing, and it’s impossible to have top grades, a busy social life, and fulfilling hobbies at the same time. You’ll have to sacrifice at least one of these in the course of your sim’s education. After all that, the degree lets you skip the early levels of certain careers and get a head-start in the world of work. 

Rip Off: “For Rent”

There’s one big reason “For Rent” is still a rip-off in 2025: it’s broken. If you want to be a landlord and run a rental empire, you’re going to struggle, because the game still isn’t equipped to handle it. With some of the simpler elements of “For Rent” - like being a tenant - it will work well enough, but when you try to expand, it’s likely to stop working. That’s not to say there aren’t people enjoying the expansion and having a bug-free experience, or that no other “Sims” expansions are broken, but “For Rent” stuck out as being slightly glitchier than the others, and a tough pack to recommend even when it’s on sale. 

Worth It: “Seasons”

Like “Get to Work”, this ABSOLUTELY should be in the base game. Simultaneously, you COULD argue that it’s a rip-off because of that, since there’s really no justification for EA not including this. But as the name would suggest, with this pack you get seasons and weather, not to mention holidays in those seasons, with plenty of events and season-specific actions sims can undertake. It also added new ways to die, like from overheating in hot weather and freezing to death in the wintertime. It’s such a simple change but so necessary for even playing the game. It does lose points for not bringing a new world, but you really can’t live without it. 

Rip Off: “Horse Ranch”

Remember when we said that the “Pets” expansion for “The Sims 3” also had horses? Well, if you were wondering why EA didn’t include horses in “Cats & Dogs”, it was, of course, so that they could sell you a whole other expansion JUST about horses. Most of this horse gameplay was already in “The Sims 3: Pets”, only now, the expansions have been separated and it’ll cost you $80 for both if you buy them at full price. That’s the price of a brand-new AAA game! It’s also slightly more limited compared to “Sims 3” since it arguably ruined the horse races, though the new world of Chestnut Ridge is an enjoyable area, and running the ranch can be fun. 

Worth It: “Life & Death”

After the devastating news that EA was canceling “The Sims 5” to keep churning out overpriced expansion packs for a ten-year-old game, hopes were not high for the next expansion. However, “Life & Death” exceeded expectations. Watching your sims live out their days and then saying goodbye to them has always been a core part of the “Sims” experience, so making a whole expansion about that was a masterstroke. It adds new ways to have funerals and pay tribute to those lost sims, as well as adding new gameplay for ghosts - including the ability to woohoo with other ghosts inside objects - and the Reaper active career. Finally, the gothic world of Ravenwood is one of the best new locales the series has ever introduced. 

What’s your favorite “Sims” expansion? Let us know in the comments!