Mods and custom content improve it a lot
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 positive reviews
“The base game is tremendous when combined with whickedwhims, the gallery and cheats.”
Steam review · 142.2 h played ↗
The Sims™ 4
Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.
Very Positive · 85%Very Positive · 85%Maxis2020Life Sim · Sandbox · Simulation
The verdict
A hugely creative life sim with great building and Create-a-Sim, but the free base game is thin and the DLC costs over $1,000. Skip it if you're on a budget or dislike EA's monetization and update bugs.
Great for
Creative players who love building, Create-a-Sim, storytelling and mods
Main risk
Base game feels empty, so fun depends on $1,000+ of DLC or mods that updates keep breaking
What changed in the last 30 days
152 recent reviews
Recent negatives often mention the new ownership, mods or saves breaking after updates, and sims ignoring commands. Some recent positives also report mod trouble. Fairly consistent across several reviews.
152 recent reviews
What players love
Addictive, relaxing, high replay value
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 positive reviews
“The Sims 4 is still one of those games I never seem to get tired of, even after all these years.”
Steam review · 669.5 h played ↗
Creative storytelling and chaotic fun
Mentioned in ~1 in 7 positive reviews
“being able to create your own stories and characters is awesome!!”
Steam review · 18.3 h played ↗
Great building and decorating
Mentioned in ~1 in 8 positive reviews
“insanely overpriced, but damnit do i love decorating”
Steam review · 47.7 h played ↗
Deep character creation and customization
Mentioned in ~1 in 8 positive reviews
“The customization is incrediable, genetics are so fun to play with”
Steam review · 151.8 h played ↗
Free base game is playable
Mentioned in ~1 in 14 positive reviews
“Even the f2p base game itself is enough, the DLC are just extra.”
Steam review · 25.3 h played ↗
What players complain about
Extremely expensive DLC
Mentioned in ~2 in 5 negative reviews
“There are a total of 113 "add on" DLCs”
Steam review · 0.2 h played ↗
Empty, boring base game with features paywalled
Mentioned in ~1 in 3 negative reviews
“That ancient game has more content in it then the base Sims 4 game.”
Steam review · 572.5 h played ↗
Objection to EA's new owners and marketplace/ads
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 negative reviews
“Now they're pausing the game to play ADS??? No thank you, undownloading and switching to a different game.”
Steam review · 163.9 h played ↗
Persistent bugs and corrupted saves
Mentioned in ~1 in 6 negative reviews
“I havent been able to command my character for MONTHS and shes been in the red for that long as well because every action I click cancels out!!”
Steam review · 24.1 h played ↗
Updates break mods and the game
Mentioned in ~1 in 8 negative reviews
“Every single update just nukes everything and leaves you with two options: spend hours fixing it, or play a broken, buggy mess.”
Steam review · 2087.2 h played ↗
Forced EA app and launcher problems
Mentioned in ~1 in 17 negative reviews
“EA put their ♥♥♥♥♥♥ drm on it so you have to have internet and launch their ♥♥♥♥ 3rd party launcher to play the game.”
Steam review · 14.4 h played ↗
System requirements
From the Steam store page
Steam Deck: Playable26 GB
Minimum
OS64 Bit Required. Windows 10
Processor3.3 GHz Intel Core i3-3220 (2 cores, 4 threads), AMD Ryzen 3 1200 3.1 GHz (4 cores) or better
Memory4 GB RAM
Graphics128 MB of Video RAM and support for Pixel Shader 3.0. Supported Video Cards: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 or better, ATI Radeon X1300 or better, Intel GMA X4500 or better
Storage26 GB available space
Recommended
OS64 Bit Windows 10
ProcessorIntel core i5 (4 cores), AMD Ryzen 5 or better
Memory8 GB RAM
Graphics1 GB of Video RAM, NVIDIA GTX 650, AMD Radeon HD 7750, or better
Storage51 GB available space
OS64 Bit Required. Windows 10
Processor3.3 GHz Intel Core i3-3220 (2 cores, 4 threads), AMD Ryzen 3 1200 3.1 GHz (4 cores) or better
Memory4 GB RAM
Graphics128 MB of Video RAM and support for Pixel Shader 3.0. Supported Video Cards: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 or better, ATI Radeon X1300 or better, Intel GMA X4500 or better
Storage26 GB available space
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