Here we are, the 98th stuff pack for this friggin game.
It’s Laundry Day stuff!
And as bland as that sounds to me, this time I can’t ask the rhetorical question of “who
actually wanted this pack?”
Because apparently, YOU wanted it.
That’s right, for the first time the Sims Team made a stuff pack that was voted on by
the community.
For the past year, simmers were given choices to vote on among six aspects of an upcoming
pack: Theme, art style, objects and clothing, gameplay features, icon, and title.
And yeah, there were some pretty neat things available at first, including "Eco Living
Stuff", "Starter Home Stuff", "Arcade Stuff", "Dangerous Stuff", and "Wedding Stuff.”
The people voted on Eco Living Stuff, which was described as letting players “Adopt
new home technologies to help your Sim with domestic responsibilities
and live an eco-friendly life.
Potential areas of focus include laundry, home technology, and solar energy.”
And over the rest of the year, simmers voted and voted and voted until we ended up with
the most vanilla pack possible: Laundry Day stuff.
But hey, maybe you like vanilla, and in that case it’s time to dive into your day of
laundry in this thirteenth stuff pack for The Sims 4.
Yeah I’m not exaggerating that number, for the first time we have entered into the teens
in terms of number of stuff packs for a single Sims game.
Ralph is not amused.
Or maybe he is, that looks like the most fun he’s had his whole life.
*Ralph silently screaming with joy as the dryer rotates*
Anyway, Laundry Day!
What would a laundry pack be without some new potential laundry, and this pack provides
a small assortment of clothing items for your sims.
Not a whole lot really, just about twenty items across all ages and genders.
But whatever, your sims probably have more than enough clothing by now, so let’s jump
into the new objects it comes with.
There are around 50 new items to buy in-game, mostly pertaining to washing clothes and providing
a rustic home aesthetic -- which makes sense considering one of the possible names for
the pack was Rustic Home Stuff.
To begin with, there are only two chairs this time around, which really left me feeling
hung out to dry.
But sit tight, there’s also a new love seat and an ottoman.
As well as two tables, one of which seats six around its circumference.
You also get four larger pieces of non-interactive furniture, some non-interactive laundry wall
clutter, some shelves, a sizable assortment of rugs,
some crap, some plants, some new
windows and doors, two sinks, a hanging bulb and a sitting candle bowl,
and some wicker clothes hampers.
In fact, quite a few of the items here are wicker, which not only fits the rustic theme
but provides a cheeky reference in calling them WICKER WHIMS.
Hehe.
Guess it was HARD not to make that reference, a chance like that only COMES around so often,
glad they didn’t COCK it up.
Sex.
Butt hole-d on, isn’t this pack about laundry?
Indeed it is, and thankfully you’re given a few ways to wash because man, sims sure
are dirtier than ever these days.
There’s a washer, a dryer, and a stacked washer/dryer combo, each of which work exactly
as you’d expect.
When sims get their clothes dirty, or wet, or smelly, sims can either plop their clothes
in a nearby hamper or stick ‘em straight into the washer.
Once that’s done, they go into the dryer.
Amazing.
There are a few other things to worry about, like removing lint from the dryer between
loads to prevent fires and upgrading them to increase wash speed and clothing cleanliness,
but it really is that simple.
Sims can also enjoy the pleasure of watching their wash wash, and
I sure do envy their free time.
*enviable washer noises*
But if you’d rather go a bit more traditional, sims can also do laundry in a more manual
fashion with the wash tub.
This takes a whole lot longer of course, but it does provide the extra incentive of increasing
their fitness skill as they work.
Oh and you can also drop in laundry additives into whatever wash method you use, and these
consist of both floral and food options.
Want some grilled cheese-scented laundry?
Go right ahead.
Yeah, 2018 is off to a weird start, both here and in real life: food is a laundry additive,
and laundry additives are food.
And the additional activities continue with the rather chunky clothesline, an energy-saving
alternative to drying with a dryer.
It’s also an incredibly slow one, often taking half of an entire sim-day
to dry your clothing.
At least it gives any nearby cats a little something extra to do.
And if you’re like me and don’t want to bother with all of this stuff, then keep in
mind it is entirely optional, just like laundry in The Sims 3.
Your sims don’t actually need to do laundry at all, not only because they have infinite
clothing, but because the laundry needs won’t actually pop up until you install a washer
of some kind on your lot.
It really is just a role-play kind of thing for you to enable as you see fit
for each individual household.
There are benefits of course, like sims feeling happier wearing warm, clean clothing, and
feeling down when their clothing is wet or stinky.
But it’s the same exact kind of temporary emotion-altering effects you get from any
number of existing items in the game already, just under a new skin with some new animations,
so don’t expect anything too game-changing here.
And that’s The Sims 4 Laundry Day Stuff.
It’s $10.
If you like what you see, great.
But in my own ideal world, I think this would’ve worked just fine as part of an expansion,
especially one like Seasons.
Imagine having hot days dry your clothes on the clothesline faster, or rain getting them
all wet again so you have to rush to take them down during a storm.
Not only that, but it boggles my brain that the community voted against themes like Arcade
Stuff and Dangerous Stuff for... household chores.
Something we’ve seen before and frankly, I didn’t think was all that engaging to
begin with back in The Sims 3 Ambitions.
Sure it’s realistic, I understand the appeal of having realistic life stuff
in your life simulation.
But in my case it’s a “been there, done that, didn’t enjoy it much the first time”
situation.
Heck, even the other options put up for vote under the theme of “eco-friendly stuff”
sounded more appealing to me, like off-the-grid power options and canning food preserves.
You know, actual new things we haven’t seen in The Sims before,
things that people like me crave.
But I guess this just means I am officially out of touch with what
a majority of Sims players want.
I am old.
Now if you’ll excuse me I have some clouds to yell at.
And if you enjoyed this guy yelling at clouds, then perhaps you'd like to see some more LGR videos.
I put up new ones every Monday and Friday on things like The Sims,
old computers and games, and all sorts of other stuff.
So, stick around if you'd like.
And as always, thank you very much for "washing!"
Hehe, yeah.