REVIEW: Eco Lifestyle

The Sim’s 9th expansion - Eco Lifestyle, was released on June 5th 2020. This pack includes stunning build/buy items and innovative gameplay like we’ve never seen before in the franchise. Your sims can now make a direct impact on their neighborhood’s ecosystem, all while living in a one of a kind home. 

When The Sims debuted their first sneak peek trailer, I was instantly smitten by colourful container homes and green friendly decorative items. This pack comes with a new neighborhood, Evergreen Harbor, that is just as unique as its gameplay. The town is broken up into three different sections and features new apartments, a quarry, and community spaces that your sims can vote on. 

When first launching the game, Evergreen Harbor will start in neutral conditions. You’ll notice piles of trash scattered about and graffiti covered buildings. As you play, your sims have the ability to change the eco-footprint of all neighborhoods, with the exception of Strangerville. For Evergreen Harbor, improving conditions will unlock rainbows, cleaned up streets, and modern facades on the surrounding buildings and apartments. Worsening the ecosystem will result in acid raid, smog, and will even make your sims cough periodically.

Build Created By - Alana ( coki.creative )

This new element of gameplay is exciting and even allows builders to get more creative with their designs. Build a one of a kind container home with solar panels and wind turbines, or an abandoned house littered with the wide array of Eco-Lifestyle’s new debug trash items. 

For those of you who want to change the environment to better suit your build, but don’t have time to mess with gameplay, have no fear. The creators made it very easy to cheat your way into changing your neighborhood’s eco-footprint. 

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Eco-Lifestyle’s build/buy catalog is one of my personal favorites and proves that the sims developers are listening to their fans. They have given us gorgeous, neutral toned, decorative items like rugs, plants, and wall decor, and even one of a kind crafted and debug items. All crafted candles from this pack come with an awesome new feature that allows you to set the burn level. This level of customization offers simmers the ability to really personalise their builds more than ever before. You can easily unlock any crafted item, like candles, fizzy drinks, and furniture by using the bb.showhiddenobjects cheat as well. 

Build Created By - Alana ( coki.creative )

The only negatives I have to say about this pack is that the gameplay can be quite confusing. With all these new features, gameplay can get a little overwhelming, but keep in mind there are plenty of resources online that can answer any of your questions. Also, some of the new activity and skill items, like the fizzy drink maker, recycler, and candle making station are pretty large. Much like the infamous gigantic telescope, it can be difficult to find a place in your house or apartment that can fit these items, especially if interior design is important to you. 

Overall, Eco-Lifestyle is a fantastic expansion pack that offers a ton of exciting elements to your game. Whether you prefer gameplay, building, or a combination of the two, it has something for everyone.

- ALANA, Key Contributor -