REVIEW: Star Wars; Journey To Batuu

The Sims 4’s latest game pack was… controversial, to say the least. Before the official announcement, there was a leaked icon that had the entire community buzzing. Theories were thrown around left and right while people were picking apart the painfully obscure icon. Yes, there were a few people who did, in fact, guess correctly, and many wished that they hadn’t. 

When the trailer for Journey to Batuu, a Star Wars Themed game pack, was dropped, a sea of confusion loomed over the Sims community. It’s a well known fact that EA has a partnership with Disney that’s led to a number of Star Wars themed games, but it felt a little off-brand for The Sims. Assuming that you’ve played the Sims 4 before (I mean, why else would you be reading a Sims related article?), then you’d probably be familiar with Star Wars themed Build/Buy and CAS items that already exist in the game. One of which, the infamous Baby Yoda, came with a free base game update, and had everyone falling in love.

Looking back at the positive reaction from the Baby Yoda update makes one wonder if that had anything to do with their decision to create an entire Star Wars themed game pack. While many believe that EA is just hungry for money, as a long time sim fan, I have to believe that that isn’t entirely true. Sure, every company wants to make a profit, but it’s my theory that the developers wanted to try something new and take a risk. Why else would they spend all their time and energy on a game pack that they knew would flop? 

That being said, there were still many fans who were excited for the new addition. The dream of giving their sims a chance to live out their Star Wars fantasies was definitely fascinating. Sims would be able to travel off to a galaxy far far away and come face to face with some pretty iconic characters. 

Now for a little PSA that nobody asked for. Every human on this earth is different. We have different interests, likes, dislikes, etc. Not every Sims 4 pack will appeal to everyone. I usually find myself drawn to more adventurous/occult packs, while many other simmer’s prefer families/realistic gameplay. That’s what is so amazing about The Sims and this community. There’s a little something for everyone and you can pick and choose the experience that you want! There’s no right or wrong way to play The Sims. But with so much diversity, it’s inevitable for there to be differences in opinions. Please, try to keep an open mind and be okay with the fact that not every pack will be suited just for you. 

Okay, now that I got that out of the way…

Let’s dive into the new world, Batuu. It is a vacation world, so your sim will have to plan a trip to get there. From a gameplay aspect, I feel like this decision makes sense. It would be weird for my Sulani sim to hop over to Batuu for an afternoon with some friends. It does give it more of an immersive illusion. As far as lots go in this new world, it does leave much to be desired. Don’t get me wrong, Batuu is gorgeous, but style over substance is the phrase that comes to mind when I think about this new world. On a positive note, it does make me really excited to see what the Sims devs have in store for us! 

World Shots Taken By - Alana ( coki.creative )

Now let’s move onto CAS. Almost all clothing items were heavily themed and strictly fit Batuu’s aesthetics. There are a few shoes that I’d say look good for everyday wear, but if you’re in the market for normal sims clothes, this is not the pack for you. I was most disappointed at the new aliens… or should I say hats. As a fan of occult sims, I was hoping they were going to add more physical features to aliens (an occult type that was added in the Get to Work expansion pack), but that was not the case. Instead, all Star Wars aliens are made up of just hats. There was one saving grace though! I was pleasantly surprised by the new hair options. Who doesn’t love a good hairstyle? 

In my opinion, the build/buy is pretty good! It’s not everyone’s style, but there are a lot of useful items. I keep finding myself going back to the new plants and debug items. A lot of the new clutter seems to work perfectly for kids rooms and offices. There are hidden gems amongst the obvious Star Wars themed items, you just have to look for them. 

Build Created By - Alana ( coki.creative )

Lastly, gameplay. This is something I have mixed feelings on. I created a sim specifically for this new pack and had her join the resistance. It took some google searching and patience to figure this out how to actually play the game, but once I figured it out, it was pretty fun. There were times where it felt repetitive, but your sim doesn’t have to climb the ranks all at once. You can send them home and return at any point for however long you want without losing progress. Even though it was cool to see some characters from the recent movies, my heart was a little broken that they didn’t include any of the original characters. I would’ve loved to see Chewbaca, Han Solo, C-3PO, or Luke Skywalker. 

Overall, I’m happy I got the pack. It’s a fun addition to my sims lives and I’ve found a lot of use for it! I say this with only love and respect, but if you don’t think this pack is for you, then don’t buy it.

- ALANA, Key Contributor -