Welcome to the island of Sulani 🏖️

The excitement from the sheer thought of building a beach house was all I needed to buy this pack, but is it worth it? I reviewed The Sims 4: StrangerVille when it came out and did the pros and cons of the pack, so that’s what I’m doing here.

Like StrangerVille, I created a family to use as examples for the review and this time around is the Salgado family. Rae and Leia are a newlywed couple who want to move back to Leia’s home of Sulani. Rae’s brother, Ash, and his son Wade need a fresh start and the girls convince them to move as well. Leia tries to hide the fact that she’s a mermaid while joining the conservation career, Ash tries his hand at being a lifeguard, and Rae spends her time learning more about the island.

The first thing I did, after creating the family, rebuilt a pre-made house (which you can find on the gallery under meaganlamb) and took way too long doing that while I went through all the new build items.

Pros 

• After spending a night playing the expansion pack, one of my top three favorite things are the mermaids, which I wasn’t expecting. I wasn’t someone wishing for them but I wasn’t complaining that we got them, but they are a lot of fun and I love watching them swim in the ocean. From create-a-sim to lounging in the bathtub with their tails out.
• The world is gorgeous, but I’m sure you’ve heard that already.
• A lot of new lots, 14 actually.
• It’s also very open. The neighborhoods are large so there’s a lot more room for your Sims to run around and that includes the ocean. There’s a lot of space for swimming whether it’s close to shore or deep for snorkeling. Of course, it’s not open world.

• There’s a lot of options in create-a-sim, especially the hair. The clothes fit the theme, although I do wish there may have been a few more options. Women and men get a lot, children, not so much.
• Build-and-buy has some of my favorite items to date. There’s not a lot of clutter items, which I was kind of bummed about, but the beds and couches, the outdoor items, and the PLANTS make up for that.

• I love that you can build your house in the ocean. It gives away for a lot of different builds and being right there makes easy access to the water, especially if your Sim is a mermaid and need to refill their hydration (they need to be in the water for a certain amount of time every day.)
• Three new careers, a new aspiration, and two new traits.
• Beachcombing for trash and seashells can help you find a lot of different collectibles and I enjoyed placing the seashells around the house.

• New activities such as snorkeling, lounging on an inflatable raft or chair, sailing, zip-its, sunbathing, and building sandcastles are fun things for your sims to do. I had a lot of fun playing with the dolphin Leia bonded with. I named him Squeaks.

• You can go around randomly asking Sims if they’re mermaids and try to figure out who is one. I knew of some, but there were a few I saw swimming around and was like, “Oh my gosh! They’re a mermaid.” And anyone can turn into a mermaid and vice versa.
• New food! Mostly, seafood.
• There’s a new event where your Sim throws a Kava drink party.

• Your Sim can get around by swimming more than walking. There was a fishing spot right next to the house and instead of walking through the house and through the sand, they just swam there.
• A volcano on the island.
• By cleaning up the island, it will gradually look brighter with more wildlife.
• There’s a lot of new townies and they are much more diverse. There’s gay couples and even transgender Sims. All the mermaids I met seem to work as a food vendor.
• Mermaids will cry over fish mounted on the wall…I guess that’s not a “good” thing, but I like the small details of their personalities.

Cons

• I said I loved create-a-sim but I do wish there were more options for shirts and bottoms. I felt some were similar looking and the children get pretty minimal options.
• Children don’t have a lot to do in general. They can swim and build sandcastles but I kind of wish there was something else for them to do, like flying kites or boogie boarding.
• As I said, I wanted more clutter items in build-mode, but that depends on the type of builder you are. I also wish we got more indoor plants, but again, not a big deal and you can create your own sizing down the outdoor ones.

• I personally wish we got more skill-building activities. Aside from fitness from swimming and obviously fishing, you don’t get a new skill from say, sailing.

Is It Worth It? 

I would absolutely say this pack is worth it. My top expansion packs are City Living, Cats and Dogs, Seasons, and now this makes up the top four. You instantly feel more relaxed upon arriving at Sulani and there’s so much to look at from the wildlife to the marine life swimming near your house and that’s just the scenery.

However, if you prefer to play with more realism, then mermaids probably won’t be for you. They don’t take up the whole pack but you could see them swimming around from time-to-time.

I spent a good amount of time trying to find things I dislike about the pack, but as someone whose dream is to live at the beach, I can see myself returning to this world over and over again. It comes with a lot of cas and build items, as it should for an expansion pack, and the world itself is worth the buy.

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