Should you play The Sims 4 in 2025?

Modified Feb 01, 2025 20:30 GMT

Cover — Is the fourth Sims title worth it in 2025? (Image via Electronic Arts)

The Sims 4 is the latest mainline entry in the popular life-simulation franchise. Developed by Maxis, the game sees you create your character, decorate your home, and interact with its world. It was criticized for a lack of content at launch, but as it inches towards its 11th anniversary on September 2, 2025, you might be wondering if the game is still worth playing.

To answer that question, yes, you can play The Sims 4 in 2025 if you enjoy a life-simulation title with updated gameplay and a great mod community, and don't mind the expensive DLCs along with some waiting around.

Note: This article is subjective and reflects the writer's opinions.

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Exploring the good and bad of playing The Sims 4 in 2025

1) A refined Sims experience

The game includes many gameplay improvements (Image via Electronic Arts)

Considering it is the latest title, The Sims 4 is the culmination of Maxis' experiments with the franchise. It adds many new engaging elements to its gameplay, like the concept of multi-tasking. Your character can accommodate multiple chores into their work, whether it be listening to music while painting, talking to your partner while cooking, writing a novel while discussing some other topics, etc.

Build Mode is streamlined in the fourth title, which makes for faster building. There are also more options for different components of your house, like roof and external trims, different wall heights, spandrels, etc. While it doesn't match the creative control you have in the third game, The Sims 4 provides a better building experience.

2) DLCs can be pricey

DLCs can provide a major wallop to your wallet (Image via Electronic Arts)

The Sims 4 is free to play, but it is not where the best content lies. The base game's plain nature makes buying DLCs essential to get the best experience. While the expansions are great in their own right, it is hard to justify buying what is an almost endless amount of purchasable kits.

This also brings the game's monetization model into scrutiny, where many elements that would otherwise be in the base title are locked behind a paywall. This means you must spend a pretty penny if you want to experience all the content that The Sims 4 has to offer.

3) Mods can make up for the content drought

A still from the Instant Upgrade No Delay Mod (Image via Electronic Arts || Nexus Mods/@Vudou)

While official DLC spends are hard to justify, it isn't the only addition you can bring into the game. The Sims 4 has good mod support. It makes the act of installing mods simple, and there are many unique ones worth playing. Despite not matching the hours of effort put into official expansions, they still provide refreshing changes to the game.

The Better BuildBuy mod makes navigating build and buy menus easier, Career Overhaul majorly revamps skills, and Grannies Cookbook adds tasty new recipes to your menu. Many other mods bring quality-of-life changes or add unique and refreshing elements to the gameplay.

4) Loading times

Load times can be frustrating in the fourth Sims title (Image via Electronic Arts)

While this might be a nitpick, this issue can slowly spiral into a major annoyance. It can take somewhere from 20-30 minutes for your The Sims 4 game to load. Some players have even registered 1-2 hour-long load times. Although it is not an issue faced by everyone, it can be a common problem for many players, especially if you're playing it on old hardware.

Even navigating through the neighborhood causes loading screens to pop up. While players can get accustomed to it after a while, these loading screens slowly accumulate over time. In many instances, they will spend more time on loading screens than playing the actual game itself.

To summarize, The Sims 4 is a streamlined life-sim experience with great mod support, but its monetization model and long loading times detract from the experience.

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Edited by Adarsh J Kumar