The Sims 4: Eco Lifestyle Expansion Pack Review – Neighbourhoods, Recycling, Careers, Build/Buy, CAS & more

The Sims 5 may be in the pipeline, but EA is releasing yet another Sims 4 expansion pack called Eco Lifestyle, arriving Friday, 5 June.

Eco Lifestyle is all about being green, taking action and making a change in your neighbourhood - keep reading for a full breakdown and review of the expansion pack.

Neighbourhoods

Within the world of Evergreen Harbour are three neighbourhoods.

Port Promise

Port Promise is one of the most un-eco friendly neighbourhoods to settle down in. For players wanting a bit of a challenge, this may be your match.

Grims Quarry

Although an improvement from the Port, Grims Quarry still has a lot of work to do! Anyone wanting a step ahead in cleaning up the town should give the Quarry a go.

sims 4 eco lifestyle neighbourhood
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DO YOUR BIT: Every positive change you make impacts your neighbourhood

Conifer Station

A sort of middle ground of previously mentioned neighbourhoods, Conifer Station is the downtown part of Evergreen and was given its name when the trains stopped running. Players looking for a balanced experience may want to start here.

READ MORE: The Sims 5 – Release date, online multiplayer, new features & more

Recycling

Recycling is a focal point of this expansion.

A Sim can take old furniture they don’t want anymore and instead of selling it, they can turn it into something new with the Fabricator.

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REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE: Recycling is a big part of the new expansion pack

As you recycle more and more you get a sort of “recycling currency” which you can use to create furniture and décor.

Careers

Explore a brand-new career as a Civil Designer by fixing up your
neighbourhood with the help of Eco Inventions.

If a Civil Designer doesn’t interest you, try out becoming a Freelance Crafter by selling your recycled/fabricated unique products and furniture.

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As well as the above new skills allow you to make candles and fizzy
juice which you can sell online or at a community market.

Create A Sim

There are 100+ new CAS items, all ages are being offered something new
with adults and teens getting the most.

More piercings! Leading on from the introduction of piercings in The Sims 4: University, we are now offered septum rings, ear stretchers and more.

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PLAY IN STYLE: There's a load of new CAS items

Paper bags? Each generation has a new hat and it’s... a bag.

We’re not sure what this is meant for or if it has some significance, but they come with different expressions drawn on them.

Traits & Aspirations

As you'd expect, there's a load of new traits and aspirations, giving your Sims a purpose in their lives.

You can check out a full list of the new Traits and Aspirations here.

Build/Buy

One of the huge changes to the catalogue is that every item has an eco-footprint which it tells you how negatively or positively something will impact the environment.

The new expansion brings some exciting build/buy features. We now have ladders - that means no more awkwardly placed staircases or sacrificing space in a tiny home.

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GET BUILDING: There's a load of new items in the catalogue

Wind turbines, rain collectors and solar panels are all great ways to
power a home, especially if you’re off the grid.

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In general, this pack comes with a huge amount of new stuff from pretty much every category in the catalogue.

Final Verdict

Now we've had a chance to play the new expansion pack, here's what we make of it.

Pros:

  • You can impact on a
    neighbourhood and see it change before your eyes
  • There are three
    “levels” of difficulty
  • New career options
  • Eco-footprint isn’t
    world locked, will carry through to all other worlds
  • Loads of new
    content and items

Cons:

  • Can be quite
    overwhelming to get to grips with at first
  • Careers like
    Astronaut aren’t very compatible with the world as rocket’s eco-footprint is
    pretty negative

Ranking:

8/10

You can check out our full ranking of allThe Sims 4 Expansion Packs here.