The Sims 4 Eco Lifestyle expansion pack has brought a new way to play and interact with Sims' world. The community shared lots, found only in Evergreen Harbor by default, are now available for players to vote on what they want to become next. These shared lots start off as abandoned structures, completely empty and surrounded by garbage, but with the help of the NAP system, players can cast their votes on what the lot should become next. The options range from a community garden, marketplace, or creative makerspace, each attracting Sims from all over to participate in growing fruits and vegetables, selling crafts and ingredients, and creating crafty crafts.

One of the new features that has been introduced is the Juice Fizzing skill. This skill allows Sims to craft carbonated beverages using various ingredients such as berries, fruits, fish, and bugs. The results can be unpredictable, often producing nasty-tasting drinks, but this adds a fun element to the gameplay. Another new feature is the Fabrication skill, which has nothing to do with active falsification and everything to do with creating new items. The Fabricator is a giant 3D printer/Star Trek Replicator that can generate anything from spare parts to electric lights, food, and furniture.

The Fabricator is fueled by recycled parts, which are accumulated in the new recycling machine. Players can toss almost any item from their Sim's inventory inside and watch it come out as a generic trash cube ready for repurposing, signified in-game by screws and bananas representing parts and fuel. This feature provides a practical use for items that might otherwise go to waste. Another way to grab resources is by dumpster diving and rummaging through trash cans. Players can sort through recyclable and compostable materials, as well as random goodies such as food, ingredients, buy mode objects like beds and refrigerators.

Players who want to take a break from the hustle and bustle of gameplay can also use the new feature that allows them to sleep inside a lot. This is possible if the lot has a specific trait or setting that makes it suitable for sleeping. For those who prefer a more relaxed approach, there's candle-making, which falls under the same fabulous Fabrication skill as the Fabricator. Players can take a block of wax, melt it down, and dip a string into it repeatedly until it turns into something ready to set on fire or sell.

The Freelance Crafter career has also been introduced, allowing Sims to run their own business fulfilling orders for unseen online clients by making their own rugs, lamps, candles, and furniture. The introduction of new ecologically friendly chairs is also a notable feature in this pack. There are five new eco-friendly chair options available, or eight if you count the trio of chairs that can be made through the Fabricator. These chairs are precious in the eyes of Maxis, and their inclusion adds a touch of realism to the gameplay.

The Sims 4 Eco Lifestyle expansion pack is an enjoyable addition to the game, offering many new features and gameplay tweaks that change the simulation. However, some players may find the arbitrary choices and limitations on what does and doesn't affect the in-game world frustrating. The price point of $40 may also be a barrier for some players, especially those who are unsure about whether or not they will actively use the new content. As with any new expansion pack, it's recommended to wait for a sale or take advantage of special promotions before making a purchase.

For those who enjoy playing games and reading reviews, there is always something new to look forward to. The Sims 4 Eco Lifestyle expansion pack offers a fresh way to play the game, and its unique features are sure to delight fans of the series. If you're looking for more content on this or other topics, be sure to check out my previous Sims game coverage or any of the other material I post each week here on LGR.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enHey, remember when there was that communityvote going on for the next Sims 4 pack, and“Eco Living” won the vote?Only to have to have its gameplay whittleddown to the point that it became Laundry Stuff?Yeah that happened.However, it seems that the core idea liveson, as we now have The Sims 4 Eco Lifestylethree years later.It’s the ninth proper expansion pack tothe game, meaning that it costs 40 US dollarsor your regional equivalent.And I gotta say, I’ve greeted this one witha fair bit of skepticism ever since it wasannounced, if only because dedicating an entireexpansion to sims’ hitherto non-existenteco footprint seemed like it might be stretchingthe concept a bit thin.A stuff pack or a game pack, sure.But a $40 expansion?Eh, let’s give it the benefit of the doubtfor the moment and see what we’ve got.Beginning with what the HECK is this?!Look, I’m the last person to dole out fashion advice, but at this point,it feels like they’re actively trying to make townies look absurd.Ah well, at least there’s no shortage ofquality new hairstyles, facial piercings,and even a nice bushy beard, finally.There’s even a decent little selection forkids this time around, so in terms of quantityit’s not too shabby here with lots of stufffor lots of different sims.Of course, new aspirations and traits pertinentto your ecologically conscious existence are also found here.Eco Innovator in the Nature category and MasterMaker in Creativity being the new aspirations.And making up the new traits are Maker, GreenFiend, Recycle Disciple, and Freegan, eachtying into some specific gameplay featurein the pack.Like the new eco-friendly cars that--oh wait,nope!Yeah, despite a greater number of fake vehiclesroaming the streets, The Sims 4 still doesn’thave usable cars, eliminating a rather popular componentof the whole ‘greener living’ mindset.Don’t need to make low-emission cars ifthere are no cars, right?Instead, Eco Lifestyle introduces other forms of in-game pollutionthat previously didn’t exist.That’s right, now each individual neighborhoodin The Sims 4 can be affected by varying levelsof environmental contamination.Most notably in Evergreen Harbor: a new conifer-ladencoastal town with an active industrial sector,rock quarry, and sea port.It’s one of the larger worlds in terms ofset dressing, with multiple meandering alleywaysand alcoves to admire from afar.Just don’t look too close, because thenit starts getting into Sega Dreamcast territoryand oh.Oh no.That’s a mood right there.Anyway, it’s a prosperous industrial town!But prosperity comes at a cost, you see, andin this pack that cost comes in the form ofsmog, breathing problems, and acid rain.So it’s up to you to actively embrace greenliving and make things better!Or don’t, because it’s The Sims.Either way, the environment is now in a constantstate of flux with this pack installed, witheach of the old neighborhoods starting offin a neutral state and evolving from theredepending on your actions.You can turn this off entirely in the optionsmenu should you so desire, but eh, consideringit’s half the point of the pack?Yeah it’s prolly worth leavin’ on forjust a bit to see what it’s like.And what it’s like is a balancing act ofyour sims’ Eco Footprintgoing between “green” and “industrial.”The two main things to pay attention to arethe separate neighborhood ratings on the mapscreen, and this meter popping up down herethat measures the local Eco Footprint.And in The Sims 4, this means that you havean idyllic green wonderland on the far left,polluted industrial dystopia on the far right,and a neutral state in the middle of the meter.These affect the overall visuals of each neighborhood, as well as the prevailing mood,health, and smugness of resident sims.There’s no dedicated storyline or set ofquests to follow in order to induce change,but rather an environmental system that lets playersalter a neighborhood’s ecological status.The two main methods of affecting this changeare by utilizing certain household objectsand by casting votes using influence points.First up are the new object stats, with justabout everything in the game being retooledwith new traits that affect the local ecofootprint.Placing these items will now make things eithermore green or more industrial, along withinfluencing power and water consumption.So different electronics and appliances, andeven doors, windows, and floor and wall tiles,can all influence your local eco footprint,as well as your household’s weekly powerand water usage.It’s easy to go overboard too, like, sayyou wanna go hardcore green but already havea roof full of solar panels?Build a hundred bushes in your basement andwatch the eco meter swing left.Wanna cover a neutral neighborhood in pollution?Construct a ton of fuel-burning industrialgenerators and let the smog roll in.Item stats also tie into the new billing system,where you get a breakdown of individual billsand taxes instead of only receiving one lumpsum.And if you have objects that generate wateror power, such as dew collectors and windturbines, any excess can be stored for lateruse or sold back to the city for extra cash.Or hey, why not join the city itself withone of the new careers, Civil Designer.It’s a traditional Sims 4 job with two branchingpaths, and in this case you’ll end up aseither a Civic Planner or a Green Technician.Along the way sims will be doing things likeinterviewing home owners about utility usage,drafting municipal concept proposals, andgenerally being outwardly enthusiastic aboutcity planning and green technology.On the topic of green tech, you can also offsetthe negative effects of not-so-green objectsby installing new upgrades.Items that use power or water can use H2Ofilters and optimized electronics so thatthey’re more efficient, or you can evenreplace their source of energyentirely with biofuel.Some of which can be harvested from the new insect farms.Grow your own little hexapod army of grubs, beetles, and crickets,feed them juicy compost, and enjoy the squishy fruits of your laborin the form of grub fuel, beetle nuggets, and cricket flour.You can also grow a smorgasbord of fruits,veggies, and herbs in the new vertical gardens.A handy thing to have for smaller rooms, tinyhomes, and cramped apartments.Sims can even grow plant-based meat if they’vetaken on the job of Green Technician.A somewhat unsettling visual to be sure,but nonetheless amusing and useful for vegetarian sims.They can either eat it on its own or cookit into different dishesfor a beyond impossible meatless meal.The other main method of changing things is by weekly voting.Voting takes place either at your home’smailbox or at community bulletin boards foundaround town, with ballots enacting NeighborhoodAction Plans.Each adult sim is able to vote as many times as they like,so long as they have enough influence points.And these influence points are easily earnedby doing anything from greeting your neighborsto performing tasks at work.In a way, it’s like forcing the entire neighborhoodto join one of your clubs from the Get Together pack.But instead of a club, it’s a set of ruleseveryone has to follow, enforced not onlyby social pressure but by visits from neighborhoodaction enforcers.The rules aren’t just environmental stuffeither, you can make it so sims constantlyget wasted on juice, or so everyone has towear bags on their head, so no one gets jealousand sims are woohooing everywhere, all kindsof silliness.Ideal for the new dumpster woohoo location,by the way.After all, the only thing better than freelove is free love in a rotten dumpster.So uh, anyone else find this voting systema little strange?Cuz effectively, the more popular, wealthy,and powerful you are,the more votes you can buy.It’s incredibly easy to game the systemhere.Just do an online charity stream and all ofa sudden the entire world forgives anythingbad you’ve ever done and bends to your will.Oh well, it’s not like you’ll be seeingmuch in the way of difficult choicesor moral quandaries anyway.Going green or going industrial provides theirown minor advantages to things like sims’mood, creativity, and profit-making abilities,but when it comes down to it, it’s stilllargely an aesthetic choice.Green neighborhoods will have bright raysof sunshine and glowing auroras at night,and industrial areas are filled with smogand green acid rain with Seasons installed.Regardless of which is currently active, Sims carry on with their simlivesmore or less as usual.It’s also possible to have a neighborhoodpacked with litter while being rated green,I was surprised to see.Something that only shows up in EvergreenHarbor, nowhere else, no matter how smoggyand polluted your other worlds become.Trash and graffiti are totally unrelated tothe Eco Footprint rating, it’s just a non-interactivevisual for Evergreen Harbor that exists untilyou choose to get rid of it.Which is accomplished by passing the ModernDevelopment or Green Initiatives NeighborhoodAction Plans, but again, this is only goingto affect the visuals in one area.That’s it.And personally?I think that’s a shame since I find litterkinda refreshing, in atwisted Sims game kinda way.Rarely do you see anything in-game but squeakyclean cities, so a few trash bags, old tires,takeout boxes, and wooden palettes arguablyhelp give a place personality.And if there’s one thing that EvergreenHarbor and this pack provides, it’s personality,in the form of ever-evolving neighborhoodsand a different lookthan anything else in the game.Not only the town itself, with its 20th centurysea town vibe filled with corrugated steeland concrete, but the new shipping containerthemed items that allow for some seriouslyunique housing possibilities.Combined with the now freely-placed windowsand doors, and the welcome addition of laddersafter years of requesting it?Yeah, it allows for even better tiny homesthan we got in Tiny Living, while retroactivelymaking those items make more sense as well.Another nifty, if under-utilized, featurein Eco Lifestyle, are the community sharedlots, only found in Evergreen Harbor by default.They start off as abandoned structures, completelyempty and surrounded by garbage.But by making use of the NAP system, you canvote on what the lot should become next.So you can vote on it becoming a communitygarden, a marketplace, or a creative makerspace,with each one attracting sims from all overto actively participate in growing fruitsand vegetables, selling crafts and ingredients,and creating all kinds of crafty craftwork.Speaking of which, there’s a couple newcraftacular skills on offer now:Juice Fizzing and Fabrication.Juice Fizzing is about what it sounds likereally.Instead of only being able to craft cocktailsat the bar,sims can now craft carbonated beverages.Using all sorts of ingredients too, from berriesand fruits to fish and bugs, just go wildand see what happens.Often the results are nasty but that’s partof the fun.Then there’s Fabrication, having nothingto do with active falsification and everythingto do with creating new items.The Fabricator is a giant 3D printer/StarTrek Replicator that can generate anythingfrom spare parts, to electric lights, to food,to full-sized furniture.This is fueled by recycled parts,which arethemselves accumulated in the new recycling machine.Toss basically anything from your sim’sinventory inside and watch it come out asa generic trash cube ready for repurposing,signified in-gameby screws and bananas representing parts and fuel.Finally -- a practical use for all those creepyfan letters and urns of dead sims' ashes.Another way to grab resources is by dumpsterdiving and rummaging through trash cans.Not only can you sort for recyclable and compostablematerials, but with the right lot and simtraits you can repeatedly dive for all sortsof random goodies.Food, ingredients, buy mode objects like bedsand refrigerators.And if you’re tired of that why not takea nap inside.If it’s good enough for woohoo it’s goodenough for sleep I suppose.Then there’s candle-making,which falls under the same fabulous Fabrication skill as the Fabricator.Take a block of wax, melt it down, and dipa string into it repeatedly until it turnsinto something ready to set on fire.Or sell, you can do that too.A process that’s streamlined by the newfreelance Crafter career, one that acts thesame as other gig-based jobs.Aw yeah, run your own business fulfillingorders for unseen online clients by makingyour own rugs, lamps, candles, and furniture.On that note, there are five new ecologicallylifestylic chairs on offer in this pack.Or really eight, if you count the trio ofchairs you can make through the Fabricator.And of course we count those, because allchairs are precious in the eyes of Maxis.And that’s about it for The Sims 4 Eco Lifestyleexpansion pack!Is it worth forty dollars? Nah.Is it worth your time though?Yeah, if you’re into the whole evolvingenvironment thing,it’s got a lotta new stuff to play with.Speaking for myself, I like the overarchingidea of an ever-changing sims worldquite a bit!And I especially appreciate the possibilitiesfor off-the-grid gameplay with generatingyour own water, power, and retrofitting oldappliances.It’s way better than what was introducedin Island Living in that respect.But I also wish they’d gone a step further,because when it comes down to it, the environmentalchanges are minimal and the simulation tends to drift towards a neutral,clean environment no matter what.Plus, the lack of drivable automobiles isfelt more than ever, then there’s all thestuff that doesn’t affect sims’ eco footprint.Recycling, composting, plant-based diets,planting shrubs,none of those things affect their footprint.But using eco-friendly wall patterns, nowthat reduces smog!Right.Either way, despite its arbitrary choicesand odd limitations on what does and doesn’tecologically affect the in-game world, EcoLifestyle as a Sims 4 pack judged on its ownmerits is rather enjoyable.In that it has so many gameplay tweaks andinteracting features that come together tochange the simulation, no matter how you chooseto play.$40 is still a beefy price though, so I’drecommend waiting for some kind of sale, especiallyif you’re on the fence about whether ornot you’ll actively use what it offers.And if found this review useful or entertaining,then do check out my previous Sims game coverage.Or any of the other stuff I post each weekright here on LGR both new and old.And as always, thank you very much for watching!\n"