There has been an ongoing debate over The Sims 4 Horse Ranch‘s value since its gameplay was fully unveiled. Should it have been sold as a Game Pack? How much content does there need to be to justify a pack launching as a full expansion?
Everyone will have their own opinions, but after spending a significant amount of time playing with Horse Ranch, we feel to focus primarily on this issue is missing the point a little.
It’s true that if you add up the individual features here, the pack might fall short of a fair number of previous expansions. It’s also true that Horse Ranch doesn’t set out to integrate itself into the core gameplay in the way that something like Growing Together did.
But what it does well, it does extremely well to the point where Horse Ranch is one of the more enjoyable packs in recent years.
Bottle-feeding a foal.
The star of this pack and by far the biggest selling point are the titular horses, and they do not disappoint. The amount of care and passion that went into portraying the animal is highly impressive, and the fun and satisfaction that comes from owning and bonding with your horse bleeds into the other aspects of the expansion in a positive way.
Of course, it helps if playing with horses in The Sims is right up your alley.
The customisation options available for horses in CAS is remarkable. You can pick from more than 30 breeds (from Arabian and Thoroughbred to Clydesdale and Friesian), change the horse’s coat colours/patterns, mane, forelock, feathers, tail and outfit, go into Paint Mode, and select up to three traits that inform its personality.
The deep customisation makes it incredibly easy for your horses to be unique – though you can also breed and rescue horses – and from the hours you can spend creating your dream horse, it’s easy to grow attached to your new pet before the first minute of live gameplay.
Our first horse was an intelligent and free-spirited Akhal-Teke.
Interacting and playing with the horse is just as good. One of the most striking things about horses in-game is the exceptional quality of their animations, making horses come across as authentic yet also exuding personality. It just makes all interactions relating to horses feel that much better, from feeding and bonding with your animal to going for rides.
It certainly helps that the American West-inspired world of Chestnut Ridge complements horses gameplay, offering trails that are ideal for rides and exploration.
If bonding with cats or dogs is a highlight for you, then chances are that the horses here will scratch that same itch. Horses have a number of needs to keep an eye on, so as the owner, it’s important to socialise and spend time with them as well as keeping them well-fed, but more than that, they have a number of stats – such as Stamina, Agility, and Jumping – that can be raised particularly if you’re interested in entering competitions at the local equestrian centre.
We became increasingly attached to our pet horse as it became a part of our day-to-day life. The bond that was built over time felt tangible, and that in itself is quite powerful and something that not all expansions are able to achieve.
Entering the equestrian centre in Chestnut Ridge’s New Appaloosa neighbourhood.
That’s not to say everything related to horses is perfect. Perhaps the biggest disappointment in the whole expansion is how competitions at the equestrian centre are portrayed. The venue itself is nothing more than a rabbit hole, so you don’t actually see any of the competitions – just a pop-up a few hours later stating the results. It does take away slightly from the in-game days spent training your horse.
The rest of the expansion is largely focused on expanding on the ranch theme or breathing life into Chestnut Ridge.
Ranch hands can be hired to help you manage your ranch, including gardening and horse care, while mini goats and sheep are adorable and you can make some extra money from milking or shearing them.
Elsewhere, nectar-making is a neat activity where Sims can make bottles of nectar (read: wine) using fruit such as grapes or berries as ingredients. These bottles can be consumed, sold, and even matured by leaving them unopened. There are some neat quirks – plasma fruit can be used for plasma nectar for vampires, while drinking too much nectar makes a Sim dazed (read: drunk) and eventually fall asleep.
Perhaps too much of that apple nectar to drink.
A criticism we had about Cottage Living – an expansion which also has farming elements and which pairs well with Horse Ranch in terms of cross-pack compatibility – was that the world of Henford-on-Bagley felt like a rather generic (albeit pretty) idealised version of an English village.
On the other hand, Chestnut Ridge is beautiful. Aside from being suited for horses, the place itself manages to set itself apart from many of the previous worlds with a distinct look and personality, helped by elements that reflect Native American culture.
An effort is made to create a sense of community within Chestnut Ridge, though the execution is a mixed bag, partly because the minor features here – community jobs, events, bar venues – don’t differ much from similar features that we’ve seen time and time again across the game’s nine-year lifespan and so are on the stale side.
It’s still a world that we enjoyed immersing ourself in, nonetheless.
Chestnut Ridge’s Galloping Gulch neighbourhood.
But it goes without saying that it’s the horses that are the main attraction. If horses aren’t your thing and you’re not into pet-themed gameplay, then there probably won’t be much for you here. And that’s fine. No expansion can cater for and appeal to all players, no matter how many smaller and perfunctory additional features are included.
That said, we had a memorable time. The horses here are an absolute delight and steal the show, and a large part of that is due to how much attention was given to them. Rather than spreading their resources a little thin, the developer was able to deliver on the main selling point of the expansion.
And while it may not be as game-changing as some of the most highly-regarded packs, Horse Ranch shows that sometimes less is more and that having a more focused approach with the right theme can pay off.
Platform reviewed on: PC
For more The Sims 4 Horse Ranch coverage, check out:
• The Sims 4 unicorns explained: how do they appear in Horse Ranch expansion?
• The Sims 4 free update adds Native American representation
• The Sims 4 issues fix after Steam version of Horse Ranch launches with missing text
• The Sims 4 Horse Ranch expansion is 29% off in launch deal
The Sims 4 Horse Ranch is available on PC, Mac, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
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