If you never, when you were growing up, dreamt that you were going to be a Princess in a castle or to be a dragon hiding underneath a mountain hoarding a ton of gold, honestly, what were you doing when you life? The Sims 4 Castle Estate Kit has been a long-anticipated addition to the Sims lineup to fulfil this exact need. It was a fan-voted kit (and this authors, too) but not everyone was overly excited. I do feel a bit for EA: Give the fans what they want, they’re not happy. Don’t give them what they want? They’re even pettier.
I’m here to give you my personal opinions of it, and opinions I will give, because friends this is not a terrible kit in any way shape or form. I’m excited by the amount of build-buy items that this has given us. However, I think there could have been more.
There should have been a bit of gameplay element in this kit.
I’m not going to lie however; if you are into building some grandeur builds, or if you were looking for a little bit of extra spice for the old times – adding this to your collection may not be a bad decision.
The Sims 4 Castle Estate includes 25 items and several different swatches. As creatures of habit, once we already have a similar swatch in the game, we do tend to call them out. Whilst I don’t think this is a particularly unfair thing to do, (and especially as one of the more vocal of Sims streamers to do so!) I must say that this has been a refreshing look to find new items that I feel are unique enough to stand upon themselves rather than being compared to a different kit or pack.
Things that work well in The Sims 4 Castle Estate:
One of my favourite things about this pack is, of course, is the build/buy items because it is a build/buy kit (funny that). There is something to be said about The Sims team finally getting onto our comments about making cohesive colours in swatches.
I could not believe it when I was putting the walls onto my castle and these swatches were actually swatching perfectly! There were multiple options to give us different colour schemes that flowed consistently throughout the build. I don’t think you know how pumped I was; I did this stupid little happy dance and nearly knocked over my coffee in excitement. When does that ever happen? Never. Never is the answer.
Look at how gorgeous that flows together!
For the veterans who have stuck out my previous stream reviews – windows are always a sore point. My biggest gripe when I’m looking at doing build-buy items is when these aren’t cohesive. The Sims 4 Castle Estate however does a fantastic job of fitting together all of the windows.
Even when we go across all three categories of small, medium, and tall windows. The colour schemes they’ve given us are also quite large compared to other kits that they’ve released in the in the past. The swatches just go so smoothly together which I’m very impressed about. (Look. I’ll give credit where credit is due, okay?)
And how about that lighting?
This one isn’t particularly directed at the contents of the pack, but I just wanted to also call out how beautiful the lighting is when it hits these windows just right. It’s one thing that I am always in awe of with The Sims. The team who focuses on these details to these tiny little moments that in the game just give it a little touch of magic.
Aaaand the downsides to The Sims 4 Castle Estate
Things I don’t like about the new kit. Why did they give us these beautiful windows, but refused to make them curved?! Castles, I don’t know if you know this, are generally in odd shapes. You don’t normally see those beautiful Pinterest photos castles being just a Minecraft replica.
I have nothing against squares (debatable) but I would prefer to build my castles with some curves, or with some Octagons or diagonal walls. This just feels like it is a very missed opportunity for the team to take advantage. Being able to introduce more curved windows instead of being subjected to the horrible black bug (see below) would have elevated this kit for me.
I wonder if we could put a hashtag together going: Justice For Curved Walls! Or, Justice For Curved Windows! Either way, I think both of those would be something we should put back to the team and just seems to be an unfortunate oversight.
WHY? ☹
Whilst on the topics of windows, the other thing that I dislike is the fact that we don’t have any small windows. I’ve said a million times on stream that we need just slightly smaller, but functional windows. The Sims 4 Castle Estate is great in that it gives us 60 windows across the three windows swatches, shapes and sizes. However, if we are looking just for tiny little ones to set up the top of our builds, or if you aren’t making a castle, the smallest one just seems out of shape compared to the others.
This is especially the case if you’re not expecting to do a big grandiose open spot at the top. We can look at the other kits and the other packs to try and fill this void. As we know, however, the swatches don’t always match and it doesn’t feel a bit disjointed when we’re trying to find that last little item to perfect the build.
What other packs should I use with this?
The Sims 4 Castle Estate was made to be paired up with cottage living. Looking through all of the packs and creating this castle, Cottage Living has been the most used. There was a second contender though which was surprising.
City Living, which is not something that you would expect a lot of for these particular houses and build/buy was also coming through with the goods? (Yeah, I’m just as shocked as you are.)
Both of these packs were able to tie the current castle together. This isn’t to say that I think it would work for everybody. If you are looking for a ye olde type of aesthetic, however, this would probably suit your vibe. Another clear option to pair up with this pack will be vampires and having that gothic eccentric vibe that you know that the Goths are probably absolutely frothing over at this moment.
Another small grumble
One more thing that I’m not exactly surprised that wasn’t present, but something that I wish could have been added was more debug or even non-debug items to go with the greenery looking at what we currently have in the game.
I don’t know if there was anything more that they could add in without us having a bit of a moment and calling them out for repeating items. For those who don’t have Cottage Living or University, there isn’t currently any base game items that suit this criteria. At least, not with ivy or a wisteria which seems pretty important to a castle. I do feel this is a missed opportunity for those who aren’t exactly able to put those items in from a base game perspective which is a real shame.
More Dragons Please?
Earlier I mentioned the game play element was a missed opportunity. The Sims 3 had the Dragon Valley DLC. I would have paid more to see a full game pack with dragons and Renaissance items. If this was a new world rather than just a cluster of items, I would have screamed.
There’s no denying that this kit is structured towards a limited audience. In a positive light, there are certainly multiple functions for this kit. Builders working to do wedding venues, for example. Or for those who are looking at bringing their Let’s Plays and old legacies to life, this will have some merit. For $8 (or the equivalent it is in your current currency) it’s not a bad purchase.
The Sims 4 Castle Estate: Final Thoughts
Would I recommend it to everyone? No.
Would I recommend it to those who are actually interested in it? Absolutely.
Is it my favourite pack or kit that has been released? Also no, but it is something that I think that I would utilise almost on a semi-regular basis. If for nothing else, having that gorgeous brick tone is very appealing.
The Sims 4 Castle Estate, I have thoroughly enjoyed exploring. I do think there was room to expand even further. As we’ve already mentioned, I think we’ve all had this feedback across with the kit.
I’ve had a lot of fun over the last few hours creating a castle which is a first for me. Looking and aweing at the new swatches and windows has been positive As a builder on a regular basis, I don’t think this is a bad kit. I definitely think that we have seen worse.
Granted, we’ve also seen better however I think for what we’ve requested and what they’ve brought out this is a nice addition to the game that we haven’t had for a little while now. If you like dungeons but no dragons – this might just be for you.
You can buy the kit here
