The Sims 4 players accuse For Rent expansion of being a City Living repeat

❘ Published: 2023-11-02T18:33:23

The newly-announced The Sims 4: For Rent expansion pack has proven divisive among players, with some worrying it doesn’t do enough to distinguish itself from City Living.

EA has announced a new expansion pack for The Sims 4 called For Rent.

The pack centers around the new Residential Rental lot type, which allows players to live on multifamily lots or even rent out and manage properties. There’s also a new Southeast Asia-inspired world of Tomarang, plus new mechanics like breaking and entering and some kind of death by toxic mushrooms that has fans making Last of Us comparisons.

So far, reactions to the pack are pretty mixed. Beyond those who are generally frustrated with The Sims 4’s monetazation practices, many have expressed concern that For Rent is too similar to a previous expansion: 2016’s City Living.

Sims 4 players divided on For Rent’s apartment theming

As The Sims 4 website explains, For Rent’s Residential Rental lots allow players to “get creative with multi-family dwellings” such as apartment buildings, duplexes, or basement suits.

But while the idea of having multiple families in one space players can seamlessly explore is new, apartments are already a major piece of the exisiting City Living pack (and, to a much lesser extent, Eco Lifestyle). This has led some to accuse EA of charging “$40 for a city living refresh.”

Others say For Rent is “what City Living should have been” when it released 7 years ago. City Living limited apartments to pre-made units. Plus, each were treated similarly to separate lots, requiring loading screens to visit neighbors.

For Rent seems to be much more in depth, which makes sense for a pack centered on the idea of rentals rather than including them as a piece of a wider city theming. Still, the fact that this is a brand new expansion rather than an actual rework for an older pack – something they’ve done in the past – is rubbing some the wrong way.

Despite the criticism, some players are quite excited about For Rent. As one player put it, “I play in San Myshuno almost exclusively so a second city is not a refresher to me, just more content.” Others pointed to Tomarang’s Southeast Asian theming as a selling point that distinguishes it from San Myshuno international but largely Western inspirations.

Whether For Rent exceeds expections or really is just City Living 2.0 remains to be seen, so players will have to wait for the expansion pack to release on December 7.

While you wait for The Sims 4: For Rent, be sure to check out the rest of our Sims coverage, including the guides below: