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  • You ready for the twenty-seventh pack for The Sims 4?

  • Well here it is!

  • The Sims 4: StrangerVille, which seriously is addon pack number twenty-seven.

  • As far as game packs go though, it’s only

  • only

  • the seventh one of those thus far, so y’know.

  • Could be worse.

  • And personally, as a concept I find StrangerVille immediately compelling.

  • Solve the mystery of a desert town that holds a deep, dark secretis the headlining

  • teaser for this one, inviting comparisons to the vast number of conspiracy-laden TV

  • shows and movies that revolve around strange little towns.

  • But another reason for its initial appeal is that it brings to mind Strangetown, a neighborhood

  • first seen in The Sims 2 for PC in 2004.

  • Strangetown was a remote desert locale prominently featuring a crashed UFO and a variety of quirky

  • citizens, most notably a memory-wiped Bella Goth.

  • Of course, with a name so similar to Strangetown and the odd occurrences shown off in the trailers,

  • I was eager to see the sights of StrangerVille.

  • So let’s get right to it!

  • It all begins with the town of StrangerVille itself, a small desert community with a clear

  • military presence and shady goings on.

  • There’s an airstrip just outside of town and a not-so-secret secret lab tucked away

  • inside a large crater.

  • And while it’s a weird enough spot to visit on its own, to really get the most out of

  • StrangerVille youll want to equip yourself with the new StrangerVille Mystery aspiration.

  • This enables a special set of interactions and activities throughout town, with an end

  • goal of uncovering the local secrets that the authorities are clearly hiding.

  • And unlike most Sims 4 things, this is a rather linear storyline with a defined beginning,

  • middle, and end.

  • So lemme go ahead and say that I won’t be spoiling the story in this review, at least not yet.

  • I’ll have a section at the very end where well bust the mystery wide open, but I’ll

  • warn you before we get there.

  • For now though, what I’ll say is that the StrangerVille aspiration takes you on a 12-step

  • journey to enlightenment, a sort of rehabilitation program for the paranoid conspiracist.

  • When you begin your journey it’s simply about talking to local sims, getting their

  • take on the town and hoping that someone, anyone shares some sliver of information.

  • Whether it be military personnel, scientific researchers, or full-blown conspiracy theorists,

  • nearly everyone will have something to say regarding the town’s weirdness.

  • And well, it won’t be long until youre greeted by some of the more... affected inhabitants.

  • [sim cackles maniacally]

  • Or rather, infected, because these folks ain’t right.

  • Try to talk with a possessed sim and their response comes in

  • the form of bizarre movements and barely coherent statements

  • many of which refer to a “motherof some kind.

  • You can also try slapping them out of it to actually talk to them for a bit, but they

  • soon turn back and youre not gonna get much of these folks regardless.

  • Same goes for the Sims In Black that tend to show up once you start poking your nose

  • in places it doesn’t need to be, responding only thatthere’s nothing to see here, move along.”

  • And of course, it’s an open secret that the town is littered with these bizarre glowing

  • purple plants, all of which appear to be growing at an alarming rate.

  • Another early clue to the strangeness of StrangerVille is the Curio Shop: a small shack run by a

  • local weirdo, dedicated to cataloguing the unexplained activity of not only StrangerVille,

  • but the world of The Sims at large.

  • Heh, and you know, of all the game universes that would have dedicated conspiracists, The

  • Sims is an obvious pick.

  • It’s a series full of aliens, ghosts, lake monsters, fairies, zombies, time travel, vampires,

  • werewolves, and magic garden gnomes.

  • A world like The Sims should be full of folks Jonesing for a chance to rant about massive

  • government cover-ups and secret societies.

  • Anyway, it won’t be long till youre directed towards The Lab north of the military base,

  • which appears to have been hastily evacuated.

  • Files, boxes of paperwork, and computers are strewn all over the place,

  • filled with top secret information.

  • Naturally, the first step is to scrounge up enough of it to form a dossier of evidence.

  • Youll likely need to look beyond the facility though, because there’s a large sealed door

  • blocking your path and not enough evidence was left out in the open.

  • So it’s back to StrangerVille to bug sims until they give up something juicy.

  • And also to bug sims until they give up something juicy, using electronic bugs surreptitiously

  • placed onto the backs of key citizens.

  • Using the new listening station you can eavesdrop on their conversations to record evidence

  • both meaningful and mundane.

  • You can also hit up the local library and sift through the archives of books dedicated

  • to the history of StrangerVille.

  • Eventually, youll accumulate the evidence required to win over access to a key card.

  • And that card can be used to waltz deep into the bowels of The Lab, the answers you seek

  • surely just within reach.

  • What lies beyond that door?

  • RALPH!

  • He’s back, baby, and ready for action!

  • Yeah okay maybe not, almost forgot Ralph died in a fire.

  • But yeah, if I say anything more about The Lab it gets into spoiler territory so I’ll

  • leave it there for now.

  • However, we can still talk about StrangerVille’s new career: the military, returning from The

  • Sims 3, now in a semi-active form.

  • By that I mean, it’s one of those where you can send your sim off to work as usual

  • to disappear for the day, but they also have the option

  • to work from home and perform activities directly.

  • Things like working out, marching around, and sparring with both fellow recruits and

  • sparring robots alike.

  • And halfway through the career youll be provided a choice between two paths: Officer

  • and Covert Operator, with the former leading up to your sim becoming a grand marshall,

  • and the latter setting you on the path to becoming a Sim In Black.

  • And despite the top secret silliness youll be dealing with, the military career can be

  • played in any neighborhood in the game, it’s not limited to StrangerVille.

  • Though it certainly fits in the most with the theme of StrangerVille.

  • As do the new build mode items, including the long-awaited return of laptops.

  • Yeah, it took nearly five years for laptops to officially be added to The Sims 4 for some reason.

  • Anyway theyre here now, along with about a hundred other items.

  • Lots of laboratory and military equipment, plenty of sci-fi strangeness and bizarre tech,

  • and a nice assortment of grungy DIY items befitting the bunker of a post-apocalyptic

  • prepper with the new paranoid trait.

  • Also fits with the unique lots, like this eccentric non-mobile mobile home.

  • And the crashed cargo plane just outside of town, which opens up to an underground bunker

  • filled with survivalist storage and excess army surplus.

  • And I am shocked to say there is only one new chair.

  • Dang.

  • And that’s The Sims 4 StrangerVille!

  • It costs twenty dollars and the majority of its content consists of a linear storyline,

  • quite a departure from the usual fare.

  • Some will dig it, others may not care much for it.

  • Especially since the entire mystery can be solved in like an hour and half if you focus

  • on that exclusively.

  • So if youre looking for something completely new and completely weird, it’s a welcome addition!

  • But if you prefer a more open-ended experience filled with tons of objects and activities

  • to be played with however you want?

  • This is probably not the pack for you.

  • The best parts of StrangerVille, where youre sneaking around cracking open conspiracies,

  • is only experienced once and then all youre left with is the usual Sims stuff.

  • Again, fun while it lasts, but is it twenty dollars fun?

  • Perhaps, but it really depends on what you value in a Sims pack.

  • And that’s my overall take on the pack, but now it’s about time to jump into spoiler territory.

  • If you don’t wanna know StrangerVille’s secrets, turn away now.

  • Cool, you still here? Nice.

  • So yeah, y’know how the pack is titled StrangerVille?

  • I have a sneaking suspicion that it’s a small nod towards the Netflix show Stranger

  • Things, more than it is a reference to The Sims 2’s Strangetown.

  • Both Stranger Things and StrangerVille have communities with weird crap happening to its

  • citizens, both have a shady government facility just outside the city limits, there are people

  • in hazmat suits that have to wander the depths of a secret lab with lots of floaty things

  • in the air, there are these weird vines that pop up in bathrooms and sinks, eventually

  • there’s crazy clouds forming in the sky complete with colorful lightning strikes,

  • and there’s a big bad monster with a big mouth that opens up like a flower.

  • [plant monster roars]

  • Top it off with the fact that Millie Bobby Brown herself is officially

  • in the game as a sim, and eh you get my point.

  • I mean, it’s obviously drawing from a bunch of sci-fi source material, there are no shortage

  • of stories about remote towns hiding a dark secret.

  • But my point is that the mystery of StrangerVille is closer to Stranger Things than Strangetown.

  • Meaning that you won’t be diving into the details of Bella Goth’s famous abduction,

  • or learning more about the Pollination Technicians.

  • Sure, Bella’s still prone to showing up as a townie and there are some neat little

  • references to Strangetown here and there,

  • but for the most part youre playing a totally different story.

  • One that revolves around a giant plant monster known as The Mother.

  • Her spores are popping up everywhere and making sims go nuts

  • so it’s your job to concoct a vaccine.

  • Then once youve cured enough sims, you form a ragtag group of PlantBusters to take

  • out The Mother once and for all.

  • This is accomplished by way of a boss battle against The Mother, which is pretty straightforward.

  • All you need to do is outlast her and her possessed minions by tossing vaccine containers

  • and dousing her in overpowered Roundup.

  • Once she’s down, that’s it!

  • The town returns to normal, youre a hero.

  • That is, unless you decide to revive The Mother.

  • And I guess she’s your ally now?

  • I dunno, but you can talk to her and use her as a kind of chlorophyllic genie.

  • Ask for riches, success, energy, or a longer life and shell grant those wishes.

  • Or you can request that the town return to a weird infected state once again.

  • Yeah I dunno, it’s The Sims, these things happen.

  • And yep, once again that is The Sims 4 StrangerVille.

  • I had a couple hours of fun while it lasted, but beyond that?

  • I can’t imagine I’ll be revisiting it anytime soon now that I know precisely what

  • happens in the linear storyline, but I’m certain I’ll be using some of the new items

  • it came with in other scenarios.

  • One thing’s for sure though...

  • I am now very much in the mood to watch another season of Stranger Things.

  • [C418's "Stranger Think" plays]

  • And if you enjoyed this Sims coverage, then sweet!

  • I’ve covered each pack here on LGR, and there are new videos on all kinds of gaming

  • and tech topics every week otherwise.

  • And as always, thank you very much for watching!

You ready for the twenty-seventh pack for The Sims 4?

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