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The Sims 4 Get Together is the second expansion pack for The Sims 4. On the surface The Sims 4 Get Together is about creating Clubs and Groups for your Sims to have fun in, whether that’s at home, the new venues or in the new European inspired world called Windenburg. While a generalisation of the latest Expansion Pack doesn’t sound like it will offer much to the game, when you explore the new systems you will quickly find that there is so much more to Get Together than just clubbing and dancing.



What’s new?

The Sims 4 Get Together adds a whole bunch of new features that will enhance how you play your game. These new features include Clubs, Groups, the new world of Windenburg, the reintroduction of the Dance and DJ skills and new venues. We Simmers have always loved customising every aspect of our game and almost all of Get Together’s new features can be fully customisable.



Clubs

The Club system introduced in Get Together allows for near infinite possibilities for things your Sims can do together. When you first start the game, whether it is a new game or a pre-existing save, you can jump right into the meat of this system by having your Sim join a number of pre-made Clubs. The great thing about this is that you don’t need to do join it blindly either, you can pull up information on the Club and see what it’s all about and if it’s the right one for your Sim or not.







Shortly after joining a Club, your Sim receives a phone call from the leader asking to join them. If you accept you’ll be whisked away to their Club Hangout and get to experience the new system in action. Your Sim won’t be the leader (yet…) of this Club, so you can’t customise different aspects of the club. I actually like this system, to me it said “hey, this is MY club, you will do as I say and like it”. It really makes you feel like your Sim is part of a Club that has a leader. You CAN purchase Club Perks for a Club, even if you aren’t the leader. While it may seem odd that you can purchase Perks but not be the Leader, I took this as being that my Sims influence within the club was helping to change it.



Of course, if you don’t want to join a Club, you can always make your own. This is where the full potential for the Club system shines. I have to praise whoever it was that designed this system and it’s interface. Given the complexity of creating a Club, the designers did a fantastic job in ensuring that the creating process is as simple and streamlined as possible while ensuring that it offers as much customisation as possible.





The new world of Windenburg

Pretty much every aspect of The Sims 4 is included as options for creating a Club. You can set an age limit, marital status, Traits, Careers and more as entry requirements. This right away means that any Sims who aren’t eligible to join the club can’t and ensures that only eligible Sims CAN join.You can then set activities that members of your Club can can can’t do. Again, this draws from every aspect of a Sims life. If you want to make a bunch of single Young Adults who work in the Culinary career do nothing but cook and chat but are NEVER allowed to eat their food, then go right ahead!

The new European inspired world of Windenburg is an absolutely beautiful world. It’s full of life and intricate details not seen in the other worlds. Of all the worlds featured in The Sims 4 thus far, I have to say that Windenburg is by far my favourite one. I don’t know if this is because I live in Europe or because it’s a style of world that has never been done before in The Sims, I’m not too sure. But it’s not the general look of Windenburg that I love so much, it’s how all the little things add up to make a much larger whole.





New and improved Venues

No matter where you are in the world there is something to do or see. Whether you’re taking your Sims to the cafe or for a walk along the beach, you’ll stumble upon something for them to do and for you to see. There’s lots of small details added like pigeons walking around a picnic area or a strategically placed easel that just SCREAMS out for your Sims to use to paint the scenery nearby.While playing I heard the ringing of church bells in the distance. It was one of those moments where I just had to stop what I was doing and smile. I realised that I’d been hearing it all through me playing but it’s a noise I’m used to hearing in real life that I just wasn’t hearing it in the game. It all goes a long way to make the world feel like it has always existed and your Sims are just a small part of this towns history.

Included in The Sims 4 Get Together are several new venues and reworked existing venues. I’m the type of player where I like my Sims having something to do and somewhere to go. This Expansion Pack goes a long way to fulfilling those needs by adding in a lot of new places for our Sims. You can take your Sims out to the new Cafe, the Bluffs, the Chalet and more! I’m really glad that the Sims Team included a lot more venues given the vast possibilities that the Club system introduces. I’m especially happy that Cafe’s have returned, it’s always nice to have somewhere my Sims can go and hang out that doesn’t involve nightclubs and bars, but where a lot of socialising can take place.





DJ and Dancing Skills

You’ll also find that “Themed Nights” have been introduced to your bars now too. Whether it be Singles Night, Ladies Night, Knights Night or more, there is always something for you to do there now. You won’t need to take part in the event (such as Bear Night… no, not THAT type of bear!!), but they are optional little fun extras that give the game a further sense that there is more going on in the world than just your active household.

The Dancing skill is a fan favourite from The Sims 2 and has been requested back in the series for quite some time. I’m very happy that it has made a return in The Sims 4 Get Together and is better than ever! When I first heard that the skill was returning I thought it would only be advanced when using the new dance floors. Thankfully this isn’t the case. All Sims that dance will start building this skill and it does seem like dance animations have been changed up a little too. I noticed that Sims who had little to no Dance skill were a little… bad at dancing. I found it hilarious when my Sim started practising his dance moves in front of the mirror!!



If you use the dance floor you will notice that your Sims can select a number of new dance moves. These can either be moves they’ve unlocked as they advance the skill, group dancing or dance offs. If you’ve ever wanted to re-enact the movie Step Up, go right ahead! While you’re at it, why not challenge the leader of Partihaus to a dance off and try to overthrow them?! My only complaint about the Dance skill is that there are only 5 levels to it and the dance moves are fairly limited. More varieties of dance moves would have been a bonus.





How does Get Together play with standard gameplay?

The DJ skill also makes a welcome return and this time it’s better than ever! Your Sims will be able to play a bunch of different genres while pleasing (or not) the crowds! With each skill level your Sim can unlock new music styles to play and they are all the type of styles you’d expect to play in a club. One particular style really hit me in the feels though, it played remixed version of songs from The Sims 2! I was sat dancing in my chair and whistling to them as my Sim spun those discs!While DJing isn’t a new career, your Sims can make some serious money with this hobby! I took my Sim to the clubs and had him spinning some discs and the crowd loved him! They loved him that much that they started throwing money his way! Something I did find odd though was that the amount the little box in the corner said my Sim got didn’t always represent the amount he actually made. I have a feeling that this could be a (minor) error and I’m sure that it will be fixed in the future.Your Sim is also able to make mix-tapes too with more styles unlocking as your Sim increases in the skill. Something that isn’t made clear in the game though is that in-progress tapes are stored in your Sims’ personal inventory and you need to click on the tape to be able to continue mixing it. Once mixed though, your Sim can play their tape to the crowd and also sell the royalties (at DJ skill Level 9) for some steady extra income. My only gripe about mixing tapes is the length of time it takes your Sim to do it, I hope that it can be tweaked in the future to decrease the time.

Something that I was eager to try out was how Get Together would fit in with how I like to play the game. In my game I am very much a family orientated Simmer, meaning I like having family’s that are close knit and do things together. Get Together caters to this in ways that I never expected! You can create Clubs with only family members and have them do things together, like watching TV, playing games and more. Heck, you could even create a “Chores Club” and have all Sims in the club clean your house and repair things!! FREE LABOUR FTW!! And because Sims are having fun, they don’t even know you are exploiting them while your Sim does something else!





Final Thoughts

I particularly like having my family Clubs going down to the beach and having fun around the bonfire. With a lot of the portable items from Outdoor Retreat, it was fun taking them to the Bluffs and setting up a little spot for themselves to just chill out for the day there. It’s the little moments like this that really make you appreciate The Sims 4 Get Together and the many ways that you can use the expansion pack, regardless of your play style.Now, for Simmers who have Get To Work installed, you may be wondering if there is any cross-expansion gameplay? The good news is that there is some! If your Sims own a Retail store that sells craftable items (such as food, paintings etc), you could create a “Club” that carries out these activities while your Sim takes care of the store. You can also hire a Barista on a retail lot, or your Sim can tend it themselves. Unfortunately they don’t make money from selling coffee and food though (through sales or Tips), nor can you assign an employee to man the coffee stand. This is something I would absolutely love to see patched into the game as I really wanted to have a small shop that sells books while having a small cafe selling coffee and snacks.In regards to cross-expansion pack gameplay, unfortunately you can’t set the career lots as a Club Hangout. While the items from Get To Work have been unhidden in Build Mode and can be placed everywhere now (YAY!!!), it would have been good to have a bunch of Science Enthusiasts make the Science Facility from Get to Work their own little hangout.

The Sims 4 Get Together brings so much to the game in ways that I never expected it would. I love that my Sim isn’t always in control of clubs, and that I (the player), don’t need to be the instigator for every event. Sims can contact your Sim out of the blue and invite them out somewhere and a text you send to a Sim may lead to an invite out too. The world around your Sims feels so much more alive now too, you will see Clubs gathering on lots, Sims will do activities that seem “right” for a particular lot too.



While we may not have a fully fledged Story Progression feature, The Sims 4 Get Together goes a long way in making it seem like it’s back. Sims are aware of your relationships with other Sims and will let you know what they think of it. It’s the little things that make this already great Expansion Pack even better!





A lot of people have been comparing The Sims 4 Get Together to the Night Life and Late Night Expansion Packs of previous games, and while that is true to an extent, The Sims 4 Get Together is so much more than that! While your Sims partying IS a part of this Expansion Pack, that’s not what this pack is. The Sims 4 Get Together is a pack where you make of it what you want without being limited by game designs. The Team have opted for granting the player the freedom to do what they want with this pack, something that I wish was marketed more instead of just the clubbing side of the pack.On March 30th of this year, I said in mythat the standard for future Expansion Packs had been set, and thankfully the Sims Team aren’t just maintaining that standard, they are pushing the boundaries of it! All I ask is that Get Together’s Club system be continuously updated for any future Expansion Pack, Game Pack and Stuff Pack additions.The Sims 4 Get Together releases worldwide this week. Thank you for taking the time to read this review and I hope it has helped you make a decision about the expansion pack.Take care and have an amazing day!