Give Up and Go Back to The Sims 3

If we’re being blatantly honest with ourselves, The Sims 4 has been a trash fire for nine years and counting. Between the game dropping without swimming pools and missing a whole life stage to now having 14 expansion packs at £34.99 a pop, The Sims 4 has slowly been drudging itself into a slower decline of disappointment each time new content releases. Some have accepted this fate, some are still in denial of it, and others have decided to regress.

Welcome to the cult of The Sims 3

With some light modding, you, too, can experience a Sims game that has actual depth. But where to start?

THE HOLY GRAIL: NRASS

NRASS is a slew of different mod options that will not only help your game run awesome on a modern PC, but can add so many nice little functions. At the simplest stage, I’d recommend getting at least the Master Controller, which allows you to edit your towns, get into full Create-A-Sim mode, and reset your whole town. Besides this, there are module add-ons like cheats, integration (which allows you to cut down on the number of swatches CAS puts in by default, helping lag time tremendously), and more tattoo locations.

NRASS also offers other mod options like story progression, which enhances the one already built into The Sims 3, with modules that can add cheating, relationship decisions, and just a slew of juicy drama. You’ll now get pop-up notifications (which you can turn on and off) about your neighbourhood’s on-goings.

BUILD/BUY SEARCH MOD

The build/buy search mod by Lazy Dutchess allows you to type in the name or keywords in the build/buy catalogue, which makes finding things in The Sims 3 a million times easier.

LOT POPULATION MOD

Another one by Lazy Dutchess, this mod adds more Sims onto community lots so your clubs and the like won’t feel so empty. It works wonders in an open-world game like The Sims 3.

DEFAULT LIGHTING MODS

Ready to get overwhelmed with decisions? Brntwaffles has created an array of lighting options to change the look of your game. As natural lighting features change town by town, you now have the choice to choose your favourite and apply it to everyone. It also allows you to choose different water options for the beaches and surrounding water sources. 

‘NO STRETCH’ CHILDREN CAN SERIES

This mod by kapaer opens the floodgates on activities your Sims children can do. In general, it makes them much more useful. Children can now garden, do laundry, study alchemy, and buy things. And it does it all without them doing that freaking demon-stretching animation! 

This is barely skimming the surface when it comes to the mods on offer in The Sims 3. With a few of these and one or two expansion packs of your choosing, you can kiss the disappointment of The Sims 4 goodbye.