EA was kind enough to give us an early access code for The Sims 4 Realm of Magic game pack. Views are entirely our own.
Realm of Magic is the latest Game Pack for The Sims 4, and, like The Sims 4 Vampires, focuses on introducing a new life state and associated game play to the game.
As ever, I’ll break this review into 3 sections – CAS, Build/Buy and game play. I will try and keep the game play element fairly spoiler free, but there will be some elements covered.
Create A Sim
There’s a wealth of new CAS assets available from teen upwards.
There are 6 new hairs, 4 tagged as female, 2 as male, although they all work well for either gender. I say 6, but one of them, the chunky dreads, which are tagged female, is there twice, once in standard colours, and once in the mixed colours.
Clothes are a mix of styles, some of which blend well into packs like Vampires of Glamour Living, others just look like the comfy, weekend stuff I’d be happy living in. There’s also some new make-up and accessories to compliment the new styles.
Styled looks – female everyday 2, male everyday 2, female party 1, male party 1
Tops – female 6, male 8
Full body – female 8 male 4
Bottoms – female 4, male 2
Accessories – female – 5 body, 4 head
Shoes, well boots – female 2, male 2
There is are 2 new aspirations -Knowledge has the Spellcraft and Sorcery aspiration, which will guide your Sim through their journey into the arcane arts, and offers a reward that will boost their power, while Nature has the Purveyor of Potions aspiration, for your budding alchemists.
Build/Buy
The build/buy assets cover the whole house, other than electronics, with matching items for living room, dining room, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. There’s also a selection of items tailored to the theme, such as the Spellcaster’s Cauldrons, and themed decor items. While not available via buy mode, there are also buyable items for Spellcasters, such as wands and spell ingredients.
There are 4 styled rooms available, 3 indoors and one garden area.
Gameplay and Neighbourhoods
First off, these sims aren’t witches, they’re Spellcasters. No, I’m not sure of the difference either, since we’ve had witches in every version from Making Magic onwards, but essentially they’re the same.
Realm of Magic introduces 2 new neighbourhoods. Well, one new playable hood, Glimmerbrook, which is accessible in all the normal ways, and then the Magic Realm.
Glimmerbrook is a small hood, with 4 residential lots – 2 with pre-made magical families, one with a starter house, and one empty lot, as well as a local bar. There’s also a magical portal hidden in the woods. Initially this is the only way to access the Magic Realm. Maybe your sim will find other ways to access this hidden realm as their powers grow?
Any Sim who can locate the portal can travel to the Magic Realm, you don’t need powers to do so. In fact, for non-magical Sims, this is the first step in the path to gaining phenomenal cosmic powers.
Once you arrive in the Magic Realm, there are fellow Spellcasters to talk to, resources to use, areas to learn and develop your skills, and various areas to visit. The whole hood is gorgeous, and full of details. As always, I do feel there is some wasted space, but that’s a minor niggle here.
What can I say about magic without giving too many spoilers? Well, any Sim can become a Spellcaster by visiting the Magic Realm, and talking to one of the 3 Sages – you can identify them by the icons over their heads. There are 3 branches of magic, and each one has a Sage who is head of the branch.
Speak to them, and they’ll give you a quest to follow – pass the test and you are granted powers. After that, practice, practice, practice! As you gain in power, you learn spells, and earn points to buy perks – similar to Vampires and Celebrities – which will help your Sim grow. You can also use a cauldron to experiment and brew potions which also add to your points. Once you have spells and potions, your Spellcaster Sim can use them on various objects or other Sims.
Overall, there’s a lot to Realm of Magic for a game pack, and I really like it. Watch out for more in depth articles over the next few weeks that will go into more detail and *will* contain spoilers!
Thank you to EA Game Changers for the opportunity.
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