There is more to The Sims 4: Horse Ranch than My Little Pony fan service, but only just. Featuring two new animal types, the ability to add patterns to ceilings in build mode, and the first ever 64 x 64 residential lot, EA’s upcoming expansion for its beloved life sim launches on July 20, 2023.
Basically, that’s all there is to it. In terms of variety and breadth in The Sims 4, Horse Ranch looks fun, but a little too familiar, like a mashup of The Sims 4: Cottage Living and The Sims 4: Strangerville. Ranch life’s farming elements have been interpolated into an American midwest-inspired world map, something we’ve already seen in earlier packs. Read on for a full breakdown of everything new in The Sims 4: Horse Ranch, including a few noteworthy and exclusive features.
Greetings, neighbor
The Sims 4 Horse Ranch transports us to Chestnut Ridge’s rolling plains. Chestnut Ridge consists of 13 lots, 12 of which are already built on, as I saw during my hands-off preview of the new pack. A real surprise is the empty lot: it’s 64 x 64, making it the biggest residential lot ever in The Sims 4.
In a pack all about raising and caring for your own noble steeds, I’m relieved to report that Maxis has finally found a way to give us the spacious Sims 4 lots we’ve always wanted. After all, building a ranch in a 40 x 40 space just sounds cramped. As the EA team has hinted, “mysterious ranchers” around Galloping Gulch might be of interest, I’m especially excited to discover “spooky spots” and secrets throughout the new world.
Horse Ranch also offers the ability to brew and sell your own nectar. Nectar is the in-game term for juices and, sometimes, alcoholic beverages, so the new Nectar-Making skill essentially turns you into a brewer. This is the perfect last-minute Winterfest gift for your young adult or older Sim. You will be bottling your own unique vintages and getting to name them, too.
At last, we arrive at Horse Ranch’s most obvious feature: horses. Just like cats and dogs, horses will take up one slot in your household roster – which is still capped at eight members. In Create-A-Sim, you can also customize your horses’ coats, clothes, and accessories with patterns. The unicorn horn can be added to your horse, but it is purely cosmetic and won’t grant any special powers. There should have been an actual occult-type horse, to gallop around Moonwood Mill on a vampire-unicorn pony in search of werewolves to bully, but I’m sure someone will eventually add that.
Additionally, horses will have their own set of skills they can exhibit at the county show, as well as 11 personality traits they can acquire over time. In addition to Rancher and Horse-Whisperer, Sims will have their own traits and ambitions to help them build bonds with their stallion friends. You’ll also have to deal with unique tempers when training and handling horses, making them the most comprehensive pet option in The Sims 4.
You can also rear mini-goats in Horse Ranch along with horses. Like chickens and llamas in Cottage Living, they don’t count toward your household numbers and can be farmed for wool and milk on a daily basis. Other than acknowledging each other, there are no special pack-specific attributes to watch out for when playing with goats, horses, chickens, and other animals. Horses also have their own toys to play with. This is just as cute as it sounds.
Goodies in the base game
There are a few changes to The Sims 4: Horse Ranch. In honor of Chestnut Ridge’s Native American roots, the developers have added three sister chillies to our recipe books. In addition, ceiling patterns and a free camera tool will be available to all owners of the base game so they can view their ceilings and apply signs and decals.
There will be some wall decos that are exclusive to Horse Ranch, such as a cowplant wall-mounted skull resembling a wild west bison skull. Also on display will be unique trophies and medals that you can display to commemorate milestones in your horse’s skills journey or celebrate their achievements.
It looks like Horse Ranch will be a detailed, cozy, but somewhat too familiar Sims 4 expansion that will mostly appeal to animal lovers. I would have liked to see Horse Ranch evolve instead of recycling some of its in-game functions and aesthetics, despite the lack of paranormal ponies.
It would have been nice if we could have interacted more with those similar packs – why oh why can’t llamas play with ponies? Besides riding horses, square-dancing, and making moonshine, there doesn’t seem to be much else to do in Chestnut Ridge. You can even swap out the lush green hills for sand dunes, and it’s very similar to Strangerville. The sheer size of the map, however, makes me ready to explore its many charms on July 20 and proudly wear a silly little bandana while doing so.
