The Sims 4 Life & Death Expansion Pack Review: Creepy Awesome (PC)

I can remember earlier this year when The Sims 4 Lovestruck Expansion Pack was announced. I was a little sceptical about a pack centered around romance, wondering if it was a bit pointless. Fortunately, I was proven wrong when I got my hands on the pack and played it. I’ll admit that I felt the same way when the next Expansion, The Sims 4 Life & Death, was revealed. I mean, a pack revolving primarily around death? Wasn’t that a bit… grim? I have to say though that once again, as soon as I started playing Life & Death, any reservations I had towards it were quickly dispelled. Now, I think this pack is brilliant. Yes, it does have a grim theme, but it also contains some amazing new gameplay that will transform the way you play. Also, the new Reaper career is seriously good. In this review, I will demonstrate why The Sims 4 Life & Death Expansion Pack is well worth getting.

You can now get The Sims 4 Life & Death Expansion Pack on all platforms, including PC via Steam and EA App, Mac via Origin, PlayStation 4 | 5, Xbox One | Xbox Series X / S, and Epic Games Store for $39.99. Plus, if you get this pack before December 12th, you’ll get three bonus items, including a masquerade mask, music box, and portrait.

Story – Life and Death in Ravenwood and Beyond

The Sims 4 Life & Death Expansion doesn’t strictly have a story. It just gives you new ways to tell new stories. As the title of the pack suggests, this Expansion revolves around the lives of your Sims, particularly concerning death. Growing Together was all about family and life experiences, but Life & Death is about your Sims making the most of their lives before their time comes. But even then their lives don’t have to end when the Grim Reaper comes calling… 

Like all Expansion Packs before it, Life & Death comes with a brand-new world specifically tailored to the new gameplay: Ravenwood. This world doesn’t disappoint. It pretty big for one thing, with three large neighborhoods. It even has an empty 64 by 64 Lot, a much-asked-for feature by players so you can build a truly big property. Ravenwood has a lot going on, with creepy crypts to explore and have adventures in, different festivals taking place almost daily, interesting Sims and objects to interact with, and stunning homes and commercial properties to live in and visit. The one thing I do appreciate about Ravenwood is that it’s not a dark world like Forgotten Hollow from The Sims 4 Vampires Game Pack. It does appropriately have one creepy neighborhood, but the other two are as bright and cheery as other worlds such as Willow Creek or San Sequoia, so you’re not constantly shrouded in darkness or creepy surroundings. It also includes some good affordable starter homes, another big tick for me when it comes to worlds in The Sims 4.

Gameplay – It’s Grim… But in a Good Way

The Sims 4 Life & Death may seem like a grim-themed pack, and it is, but it does add some seriously good gameplay that makes this pack worthwhile. If you’re not sure yet if you’re sold on Life & Death, let’s go into more detail on what exactly it has to offer.

Soul’s Journey

This is probably my most favorite new feature that comes with Life & Death: Soul’s Journey. This is like a new satisfaction meter that builds up over the course of your Sim’s life, filled by completing specific tasks. These are tasks that your Sims desire to complete. They can range from the quick and simple to the more longer-term and challenging. These tasks can appear randomly on your Sim’s list as they go about their life, or your Sim can decide what they want to do by writing up a Bucket List. Think of these as long-term Wants and Goals, but appearing in a separate list.

I personally find these a big upgrade to Wants and Aspiration Goals. Although some take a long time to complete, they do give you a new incentive to play, giving your new goals to work towards for your Sims. What you get may depend on what packs you have installed as well. You also unlock rewards as you fill the Soul’s Journey meter, gaining benefits for your Sims.

Soul’s Journeys and Bucket Lists are a fantastic new feature with Life & Death, one of those you wish you had in The Sims 4 before.

The Soul’s Journey is now officially my favorite new feature in The Sims 4 – at least regarding goal-oriented gameplay.

Wills and Heirlooms

Life & Death gives you more options when it comes to dealing with life after death, or just death generally. Originally, when Sims died, you got a notification telling you that your Sim’s life was soon coming to an end, then they died and left a tombstone or urn behind, then they came back as a ghost… and that was it. This felt a bit flat, unsatisfying. But with Life & Death, that changes.

Life & Death introduces Wills, which Sims can write and update anytime they wish. Heirlooms can also be passed down to other Sims. You just select an eligible object and select Make Heirloom, and it’ll be ready to pass to the assigned Sim when they die. You’ll find that most objects can be made Heirlooms.

I did encounter one odd blip that I feel I should mention. My Sim wanted to start making a Will, but the option didn’t appear to be available on the computer. I then hired an Inheritance Lawyer to help them out, but all the options for making a Will wasn’t available through them either. Strangely, a few in-game hours later, they appeared. I’m not sure exactly what went on here. It might have been a blip, but it was a bit strange.

Sims can finally make Wills to leave their prized items to their loved ones after death.

Funerals

Finally, Funerals have arrived in The Sims 4 thanks to Life & Death. After a Sim dies, a Funeral can be organized. If you’ve played My Wedding Stories, the whole process of setting up and playing out a Funeral has a similar system. You choose who the deceased Sim is, the host, the guests, and even hire professional mourners, caterers, and entertainers. You can then select the venue, what the guests will wear, and then choose the activities you want to do during the event. There are lots of options, such as giving eulogies, making toasts, eating food, lighting candles, and lots more. It allows you to make Funerals more personalized, rather than just the same list of tasks each time. Make sure you remember the deceased Sim’s tombstone or urn though, because some activities won’t be available otherwise. You’ll also get rewarded at the end for how successful the Funeral was. You also get plenty of time to complete all the tasks, making the event feel unrushed.

Departed Sims can now be given a proper send off.

Reaper and Undertaker Careers

There’s nothing like a new career in The Sims 4, and Life & Death adds two that fits this pack perfectly. First is the Undertaker career, which is a “traditional” career, in the sense that it has ten levels and your Sim disappears off to work, with no option for active work-from-home days, getting promoted by gaining the necessary skill levels and completing daily tasks, with the option to become a Mortician or Funeral Director.

However, it’s the second career that will more likely grab your attention: the Reaper career. This is an active career just like the ones from Get to Work (Doctor, Detective, and Scientist), where you follow your Sim to their workplace. This is the dream job in the lore of The Sims: working with the Grim Reaper as one of their “Grimterns”! I’m not joking. This career seems so surreal that you can’t believe it, but it’s true. You get to do everything the Grim Reaper does; dealing with recently-deceased Sims, collecting souls, and making difficult decisions whether to revive Sims or reap them after a desperate plea from another Sim.

The part of the Reaper career I enjoy most is heading off to the site of the deceased Sim and evaluating how they died. You get a number of options, such as checking their pulse and analyzing their body position. In a sense, it’s like examining a patient in the Doctor career to diagnose their illness. How your Sim concludes their death feels a bit random, as you just choose the options until their cause of death is determined. I wish there was a bit more of a system to this like the Doctor career, rather than just picking actions until you get the result you want.

I also wish there were more opportunities to deal with deceased Sims. It doesn’t feel like it happens enough. You’ll probably get one deceased Sim to deal with per shift – if you’re lucky, and then the rest of the shift you spend at the home base, completing odd jobs such as analysing death trends and recalibrating tablets. This aspect of the Reaper career can get a bit repetitive after a while. 

Overall though, the Reaper career is pretty impressive. Although I wish there was a tiny bit more action, it is exactly what you would want from working with the Grim Reaper.

The Reaper career is a great active career to get into.

Thanatology Skill

There’s also a new skill that, like everything else in Life & Death, is appropriate to the theme: the Thanatology Skill, aka the study of death. This is an intriguing skill to add to the game and I was initially excited. However, it is difficult to build the skill up, despite only having five levels. The only ways to build it is by researching mysteries on the computer and via bookcases, and reading the skill book. I wish there were more options for building it, especially as it’s needed to progress in the new careers.

Tarot Cards

The Sims 4 Life & Death and its new world Ravenwood comes with a new collectible: Tarot Cards, just as Ciudad Enamorada from Lovestruck had axolotls. I’m all for collectibles, so the addition of Tarot Cards took my interest. I was very pleased with how Tarot Cards were handled in this pack. There are 26 to get altogether, and you can track them in the collectibles menu, seeing which ones you’ve acquired and which ones you have yet to get. There are many ways to get Tarot Cards; by completing errands for members of the Order of Lenore (these work like errands from Cottage Living), exploring crypts, obtaining them from a market dealer in Ravenwood, and finding them in the world. To help you out, the collectibles menu will tell you how to find each of the cards, so you don’t have to figure it all out by yourself. I especially love it whenever you find a new card and it’s displayed on screen with a mysterious musical cue. 

All-in-all, Tarot Cards are a good new side activity that will keep your Sims busy as they hunt for all of them.

I just love these Tarot Cards.

Graphics & Audio – Fabulously Creepy

I’ll start with the new world, Ravenwood. I wasn’t sure I would like it at first, but I can honestly say I love it. Comparing it to the other worlds in The Sims 4, Ravenwood is up there as one of the better ones, if not the best. All its neighborhoods are attractive, even the creepy dark one, and I love all the attention to detail in it that makes it feel more lived in.

I’ll also touch on the Tarot Cards. I simply love their design. Whoever designed all the cards did a seriously good job and I love looking at them. I especially love the fact that you can hang on the wall enlarged framed versions of the Tarot Cards.

Now let’s talk about Create-A-Sim, something I always get excited about with any new pack for The Sims 4. Life & Death appropriately includes Gothic outfits that cater to all Sims, so they’ll blend right into the world of Ravenwood. I especially love the new hairstyles, and the outfits for the little ones are so cute, especially the ghost outfit for Infants.

Moving onto the new Build Mode content, there’s plenty to add to any spooky home you want to design. There was even stuff I wasn’t expecting, like new bathroom and kitchen objects. I think my favorite Build Mode addition is the wall design with the crows and owls. So cool!

The Sims 4 Life & Death Expansion Pack was reviewed on PC.