The Sims 4 Werewolves Game Pack Review: Howling Good Fun (PC)

The Sims 4 has had aliens, mermaids, and vampires, and now a new supernatural being joins the ranks. The Sims 4 Werewolves is the latest Game Pack, part of the “Lights Out” season for May and June. One thing that players of The Sims love is supernatural Sims, so Werewolves shouldn’t disappoint… and it doesn’t. Not only is there a new life form to play as, but there’s a whole new world to play in, a playground of sorts for werewolves. Let’s find out how The Sims 4 have taken on werewolves in this The Sims 4 Werewolves review.

The Sims 4 Werewolves Game Pack is now available on PC, Mac, PlayStation consoles and Xbox consoles.

Story – Welcome to Moonwood Mill

The Sims 4 is an open world sandbox game, so it’s up to the player to come up with their own stories. However, the new world that comes with The Sims 4 Werewolves, called Moonwood Mill, does provide a fleshed-out backdrop for the new werewolf occult.

Moonwood Mill is set in a forest and is a fairly quiet place, mainly home to Sims who are werewolves. It has a derelict, run-down feel to it, with an industrial background. It might be run-down and rustic, but it’s not drab. It’s quite a cool, curious place to hangout and even live. It’s also got a lot of mystery to it and you feel compelled to explore every nook and cranny and discover it’s secrets. It’s a great place for werewolves to dwell. If you’re looking for werewolves, Moonwood Mill is the place to go.

Moonwood Mill isn’t a big world. There are only five lots altogether: a library, bar, an occupied home, an unoccupied home, and an empty lot. That’s it. This makes it limiting if you want to move in multiple families and add in different buildings. This has been a continuous problem with The Sims 4, and with the layout of Moonwood Mill, it felt as if there was plenty of opportunity to add in more plots of land, but for some reason, they didn’t.

Moonwood Mill is an interesting place that is home to werewolves.

Saying that, Moonwood Mill is still a very interesting place, and despite it’s drawbacks and limitations, it’s somewhere you’ll want to check out, even if you’re not a werewolf or interested in becoming one. On the other hand, if you are interested, the one unoccupied home is perfect for starter Sims, or you can build your own place on the empty residential lot.

The new world is home to two different werewolf packs: the Moonwood Collective and the Wildfangs. The Moonwood Collective are more friendly and like to think of themselves as “werewolf ambassadors”, wanting to spread the positive word about werewolves. The Wildfangs, on the other hand, are seen as being more antagonistic, seeking to take on world domination as werewolves. With two werewolf packs to choose from, this allows you to make your choice based on how you want to play as a werewolf. Do you want to be a good friendly werewolf, or be a rebellious werewolf out to cause mischief?

The Moonwood Collective is the friendlier of the two established werewolf packs.

Gameplay – Unleash Your Wolfish Side

Werewolves are the main focus in this newest Game Pack, so for this Sims 4 Werewolves review, let’s take a look at the new life form in more detail.

Go Wild with Werewolves

With the new occult life form werewolves being the big new feature introduced with The Sims 4 Werewolves, it’s probably most important to get this aspect right in this DLC. It’s quite safe to say that the new occult doesn’t disappoint. As someone who doesn’t normally play supernatural Sims, it was honestly good fun and an interesting experience playing as a werewolf for this Sims 4 Werewolves review.

There are a few ways to become a werewolf. You can create your own in Create-A-Sim, get bitten by one in the game, be born as a werewolf if you have a werewolf parent, or contract something called werebies, which will turn you into a werewolf if it’s not treated. It’s certainly easier to create a werewolf than get bitten, but there is something thrilling about seeking out to become a werewolf the classic way. Becoming a werewolf by being bitten or getting werebies is not that straightforward, however. 

If you want to become a werewolf the classic way (getting bitten), it’s not that straightforward.

The numerous ways to become a werewolf varies the experience so it’s not so linear. Some of the methods are more challenging to achieve, but this is more of a good thing than frustrating. It would be boring if it was too easy, plus it would be annoying to accidentally become a werewolf if you really don’t want to be one. However, if you’re not born as a werewolf or created as one in CAS and you badly want to become a werewolf, prepare for some hard work and schmoozing with other werewolves (if your Sim doesn’t get scared by them and runs away).

When you are a werewolf, it’s a different experience to being a normal Sim. You can still live a normal Sim’s life; having a job, getting married, having kids, etc., but you have to remember that you are a werewolf and not a normal Sim. All werewolves have temperaments, abilities, and fury.

Temperaments are little quirks unique to werewolves, a bit like traits. Your werewolf Sims can be affected by certain emotions or interactions. It’s important to be aware of your werewolf Sim’s temperaments because it affects their fury.

Your werewolf Sim will glow ominously red when their fury is high.

Fury is displayed as a spherical orb in your Sim’s Needs panel. It will gradually fill up, this rate increasing due to temperaments and other factors such as a full moon. As it fills up, your Sim will behave more wolf-like and will glow red ominously. Once it reaches the top, your Sim will make a full transformation into a werewolf. The build-up is pretty cool, but the moment itself will cause you to stop and watch when it happens, especially the first time. It’s really something to behold.

When your Sim becomes a werewolf triggered by fury, they enter rampage mode. To be honest, rampage mode felt a little lacking. It felt as if there was more that werewolves could do in this mode. You’re blocked from doing most interactions with objects and other Sims. All you can do is scratch objects, howl, run around, and snarl at others. Rampage mode could have been utilized more. Maybe your Sims could have been able to charge around and burn off some energy, building up their Fitness skill? 

Fortunately, there are some upsides to rampage mode. You get to experience the savage werewolf. Also, if you’re worried about scratched-up furniture getting completely trashed, don’t. Werewolves will only break electrical and plumbing objects instead of completely destroy them, which you can take advantage of if you want to build up your Handiness skill. Your werewolf Sim can also learn to control themselves in rampage mode and revert back to their calm human state.

Rampaging werewolves can be destructive, but you can find ways to manage them.

Being a werewolf has its rewards. By performing werewolf interactions, you can build up points and increase your ranking as a werewolf. This allows you to get access to new abilities, such as sniffing out collectibles and managing your fury. By climbing the ranks, you can even unlock objects such as a special guitar.

Werewolves comes with a new aspiration solely focused on being a werewolf. Once you complete the first set of tasks, you are given several options to pursue. You can seek to join either werewolf pack, choose to be a lone wolf, or even find a way to no longer be a werewolf. Whatever you choose gives you a set of new tasks. The werewolf aspiration really helps you to embrace the werewolf life state, particularly if you’re new to it, giving you a better understanding of it.

The options available for werewolves is extensive, and the new life state has a lot to offer, plus it’s a fun and interesting experience being one. There are actually very little downsides to being a werewolf, since the positives outweigh any negatives.

There are numerous perks and abilities you can unlock as you climb the ranks as a werewolf.

Create-A-Sim and Build Mode

Creating your Sims and your own buildings is a big part of The Sims. There’s always anticipation whenever any new DLC comes out, an eagerness with what new outfits and CAS features are available, as well as new building opportunities. Therefore, for this review of The Sims 4 Werewolves, it’s something that must be discussed.

The Sims 4 Werewolves has a particular emphasis on the new life form in Create-A-Sim. All the outfits are perfectly suited for this pack. You have t-shirts with pictures of wolves on them, as well as moon and paw-print patterns. There’s something for every age group, including toddlers. Most of the outfits are designed to be worn by werewolves, especially the ones that are ripped, but this makes sense as you probably wouldn’t see a werewolf in a pristine shirt and trousers. There are also new scars that you can put on your Sims, including claw marks, to go with the werewolf theme.

Create your own werewolves in Create-A-Sim, plus there are some new outfits, hairstyles, scars, and more.

The main new addition to CAS though is being able to create your own werewolf Sim. You can individually change your Sim’s human or werewolf appearance. The werewolf CAS features are especially impressive. You can change individual features such as your Sim’s ears and their snout, but the best is probably their fur. There’s a selection of fur coats to choose from, in different colors and patterns, and you can change the colors if you wish to get the look you want. If you want to take it even further and get really creative, there’s a special paint tool where you can paint directly on your Sim’s fur and add decals. This feature is essentially the same as the one for pets in the Cats & Dogs Expansion. All this allows you to get that werewolf look that you want.

There are new objects with the Werewolves Game Pack as well. There’s nothing that brings new gameplay, unfortunately, but nevertheless, the new objects aren’t disappointing. The objects match the theme of the new world and clothing; industrial, well-worn, and grunge. You can get really creative with the new stuff. You can create a cozy home for werewolves, or a hangout. 

With the new objects, you can create a place for werewolves such as this underground hideaway.

Bugs? Not this time!

A final note on gameplay is regarding bugs, particularly game-breaking ones. The Sims 4 My Wedding Stories Game Pack notoriously had bugs from the start, which were fortunately fixed later on. The good news for The Sims 4 Werewolves is that while playing this game, no bugs were encountered, at least not relating to the Werewolves gameplay. If you’re concerned about whether this pack contains bugs, don’t, because there aren’t any. You’re free to play and enjoy without worrying about bugs hindering your gameplay and enjoyment.

Graphics and Audio – Grunge is Good

There’s not really much to discuss about the graphics and audio for this Game Pack, but for the purpose of this Sims 4 Werewolves review, let’s talk a little about it.

The graphics for The Sims 4 stays the same as always, but there’s a new life state, world, clothing and objects to see. The Sims 4‘s take on werewolves is quite impressive and feels like an improvement over past games. Werewolves in this game are more wolf-like and less like Sims with lots of fur and claws added. The Sims 4‘s cartoony style isn’t to everyone’s taste, but werewolves are portrayed very well. They’re not goofy looking and can actually be quite scary, particularly as the fury meter builds and they eventually transform. 

Werewolves probably have the best portrayal in The Sims 4 compared to previous games.

The world of Moonwood Mill, aka the home of werewolves, is stunning. While it’s an old industrial place set in a forest, it’s still as charming and beautifully designed as any world in The Sims 4. The new clothes and objects are great to look at too.

There’s not a lot to talk about regarding audio. There is some new music that you might hear in the game in Create-A-Sim, Build Mode and between loading screens, as well as when you’re in the abilities panel for werewolves. The new music is cool and goes well with the supernatural Game Pack. There are some new tunes on some of the in-game radio stations as well to listen to.

The Sims 4 Werewolves Game Pack was reviewed on PC.