The Sims 4 Horse Ranch review: More Game Pack than Expansion

The Sims 4 Horse Ranch Expansion Pack has galloped its way on our screens to much anticipation from equestrian enthusiasts and newcomers alike.

The newest entry into DLC for The Sims 4, Horse Ranch, adds the new western world of Chestnut Ridge, the Horse Riding Skill, Nectar making, and - most importantly - horses to the game.

So giddy up, and join us as we go through our experience playing the Expansion Pack and discuss if it's worth your time or not.

• It's not too late to get your hands on some exclusive Horse Ranch pre-order items. Check out our guide to the Sims 4 Horse Ranch pre-order bonuses here for more information.

The new world of Chestnut Ridge

Chestnut Ridge is the new western-themed world that ships with The Sims 4 Horse Ranch Expansion. It contains three neighbourhoods: the urban population of Rider's Glen, the town of New Appaloosa, and the beautiful cliff trails of Galloping Gulch.

Since initial teasers, the pack has received criticism from Simmers that the world looks too similar to the desert plains of Strangerville. Whilst the canyons undeniably do look similar, the style of the world is not the issue - but rather the lack of activities to do within it.

New Appaloosa is advertised as having a grocery store, clothing store, tavern, Equestrian Centre and more, but all of them are 'rabbit holes', except for the tavern.

Out on your travels, Simmers may come across an explorable cavern system called the Dreadhorse Caverns, which act in a similar way to the sewer systems present in the Werewolf Game Pack or the trails found in Jungle Adventure. In it, you'll be faced with a choice-based adventure mini-game, which despite being a nice subversion is ultimately underwhelming.

Create-a-Sim items for Sims

Most of the CAS items to come with The Sims 4 Horse Ranch Expansion are western cowboy-themed, and delightfully so.

Featuring a whole host of clothing items for adult Sims, the best of these are made even better due to the dirty swatches that emulate life out on the ranch of the open plains. Dirty cowboy boots aside, there are sadly fewer options for child Sims and a real lack of equestrian-themed clothing overall.

Whilst there are some English riding options, the pack mostly concentrates on Western flair - so you may be disappointed if you were planning five different outfits centred around a good pair of jodhpurs.

Create-a-Sim items for horses

The CAS section for horses, however, is stellar in a lot of ways, especially as there are over 30 different horse breeds to choose from, as well as the option to create a mixed breed - or even a Unicorn!

There is a colour wheel and pattern section that's similar to what's found in Cats & Dogs too, meaning the only real limit here is your imagination.

Where the pack falls short though, is the lack of clothing options for horses: There are only three different saddles, five accessory options and two blanket options for your equestrian friends. Considering that horses are the main draw of the pack, this feels like an oversight.

Build mode items

The Sims 4 Horse Ranch Expansion Pack comes with a host of new build mode items, including a new kitchen set, various chairs, fireplaces, a new grill and more - all in a rustic wood-panelled theme.

The highlights here are the new barn-themed doll house, equestrian training pieces, barn sign with customisable wall hangings and Nectar storage rack which makes it possible to both age Nectar and create your own wine cellar for those.

As far as we could tell, there is only one toy for horses, the ball. Whilst this offers an adorable animation of horses rolling back and forth, it feels limited in a horse pack to just have one toy for horses.

Overall, the style of the furniture is perfect for the overarching Western theme, but the options for horses do feel quite lacking.

Horse gameplay

The Sims 4 Horse Ranch has added plenty of new features for Simmers to dive into alongside horses themselves, including horse competitions, training, riding, Nectar making, Mini Goats and Mini Sheep.

Within these features, Horse Ranch has excelled with horses - a huge relief as the main selling point of the pack. Horse animations are adorable, newborn foals will be unsteady on their feet and jump on toys with gusto. Horses will interact with one another, nuzzle into each other, clean their foals, and roll around on grass when happy.

What's great here is that the horses feel real and have personality, with the only drawback to having a horse companion on your ranch being that they take up a precious household slot, which will limit your chance to grow a family if you're a generational player.

As they are, horses are easy enough to look after, as you're able to feed them with hay, which can either be bought or converted from Prairie grass - a new mechanic and a lot of challenge. Prairie grass is particularly useful for any rags to riches players as you can find rare Nectar and collectables when clearing it away.

You can also make Unicorns in CAS, but unfortunately, these are little more than a reskin of horses. The only thing that changes is they emit a sparkle and sound a little more ethereal - but they have no mythical abilities or gameplay opportunities as they did within The Sims 3: Pets.

Horse training and competitions

Horse training in Horse Ranch fell rather, well, flat, unfortunately. There is no real drive to win the competitions once you realise that they are all rabbit holes.

You can enter a competition via the Community Board or directly at the Equestrian Centre (which bugged out for us several times as the game didn’t recognise we had a horse on the lot). Once you click the option to enter the competition, your Sim and horse will disappear off of the lot into the rabbit hole abyss, only later returning to inform you if you have been victorious.

This was a huge disappointment, as spectating horse competitions was a draw to the pack for many. Whilst it would undoubtedly be a lot of work to animate several horses at once in a lot, The Sims 3: Pets managed a great compromise that could have also worked in this pack.

In The Sims 3: Pets pack you could enter competitions and choose the pace your horse took. You could then view your horse's place in the race and watch it overtake others on a virtual leaderboard. This would have been simpler to implement and would have been a great bit of fan service to players who loved the previous pack.

Mini animals

Unlike horses, Mini Goats and Mini Sheep do not take up a place in your household in Horse Ranch - which is a relief. This means you can have as many as you want, although beware, as the more animals you have, the harder it will be to take care of them.

While you can hire a Ranch Hand to help manage things, unfortunately, our Ranch Hand disappeared multiple times - so we can't vouch for how useful they actually are.

That being said, the mini animals are as adorable as can be expected. Goats will bound about and snap at mean Sims and you will be able to harvest wool and milk from the animals daily.

You can also show them off at a Ranch Animal event, one of two new social events to come with the pack. Winning gold at these events will earn you precious Simoleons too, meaning the event can help with the day-to-day running of your ranch.

The Verdict

Ultimately, The Sims 4 Horse Ranch feels more like a Game Pack than an Expansion.

If you're mad about horses, then you'll get immeasurable joy from the DLC,  and it will be well worth your time just to see your foals take their first steps on your ranch. However, if you're expecting a full-fledged Expansion with everything that comes with that, full neighbourhoods, activities, storylines and more, you may feel disappointed. 

The Expansion itself also brings up wider questions about Packs. We now have The Sims 4: Cats and Dogs, My First Pets Stuff, Cottage Living and Horse Ranch in place of The Sims 3: Pets - which did all of that and more, offering aquatic pets, lizards, rodents, deer and other animals. (Perhaps an Exotic Pets Pack is next?)

The argument for some time has been that these animals have been separated into different packs to give the audience more value, richer gameplay experiences, new worlds and more. However, as seen with The Sims 4 Horse Ranch, the world has an issue with rabbit holes, and you sadly can’t even spectate a horse competition.

Our recommendation is to wait until the pack goes on sale unless you're a hardcore Equestrian fanatic.

2.5/5

Reviewed on PC. Code provided by the publisher.