Doing laundry is one of those things that was bound to creep into a life simulator like The Sims. Laundry Day Stuff was a welcome pack that was, strangely enough, also an unusual project from the beginning. You might not have known that the community, including the author of this text, voted on the overall theme and many other things connected to the pack. Laundry won the gameplay vote over three alternatives.
Join us after the trailer to see what comes out of the hamper.
What is a Sunday Sims Spotlight?
A weekly article designed to inform The Sims community through a detailed look at expansions and numerous add-ons for the cult simulation game. We inform you about what works best in terms of mechanics and all the things you might encounter for decorating your home.
A New Household Routine
With Laundry Day Stuff, everything starts with a hamper. Once there’s one somewhere around the house, dirty clothes slowly start piling up as Sims go about their daily lives. Just like trash cans, it’s not something you constantly have to think about, but a time will come when you’ll have to deal with its full belly.
From there, you can take the modern approach with a washing machine and dryer or stick to the slower, more traditional option of washing clothes by hand in a washtub before hanging them outside on a clothesline. There are also different ways to handle drying, giving you some freedom to decide how each household deals with its laundry.
We found ourselves switching between both depending on the household. Our modern family ended up with a fully equipped laundry room. The setup we had there felt weird, to say the least, in our small cottage elsewhere, so we felt much more at home with a washtub in the garden and freshly washed clothes drying outside.
Clean clothes can give Sims positive moodlets, while damp or dirty clothes have the opposite effect. Trust us and do your best not to leave things unattended for too long. You don’t want to deal with growing piles of laundry taking over the house.
It was fun experimenting with the systems and discovering the many little details. For example, Sims can find spare Simoleons in laundry piles. The dryer, on the other hand, needs its lint tray cleaned. Small interactions like these made us happy to have this pack in our collection.
Of course, if you don’t want another household chore, you don’t have to build your entire game around it. The system only really comes into play when you introduce the appropriate objects into the home, so households that have no interest in doing laundry can simply carry on as before.
A Lived In Home
Most of the furniture leans towards a cosy farmhouse style, with warm wood finishes, wicker details, patterned rugs and plenty of decorative clutter. The laundry equipment itself fits neatly into that style, but the catalogue isn’t limited to machines and hampers. There are pieces that work just as well in bedrooms, living rooms, kitchens and outdoor spaces.
Instead of formal outfits or bold fashion pieces, the focus is on comfortable everyday clothing. Denim, loose shirts, knitted tops, practical dresses and relaxed hairstyles all fit the slower, more casual feel of the pack.
There’s nothing particularly flashy. Just clothes that look like something a Sim might wear around the house or while spending a quiet day outside.
A Fresh New Beginning
Laundry Day Stuff doesn’t introduce brave new gameplay, but much of what’s here is useful.
Laundry gradually becomes another part of the household routine. Some players may decide it’s more work than it’s worth and ignore it, but we enjoyed the extra little layer of everyday life it brings. The novelty can eventually wear off, of course, and there are times when sorting through another pile of dirty clothes feels exactly as exciting as doing real laundry. That’s also what makes the system work.
We loved how naturally washing clothes became part of the day alongside cooking meals, tending the garden or cleaning the kitchen. We were loading the washing machine because the family had dirty clothes and somebody had to take care of them. In the cottage, hanging clothes outside became just another small part of the morning routine.
It is something that had to be done and, for a long while, we had fun doing it. It’s really as simple as that.
Game: The Sims 4: Laundry Day Stuff
Developer: Maxis
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Release Date: January 16, 2018
Platforms: PC, Mac, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Genre: Life Simulation / Stuff Pack
Reviewed on: PC
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