The Sims 4: Horse Ranch Image
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68

Mixed or average reviews - based on 12 Critic Reviews What's this?

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  • Summary: Get up early in the morning, look out at the big open countryside, and know that all your work is worth it. Spend your days keeping your animals happy and clean, harvesting Prairie Grass to feed them, collecting Horse Manure to fertilize your plants, and making your own Nectar to sell. Do itGet up early in the morning, look out at the big open countryside, and know that all your work is worth it. Spend your days keeping your animals happy and clean, harvesting Prairie Grass to feed them, collecting Horse Manure to fertilize your plants, and making your own Nectar to sell. Do it all on a ranch you design, whether that means a traditional cabin or a big red barn.

    Fill your ranch with animal friends and carve out a life together. Your horses - including adorable foals - are part of your household and have lots of special interactions with both Sims and other horses. You can also care for mini goats and mini sheep, and invite neighbors to come see how cute they are.
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The Sims 4 Horse Ranch: Official Gameplay Trailer
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 12
  2. Negative: 1 out of 12
  1. Jul 26, 2023
    80
    Like most Sims 4 expansion packs at this point, Horse Ranch isn’t revolutionary in any way. It does add plenty of welcome new content, though, and once again the Sims designers prove they can make one hell of an inspiring neighbourhood. If you’re a horse lover, you’re going to absolutely adore getting to bond with The Sims 4’s newest equine residents.
  2. Jul 24, 2023
    80
    The horses here are an absolute delight and steal the show, and a large part of that is due to how much attention was given to them. Rather than spreading their resources a little thin, the developer was able to deliver on the main selling point of the expansion. And while it may not be as game-changing as some of the most highly-regarded packs, Horse Ranch shows that sometimes less is more and that having a more focused approach with the right theme can pay off.
  3. Jul 26, 2023
    80
    Whether or not you're a horse lover, The Sims 4 Horse Ranch is an Expansion Pack worth checking out. Horses lived up to expectations, being beautifully modelled and animated, not being overwhelmingly challenging to manage, and providing plenty of fun new gameplay. The mini goats and sheep add a little extra fun and cuteness as well. The world of Chestnut Ridge is perfect for the new gameplay in Horse Ranch and is one of the most scenic and tranquil worlds in The Sims 4. There was some great new stuff added in Create-A-Sim and Build Mode as well, although I feel some extra stuff could have been included. All-in-all, The Sims 4 Horse Ranch will give you a smooth ride in a classically rustic and tranquil setting.
  4. Jul 25, 2023
    70
    I highly recommend playing the Horse Ranch if you love caring for these animals, want to try out a new Sim experience or enjoy farming simulators. Despite its lack of gameplay, it pairs well with the base game and the rest of the DLCs, bringing in a new wave of challenges. The pack has a lot of potential to open other doors in the franchise, and it’s already made me begin my traditional binge-playing for the next few months.
  5. Jul 27, 2023
    70
    If you're a horse lover, the The Sims 4 Horse Ranch expansion is a no-brainier. For anyone else, this is one that it might not be a bad thing to skip.
  6. Jul 24, 2023
    60
    It’s a great escape to the ‘wild west’ countryside, but one without significant bells and whistles.
  7. Aug 22, 2023
    40
    The Sims 4 Horse Ranch is unfortunately a wonderful concept rendered almost unplayable due to bugs, and both my Sim and animals getting stuck. The CAS clothing items and Build Mode pieces are fantastic and add a lot to the game, especially if building a ranch or country theme is your jam. Bonding with your horse and the interactions between both your Sim and the animals is heartwarming, and riding is loads of fun. I’d have liked to see more with the Equestrian Center and competitions, not being able to go inside is kind of a bummer and a waste of space. As much as I’d have loved to explore all that Horse Ranch has to offer, I just can’t play it in its current state. I’d love to adjust my review at a later date if things improve.

See all 12 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 1 out of 1
  1. Jul 27, 2023
    4
    Horse Ranch underpromised and yet still underperformed. Horses are pretty and well animated, but creating a custom horse in CAS is just bad.Horse Ranch underpromised and yet still underperformed. Horses are pretty and well animated, but creating a custom horse in CAS is just bad. Instead of giving the player common markings to layer on, like socks, stars, blaze etc., you just get a paint tool to scribble on your horse. There are a few templates on the paint tab, but they inexplicably omitted all the common horse markings. It's bizarre and kind of pathetic. And because they chose this paint system over the layered marking system, they have no way to generate foals that are a mix of their parent's markings rather than simply copies of one or the other. Horses have a "breed mixer" button in CAS, so they clearly wanted to put in a decent genetics system that would mix traits from the parents, but didn't. It looks and feels half-baked.

    Speaking of half-baked, the nectar making skill is a 5 point skill instead of a 10 point. There aren't many varieties of nectar. Instead of the flavor profile system from Sims 3, you just use any fruit. I would like to see all these food and drink making skills thoroughly incorporated into Dine Out, but cross-pack compatibility is again ignored. For an 11-year-old game with tons of expansions, I cannot understand why they keep making these expansions stand-alone rather than using them to evolve and develop the original world. Players who buy most or all of the packs, for hundreds of dollars, deserve a better overall experience rather than an isolated bit of new content that they tire of quickly.

    I find myself waiting to really play this pack because I need mods to fix the genetics and fix nectar making. I know people are already working on it. Then I think, why are unpaid, individual modders doing so much of the heavy lifting for this massive company? If one person can vastly improve a feature in a week, there is no excuse for the dev team not doing it. It just makes no sense. Animations and most art assets are consistently good, but gameplay and functionality is mediocre at best. Same old, same old.
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