The world of The Sims is no stranger to the occult. In one way or another, the mystical has pretty much always been a part of the franchise. Even going right the way back to The Sims 1, the haunting screams of the Goth manor’s graveyard are unforgettable. And that’s without even getting into the series’ interesting relationship with extraterrestrial Sims.
The Sims 4 has a particularly huge amount to excite and mystify occult enthusiasts, with this generation of the game offering an ever-growing list of creatures for you to play as. Feel like getting into potions and spells? Or maybe you want to take a closer look at the stars hanging over Oasis Springs? Grab the right Expansion, Game, or Stuff Pack and you’ll be good to go.
Magic, fairies, witches, oh my!
High fantasy fans rejoice, because The Sims 4 has a surprisingly long list of packs just for you. Over the past few years, we’ve seen the arrival of majestically-winged fairies, floundering mermaids, and multiple witchcraft-adjacent activities that will probably tickle your fancy. If you’re feeling nasty, you could even pair it with Lovestruck for some peak romantasy gameplay.
Just a few occults that you might want to try out include playable fairies, spellcasters, and mermaids. Some of these packs also fit together nicely with PlantSims, a Base Game occult who are more than a little green-thumbed. As well as the occults, there’s also loads of DLC with plenty gorgeous greenery to help perfect your magical builds.
Take a flight of fancy with Enchanted By Nature
Enchanted By Nature was arguably one of the most highly anticipated Expansions for The Sims 4, considering how long the fandom has asked for fairies to be reintroduced into the Simosphere. When fairies finally landed in Innisgreen, they changed the game by bringing a bunch of new (magical) features with them. It’s a must for anyone who wants a little extra whimsy in their save.
Feel like adding a few more plants to your Innisgreen paradise? There are also a few Kits you might want to check out. The Blooming Room, Greenhouse Haven, and Oasis Courtyard Kits are all strong choices for building magical gardens and green spaces, for example. But think of them as being a handful of extra items to spruce up your builds rather than necessities.
Dive into the Realm of Magic
Magic doesn’t start and end with fairies, of course. Realm of Magic adds Spellcasters, who are The Sims 4’s take on witches. This game pack offers loads of new gameplay, including an all-new magic world you can visit to adopt a familiar and purchase potion ingredients.
You’ll probably particularly love this pack if you were a fan of The Sims 1 and 2. When I installed it, I was immediately whisked back to the autumnal Magic Town, a then-major addition to The Sims 1: Makin’ Magic. The spellcasters are also super reminiscent of the witchy inhabitants of The Sims 2: Apartment Life.
Get creative with Crystal Creations Stuff
Want to add a little crystal magic to your fairies or spellcasters? Crystal Creations is just the DLC for you. It builds on the crystal collection and game mechanics from base game to take it to all-new heights by introducing the Gemology skill.
Using that, your Sims can charge, carve, and even grow magical crystals to their hearts’ content.
Spend an Outdoor Retreat in Granite Falls
If you still can’t sate your drive for magic, then Outdoor Retreat might be just the underdog DLC you need. The camping-focused game pack added the Herbalism skill. With this, your Sims to make the most of their surroundings by turning herbs and berries into tinctures and salves.
Plus, if you know where to look in the forested Granite Falls, you can find a secret (and very cottagecore-coded) area where a mysterious Sim lives. It’s not the most occult-oriented pack, but it’s definitely elevated some witchy gameplay for me in the past.
Swim with dolphins and eat Mermadic Kelp in Island Living
Prefer a little more sun and sand with your occult gameplay? Me too. Head down to Sulani, an aquatic island paradise surrounded by shimmering shoals of fish and friendly dolphins. They aren’t the only marine creatures it added to the game, though — it also gave your Sims the chance to turn into merfolk.
Mermaids get a bad rap for not having a special skill tree, unlike some other occults, but personally I can’t imagine the game without them. There are also island spirits who occupy special Lots on Sulani to help protect the volcanic island, which you can play as if you’re tactical about it (or cheat). It’s a splashing fun time all around.
Get lucky (or not) with the Romantic Garden Stuff wishing well
Besides the tall, luscious lupins and other gorgeous flowers you get with this underrated Stuff Pack, it also adds one really cool gameplay feature: a functional wishing well.
Toss a coin into the well and make a wish, and see how your luck pans out. This item is a staple of my Legacy saves, thanks to the random element it adds. Plus, it gives you the chance to raise a ghostly child. You don’t get much more paranormal than that.
Watch the Seasons change in your magical kingdom
Okay, hear me out with this one for a minute. It’s tough to play The Sims 4 without any kind of seasonal change or weather system in general, even when you aren’t thinking of playing a paranormal save.
But when it comes to occult storylines specifically, this is a surprisingly useful pack to have. It gives you the option of building your own custom holidays, which can feature all kinds of magical events, including Mischievous gnomes taking over your home. A common sight in the gnome-appreciating Innisgreen, I’m sure.
For all things creepy, spectral, or outright strange
For those of you who want your saves to be a little less A Court of Thorns and Roses and a little more Haunting of Hill Manor, we’ve got you covered. You actually have loads to choose from when it comes to DLC, ranging from packs that introduce all-new occults to more gothically inclined Create-a-Sim options.
A handful of Kits might be of interest to you, too, like the Castle Estate or Goth Galore Kits.
Get to know your packmates with Werewolves
Werewolves are a great way of adding mischief to any save in The Sims 4, even if you aren’t playing as them yourself. The furry friends (or fiends, if you get caught in the crossfire of a pack war) cause total mayhem every time the full moon rolls around. Who wouldn’t want that?
Sims who have a brush with lycanthropy unlock a full, complex skill tree that you can get completely lost in exploring and scaling. You can also get completely involved in pack dynamics by joining either the Moonwood Collective or Wildfangs. Or, lone wolves have the option of taking it, well, alone. This one is a must-have.
Embrace the night with Vampires
While we’re on a very YA-novel note, you can also play as a vampire. Turn your Sim into a heinous bloodsucker, plasma fruit farmer, or somewhere in between while creeping around the eerie ever-dark world of Forgotten Hollow.
As you were probably hoping, it also has great cross-pack compatibility with Werewolves, as the two types naturally hate each other’s guts. No Sims save is complete without drama.
Choose Life & Death
In my opinion, Life & Death was one of the most monumental overhauls The Sims 4 has had in a long time. Suddenly, Ghosts found themselves with their own, fresh skill tree, with a sort of morality system to boot. It added so much more life to the series. Ironically.
The ghost refresh is the main reason why it’s such a good choice for paranormal fanatics, but it’s definitely not the only one. In a first for the franchise, Sims are given the option to work as a reaper themselves, rising through the ranks until they oversee the whole underworld.
Ravenwood, the Expansion’s associated world, also provides a suitably gothic and gloomy background for Sims who’ve got the morbs, with its damp perma-autumnal vibes.
Build your own Halloweentown with Spooky Stuff
The first Stuff Pack released for The Sims 4 was a Halloween-party-themed pack that long predated Seasons. Perhaps the most charming aspect of this DLC is the selection of costumes it includes in Create-a-Sim, giving you a few out-of-the-box outfits ready for occult Sims. I mean, for a long time, it was the only way of looking like a fairy in Create-a-Sim, after all.
Let Guidry guide you through Paranormal Stuff
Stuff Packs are often overlooked when it comes to occult gameplay. Despite that, Paranormal Stuff packs a punch by cramming a surprising amount of fun gameplay features in. For starters, it’s the only way of meeting Bonehilda, a sweet skeleton maid who wants nothing more than to clean your haunted houses.
In case that hasn’t already made you want to pick up the pack, the DLC also offers loads of other gameplay mechanics, including haunted houses, a paranormal investigator career, and a bunch of new ghostly friends and foes.
Get lost in a Jungle Adventure
Speaking of skeletons! The tone of this Game Pack might seem a little different from the others at face value – its gameplay features are mostly oriented around vacationing and battling your way through the rainforest, after all — but it’s a surprisingly creepy and magical pack. As you adventure through the jungle, you’re almost guaranteed to run into Bonehilda’s distant cousins ambling through the ruins.
And watch out — you might catch yourself a curse.
Watch out for witchcraft while enjoying City Living
City Living is one of my favourite packs that I think can elevate most gameplay. I mean, it’s the safest way of playing with rented properties right now. My biases aside, this Expansion actually fits right in on this list specifically for two reasons, though.
Firstly, it makes it easier to pick up a voodoo doll. Secondly, it introduced haunted apartments. Select flats dotted around San Myshuno are already occupied by a tenant from beyond the veil. Maybe it’s time to grab a pottery wheel from Businesses & Hobbies to recreate that one scene from Ghost?
In Sixam, no one can hear your Sims scream
Alien abductions, galactic travel, and green babies have been a staple of The Sims ever since the first game launched back at the turn of the millennium.
Although they’ve maybe started to take a bit of a back seat since the franchise’s earlier days, they’re still a pretty prominent part of gameplay — particularly if you own the right packs.
Get to Work on your own interstellar rocket
Aliens were introduced to The Sims 4 with the Get To Work Expansion, so this is an absolute must-have. Without it, your Sims will be spending a lot of time gazing up at the stars without anyone out there to look back down on them. No one needs that kind of existential dread.
Don’t expect a full skill tree if you want to have a little extraterrestrial fun in The Sims 4, but aliens are still a worthwhile addition to the game. Considering that alien abductions have been a thing in The Sims going all the way back to 2000, the game feels a little bare without them.
And, The Sims 4 offers a little more variety this time around, giving you the opportunity to travel to the alien planet of Sixam. Whether you’d prefer to spend your time building a rocket from scratch, looking for collectables on Sixam, or raising alien offspring, you’re going to need this DLC.
Discover the truth in StrangerVille
Another often-forgotten pack, StrangerVille is a relatively quest-driven desert-themed pack that gives you the chance to live out your Mulder and Scully dreams. Get to know the, well, strange town the pack takes its name from while uncovering deep secrets and meeting odd locals.
I’m trying not to give anything away, but it’s worth picking up for the cute otherworldly and ET-themed Buy Mode items alone.
Journey to Batuu if you’re a Star Wars lover
Now, look. This pack isn’t popular — and it’s for understandable reason. The gameplay mechanics are a little awkward. It doesn’t fit together that well with other DLC. It’s super jarring seeing Kylo Ren walking around as a townie. However, it can fit in surprisingly nicely if you’re going for much interstellar gameplay. And if you’re a Star Wars fan, then it’s a fun tie-in.
The Build/Buy items are useful for hyper-specific builds, with loads of otherworldly and vaguely steampunk-themed items. Additionally, some of the incredibly quirky Create-a-Sim options included are ideal for building alien Sims.
It’s not the first DLC I would suggest, but it certainly fits its purpose.
