Back when Adventure Awaits was first announced, I was massively excited – but not without concerns. The Expansion sounded fantastic in pretty much every way. Being promised a new way to vacation, new activities, and even a new cryptid all seemed incredibly promising.
What worried me was that some features sounded incredibly familiar. Other, earlier DLC like Outdoor Retreat and Parenthood had already introduced similar mechanics. EA is no stranger to rehashing some awfully similar content in the form of paid-for DLC. And so, I was concerned about how Adventure Awaits would shape up.
Thankfully, some of my fears were unfounded.
At least, they are when it comes to the overlap between Adventure Awaits and Growing Together; an older Expansion that’s all about raising a family. The two Packs actually fit together remarkably well to create some interesting, layered gameplay.
Cram that rec centre full of new activities
Growing Together is absolutely full to the brim with great features. And yet, rec centres are still one of my favourites among them. In case you’re unacquainted, rec centres are a public lot type that came packaged with Growing Together. They’re intended to be one-stop shops for working out, playing tabletop games, organising playdates, and hosting big birthday bashes.
They’re great fun to build, as you can squeeze in all kinds of weird items you might not normally use. When else am I going to use Fitness Stuff’s mega oversized climbing wall? On top of that, they’re also great gameplay additions. It’s massively convenient being able to just pop around to use their equipment. Doubly so if you’re looking for a way to make money quickly at the start of a rags-to-riches.
Hello, free-to-use easels!
Adventure Awaits’ catalogue of new Build/Buy Mode goodies adds a wealth of new options for creating the ideal rec centre. I think the archery gear would fit right into a rec centre for target practice, alongside the other sports gear. Meanwhile, the curiously named Nostalgic Entertainment System could be a nice addition for a cosy snug or games room.
Another set of items that I think will make a regular appearance in rec centres now is modular playground equipment. In case you haven’t already experimented with this feature, Adventure Awaits introduced a new type of fully customisable play equipment. These items snap together in basically any formation you can imagine, so you can create your dream park.
Unlike the monkey bars, rocket, and pirate ship, the modular play equipment can even be used by adults. Which obviously immediately makes them superior in basically every way.
You can’t build the perfect waterpark without a diving board and Whalebert
Speaking of Build/Buy Mode – the single best item in Growing Together is Whalebert. I will die on that hill.
For the unacquainted, Whalebert is a (glorious) whale water fountain that you can play with. Designed to be used on splash pads, they fire water out of their blowholes like, well, any other whale. Except this one is small enough to tuck away in the corner of a waterpark, or on an island in the middle of your swimming pool.
Whalebert isn’t alone on their quest to fire water and create summer fun. Growing Together came with a whole collection of items for building splashpads, like flower water towers and toadstool-shaped water emitters.
What similar items did Adventure Awaits introduce? Diving boards. A whole range of them. Even if a waterpark is technically complete without a Whalebert, you’d be hard pushed to say it’s finished without at least a diving board.
You can even finally buy a waterslide, to boot. With the two packs put together, you’ll be able to build the perfect pool or waterpark without much additional input being needed at all.
Recover from your burnout on a long getaway
Growing Together introduced a feature to your Sims’ lives that might feel a little too real: burnout. Sims who work too hard or slog through too many repetitive days run the risk of becoming burned out, signified by a negative moodlet that’ll make it difficult to do much of… Anything. At all.
What better way to mix it up than by going on a getaway? Taking some time away from work to try something new and relaxing – or invigorating – or both can be just what your Sim needs to get out of their funk. In fact, taking a break and mixing things up is basically the only way of supporting your Sim through burnout without resorting to cheats or magic potions.
Select pre-built destinations like Gibbi Point’s Revive and Thrive feel particularly perfect for kicking back and trying to recover from the grind. Even if it doesn’t fix their burnout, at least they can be unhappy by the pool in the great outdoors.
A well-rounded Sim: formative moments, childhood sentiments, and milestones
Back when The Sims 4 first launched, it was honestly pretty bare. Infamously so. Back then, Sims had hardly any personality, and wouldn’t remember a great deal of what happened to them – let alone actually be shaped by their experiences in any meaningful way.
Over the years, more and more features have been added to help breathe a little life into our Sims. Adventure Awaits and Growing Together are two Expansions that really pack a punch when it comes to making Sims feel a little more 3D.
Although it wasn’t the first DLC to introduce mechanics that helped to shape Sims’ personalities, Growing Together did change the game significantly through the all-new family dynamics system, milestones, and self-discovery moments.
Every one of these features made simming just a little more dynamic, bit by bit, and in turn transformed the simulator into something much more interesting.
Adventure Awaits achieves similar goals by introducing childhood sentiments and formative moments. Childhood sentiments expand the pre-existing sentiment system, which was first introduced into Base Game right before Snowy Escape’s release, to provide more gameplay depth for younger Sims.
This system is distinct enough from formative moments, milestones, and other systems in the game that they fit together nicely, without providing too much overlap.
Playing with a Sim all the way through their lifespan, from childhood to adulthood, is so much more enjoyable with all of these mechanics working together. You end up with a much fuller, more ‘complete’ Sim once you’ve spent a few in-game years with them courtesy of these systems.
Is it worth buying both packs?
Honestly, I’d say so.
I’m suspicious of buying more DLC than you really need or want, just because it’s there or to achieve a sense of completionism. However, if you enjoy playing with the same save for a long time, then I think that Growing Together and Adventure Awaits are both packs that are more than worth your time.
Growing Together is an especially worthwhile Expansion because of how much it expands upon gameplay. Sure, you could make the argument that a lot of it should be Base Game – and I honestly wouldn’t disagree with you – but it’s not, so it feels worth it to me.
Adventure Awaits is also a fun, interesting take on exploring and adventure that adds a lot of new gameplay mechanics that I’ve enjoyed so far. Admittedly, I love vacation mechanics (I was genuinely obsessed with finding Bigfoot in The Sims: On Holiday), so I’m not necessarily all that objective a source here.
However, I still think it’s worth taking a punt on it for all of the different skills and activities it adds, alongside the formative moments system.
The two packs certainly overlap a little in some areas, but I think that enough care has gone into their design and development that they’re distinct in most of the ways that count. Plus, you can only get Whalebert with Growing Together and all that goofy jellyfish decor with Adventure Awaits.
Weirdly, that’s just about enough to convince me to get both Packs.
