Horse Ranch - An Early Access Preview

Thanks to EA for inviting me to this early access event for Horse Ranch where I got hands-on with the latest Expansion pack. 

Horses. If you have been anywhere in the community recently you will know what the next Expansion Pack is about. If not congratulations, you know now. There has been a bit of discourse over whether horses should have been relegated to a GP, but I am not getting into that at all (for the record, no way would horses be delivered in a pack that size given they are built from the ground up). So lets get into the time I spent with the pack.

I have spent a little over a week with the pack and I have thoughts. I am not a gameplay person so I will leave that in-depth look to other creators who play much more then I. However I have spent considerable time with build-buy, CAS for the men, and the world, along with a bit with the horses. I have spent so much time with build/buy i have a world makeover I will be sharing courtesy of this early access when then pack goes live. 

I will say something up front, this Expansion is not going to be everyone's cup of tea. The focus in on horses and your bond with them. This isn't like Generations or High School Years where there is overarching mechanics running in the background to make playing all sims more lively or real. This is about the horses, you training horses, your riding horses, entering competitions, and occasionally (or not) falling off horses. Of course there are other smaller parts to the pack like mini animals and nectar making, but if you are not sold on horses, this may not be the pack for you. It's ok, I think falling into the trap of making Expansion packs safe and universally appealing puts Maxis into a corner. Sometimes you need the budget of an Expansion to deliver a feature that may not be widely loved, but doesn't mean it is any less worthy of being made. A lot of the more niche packs are honestly some of my favourites like Strangerville. 

The World

The world is beautiful. There are not caveats. 

now these are just gorgeous

Again, there is a lot of discourse over this being an American world. I am not going to use the "But Maxis is American" as an 'excuse' for the choice. I am going to ask you all, when you picture horses, do you picture the mid-west? Good portion of you will probably say yes. This is just engrained through popular culture as being associated with this kind of theme. There is nothing wrong with that. Although it's American, is is very much unique amongst the other worlds, even Strangerville and Oasis Springs and that makes me happy. I am fine with more American worlds, as long as they are beautiful and unique. And this one is set up to be enjoyed on horseback. I would love more diversity for world locations when it makes sense, but for me an American world was the only option in my mind, and this is coming from an Aussie where horses are very much part of our culture too. 

13 lots of varying sizes gives a great variety to build on 

There are 13 lots, and my only gripe comes from the lot sizes. I would have liked a 40x40 in place of one of the smaller  lots. However, the people who worked on the world have definitely thought about the horse equipment and surrounds of the lots, so they look like they have large paddocks for horse training. This partially makes up for the smaller lots in some areas, and probably even a better solution. Not only does it save space on the main lot, it encouraged me to go out and explore the world more, rather then just living in my own little world. I still would have liked a 40x40. There is a 50x50 and a 64x64 for those legacy players, and that is always a bonus.

Build/Buy

I am impressed. Apart from some window options lacking (I can see myself getting bombarded with addon requests) I didn't feel like I needed content from another pack with all 13 lots I rebuilt. I did however want the parapets I made to compliment the one from Strangerville, but that was it. There is a lovely range of walls in stressed, clean and peeling painted options, floors (and a beam ceiling!), decor, core furniture, kitchen (with all 3 items!) and everything in between. Besides the windows, I would have loved items like a bookcase as I find the basegame ones a bit ugly, but other then that, I could complete a build with minimal basegame content, and I am not sure i could say that is achievable with any other pack. It is also easy to create a wide variety of styles too. Just a sample of some of the builds I have made. 

We get a number of spandrels, columns and fences. I am disappointed one of the columns doesn't come in clean textures to match a spandrel, and these was a bug I caught with a window texture being incorrect that will be patched, but i have little to criticise. I am in love with the world, the lots I built, and will keep coming back. The content, despite being very on theme, also have a usability about them that I can see people getting a lot of use out of them. For me the pack is worth it just for build/buy alone. But I am not opposed to horses despite not playing with pets much, so it's a win-win for me. 

Some of the varying builds from mt rebuild of Chestnut Ridge

I think I need to talk more about the sore point of this pack for me: windows and doors. For once the doors are mostly acceptable and I love the barn doors we have gotten which are great for stables and homes alike. However I have a hangup. Horses require a medium wall height to be housed indoors. As builders would know, you can't independently adjust the wall height of rooms on the same level, and all the entry doors and regular arches are short. This seems like a major oversight. I know if you aren't going to have horses this is fine, but concentrating on short walls here was not the best idea given almost every property has horses in this world.

entryways are only in short, and only 2 medium wall doorways

This is not something I can easily fix with an addon either. It's easy to take a medium door and make it short, but it's a case-by-case basis if that is possible with a short door. Looking at the 3 we have, I am going to say it's not. This isn't the first pack I will camplain about no medium doors, and it won't be the last. 

The windows, as much as they are few and far between, actually have some positives to make up for the lack of choice.

lots of styles but not fully realised

Now, I do like these windows. Do we have similar? Sort of but these work for the theme. However they can be hard to work with especially on medium height walls. There are no matching door for the modern window unless you use the barndoors which is a shame, and more widths would have been a nice addition. I wanted to love the triangle window as it's different then the ones from growing together, but I just couldn't get it to work anywhere. The open shuttered window is by far my favourite though, and used extensively on the lofts of barns. A bigger ones would have been wonderful. It's not all doom and gloom though. Some of these windows take advantage of the new window system and you can easily put them together to make larger windows. It's not perfect, but it is at least something. 

I used these combos on a few lots in my rebuild

These combos don't make up for varying sizes, but it at least makes them a little more usable. Still would have loved more windows, and I will probably get to work on that when I have some spare time. However the doors might be an issue I cannot remedy. 

Buymode is pretty much flawless apart from a few niggly issues. As mentioned there are some key items I would have loved like another bookcase, but overall the decor, core items and great. The only item I probably wouldn't have even included is the curtain. I don't know what is so hard about getting a decent floor-length curtain, but it's something Maxis seems to struggle with. We really need another modular set like we received in the Desert Luxe kit in the main packs because that works in so many scenarios. The curtain in this pack is just not it. 

useless curtain is useless even on short wall height

Everything else though? I am just in love. Having a good range of colours for the battom siding in rustic, clean and peeling paint (yay for more worn items!) really gives you a lot of freedom to create a variety of looks. I have done farmhouse, lodge and rustic shack which just different swatches used. I really love it. Usually I am desperately wanting content from other packs, but here they delivered a near full theme which is unprecedented. I can't think of another pack that was able to do that. 

Debug is also a treasure trove. I generally avoid it when I am building because i have been screwed in the past by stuff being removed when uploaded, but it's worth checking out other creators and their overviews if you want to see all the stuff individually. I am so happy to get more rocking chairs and a complete kitchen, it really helps pull together the look. I can see people doing so many recolours of the items though, because you can never have too many colours. 

Gameplay

Here I really can't give you much information. I am not big on gameplay, legacies or just generational play. I am also not a lover of pets but I did have fun playing horses. They were a challenge to level up their skills (and your sims) that didn't feel too easy or insurmountable. It was a nice balance. The equestrian centre is a rabbit hole though, but I just spent most of my time playing with my horse and levelling skills rather then actually entering competitions. That is what I was having fun with the most. 

The baby animals are also a nice addition. I felt they were different enough from Cottage living as they mixed the best of both worlds of chickens being free roaming, and farm animals that were penned. You have to care for them, and they have great interactions while also providing additional gameplay if you didn't want to go for horses. i think someone is going to love having a farm and adding them in with the Cottage Living assets. 

There is nectar making, but I really didn't get a chance to play it. I like that thought was put into using basements to actually age the wine and the new assets such as the press and wine racks are great. When I get more time after release I am going to have to play with it more. 

Wrap-up

So, I think it's obvious I love the pack. It has it's issues, but the positives far outweigh the negatives for me. However, if you are seriously not into horses, you may be better off waiting for a sale. It is an stand-alone pack for the most part because of it's focus so you aren't missing out of additional features if you pass it up. But for me the Build/Buy and world is worth it alone. If you like the aesthetics, enjoy small animals and indifferent about horses, I don't think you would regret buying it. But if you are hesitant you can always wait for a sale.