A question that Pinstar and I often get asked is “Which expansions are the best for the Legacy Challenge in the Sims 4?” So, I decided to make a list of which expansions I personally prefer when playing the challenge. Please bear in mind that these are my opinions and they may differ from yours, but that doesn’t mean that either of us is wrong. I would love to hear in the comments below, which expansion packs you prefer for the Legacy Challenge!
I hope to also get a list going for game packs and stuff packs as well. Since there are SO MANY packs, I decided to split things up and start with expansions since they have the most game-changing additions.
I will be listing the packs from worst to best (again, in my opinion!)
*note* All links to the packs are Amazon Affiliate links which give me a small amount of revenue if a purchase is made. If you’d rather not use those links, you can find all of the expansions on The Sims website and Steam.
Also check out the video version of this guide!
12. Snowy Escape
Snowy Escape is a fun expansion pack. Unfortunately it doesn’t add a ton to the game that a Legacy player would really need. The new activities, skills, traveling locations, and career do add a bit to the game. However, it’s nothing that you will really miss out on if you don’t have it for your Legacy Challenge.
11. Island Living
Much like Snowy Escape, Island Living is a fun expansion pack that includes many new gameplay elements (including Mermaids!), but it’s another pack that isn’t super necessary for the Legacy Challenge. You can easily play your Legacy Challenge without this pack and not miss out on too much content.
10. Cats & Dogs
It truly pains me to have this expansion pack so low on the list as it is easily one of my personal favorite packs. However, it is NOT my favorite pack for the Legacy Challenge for a number of reasons. The first being that without a mod to increase the members of your household, the cats and dogs you adopt will take up room in your family and cause you to have less room for your Legacy sims. The other issue is that the veterinarian career is very time consuming and not overly conducive to running a large family like the Legacy Challenge requires. That all being said, Brindleton Bay (the neighborhood added in this pack) is one of my all-time favorite neighborhoods to have my Legacy family in.
9. City Living
The biggest issue that I have with City Living is that a lot of this pack requires your Sims to be in San Myshuno for it. All of the Festivals are in San Myshuno, your Sims need to live in apartments for the aspiration, and the jobs have you going to San Myshuno for various things. While this is an incredible pack that is chock full of things to do, a lot of these aren’t things that you can do outside of the city which make it a bit frustrating for a Legacy player that also has to manage an entire family elsewhere.
8. Get Famous
The Get Famous expansion pack suffers from a lot of the same problems that City Living has in that a lot of it requires travel to Del Sol Valley. That being said, however, it does add the fame and reputation system which can be useful outside of Del Sol Valley and the Acting and Media Production careers can be done as rabbit holes so that you don’t need to travel with your Sims as often.
7. Get Together
The Get Together expansion pack is where we start entering the “not 100% useful to Legacy players, but does have some good perks if you want it” category. I don’t think you absolutely NEED this pack to play a Legacy Challenge, but clubs can be extremely helpful for skilling up and making friends to help get your Sims connections in jobs.
6. High School Years
While I personally don’t love the High School Years pack, it does have a lot of things going for it to help Legacy players. If you have an heir that you want to make sure does extremely well in school, then being able to micromanage their day to day lives while in school might be a huge plus for you. There are also lots of new activities and events for friend making that help add to the story of your Legacy. If you aren’t keen on micromanaging your Sims, then this may not be 100% necessary for you. Also, keep in mind that if you are in high school with your Sim, that you will be unable to be at home and keeping an eye on the rest of the family. This might be fine if you have a specific heir that you want to focus on, though.
5. Cottage Living
The Cottage Living expansion pack provides a lot of alternative ways for your Legacy Sims to make money without having to leave the house. They can farm, raise livestock, cross-stitch, and can produce that they get on their farms. Gardening also received a pretty big overhaul in this pack that makes it more fun. The other thing that I like about this pack is that if you want a more difficult Legacy Challenge then the “Simple Living” lot challenge will be great for you as your Sims need to live off the land. While there are no new careers added in this pack, there are so many ways to earn income that you don’t really miss them.
4. Eco-Lifestyle
Eco-Lifestyle is another pack that provides a ton of new content for Legacy players that add both difficulty and fun. There are two new lot challenges that you can add to your lots to make things more difficult, you can spend some of your time focusing on the neighborhood’s Eco Footprint to better (or worsen) the lives of the Sims in town (including your own Sims), there are new jobs, new aspirations, and new traits as well. Evergreen Harbor is also a fun neighborhood to start a Legacy on!
3. Get To Work
Get To Work is definitely one of my favorite packs for Legacy Challenge players as it adds to ability for your Sims to start their own businesses. You can even have your Generation 1 Sims start a business and keep the business in the family throughout all of the generations for a bit of sentimentality. Get To Work also provides three new jobs that you can choose to either follow your Sim to the job site, or let them go as a rabbit hole so that you aren’t locked in to being with them and not able to watch the other Sims in the family. Another big addition to this pack are the Aliens. Aliens are fun to play and can be part of your Legacy family. There is also a secret lot added in this pack that is a lot of fun to explore.
2. Seasons
Ahhh Seasons. This is easily one of my favorite packs not only for the Legacy Challenge, but for the Sims in general. The addition of weather adds a whole new level of difficulty to your Legacy Challenge (especially early on when you can barely afford walls). The addition of holidays make for amazing storytelling. Letting your Sims celebrate Winterfest (Christmas) or gather around a turkey for Harvestfest can be wonderful experiences. This pack also adds several new skills and a new career as well as several new deaths (if you are collecting ghosts).
1. Discover University
The Discover University pack is by far the best pack for Legacy Players as it adds ways for your Sims to get better paying jobs early on in their careers if they go through university and get a degree. The best part is that they don’t have to live in Britechester to do any of this. They can live at home and commute to class which means you can treat university as a rabbit hole. You can choose which college to send your Sims to depending on the job that you want them to have. You can then choose how many classes you want them to take. They can even work while attending college (much like real life) if they can’t afford to go to school full time. Discover University also adds Servos back into the game as well as several new careers.