The Sims 4: Cottage Living left me wishing for the sweet peck of death

It wasn’t long before I found myself cleaning out my chicken coop yet again, as my grizzled poultry clucked around my feet, questioning whether or not I should simply let my elderly rooster, Kentucky, peck me to death to cure the boredom.I begin my venture into Cottage Living by creating the countryside version of me that I could have been in another life: a beehive hairdo, cherry-clad dress and some impractical heels – I mean, who doesn’t want to muck out a livestock shed in stilettos? Cows, not surprisingly, need milking, and they may also refuse to play ball if you haven’t wooed them enough.This all sounds fairly basic, and most it is, but by the time I’ve done the rounds of cleaning, collecting produce, feeding and socializing with the animals – chickens are very needy creatures – the day is done. I chose to enable two of the new lot challenges, one allowing for wild foxes and the other letting me live off the land – the latter meaning that your fridge doesn’t refill, so you have to either order grocery deliveries or live off what your animals produce. I even consider letting Kentucky, my eldest, peck me to death for a bit of excitement."My chickens begin to die, and as they do I feel a sense of relief that I’ve one less to look after, one less rooster to entertain in the morning. I even consider letting Kentucky, my eldest, peck me to death for a bit of excitement (that can actually happen – I told you, chickens are needy).Overall, Cottage Living doesn’t feel like a whole new game, it feels like it’s there as a brief aside to the base game – complementing the base game is likely what EA Maxis was going for – but I would have loved to have at least had a new career to progress through, or some extra elements to farming that didn’t make it feel so samey every day. There is a lot of new content here, and some lovely little touches that bring the countryside aspect to life – but within a few hours I felt like I’d experienced all there was to offer.Vic is an award-winning games journalist, bringing experience from IGN, Eurogamer and more to the TechRadar table.Sign up to get breaking news, reviews, opinion, analysis and more, plus the hottest tech deals!Thank you for signing up to TechRadar.