The Sims 4: StrangerVille is rich with potential, but feels empty

Called StrangerVille, the game pack would focus on unraveling the mysteries behind a new neighborhood — the rural desert town of StrangerVille — and unlike some of the previous game packs, looked to be story-based.The mysterious desert town, combined with a distinct narrative element, made me specifically think of The Sims 2 games — but not the traditional PC games. It doesn’t turn the town’s mysterious narrative into an implicit, friendly suggestion, but the storyline also doesn’t fully anchor the game pack — which makes it feel lacking overall.[Ed. note: This article contains slight spoilers for The Sims 4: StrangerVille.]The Sims 2 PC games remain particularly special to me because of how subtly, yet effectively, they tell stories. In addition to tying in typical Sims gameplay (keeping up your needs, decorating your house) to the narrative, the PSP version also has a host of quirky, colorful characters that guided the overall narrative: a barmaid-turned-werepug; a family of aliens trapped in a secret government facility; and of course, the infamous Bella Goth herself.Unlike the old PSP game, The Sims 4’s StrangerVille game pack doesn’t lock me into the storyline when I load it up. The Sims 4 base neighborhoods don’t come with nearly as many overarching storylines as The Sims 2 ones did, so I’m interested in seeing how this works for the very story-based game pack.