LGR - The Sims 4 Discover University Review

We all knew this was coming. Even if you’ve ignored the rumors and leaks, a university expansion is all but guaranteed when it comes to Sims packs, alongside seasons, pets, vacations, and supernatural weirdness. And with those out of the way, we now have The Sims 4 Discover University: the eighth full expansion pack to The Sims 4.

And despite having fun with previous incarnations, I wasn’t sure how I felt about this one at first. Not only because it’s The Sims 4 and I have, shall we say, mixed feelings. But also because it’s been twelve years since I was in college myself, and wow is that an unsettling realization.

Time has unapologetically marched me towards my mid-30s and my college years are rapidly losing personal relevance. That being said, I’m excited to revisit the experience in cartoony computer game form, so let’s get to it! The Sims 4 Discover University begins with your sims discovering university options at the mailbox.

Or at the computer or on their phone, but yeah, the mailbox is the most straightforward option. What’s not so straightforward is actually being accepted into the higher educational program of your choosing. Your chances are increased by a number of pre-existing factors, like how high your sim’s skills are, what their grades were in high school, what kind of extracurricular activities they participated in and so on.

Or you can take the Aunt Becky approach and try to bribe the admissions officer, or use your fame if you have Get Famous installed, and attempt to game the system by flaunting your influence. Either way, you’ll eventually receive either a rejection or an acceptance letter in the mail, opening up attendance potential for either one of two universities: the University of Britechester and the Foxbury Institute.

U-Brite is your historic ivy league option, with collegiate gothic architecture and a focus on the arts and humanities. And Foxbury filling the public research institute role, with a modern and international style to its buildings and degree programs centered on science and technology.

Now, sims can go back and forth between the two campuses at any time just to visit, and they’re both contained in the new world of Britechester so it’s easy enough to waft between them. But you still have to enroll in either one or the other when pursuing a particular degree in a particular field, including the Education, Engineer, and Law careers added in this pack.

Each university also offers their own “Distinguished Degree” programs that provide additional bonuses to careers after your sim successfully graduates. Higher wages, more vacation days, quicker advancement, all are guaranteed so long as you graduate with a degree of distinguishment! And that’s how you know The Sims is pure fiction.

Anyway, each of the thirteen SimDegrees require twelve course credits to graduate, and sims can take on a class load of up to four credits each semester, consisting of both core classes and electives. Sims can also opt to live off-campus now, with or without an NPC roommate to split the rent, in addition to the expected dormitory and university housing options.

Certainly a logical choice here seeing as sims just teleport between worlds all the time anyway. And lastly, tuition! It exists. Sims are charged for each class and for on-campus housing, with payment making use of either household funds or a student loan.

Ehh you might wanna avoid that if you’re not into paying interest and being haunted by daily Repo-Men appearances, zapping away your belongings if you miss enough payments. So seeking a scholarship may be advised. These are awarded for many of the same merits and skills that earned your sim college acceptance in the first place.

Or if your household is just straight-up poor, that’ll likely getcha some free cash as well, though not quite enough to cover the whole semester. Once you’ve unceremoniously signed away your youth and financial stability, it’s time to leave your household behind and head off to the university campus! And that means commencing with classroom attendance right off the bat.

For the most part, anything of class-related importance happens within these large buildings surrounding the central quad area, with sims entering whenever school’s in session. And yes, these are rabbit holes, meaning you cannot see what happens inside.

Anytime there’s a class going on, sims remain out of sight while you as the player are waiting around outside as a floating mouse cursor with little to do, other than click through a negligible number of options found on sims’ portraits. Afterwards you’ll be provided a snippet of information letting you know generally how your sim performed, and that’s that.

Extremely hands-off stuff with classes, unfortunately. I anticipated at least a little more face-to-face interaction with professors, kinda like how you get to know sages in the Realm of Magic pack. But nope, for the most part it’s all rabbit hole classes and occasionally emailing professors to request a status report.

You can’t even check your current progress from the career menu where your classes are listed, which I find baffling. So attending classes is not only somewhat boring, but rather confusing as well since indication of how you’re performing at any given time is not clear at all.

My first semester did not go as planned, despite those pop-up messages leading me to assume my sim was doing fine. Wah waah. Yeah, if this was all Discover University provided then it would be mighty disappointing. Luckily though, we’re only getting started.

Attending classes may be at the core of your sims’ university existence, but really it’s all the stuff between classes that make this engaging to play. Let’s begin with dormitories, the most classic of university living experiences. Whether you choose the dorm life or dorm life chooses you, the first order of business is to claim yourself some personal space.

Within are several beds to claim and, more importantly, doors to lock so you can manage who can bother you at any given time. And man, playing as SimLGR in college resulted in my own kind of personal nightmare. Due to the Get Famous pack, he’s a widely-recognized e-celeb, meaning that without a disguise he’s constantly being barraged by college-age fans.

So instead of getting anything done in terms of studying, he’s pressured to take selfies and sign autographs all day, while also struggling with his celebrity-induced addictions to smartphones and drinking. On the one hand it’s kinda fun to have everyone on campus think you’re the shiz.

On the other hand, SimLGR just wants to finish his media studies paper and down a couple pints in peace. Heh, I have no idea how younger internet-famous folks in real life can handle going to school and being an online personality at the same time, it seems utterly terrible and they have my sympathies.

So too was my immediate connection to my sim enduring the realities of virtual dorm life, with their hand-me-down microwaves and mini-fridges being the most reasonable food option. There’s no kitchen in the dorm by default, so unless you wanna deal with cafeteria food downstairs it’s all cheap ramen, all the time.

Or perhaps a pile of pizza rolls, all of which stay unwaveringly cold in the middle because that microwave sucks. I’d order real pizza, but my cash has quickly reached frighteningly low levels, and it’s no wonder why. Class textbooks are 700 simoleons each, dorm room necessities certainly aren’t free, and student loan payments are seemingly always due, with even the minimum payment pushing the limits of my poor sim’s non-existent wallet.

So my sim agreed to a blind date he honestly didn’t have time for just so he could flirt enough to leech a couple grand, and then ran off to blow it on spiked juice and screw around on his phone all night because he’s a washed-up influencer with a mountain of unaddressed issues.

Throw in the constant need to grapple with homework, studying, social events, presentations, meet-ups, finals, and simply making it to class on time each day and yeah! Wasn’t long before each of my university-going sims were so sleep deprived that they kept waking up in a haze right before class, so I had them hop on one of the new bikes right there in the dorm, so they could book it in a desperate effort to make it across campus in the pouring rain.

The drama practically writes itself and this is precisely the kind of life simulation melodrama that I love. Because when sims get desperate, it’s not long before things break down. And when things break down, simulated life is at its most amusing, and managing that chaotic tightrope act is where Discover University’s strength lies.

So that's all good stuff but what’s left to do beyond the daily grind of attending classes, studying for exams, microwaving garbage, and pushing the limits of socially-acceptable inebriation? Some of the most time-consuming options come in the form of two new skills: Research & Debate and Robotics.

Research & Debate is uh -- well, it’s that! Upping this skill will improve your sims’ effectiveness in finishing classwork and debating others. It’s useful for all kinds of things in college and beyond, like convincing otherwise inhibited sims to go streaking for no apparent reason, or for winning heated arguments at the podium during a debate organization meet-up.

Yeah organizations are a thing, kinda similar to the existing clubs from Get Together but with less freeform weirdness going on. Debate guilds, study groups, artist collectives, university team spirit clubs. Even a secret society holding all manner of societal secrets.

Every one of these organizations presents a unique set of goals to accomplish, items to unlock, and events taking place at certain times throughout the week. Including an organization dedicated to electro-mechanical creations, tying into the aforementioned robotics skill.

Sims can now craft and upgrade robots big and small at the new robotics workstation, with a selection of talking toys, quadcopters, cleaner bots, even Skynet-approved android body parts. And yes, this marks the return of the Servo: a playable cybernetic sim that can be built, customized, and upgraded using salvaged robotic components.

They may only be artificially intelligent, but so are sims if you think about it. And as a result, servos can perform most of the same activities as their fleshier human counterparts, and even have their own personality traits and aspirations. Just that instead of sleeping they need to recharge, and instead of worrying about food or hygiene they have to worry about breaking down, requiring frequent tune-ups to stay in decent shape.

They’re also distinct from The Sims 3’s SimBots and Plumbots in terms of customization, with only minor aesthetic changes being possible, along with six behavior modules and 10 levels of ability enhancements to unlock. And yes, romance options are an optional option, so you can have all the metallic makeout sessions and robotic woohoo you like.

Though, do be careful around the new shower woohoo location cuz uh, water and servos don’t mix. And calling a repairman for your sex robot is not a good look. Despite these hydrophobic shenanigans, I’m happy to announce that SimLGR got married to a lovely servo named “She.” She was the only sim who didn’t freak out and beg for a selfie before fainting in excitement upon meeting him, so it really was the perfect pairing.

Although, that doesn’t mean She doesn’t still have feelings for some of the kitchen appliances from time to time. C’mon you can do better, that microwave is the worst. It doesn’t even cook pizza rolls all the way through! There are also new after-school activities to take part in, with soccer team player and eSports competitor added to the existing scouts and drama club offerings available to kids.

The latter eSports activity makes good use of the existing video gaming skill and can be practiced at any computer or whatever plays games, and soccer works alongside the athletics skill and can be practiced using the new soccer ball object. And both soccer and eSports matches are held at the on-campus arena, though just like classes, this is simply a rabbit hole so it’s not very exciting to look at.

Besides, there are more hands-on activities happening around campus all the time. Just about anywhere with enough open space is a prime candidate for a ping pong table and a keg or two. Whip out the Solo cups, tap that keg, and let the juice flow freely! And yes it’s still called juice because The Sims 4 is still “rated T for teen.” Doesn't stop sims going nuts doing keg stands while decision-making skills rapidly decrease, so you know what’s up.

Besides, Basemental Mods got ya you covered if you really want a more "authentic" college experience. And if you need a good spot to lounge while you imbibe, there are nine new chairs for your university sitting pleasure. Finally, there are a ton of new hair, clothing, and accessory options in Create-A-Sim mode.

And it’s really an impressive selection this time around, something I can’t always say with each new pack. Lots of awesome hairstyles that we haven’t had in The Sims before, clothes with designs and patterns that for the most part actually look like something I’d wear myself.

And a buncha new tattoos, all rather small and made up of simple black lines. You still can’t layer them or move them around on the body unfortunately, but I’ll take what I can get. And lastly is an increased selection of eyebrow and nose piercings, something simmers have been asking for for a while so it’s sure to be appreciated.

And that’s the gist of The Sims 4 Discover University! This really is a meaty expansion, and at an asking price of $40, meat is what you wanna see. While it’d be nice if the classes themselves were more hands-on and there was an easier way to keep track of them, the overall pack experience is one of the best so far.

It’s also the first Sims 4 content pack to require 64-bit Windows on PC and Metal on Mac OS X, with the whole game having recently migrated away from 32-bit executables. Really makes me wonder what’s next since the game can now theoretically take advantage of better-equipped systems.

Plus, now that Discover University exists, pretty much all the major expansions everyone expects have been released, so I’m truly curious to see what’s cooked up going forward. In the meantime though, I’m headed back to campus because there are a few more skill classes I should probably take since my sim keeps electrocuting himself upgrading his booty call bots.