I’ve been playing The Sims 4 for nearly five years and I love it.

I play a few games, but I would not say that I’m a gamer in the slightest, unlike my younger brother, who spends most of his days shouting at his PS4 whilst playing with his friends. But for some reason, I adore The Sims 4.

The Sims 4 was released on the 2nd of September 2014, after the success of the previous three main Sims games and several other spin-off style ones. There have since been 34 add-on packs – 18 Stuff Packs, 9 Game Packs and 9 Expansion Packs, the latest being the Game Pack Star Wars: Journey To Baatu (at the time of writing). These add-ons all add something unique to the game and enhance the gameplay with new worlds and features, making it even more exciting, however, the base game can still be enjoyed without them if you don’t want to spend extra money.

I didn’t start playing The Sims 4 until around a year after it was released, in 2015, after I became a fan of the YouTubers Dan Howell and Phil Lester, and watched them create their beloved Sim “Dil Howlter” on their gaming channel, DanAndPhilGames. As a writer and creator of characters, I was in awe of the character customisation available when creating a Sim; there are many hairstyle choices, clothing options and facial details, and each add-on pack adds to these possibilities with new customisation features. (Although I do recognise that the darker skin tones aren’t as accurate as they should be, but The Sims have announced that they will be working hard on this.) After creating a character at a friend’s house and experiencing some gameplay, I knew that this was a game I wanted, and I asked my parents to get me it for my 13th birthday.

I remember I spent hours creating my first Sim (a game that I must have since deleted, because I haven’t been able to find it) – trying out all of the hairstyles and most of the clothing until I was sure I was happy with how she looked. I also loved the different personality options that were available, which have also been added to since. Though I’ve been playing the game for five years, it can still take me hours to create a Sim, though not always, as I love to spend time picking out the perfect look and personality. Some people hate spending time on character customisation and pick options without looking at them for too long, but I absolutely love it. I have a weird obsession where I give every Sim a colour, eg. pink, and I make all of their outfits and some of their house that colour. I’m not entirely sure why I do that, but I think I like the cohesiveness it brings to the character and their house.

The Sims 4 also has an incredible amount of build mode features, which are also added to with every extra pack. I can spend hours creating a house (or flat, with the City Living expansion) too, although I don’t often build a house from scratch on a plot of land because I’m terrible with the roof technology, even after 5 years. I have, recently, however, created a restaurant for one of my Sims to run – something you can do with the Dine Out pack. Creating living quarters that reflect my character is so much fun, and it’s even more fun to change them up if the character has a child. Though I don’t think I create houses that have wonderful interior design, I do think they look pretty good.

So, we’ve established that I love The Sims 4. But why?

Well, it’s partly just because it’s a really fun game with lots of things to do. I do like games that have a storyline (I’m a huge fan of the Professor Layton games) but what I really love about The Sims 4 is that you choose the story of your Sim. You choose what happens and there are so many choices. Not much is off limits in The Sims 4, especially with add-on packs like Vampires, Realm Of Magic, Get To Work and Island Living, which add “occult Sims” into the mix. It’s really interesting to see what can happen, especially when it’s something that would literally never happen in real life. You’ll notice that throughout this post, I’ve put emphasis on the fact that you choose what happens. That’s actually one of the parts of the game that I really love because when I feel out of control and stressed, I can play The Sims 4 and I know that it’s in my hands. Sounds like I’m a bit of a control freak, I know, but that’s because of my anxiety, and The Sims 4 is just something that helps me feel more in control.

Overall, The Sims 4 is just a great game. Even if you don’t like many games, there’s a chance you’ll like The Sims 4 because it just has so many things to do. Though you do have to be prepared to get a bit annoyed if your Sims aren’t doing what you want them to, but it is a simulation, it’s meant to be like life – a bit of stress at times and all.