The Sims 4 Royalty & Legacy Expansion Pack is set in a beautiful world filled with opportunities for drama and storytelling, and a generous inclusion of older lore had the Sims 2 fan in me absolutely enraptured. However, the potential shown in these areas made other aspects of the DLC more disappointing. This DLC is definitely meant to appeal to certain styles of players — those that don’t enjoy opulent aesthetics, create generational families, or care about the concept of nobility can likely give this one a pass — but there is certainly fun to be found for some.
Conceptually, Royalty & Legacy is a bit more complex than some other Expansion Packs. It focuses on multiple new overarching mechanics. Instead of focusing on players weaving stories through special events like Getaways, these mechanics are impacted by how players live their everyday lives. The world of Ondarion is also multifaceted, with three different noble dynasties that draw distinct inspiration from the nobility of Africa, Portugal, and Northern Italy. Though this does occasionally feel disjointed, it works well overall as a varied collection of opulence.
Create a Sim and a new Aspiration
Create a Sim very much reflects this trifecta of inspiration. This Pack is absolutely excellent when it comes to classy aesthetics, especially for the ladies. There are ballgowns galore as well as some more casual-yet-chic pieces, a slew of shiny jewelry and crowns, and a well-rounded collection of hairstyles. Male hair choices are much more lacking, but there are lovely outfits of varying formality for both genders as adults. Unfortunately, children and toddlers are largely out of luck, particularly the latter, receiving no new hairstyles and a single full-body outfit per gender.
However, the biggest disappointment in CAS is that there are absolutely no new traits. It feels like a missed opportunity to introduce a trait favoring or desiring nobility and another that despises it, or even a Dynasty-oriented trait related to desiring a successful lineage.
Royalty & Legacy thankfully does come with a new Aspiration, Social Puppeteer, which takes full advantage of the new scandal mechanic. These Sims will gossip their hearts out, digging up dirt on others then using it strategically. This fit in perfectly with the devilish scheming I cooked up in my main save for this review, which involved a mean, social-climbing royal wannabe named Kaitlynn.
As someone who loves Sim drama, I was incredibly excited for this Aspiration, only to learn it’s underwhelmingly easy. Many of the aspiration’s goals revolve around discovering secrets, but doing so takes almost no effort, because Sims willingly serve up the tea as soon as your Sim meets them. The hardest thing about the Aspiration is having to level up the Programming skill to hack for secrets online, but even that requires a very low level.
Dynasties and the Noble career
The Noble career differs from all others in the game in a few ways: it’s a 24/7 affair, since it’s not as if nobility clocks in at 9 every day, and there are hurdles Sims must jump through to even have the career available to them in the first place. This is a nice touch, though it’s pretty easily overcome by researching a Sim’s family genealogy in a new book that’s automatically included on all bookshelves.
As soon as I began Kaitlynn’s quest for nobility in earnest, the game immediately elicited a cackle out of me when I saw her first noble duty: Take a nap. However, it’s not all hedonism — depending on the day, noble Sims must do things like hold court, go on noble ventures, reply to royal mail, and continuously grow their Charisma and Swordfighting skills. They can even appoint a royal advisor, and a noble’s choices regarding things like kingdom taxes and how they respond to citizens’ complaints will determine whether they’re more favored by commoners or fellow nobility.
It quickly became clear this was all too much for a Sim like Kaitlynn, and I decided to pivot her goals — instead, she’d infiltrate the notorious Capp family in the hopes of speedrunning royalty. The Capps are one of several famous families that return in the DLC, joined by the Montys, an ancestor of Princess Cordelia, and the Darongs, who are related to the Dreamer family. Just as in The Sims 2, the Capps and Montys — which are now both Dynasty families — are rivals once again.
Kaitlynn’s journey began by pursuing Virgilio Capp, Tybalt Capp’s son, but I quickly realized his status as a family outcast wasn’t going to get us where we needed to be. Dynasty outcast status can be bestowed on any members of a family that aren’t upholding its values. Dynasties that favor boldness, for example, will earn Prestige by performing confident interactions and skills like Swordsmanship, and lose it through passive activities like watching TV.
Many players have critiqued the Dynasty system online for its similarities to the club system of Get Together, but I do think there are some meaningful distinctions between them. Clubs are focused around Sims performing specific hobbies and actions, and while Dynasties can also favor certain skills, their values are much broader, encompassing things like encouraged and discouraged careers alongside a myriad of activities. Club perks are also very skill focused, while perks earned from Prestige feel more like the benefits an old-money family would receive, like nepotism at work and private tutors.
I decided to shift Kaitlynn’s attention to Tybalt, a man so close to promotion all she would need to do is marry him and wait. After a successful date at a Backroom lot — a fun new addition that can function as a library, museum, or gym in the daytime, then transform into a club at night — he agreed to let her move into the palace.
The next day, she threw herself a Grand Ball to celebrate the move, and I discovered this new event is incredibly easy to get a gold medal in — so long as a grand waltz takes place at some point, you’re basically guaranteed it. Despite its simplicity, it still serves as a great backdrop to storytelling. Case in point: Tybalt proposed during the ball, much to the dismay of Virgilio, who still harbored feelings for Kaitlynn.
A wedding was held the very next day, which is how I learned that marrying into a title grants it in name only — Kaitlynn may be called queen, but she wasn’t promoted at all in her Noble career. I can’t decide if I like this mechanical decision or not. On one hand, it keeps players from shortcutting the career and going into a higher rank unqualified, but on the other hand, gaining power with no qualifications to back it up besides a last name is a pretty common occurrence.
Sims living a scandal-filled life
Despite their lack of difficulty, secrets and scandals are still a ton of fun. Sims can get embroiled in one for a myriad of reasons that will vary in severity, from wetting their pants in public to secret lovers and children. Secret lovers are one of my favorite smaller additions to the game. Sims engaged in affairs can now ask one another to be secret lovers instead of the regular committed relationship option, which will make them stop performing autonomous romantic interactions together in front of prying eyes — finally, some discretion!
This new feature proved especially useful for Kaitlynn, who quickly began an affair with Virgilio after the wedding. Eventually, Kaitlynn fell pregnant, which is where I learned about the Pack’s brilliant new secret children mechanic. When a child of questionable parentage is born, the game will tell you their true father, but lets you choose whether your Sim admits that fact or constructs a false narrative. A secret child will have a new designation on the family tree, which shows both their real and fake father. Kaitlynn, of course, claimed Tybalt as the father, and the entire kingdom believed it.
Though their secret stayed hidden, I had other scandalous plans to get Tybalt out of the way. First, I had him achieve level 10 of the noble career and become the ultimate ruler of Ondarion (as only one Sim in the Noble career can occupy the top level at a time). Next, I orchestrated a scandal that involved forcing him to chug several cups of coffee and locking all the bathrooms. My hope was that, in the long run, I could make him abdicate and leave the throne to Kaitlynn (who secretly leaked the incident online immediately).
One of the funniest parts of this new pack is how Sims can respond once a secret of theirs has come out and become a scandal — allowing a Sim to hold a press conference addressing their pants-wetting allegations is the kind of ridiculousness that keeps me coming back to the game. He even got a negative moodlet for the crowd finding his statement on the matter disingenuous, and his relationships took a hit almost universally.
The new scandal system is so fun to play around with, especially when it comes to ruining Sims’ lives, but there are some elements that don’t make much sense. I especially had a problem with the way Sims discover secrets — for example, in another save, a Sim discovered that her father had a secret child, but she didn’t actually get upset about it until she revealed the secret and it became public knowledge. She even seemed surprised by the scandal that she personally leaked.
Everything seemed to be coming together with Tybalt’s scandal until I hit another snag related to the incongruity between inherited title and job level — Tybalt couldn’t promise his noble rank to Kaitlynn because she was called a queen already. At this point, I decided to just kill him with a cuckoo clock and take it from there.
The cuckoo clock is one of the DLC’s most versatile new items, serving as a new Woohoo spot, death, and exploration mechanic. Sims can take a lover there, traverse its secret passageways and find items, use the passages to travel around Ondarion, or sabotage the clock for another unsuspecting Sim. After three sabotage attempts, Tybalt was gone, and Kaitlynn was able to claim his spot through a special interaction with his throne.
The world (and builds) of Ondarion
As soon as she took over, it was time to redecorate, although the Capp palace was already gorgeous to begin with — all the lots in Ondarion are, really. Even the community market lot — which is quite lacking in vendor activity — is lovely to look at.
The EP’s Build and Buy mode additions continue the theme of grandeur, including a few items with special interactions besides the aforementioned cuckoo clock. There’s a family tree tapestry that can be used to forge family connections, and a family tree compendium book that allows Sims to discover family secrets, like hidden children.
A new boat is also included, though it’s a bit lackluster; I’m not sure if it’s a glitch, but when I took Kaitlynn out to sea and selected the “lounge” interaction, she just went to sleep sitting up despite having full energy. There are only two thrones, which feels like an absurd choice for a DLC with “royalty” in the title, but there are other luxurious items that lessen the blow, like some gorgeous new bassinets and fountains. Fresco wallpapers and other distinct build pieces shine as well, like gates and railings draped in wisteria.
Ondarion feels more alive than some worlds seen in past DLC, despite lacking any recurring festivals. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as it keeps the calendar from getting clogged. Swordsmanship Tournaments — another incredibly easy event — can be held at three locales across the world, and there’s a blacksmith rabbit hole for rare swords (a fun new collectible). Most other interactivity comes by virtue of the world being surrounded by water, with plenty of swimming locales and fishing spots surrounded by sea vistas that are genuinely beautiful.
Where Ondarion really shines is when it takes inspiration from Sims lore and fairytales. From finding secret writings from Princess Cordelia and hunting down pirate treasure to exploring the feud between the Capps and Montys, these instances were some of the most fun I had with the DLC that didn’t involve actively ruining lives.
Ondarion is also filled with magical opportunities called Power Shifts, which can radically alter the course of a Sim’s life. Players can find a secret magic mirror, a wish-granting well, or sword in a stone, and kissing frogs or donning crystal slippers may just result in finding love and nobility. Some are certainly more complex than others (visiting a magic mirror is much less effort than gaining enough Swordsmanship to pull a sword from a stone), but their presence as a whole really adds some fairytale magic. Though inclusions like these won’t appeal to more realistic players, I was delighted at the prospect of telling a mystical storyline.
Preferences really are the deciding factor on whether a player will get use out of The Sims 4 Royalty & Legacy or not. If you’re on board with ridiculous storytelling and scandals, hedonistic opulence, and a world that’s a little bit magic, you’ll likely have fun with Royalty and Legacy, despite its shortcomings. It’s not the most well-rounded pack, and perhaps not worth the king’s ransom of $39.99, but it inspired one of my favorite in-game stories I’ve played out in a long time, which definitely counts for something.
The Sims 4 Royalty & Legacy Expansion Pack will be released Feb. 12 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Mac, and Xbox Series X. The game was reviewed on PC using a prerelease early access version provided by EA. Contents of the final game may differ from early access. You can find additional information about gamexplore’s ethics policy here.
