The Sims 4 City Living: complete guide to the City Living pack

Released in November 2016, the third expansion pack for The Sims 4, City Living, brought a real breath of urban air to a game that had until then been confined to suburban neighborhoods. Gone are the single-family houses with lawns and mailboxes: it's time to head to San Myshuno, a coastal metropolis inspired by San Francisco, Mumbai and Tokyo, where Sims finally live in apartments, rub shoulders with their neighbors and cross paths with strangers in the hallways. This guide covers what the pack actually brings: the four neighborhoods, the rental mechanic, the festivals that punctuate the week, the three new careers and the small urban pleasures not to be missed.

San Myshuno, the first true city in The Sims 4

San Myshuno is not an open world: like the rest of The Sims 4, it works through neighborhoods connected by a loading screen. But the impression is radically different from Willow Creek and other Windenburgs. Skyscrapers pierce the clouds, food stalls smoke on the sidewalks, street artists play the violin and Sims read the newspaper on a bench. Each neighborhood has its own social flavor and its own soundscape, and above all its own residential buildings. There's also the central park, the Myshuno Meadows, ideal for stargazing or holding an open-air wedding.

The Spice Market

The Spice Market is the popular, family-friendly heart of the city. Here you'll find a flea market, Vietnamese and Indian food stalls, a basketball court and a small karaoke bar more intimate than the one in the Fashion District. Rents are affordable and apartments often modest: it's the ideal entry point for a young Sim freshly arrived in the city.

The Fashion District

Trendy and colorful, the Fashion District is the haunt of young professionals. It's home to the main karaoke bar, a nightclub, one of the game's two penthouses and a variety of apartments with quickly rising rents. It's also the venue for the Romance Festival and the Geek Con.

The Arts Quarter

Bohemian, the Arts Quarter breathes oil paint and black coffee. The Casbah Gallery exhibits your artist Sims' canvases, street musicians attract tips and the Spice Festival sets up its stages there. A good compromise for a creative Sim: rents remain reasonable and inspiration is within a stone's throw.

Uptown

Perched high up, Uptown is reserved for Sims who have made it. The apartments are spacious, expensively rented and enjoy panoramic views of the city. It's home to the upscale gym, a rooftop bar and a second, fully customizable penthouse that's worth every simoleon.

Living in an apartment, the real gameplay turning point

The great contribution of City Living is this mechanic never before seen in The Sims 4: renting. Apartments aren't bought, they're rented, with a security deposit upon move-in and weekly rent automatically deducted. In exchange, no water or electricity bills ever come due: everything is included in the rent.

Lock the front door as soon as you move in by restricting access to household members only, otherwise your neighbors will parade through your home like it's a revolving door.

Apartments are distinguished by their lot traits, which can transform daily life:

• Serviced apartment: cleaning is handled by an employee, included in the rent.
• Quiet: no neighbor will come knocking at your door.
• Party neighbors: get ready to hear music at 3 a.m.
• Pests: cockroaches, rodents, temperamental water heaters… typical of the cheapest rents.
• Panoramic view and upscale: reserved for apartments in the Fashion District and penthouses.

The neighborhood is no longer just a backdrop: it comes knocking to complain, offers up a coffee, throws a hallway party, or lets its pots boil over. You have to learn to deal with the landlord when a pipe bursts, or negotiate with an overwhelmed roommate. City Living also introduces the roommate system, which will later be picked up and expanded upon by subsequent expansions.

Festivals, the beating heart of San Myshuno

Each district hosts a festival in turn, several days a week. These free events transform a square into a party area with stalls, mini-games, themed outfits given away as gifts, and collectible souvenirs. An in-game bulletin board shows the weekly schedule: it's worth checking so you don't miss anything.

Spice Festival

At the Spice Market, you discover dishes from around the world and, above all, the famous spicy curry challenge: a dish so hot it literally makes your Sim's head smoke. Completing the challenge unlocks a hidden trait, Spice Hound, which permanently neutralizes the burning sensation.

Love Festival

In the Fashion District, this festival is the perfect moment to declare your feelings. A love-test booth, kissing booths, and mood-setting poetry provide the ideal backdrop to make a relationship official or… try out several.

Geek Convention (GeekCon)

The big gathering for Sims passionate about video games, figurines, and cosplay. It sets up an arcade tournament, a foam baseball-bat fighting ring, and plenty of cultural interests to unlock.

Humor and Hijinks Festival

In the Arts Quarter, comedians and troublemakers compete for the stage. Sims can take part in a joke battle or prank the audience with more or less subtle pranks: a good way to level up the Mischief skill.

Flea Market

Less spectacular, this festival takes place in the Arts Quarter and lets you hunt for collectibles or sell the paintings created by your Sims at sometimes surprising prices.

Three new careers that shake up the routine

City Living doesn't just add scenery: the pack brings three entirely new careers, two of which are largely played outside the office, and one that's almost entirely home-based.

Politics

Based on the Charisma skill, it starts with a position as an activist. Sims must hand out flyers, organize protests, and rally their neighbors to a cause. Two branches then open up: Charity Organizer or full-on Politician, with podium speeches and a rain of simoleons once your reputation takes off.

Critic

The critic career splits into two branches, art or food. Missions send you to sample street food stalls, judge exhibits at the Casbah gallery, or rate a karaoke performance. An excellent choice for making the most of the pack's content, since the career pushes you toward the festivals.

Social Media

The most homebody of the three. It's played almost entirely in front of a computer: posting, replying to comments, gaining followers. Two branches unlock: Public Persona for Sims who want to be influencers, or Public Relations for those who prefer to pull the strings behind the scenes. Perfect for a homebody Sim or a model remote worker.

Karaoke, street food and small gameplay additions

Around these major pillars, City Living multiplies the niche activities that truly bring the city to life.

• The Singing skill (10 levels) is practiced solo in the shower or on the stage of a karaoke bar, solo or as a duet, across five musical styles: pop, rock, country, jazz and electronic.
• The street food lets you grab a quick bite for a few dozen simoleons: skewers, curry, sushi, tacos and many others, served from the stalls dotted across the four neighborhoods.
• Graffiti is practiced on the walls set aside for it. Artists can even erase or deface rivals' tags to assert their style.
• Basketball, available on outdoor courts, serves as a social activity and boosts fitness.
• New traits such as Vegetarian, Cold Intolerant or Loves Spicy Food add depth to the personality profile.
• The talking toilets, the video game consoles and the scented bubble blower from the living room complete the urban shop.

Singing a duet with a Sim you're courting remains one of the most effective ways to boost a romance in just a few minutes of gameplay, especially if you follow it up with a shared spicy dish.

On the building side, the pack brings an impressive furniture catalog with Asian, Art Deco and industrial inspirations, ideal for decking out a loft as well as furnishing an 18 sq. m studio. It's also a chance to rediscover vertical building, since the penthouses invite you to play around with terraces and rooftops.

Our verdict

City Living remains, nearly ten years after its release, one of the most recommended expansion packs for The Sims 4. It brings a well-crafted world, a new housing mechanic that truly changes the way you play, interesting careers and a flood of small activities that have never been removed since. If your neighbor is chopping zucchini at 4 a.m., it's probably this pack talking to you.

To go further

• Complete San Myshuno with the For Rent expansion, which pushes the roommate logic all the way to the entire building.
• Optimize the Social Media career + Loner trait combo for a 100% remote-work Sim.
• Master lot traits to turn a basic apartment into the perfect property before moving in.