The Sims 4 For Rent: the complete guide to the Tomarang pack (EA)

Released on December 7, 2023 on PC, PlayStation and Xbox, The Sims 4 For Rent (For Rent) is the fifteenth major expansion of the life simulation game by Maxis and Electronic Arts. The pack introduces a new world, Tomarang, inspired by Southeast Asia, and brings an all-new mechanic to the franchise: multi-unit lots able to house up to four different households. This gives your Sims the chance to take on a role they'd never held before, that of landlord.

Tomarang, a postcard from Southeast Asia

Tomarang is described by EA as a vibrant tropical archipelago blending local traditions with modernity. The world is made up of two main neighborhoods, each with its own personality:

• Morensong to the north, a lively urban heart, brings together a botanical garden, a playground, a temple that can be visited in the rabbit hole area, and the famous night market;
• Koh Sahpa to the south, more laid-back, invites you to fish, swim and discover a tiger sanctuary.

In total, nine buildable lots spread across the two neighborhoods host residential homes, rental buildings, a park, the nightclub "The Shrieking Gecko" and empty lots for your own creations. The soundscape, architectural motifs, traditional outfits and spicy food are clearly inspired by Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. Maxis developers also carried out significant research, with Southeast Asian cultural consultants credited behind the scenes of the pack.

Tomarang isn't just a backdrop: it's a genuine character. The stalls, the lantern-lit alleys and the tiger sanctuary create an atmosphere that few Sims packs have achieved until now.

Multi-unit buildings, the heart of the pack

The major technical novelty of For Rent, the residential rental lot allows you to place up to four independent units on the same building. Each unit has its own door, its own household and its own utility meters. This mechanic, long requested by the community since the disappearance of the city apartments from City Living, can now be set up in any world, whether from the base game or another expansion: nothing stops you from turning a Willow Creek villa into an apartment building.

In practice, every building includes shared amenities that need to be monitored: water heater, fuse box, electrical panel, aligned mailboxes and "For Rent" signs. A broken water heater or a power outage becomes an event affecting the entire building, forcing the owner to step in quickly to avoid widespread discontent. This level of granularity — unprecedented in Sims simulation — creates slice-of-life moments previously only seen through community mods, such as a tenant banging on the landlord's door at midnight because the heater is broken, or a power outage ruining another household's romantic dinner in the same building.

Credit: Electronic Arts / Maxis

Landlord or tenant, two gameplay styles

The pack offers two opposing but complementary angles. As a landlord, you set the rent, the lease duration (seven days by default, renewable), the household rules of the property, and monitor tenant satisfaction. As a tenant, your Sims look for a home that fits their budget, follow (or not) the imposed rules, and can file complaints in return.

Rent is calibrated according to several criteria evaluated by the game:

• property size (number of rooms and floor area);
• the quality of installed amenities;
• the decor and overall ambiance;
• regular upkeep of the property.

An overall five-star rating is displayed for each property. The higher the rating, the more your tenants will pay and the more loyal they'll stay. Rents observed on the pre-built apartment buildings in Tomarang range between 65 and 180 Simoleons per day, depending on size and comfort. The game also offers a configurable checkbox household rule system: allowing or banning pets, noise, children, parties, and fireplace use. Every broken rule triggers an automatic fine that credits the landlord — a real balancing headache to avoid the ghost tenant who pays more in fines than in rent.

The Five-Star Landlord aspiration

The heart of the pack for players who love managing, the Five-Star Landlord aspiration — sometimes nicknamed the "Rentier" aspiration by French-speaking fans — sets three tiers of goals: own a property rented to a tenant, achieve a good rating on multiple properties, then reach the fateful five stars. The final reward, the Property Management Pro trait, grants a bonus during tenant evaluations and during building life events.

Three other aspirations further enrich the pack:

• Savvy Renter to play the perfect tenant (reward trait: Likeable Tenant);
• Tomarang Specialist to explore local culture (trait: Tomarang Expert);
• Secret Seeker for curious and somewhat nosy Sims (trait: Tiger's Clairvoyance).

Complaint events and neighborhood life

The pack takes special care to bring the collective life of apartment buildings to life. Complaint events are triggered when a tenant feels a rule has been broken or that an appliance has failed: cold water, power outage, nighttime disturbances, damage to the decor. The landlord receives a notification and must decide, repair, or negotiate compensation. Repeatedly ignoring a complaint causes the property's rating to drop and can lead to a tenant moving out.

Conversely, an inconsiderate tenant can rack up rule violations (undeclared pets, too many guests, trash) and trigger an eviction procedure, handled in-game through a formalized process rather than a simple instant kick-out.

Managing an apartment building is never static: every week brings its share of little dramas, giving For Rent a narrative rhythm absent from most recent expansions.

The Tomarang night market

An iconic gathering spot in Morensong, the night market opens every evening from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. There you'll find functional stalls selling spicy food, traditional clothing, local crafts, and collectible items. Two original kitchen appliances make their appearance: the pressure cooker and the electric kettle, each with their own regional recipes.

It's also a chance to see children playing traditional games like marbles or hopscotch, learn the Tomarangese dance, or collect souvenir pompoms. A light but polished bit of gameplay that extends the experience beyond the rental system alone, and gives players a reason to leave their apartment building.

Credit: Electronic Arts / Maxis

Traits, outfits, and cultural details

Four new personality traits join the game's roster: Village Dweller, Generous, Nuisance, and Nosy. They tie in perfectly with the new setting: the nosy Sim will love snooping around neighbors' places, the nuisance will rack up incidents, while the village dweller will feel right at home in Tomarang.

Create a Sim offers 142 items — traditional clothing, hairstyles, accessories — and Build Mode adds over 200 items: rattan furniture, colorful lighting fixtures, textile patterns, stylized religious decorations. Cultural research work praised by the specialized press, despite some reservations about certain visual stereotypes.

Our verdict

Nearly three years after its release, For Rent remains one of the richest packs in The Sims 4 in terms of emergent gameplay. The long-awaited multi-lot mechanic finally delivers real neighborhood stories: hallway disputes, rumors about the upstairs floor, emergency repairs, neighbors lending a hand. Tomarang's beautiful and lively world is worth the trip even for players not particularly interested in property management simulation.

The pack does, however, suffer from the studio's usual shortcomings: a few bugs around rent calculation, tenant AI that's sometimes too passive, and a price that's still steep for an expansion. None of this spoils the experience if you're a fan of management gameplay and Asian-inspired settings — and if you've already sunk dozens of hours into City Living without ever finding its successor, For Rent finally delivers what you've been waiting for.

To go further

• The pack's official page on ea.com/fr-fr, with the full trailer;
• Behind the scenes of development in the feature “Behind the Scenes of For Rent” published by EA;
• The detailed review from Actu Gaming, very thorough on the rental mechanic;
• The feature “The World of Tomarang” on LuniverSims;
• The developer FAQ, in French, on EA (For Rent FAQ).