What we learned from The Sims 4 Cottage Living's Gameplay Reveal

The gameplay trailer for The Sims 4 Cottage Living dropped today and Harold the Llama was kind enough to walk us through all of the major gameplay features of the new expansion pack. We’ve got a quick summary of everything discussed in the trailer below!

New World: Henford-on-Bagley. A rural countryside cottage world with a nearby village that has shops and entertainment.
New Activity: Canning. Sims can create up to 16 different varieties of canned goods that can be eaten as-is or used in cooking recipes. They can also be stored for later.
New Activity: Picnics. New draggable picnic baskets can be filled with homemade food and taken anywhere for a meal outdoors.
New Activity: Cross Stitching. There are over 34 different cross stitch patterns Sims can make. They can also cross stitch a scene from reference. Wool sheared from llamas can be used to make cross stitch designs.
Improved Activity: Farming. Although we always had gardening, this expansion puts a much heavier focus on subsistence farming rather than treating gardening as a casual suburban hobby. Sims can grow giant crops in their fields.
New Lot Function: Lot Challenges. These are separate from lot traits. You can still have up to three lot traits as well as a lot challenge active on a lot. We saw Off-the-Grid, Simple Living, and Wild Foxes as lot challenge options in the trailer. We don’t yet know how the Off-the-Grid lot challenge will work with the existing Off-the-Grid lot trait.
The Simple Living lot challenge forces your Sims to live off their own homegrown produce and byproducts. The fridge is not magically full 24/7 with this lot challenge active. Sims must stock the fridge with their own eggs, milk, and produce they’ve gathered. Some new cooking ingredients can also be purchased from the local grocer.
New Object: Animal Shed. The animal sheds house cows and llamas. Cows and llamas do have a lifespan and will eventually die of old age. Sims need to bond with their animals and keep them happy in order to get the best quality byproducts. Different types of animal treats will change the animal’s appearance and create new types of byproducts. We saw a rainbow cow give rainbow coloured milk in the trailer.
New Object: Chicken Coop. The chicken coop can house up to 8 chickens. The coop can be upgraded with an alarm that prevents foxes from sneaking into the coop and stealing your eggs.
New WooHoo Spot: The animal shed can be WooHoo’d in!
New Event: Finchwick Fair. The Finchwick Fair happens in the village. Sims can enter their animals, animal products, grown produce, and cooked dishes into the fair.