Oof man, there really seems to an occult vs realism divide in this community...
I feel for the realism people. There's a lot of games out there about the occult, and Sims is one of the few ones that relish in the mundane elements of life. That said, I think the lack of challenge and stakes in the games really affects everyone.
I've tried to play two stories so far. One, more realistic, features a family of four who've just lost both parents. Another featured a trio of witches. In the more realistic one, it was impossible to ignore how uninteresting romance was and how easily all characters could get everything they wanted and how when someone died it took barely any time to recover. In the "occult" story, it was impossible not to note how unspecial being a witch seemed to be with random townies showing up and getting powers and how it seemed like being a witch gave you absolutely every power and advantage you ever wanted. Not to mention there are no consequences to mortals finding out you're magical, which, like, what? That's a staple of the witch genre!
Laundry was a surprisingly great pack to me because it added much needed difficulty. Clothes pile up and you actually have to do more work to just live comfortably! I don't think anyone's going to be grateful for a werewolf pack if the werewolf has to be friends with someone to turn them, can change forms whenever it feels like it, can be immortal for whatever reason, and can go to the supermarket in a horrifying wolf form without anyone blinking an eye - which I'm guessing is how it will turn out. The only way to move forward with the occult is to move backwards and say "What's consistently missing in this game that should have been here all along?"
I'm not sad Happy Haunts lost, because in my opinion, it seems like the Sims does a MUCH worse job at the occult then at realistic play. Witches, werewolves, vampires, fairies - these all need enemies, rules, limitations. And if Sims 4 won't up the stakes/difficulty of the, it will just be weird roaming the streets in wolf form and howling and having passerbys be like "Oh, hi Mark!" Obviously Happy Haunts wasn't werewolf related, but I strongly suspect the same point might have applied. But who knows? Maybe the close voting margin will inspire them to create another stuff pack for Happy Haunts?
