Home Chef Hustle, believe it or not, is the first Stuff Pack for The Sims 4 in nearly three years.
It's surprising in a lot of ways, not least because – with many of the early Stuff Packs being rather poor value for money – the team had begun to change the narrative around them. They found their groove, and the last few Stuff Packs were actually very solid.
We still have soft spots for Tiny Living and Nifty Knitting. And when Paranormal, the final Stuff Pack until now, came out in January 2021, we praised it for not just having plenty of content but also being a cohesive package.
And that's something that the later Stuff Packs will always have the edge on over Kits, which have taken over as the budget option since then.
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Kits double down on the 'pick and mix' aspect, offering a bite-sized collection of either CAS or Build items. There are some really nice Kits and they are half the price of Stuff Packs — but a Stuff Pack, by its nature of including the trifecta of CAS, Build, and gameplay features, can feel greater than the sum of its parts at its best.
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Home Chef Hustle, which as the name suggests focuses on expanding on the home chef experience, is an example of this. The CAS is actually underwhelming when taken by itself. If you isolate that third and package it as a Kit, there's no doubt it would have been a disappointment.
But while it is the weakest part of this Stuff Pack, the aprons and kitchen-themed clothing items supplement the pack's stronger features.
The Build content is all interior design items for the kitchen, and while we have no shortage of different appliances, counters, and islands in the game at this point, Home Chef Hustle's contemporary and European-inspired offering manages to stand out. Some items like the stove hood and cabinets even come with built-in lighting.
However, it's the new gameplay that ties everything together, with the highlight being the three new gameplay items: a waffle maker, a countertop pizza oven, and a stand mixer.
At first glance, they don't sound like much. But the details and the way they can overlap with each other makes cooking in the kitchen a little more fleshed out and dynamic. For example, you can use the stand mixer to make batter, dough, or prepped vegetables or meat, which can then be used as ingredients for your waffles or pizza. There are benefits to doing this too, as using prepared ingredients cuts down on cooking time.
On top of that, there's a good variety of waffles and pizzas that can be made, adding to the immersion.
Sims can earn money from their cooking by setting up a food stand. It's a nice bonus, particularly for players who like having more options to make a living — you can interact with customers and mark up prices — but it's probably not something we would get much use out of in the long run. However, again the way that it interacts with other areas of the pack is smart.
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And that's a huge thing: immersion in storytelling. From CAS to Build, from the gameplay to the little touches, everything comes together cohesively. Kits can't replicate that to the same level.
Kits are fine to fill smaller niches — more plants, more clutter, fashion from other parts of the world, and so on — but the release of a Stuff Pack feels like more of an event because it has a greater overall impact.
Since the last Stuff Pack nearly three years ago, we've had 25 different Kits. There's no reason why Kits can't continue as well, but despite the higher volume of them, they aren't a like-for-like replacement for Stuff Packs.
Home Chef Hustle is a fine addition to the game that picks up where Stuff Packs left off. Hopefully, it's seen as a success, so this Stuff Pack revival doesn't end up being a one-off.
The Sims 4 Home Chef Hustle is out now on PC, Mac, PlayStation, and Xbox.
