The Sims 4 Dream Home Decorator is like playing through a reality TV series that hates my taste
Dream Home Decorator lets you be a graphic designer and subsequently ruin people's homes
The entire Caliente family is crying. Sobbing, actually. They're standing in their Mediterranean-style villa, under the stone archway that transitions the entryway into the living room, their shoulders shaking with sobs. I've just revealed their redone space made with The Sims 4 Dream Home Decorator Game Pack.
The Game Pack has kicked up a ton of excitement in the Sims community, especially for those who focus on the build portions of gameplay. It adds a few new outfits, new likes and dislikes, new gameplay features, and a ton of new furniture, which is clearly the main draw. For those of us who love building, the addition of new build objects centered around a career that lets you makeover homes is, well, it's a dream. Unfortunately for the families whose homes I've renovated, it's been more of a nightmare...
Not so Caliente
The Caliente family is my first job as a Dream Home Decorator. When I get to the Calientes' and see their Mediterranean-inspired home with its stucco walls and terracotta tiles, I'm ecstatic that I have the new Garden Oasis Stuff Pack. "Oh, this is gonna be good," I say out loud to my cats.
I spend some time chatting with the family, which gives me a chance to learn their likes and dislikes. Unfortunately, the Calientes aren't very helpful in terms of décor - I only learn that one of the family members likes singing, while another hates the piano. I look over at the piano in the corner of the living room, now my only source of direction.
I ask them to leave so I can get to work, then delete everything and add a gorgeous terracotta tile floor. I paint the walls a soft beige stucco. Based on the singing interest I glean from one Caliente, I decide to turn this living room into a modern Italian karaoke bar, complete with ample sitting space, a microphone, and a huge flat screen TV. I place orange trees on either side of a simple but chic bar, which has two repurposed wine bottles holding plants resting on its corner. A reddish L-shaped couch takes up the other side of the room. Simple, mission-style lights hang from the ceiling and a gorgeous painting of what may be a fruit brings the entire room together.
Excited about my work, I call the Caliente family back to look at their gorgeous Italian karaoke café. They enter with their hands over their eyes and I feel my heart swell with excitement as my Sim makes a sorta "ta-da" noise and sweeps her arms over the space. The entire family - children included - start hysterically crying.
Home Hack
I decide to quickly leave the Caliente home after receiving a horrible verdict, no money, and a severe blow to my reputation, just as the matron of the household storms out of her new living room to stress eat from the refrigerator. Heading home slightly dejected, I instruct Simlyssa to go to bed and immediately choose another home decorating gig. "I have good taste!" I insist to my monitor. "I do!"
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The next house I head to belongs to the Partihaus crew, a group of Berlin-adjacent young people whose place looks like a frat boy won a $10,000 Bed Bath and Beyond gift certificate. The Partihaus people tell me they don't like garden décor, pianos (which are nowhere in sight) and the color red - which is everywhere. I send the family away, take some quick pictures, and decide to turn their main floor into a hyper contemporary space with some dashes of plant life.
I spend around 30 minutes perfecting the space, subbing out the red for green and the brick for concrete. I call them back in and promptly watch as they groan and "yuck" at everything I've put in the space, and cringe as I see the results screen: no money, even less reputation. During this, my Sim gets a text from Dina Caliente: "I hope your day is as terrible as your so-called design sense."
"Well f*ck this," I say to my glass of wine. I put on a Plumbella video and watch her hack her way to a great review by only adding objects based on the client's likes. At my next job, I do just that. The only information I get from eight family members is as follows:
- Likes: Snowboarding
- Likes: Skiing
- Dislikes: Mischief
I decide to renovate a bedroom - and by renovate I mean put a snowboard in one corner and a set of skis in the other. That's it. I call them back, show off the items, and get eight incredibly positive reviews (including a hug). "I give up." I say to my mid-century modern Miami-style bedroom. "Maybe I just have crap taste."
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Alyssa Mercante is an editor and features writer at GamesRadar based out of Brooklyn, NY. Prior to entering the industry, she got her Masters's degree in Modern and Contemporary Literature at Newcastle University with a dissertation focusing on contemporary indie games. She spends most of her time playing competitive shooters and in-depth RPGs and was recently on a PAX Panel about the best bars in video games. In her spare time Alyssa rescues cats, practices her Italian, and plays soccer.