The Sims™ 4 High School Years Expansion Pack Review Summary

Includes a playable high school and extensive CAS and build items with fun teen gameplay, but launch bugs, missing DLC, and a boring school experience hurt it.

CAS and build/buy items: The pack adds a wide variety of stylish clothes, hairstyles, furniture, and build mode items tailored for teen Sims. These items are frequently praised as cute, useful, and essential for teen bedrooms.

Teen-focused gameplay content: The pack provides extensive gameplay specifically for teen Sims, including school days, part-time jobs, free time activities, social media, and prom. Many reviewers appreciate that teens now have ample distinct content compared to the base game.

Playable high school experience: Players can accompany their teen Sims to high school, attend classes, join extracurricular activities like soccer and chess teams, and participate in scripted events. This feature is widely praised for making the high school experience immersive and interactive.

Copperdale world and attractions: The new world Copperdale includes an amusement park, thrift store, recreation center, and bubble tea shop. Reviewers describe it as charming, cozy, and one of the best parts of the pack.

Fun and engaging gameplay: Many reviewers describe the pack as a fun experience with a good amount of cool activities, funny interactions, and new possibilities. It diversifies the game and adds much more personality.

Buggy and unplayable: The game is described as buggy, glitchy, and broken, with many game-breaking bugs that make it impossible to play. Players report frequent crashes, freezes, and severe lag.

DLC content missing or blank: After purchase, DLC items do not appear in the game, or all text related to the pack is blank, including furniture names, traits, and aspirations. This makes the content unusable and the game unplayable in some languages.

Boring high school experience: The high school gameplay quickly becomes boring and repetitive, with passive classes and little to do. Following sims to school is less fun than sending them alone.

Prom issues: Prom occurs too frequently, often every weekend, and is short and lackluster, with sims just standing around. Some players cannot attend prom at all due to bugs or missing notifications.

Lack of content: The pack adds very little gameplay and feels empty, with few activities and repetitive school days. Many features seem half-baked, and the free update provides most of the content.

Teen High School Attendance: The pack focuses on teen sims attending high school, allowing players to follow their teens to school. This is a core feature of the expansion.

Prom Event: Prom is a scheduled event that occurs every Saturday and can be attended with a date. It is a key social feature of the pack.

CAS and Build Items: The pack includes new clothes, hairstyles, furniture, and build/buy items. These additions expand customization options for players.

Social Bunny Feature: The pack includes a social media platform called Social Bunny where sims can chat, make posts, and build friendships or romance. It is a notable addition.

Copperdale World: The pack introduces a new town called Copperdale, which includes a pier and a bubble tea shop. The world serves as the setting for high school activities.

Frequent Game Crashes: Players report that the game crashes after an average of 3 minutes and often freezes or crashes completely. These crashes may also cause disconnections or kick players out of the game.

Simulation Lag at High School: When attending high school, the simulation experiences lag, causing Sims to idle and not perform actions properly.

Acne Persists into Adulthood: A bug causes acne to persist into adulthood, which is not intended and affects gameplay.

Wait for a sale: Many reviewers advise against buying at full price and suggest waiting for a discount. The pack is considered not worth the full price but a good addition on sale.

Do not buy: Multiple reviewers explicitly say do not buy the pack. They recommend against purchasing and suggest saving money.

Wait for bug fixes: Reviewers recommend waiting for patches and bug fixes before buying. The pack has severe bugs and is not playable in its current state.

Good for teen gameplay: The pack is recommended for players who frequently play with teens or families. It adds value for those who enjoy teen-focused gameplay.

Positive overall recommendation: Some reviewers highly recommend the pack, especially for those who want to feel like a true teenager. It is recommended overall, especially with a discount.

Community fair range: $0.00 - $20.00.

Session length: 0.1h.

Players report brief initial appeal from features like the chat Rabbit or the add-on's novelty, but boredom, repetition, and low-effort school activities quickly set in. Some players describe the content as boring from the start, so the profile is best captured as fun then drops rather than a delayed unlock.

Friction: Repetitive chat dialogue quickly becomes boring; Gameplay is very limited and extremely repetitive; School has too few students and teachers; Following Sims to school and prom is boring; Broken script mods after Whims were replaced by Wants and Fears; Map and high school content feel low effort.

Teen Life Storyteller: Family- and teen-centered storytelling with a focus on everyday school and social moments. Motivation: Acting out teenage and family life stories in their save files. Stance: buy.

Value-Conscious Sale Waiter: Evaluates content against price and technical stability before integrating it into long-term saves. Motivation: Getting fair value for money and avoiding regret over an expensive, buggy purchase. Stance: sale.

Mod-Using Franchise Veteran: Deep, modded long-term play across the full catalog of owned packs. Motivation: Expanding an already extensive collection with something new to explore. Stance: sale.

Monetization: The feedback concerns a paid Sims 4 expansion/DLC, not in-game microtransactions. Reviews focus on the upfront DLC price, perceived low value relative to a free mod, launch bugs, and refund frustration. There is no direct evidence of real-money gacha, loot boxes, paid power, currency obfuscation, battle passes, or an in-game shop. Under the audit rules, traditional DLC and base-price complaints cannot by themselves exceed the low-risk range.

Trailer versus actual game: The released game differs significantly from the promotional trailer, with missing content and a downgraded school lot. Reviewers feel the marketing overpromised and the final product is unfinished.

Compared to University pack: Reviewers frequently compare this pack to the University expansion, noting it has fewer opportunities and less control over classes, and that it is what University should have been. Some expected it to improve on University but were disappointed.

EA and Steam DLC issues: Steam DLC only works on Steam, not EA, and mixing the two can cause installation and font display problems. Reviewers provide workarounds such as reinstalling the game with Steam DLC included or separating installs on Windows.

Limited active gameplay activities: The school day offers fewer activities than other active careers like Get to Work or University. The pack lacks depth in daily teen activities, making gameplay feel shallow.

Mods and custom content: Many suggest that mods can provide similar or better activities and perks, and some recommend downloading custom content instead of buying the pack. The free Go To School mod is often cited as offering comparable value.