The Sims 4: Journey to Batuu is the ninth game pack expanding the content of the original game. This time it whisks your sims to the galaxy far, far away on a thematic holiday, allowing you to join the Resistance or the First Order or chill on the sidelines and try to make some credits off of both as a Scoundrel. You can even get your very own lightsaber!
Before we get to Batuu itself, let’s take a look at what the pack has to offer in your everyday experience via create-a-sim and build/buy mode.
There is a nice number of new additions to create-a-sim mode: a few full costumes including the orange Resistance pilot suit, some upper body/lower body choices, new head accessories and face paint allowing your character to look like a Twi’lek, a Zabrak, or even a Bith (please don’t) as well as a few others.
To dive fully into the galactic mood, you can choose the newly added Star Wars Aspiration: Hope Vs Order if you intend on choosing your side or Galactic Privateer if you just want to have some fun. Most aspirations can only be completed while you are on vacation in Batuu effectively meaning next to zero satisfaction points for your sim while you are tackling the normal gameplay.
Other stuff added by the pack such as furniture suffers from a similar problem. Aesthetically, it provides you with an opportunity to create a very Star Wars looking place. But the entirety of it is make-believe: you won’t find things like beds or stoves/ovens. Sure, you can sleep in a tent outside and use the grill (also not from Batuu) for cooking, but with every little thing, the beautiful picture of a galaxy far, far away cracks just a bit more.
When your sims are ready to pledge their loyalty to one of the three factions of Batuu, choose your phone and select Travel -> Take a Vacation. You can invite a number of Sims to go with you or travel solo.
Batuu consists of three locations:
- Black Spire Outpost. This is the central hub where you will start your adventure. You can find The Dwelling, Cantina, Dok-Ondar’s Den of Antiquities here as well as run into various Scoundrels.
- First Order District. As comes from the name, this is the base of the First Order. You will become very familiar with it if you choose to join the Empire, but even if your path lies with the Scoundrels or the Resistance you will have missions taking you to this place. This is also where you can get your very own droid companion!
- Resistance Encampment. The Resistance’s base is located deep within the forests of Batuu. Of course, it is something of a worst kept secret of Batuu: everyone seems to know where you can find the Resistance besides the First Order, of course.
Once you make your way to this little piece of a galaxy far, far away, you will find that you left all simoleons at home. Instead Batuu uses a separate currency that you acquire by completing missions: the Galactic Credits. You start with 200 of them, just enough to get you on your feet.
Arriving at any of the three locations is breathtaking for a second – it really does look like you have stepped into a city straight from Star Wars…. until you notice that most buildings and objects are not interactable. It becomes clear that most of Batuu are just empty decorations for your little Disneyland-like adventure very fast.
The first few missions are the same for everyone arriving on Batuu: planning your new appropriate outfit and freshening up at the Dwelling and ordering food from Docking Bay 7 for starters. The following quest will include a lot of talking about Resistance, Scoundrels and First Order as each group tries to subtly get you to join them by trashing the other two.
Having chosen your side, you can start getting missions from the variety of characters inhabiting Batuu. Only one mission can be active at a time so until you’re done or drop it from frustration, no more missions for you!
If you manage not to spend your credits on nothing or get trashed by Hondo Ohnaka by the Sabacc table, you will be able to construct your own droid or/and buy yourself a sweet lightsaber.
As a representative of the First Order or a member of Resistance you will get to spy on the other side, spread propaganda and report your findings back to your companions while Scoundrels spend their time playing Sabacc, drinking and hacking stuff for extra credits.
You can even run into some famous characters from Star Wars when you have enough rank in your chosen side in addition to unlocking some cool stuff such as outfits!
As far as content goes, that’s about it.
The Sims 4: Journey to Batuu game pack left me pretty neutral about its content, partially because I am not a huge Star Wars fan. If you are, your opinion of it might be very different from mine.
If you expect an actual Star Wars experience from Journey to Batuu, you will be left disappointed. It is more like visiting Disneyland or a theme park: sure, you are surrounded by Star Wars aesthetics but ultimately all of this is just a stage for a small fun holiday for your Sim, complete with activities, outfits and presents.
Just like the Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland, Journey to Batuu is a perfect escape for your sim and you. After the vacation is over, you will return to everyday life with next to no Star Wars vibes. Is it worth $19.99? Likely not if you are not a Star Wars fan, but that’s something for you to decide.
Note: the game pack key has been provided by the publisher for the purposes of this review.
