I still remember my reaction to hearing how fairies were coming to The Sims 4. At first, I was excited that we were getting an Occult type that looks fun, only to feel slightly apprehensive that it was through an Expansion rather than a Game Pack like Werewolves or Vampires.
Thankfully, despite these woes, I had a blast playing through Enchanted by Nature. Although fairies are a key part of it, it also introduces new careers, skills, and a surprisingly large world full of little interactable spots to make everything more interesting. It may seem like a fairy pack at first, but I was equally fascinated by everything else that came with it.
As someone who's done lengthy Werewolf playthroughs in the past, I couldn't help but compare the two Occult types, especially knowing Enchanted by Nature is an expansion pack. Looking strictly at gameplay, the two bear similarities in their leveling, ability perk system, and form-shifting, but almost everything else is different.
Enchanted by Nature expands on this by introducing far more customization options, more variety in its abilities beyond strictly Fairy-related perks, and even "Good" versus "Evil" routes you can go. I would've liked to see more contrast between these two routes, but I still enjoyed trying both and seeing how they affected the world around me. The only downside for me was the Fairy and Natural Living aspirations felt more like a tutorial than an interesting and challenging part of the pack. Nonetheless, I was otherwise intrigued by what this Occult type had in store.
The Sims 4: Enchanted by Nature's world, Innisgreen, is also perfect for this pack's vibe. It blends the themes of a mystical fairy adventure with the more modest, survivalist living of your average nature-lover with a degree of effectiveness you rarely see in other Sims packs. While much of its contents are purely decoration with no gameplay involved, other spots are interactable, including a giant gnome, small shops, and various shrines within the world's forests.
The lots are where the world truly shines, though. They're some of the most beautiful spots The Sims 4 has ever seen. Even empty lots have nice lakes and trees to differentiate them from past iterations, making it clear how Innisgreen is a step up from most worlds within the game.
Since Enchanted by Nature is all about nature and magic, its new skills, Natural Living and Apothecary, make sense. One lets you survive in the wild much easier, while the other enables you to create potions with various effects. The skills also pair well with a Naturopath career, which, although it offers some fun options such as bringing clients to your home or going down the job's rabbit hole, gives off a similarly repetitive feel to Get to Work's doctor job.
The Sims 4 has hit-or-miss packs, with Enchanted by Nature standing near the top of my personal rankings as one of the best the team has produced. It's not perfect, but it has nearly everything I could ask for in a nature pack. Natural Living is fantastic for Rags to Riches challenges, which are among my favorite, and Fairies have enough unique aspects to separate them from other Occult types like Mermaids and Aliens.
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