After 400 hours in The Sims 4, I've finally met my match: an occult-only household riddled with phantoms, house fires, and dead plants

I accidentally invented supernatural purgatory in The Sims 4. Dead potted plants lurk like hex bags in every corner of this pink fairy cottage, granting persistent red moodlets to all six inhabitants. The odor is matched only by random unwashed dishes creatively placed anywhere but a sink. My mermaid Sim is afflicted with the Luck Magnet ailment, meaning if anyone else decides to use the stove with her nearby, something or someone will be up in flames soon – as is happening right now to our household witch, who just happens to be Chased by Death, too.

Elsewhere, my vampire Sim is either coughing up money, giving bits of her soul to phantoms, or brawling with a burglar like some supernatural pitball. Our two resident ghosts are flirting instead of performing a seance as instructed, and my werewolf Sim is locked in a cupboard while she waits out a rampage. Finally, there's my fairy Sim, diligently mashing herbs in a stone pot to try and make this mess of a situation less chaotic – though I can't remember being this hands-on with a Sims session in years, thanks to the Enchanted by Nature expansion pack.

Charmed, I'm sure

If I take my eye off the screen for even a moment, I know something bad will happen. In a sense, I knew what I was getting myself into when I created a Sims 4 occults-only household.

With one of each creature – a mermaid, spellcaster, vampire, ghost, werewolf, and fairy – under one roof, this was bound to be my most frenzied Sims experiment since the time I attempted the 100 infants challenge and peed myself nonstop.

I have always adored occult gameplay in The Sims. The more involved, the better; I've not made a human Sim (at least not one I'd intended to stay that way for long) since The Sims 2 Nightlife. But I can see why occults are hit and miss for many Simmers, given that some occult types – werewolves, specifically – require a lot of hands-on attention.

On the other end of the extreme lies mermaids, by far the least fleshed-out occult in terms of unique gameplay features, making them a much lower-maintenance addition to any family. Vampires, ghosts, and spellcasters sit somewhere in the middle, more demanding than simply sticking your Sim in a bathtub all day yet not as high-stakes as managing werewolf rage.

For a long time, that was pretty much it. Aside from the smattering of vampire, werewolf, and spellcaster lore added in the Werewolves game pack, there's little in the way of connective tissue here. But fairies are the glitter glue I've been waiting for all this time, bringing Sims together while the expansion pack itself wreaks havoc on everything it touches.

My occult household proved this theory within just a few hours. Playing with six active Sims is not easy mode by any regard, least of all when they all have playable careers. I have a vampire Reaper, a ghost matchmaker, a chef werewolf, and an apothecary fairy – what could go wrong?

Down with the sickness

A lot, it turns out. The Sims 4: Enchanted by Nature introduces not only winged creatures, but the Balance and Luck systems.

As if juggling six discrete occult systems wouldn't be tricky enough, I now have to keep an eye on my Sims' auras and energies to ensure they don't sicken and end up with a nasty spiritual ailment. Ailments clear within a few days, supposedly, but they can also be cured by an apothecary – aka, a naturopathic doctor. It's just as well that I have one at home – my fairy Sim, Louise – since not one but three of the housemates soon falls ill.

As annoying as Josie's Sonic Sinusitis is (and as befuddled as I am that a ghost can catch a respiratory disease), no ailment is more troublesome to me than Luck Magnet. The afflicted Sim acts as a black hole for good fortune, drawing it from nearby Sims and increasing the likelihood of fires, electrocution, and other potentially fatal occurrences.

Willow the spellcaster sets so many fires alight, I spend about 5,000 Simoleons on replacement kitchen furniture alone. An on-screen pop-up has Grim serve her a final warning – she has the Chased by Death trait, after all. I'm delighted to report that Willow has been relegated to a lifetime of cereal and sandwiches.

By the time Louise cures mermaid Harper of her Luck Magnet ailment, my vampire Sim starts coughing up cash – literally. I decide that I can live with the extra income generated through Kyra's Simoleon Fever, as mean as it is to let her suffer. But that's the life of a naturopathic fairy, surely? How am I meant to make money from curing the world of its mystical ails if I cure them all immediately?

No, my favorite thing about Sims 4 fairies right now is how utterly invaluable they are to have around werewolves. As a fairy, Louise can expend some emotional energy to end a werewolf's rampage early with the Soothe Beast interaction, saving a lot of money on furniture damages and preventing Virginia the werewolf from embarrassing herself. This immediately empties her Rage meter, totally resetting her werewolf volatility as if the full moon doesn't exist – and it's something only a fairy can do.

So, the mermaid's in the tub, my vampire literally coughs up dough, my fairy can cure people of all ails… You might be thinking, "hey, all of that doesn't sound so bad after all!" But I forgot to mention one crucial thing: my six test subjects happen to live in a haunted house.

It's just a bunch of hocus pocus

The Sims 4: Paranormal Stuff is the final, accursed layer on this chaos cake. This is meant to be the most occult-y Sims household ever, so why not liven things up even more?

For the uninitiated, Paranormal Stuff is the coolest, most specific Sims pack ever. All those characterful antiques, outfits, and that swaggering New Orleans vibe are a front for some truly spooky happenings, with every Haunted House residential lot playing host to two extra house guests: paranormal investigator Guidry the Ghost, and the evil lingering spirit of a bothersome lady called Temperance.

Temperance loves to break everything in my house whenever she appears, no matter how many Sacred Candles and idols of warding I have lying around – I need these in droves, since my occult Sims (aside from Kyra the vampire) seem especially scared of paranormality. Even Josie gets scared of her own ghostly reflection in the mirror, which really says something about her suitability to the afterlife.

But wait – Temperance is fuelled by extreme emotions, and Sims 4 fairies can simply absorb those. Here I think I'd found another shortcut, circumventing one of the biggest pack-specific gameplay tweaks by getting Louise to absorb Temperance's perma-enraged emotions and maybe end her tirade for good.

Louise attempts this in vain, once Kyra finishes beating up a burglar and giving the vengeful spirit a mouthful of expletives (and simoleons). Meanwhile, the other four members of the household run around and scream, and I can't help but feel like everything just went sideways all too quickly.

I'm still having a blast with my chaotic occult family. I have no time to be bored when I can never take my eyes off the screen, after all, even if I am experiencing something close to supernatural ability overload. Keeping a vampire well-fed while tracking lunar phases, ticking off a ghost's unfinished business, and stopping a spellcaster from overcharging their powers makes The Sims feel like a proper management sim again.

Enchanted by Nature does a great job of adding more complexity to that, thanks to the Luck and Balance systems, while providing the antidote to those situations with the introduction of fairies. To any occult skeptics, I challenge you thus: try to hate playing as a fairy, I dare you.

There are loads of games like The Sims 4 to check out if you're looking to diversify your life sim portfolio in 2025.