Is The Sims 4 Spa Day Worth It? (After The Refresh Review)

Sims 4 Spa Day Game Pack

You may be wondering if The Sims 4 Spa Day is worth buying after its been refreshed and updated with new content. In this review, I’ll go over all the features – old and new – to help answer your question. But first, here’s a spoiler…

Is the Sims 4 Spa Day worth it? In my opinion, YES. After the recent “refresh,” the pack adds a lot of new and fun game play for the price. If you already enjoy The Sims 4 or want to try out a game pack, give it a shot.

And keep in mind, this answer is coming from someone who isn’t afraid to say a pack is bad or lacking. I would not have recommended this pack before it was updated, but I can now say that I feel it’s worth the price.

New Features

Here’s a list of the new features Spa Day adds to the game:

  • 175 New Items including CAS and Build/Buy Mode Stuff
  • 4 New Lots (Spa, Yoga Studio, Massage Center, Health Club)
  • New Lot Type – Spa
  • New Wellness Skill
  • New Wellness Aspiration Category with 3 New Aspirations:
  • New High Maintenance Trait
  • Practice Yoga & Meditation
  • Teach Yoga or Meditation Classes for Money
  • Participate in Yoga or Meditation Classes
  • Get Your Sim’s Nails Done
  • Get a Hand or Foot Massage
  • Get a Massage with new Massage Tables
  • Give Massages, Manicures and Pedicures for Money
  • 2 New Quick Meals:
    • Cucumber Slices
    • Cucumber Power Sip
  • New Face Masks for Purchase at the Spa
  • Take Mud Baths or Baths with Soaks
  • Relax in a Sauna
  • Fish Aquariums
  • Burnable Incense
  • New Radio Station (New Age)

New in Create-A-Sim

Spa Day comes with new hair and clothing, mostly for adults. The clothes are athletic-inspired – think things you might wear to do yoga or work out in – but they’re very nice.

Sims 4 Spa Day Clothes
A Sim wearing clothing, shoes, and hair from The Sims 4 Spa Day.

Here’s a breakdown of everything you get by sex and age group.

Teen/Adult/Elder Females

  • 8 New Tops
  • 4 New Full-Body Outfits
  • 9 New Bottoms
  • 5 New Shoes
  • 2 New Styled Looks for Athletic & Hot Weather
  • 3 New Hair Styles

Teen/Adult/Elder Males

  • 8 New Tops
  • 2 New Full-Body Outfits
  • 7 New Bottoms
  • 5 New Shoes
  • 3 New Styled Looks for Athletic & Hot Weather
  • 3 New Hair Styles

Teen/Adult/Elder Unisex

  • 9 New Sets of Nails
  • 1 New Unisex Accessory (Watch)
  • 1 New Unisex Hat (Towel Wrap)

New Kid’s Stuff

  • 1 New Top
  • 2 New Full-Body Outfits
  • 1 New Bottom
  • 1 New Hat (Towel Wrap)

The full-body outfits are robes, towel-wraps, a jogging suit, and a swimsuit for adult females. The jogging suit and swimsuit will be useful for any of your Sims – but the robe and towel wrap thing are less useful outside the spa setting.

Overall, it’s a nice new collection of stuff for your adult Sims. The children were slighted big time – with only one new top, one new bottom, a jogging suit, and a robe. They got no new hair, shoes, or any other athletic wear.

Sims 4 Spa Day Children Clothes
A child wears new clothes from The Sims 4 Spa Day.

When Spa Day was first released, children couldn’t participate in wellness activities, so that could be why they didn’t get much in this pack. After the refresh, children can now perform yoga and meditation, but they still didn’t get any new CAS stuff.

New in Build & Buy Mode

The pack includes new doors and windows, fence, column, flooring, walls, and more to build your very own Spa. There are also more than 100 buy mode items to use in your Sims’ homes and spas, including:

  • Chairs for hand/foot massage and manicures/pedicures
  • Massage tables
  • Glass shelves
  • Yoga mats
  • Meditation stools
  • Various clutter and decor
  • Spa fridge to buy face masks
  • Chairs, tables, couches, counters
  • Bathroom sink, toilet, shower, bathtubs
  • Fish aquariums
  • Stone and wood saunas
  • New workout machines and punching bag
  • Bar and bar stools
  • Fountains, Lights, Mirrors
  • Candles and incense
  • Two styles of lockers
  • Speaker and new stereo
Sims 4 Spa Day Buy Mode
SOME of the new items available in The Sims 4 Spa Day.

You can see images of ALL the new items in this pack on the official Sims 4 Spa Day page.

New Lots & Spa Lot Type

You’ll find the new lots in your library in the gallery after you install the pack. Spa Day comes with four new lots and a new lot assignment type for Spas.

  • Perfect Balance Spa
  • Center of Center Massage
  • Aham Ashram Yoga Studio
  • Luxe Health Club

Perfect Balance Spa

This 30 x 20 lot fits nicely in the little Newcrest Strip. It uses a lot of the new build and buy mode items. Not only does it look lovely, it’s also quite functional for all your Spa needs.

Sims 4 Spa Day Perfect Balance Spa
New Lot – Perfect Balance Spa

It includes a meditation room with meditation stools, a yoga room with instructor and student yoga mats, massage tables, manicure/pedicure chairs, a sauna, and a workout room. It’s an all-purpose spa that includes everything you need to experience the pack.

Well, with one exception. If you want the new purchasable face masks, place down the “Doc Sweet’s Lukewarm Mini-Dispenser.” This special spa-only fridge allows your Sims to buy the face masks.

Center of Center Massage

The massage center is a 30 x 20 lot that includes a space for manicures, pedicures, and hand/foot massage, plus several massage tables on the second floor. It even has a roof-top pool!

Sims 4 Spa Day Center of Center Massage
New Lot – Center of Center Massage

There’s a sauna downstairs, but this lot is more focused on the art of massage. It would be a great place for your Sim to earn money giving massages, or go get one themselves. It also uses many of the new build/buy items, and it looks very nice.

Aham Ashram Yoga Studio

The yoga studio is a 30 x 20 lot that includes space for yoga with instructor and student mats, outdoor meditation area with meditation stools, and a bar.

Sims 4 Spa Day Aham Ashram Yoga Studio
New Lot – Aham Ashram Yoga Studio

This would be a great place for your Sims to go perform or teach yoga and meditation. Like the previous new lots, it has a very new-agey, relaxing vibe. There’s lots of water, fountains, bamboo, incense, etc.

Luxe Health Club

The Luxe Health Club is really a fancy, high-class gym with workout equipment and a pool, but it also includes a yoga room on the second floor. 

Sims 4 Spa Day Luxe Health Club
New Lot – Luxe Health Club

Although it was built with the Spa Pack, I would still give this one the gym lot assignment. It includes the new workout equipment that came with Spa Day – a treadmill and weight machine with a sleek, modern design.

Wellness Skill

Sims can increase their wellness skill by performing yoga, meditating, and giving massages. Increasing the skill unlocks more advanced yoga poses, massages, recipes, and socials at higher levels.

Sims 4 Spa Day Wellness Skill
Sims can increase the Wellness Skill by practicing yoga.

When a Sim reaches level 2 of the wellness skill, they can begin teaching yoga or meditation classes (and giving massages) to earn money.

I’ve always liked the wellness skill and practicing yoga in this game pack, and adding the ability to teach for money provides so many more game play options. Now, our Sims can be full-time yoga instructors or massage therapists.

New Aspirations

A new wellness aspiration category was added to the game, along with three new aspirations – Self-Care Specialist, Inner Peace, and Zen Guru. This is the first time a game pack has give us not one or two, but three new aspirations.

  • Self-Care Specialist – This Sim wants to make it big with monetizing Wellness activities like offering manicures or tending the massage table at a Spa.
  • Inner Peace – This Sim is on a quest to achieve Inner Peace. Although true harmony is sometimes ephemeral, what’s important is developing tools to help mitigate negative emotions.
  • Zen Guru – This Sim wants to share their mastery of Wellness with the world, and train a successor to pass on their knowledge.

All wellness aspirations give a bonus trait called “Spa Membership.” With this trait, all fees at the spa are waved!

I feel the aspirations were quite well-done, and I’m not usually a fan of aspirations in The Sims 4. They’re typically like mini-tutorials for the new features of the game and nothing more – and they’re very specific, not allowing the player much freedom.

Sims 4 Spa Day Aspiration Goals
Aspiration goals for the Spa Specialist aspiration.

While the new aspirations do focus on the pack’s features, that only makes sense. But they do so in a way that’s less tutorial-driven and more open-ended. For example, as a self-care specialist, your Sim wants to earn money (hustle) doing any Wellness activity.

This gives you the opportunity to choose if she’ll focus on yoga, meditation, massage, or maybe all three! They just seem to give you more freedom than the other aspirations in the game – at least from what I’ve seen so far.

High Maintenance Trait

The new “High Maintenance” trait is great for the new wellness-related aspirations.

Sims with this trait require extra work to keep in good condition. Their problems sometimes appear trivial, and may even appear out of the blue. These struggles can be remedied through mindful habits, which puts them in a state of catharsis.

While I was playing a Sim with this trait, she got angry at the sunlight for no reason – so trivial is the right word. She was also upset about a hangnail, which means she needs to go get her nails done ASAP!

Sims 4 Spa Day High Maintenance Hang Nail
Sims with the High Maintenance Trait need their nails done regularly.

I like this trait so far. It seems to really have an impact on the Sim’s behavior and emotions. I just hope it doesn’t get too annoying. But since my Sim is spending most of her time a the spa anyway, I’m hoping I can keep her happy.

Yoga & Meditation (For Money or Pleasure)

When the pack was released, Sims could not teach yoga or meditation. They could only participate in classes at the spa or practice on their own. Well, that’s all changed.

Sims can still participate in classes or just practice on their own. But they can also lead a class or teach a class for money. (Note: Your Sim needs wellness level 2 before they can lead or teach classes.)

And the best part is you can setup a class anywhere – at the park, at home, anywhere you can place objects down. On a community lot, just go into buy mode and plop down your mats or stools and you’re ready to go!

Sims 4 Spa Day Yoga in the Park
Teach a yoga class anywhere in the world to earn money.

My Sim got a single student her first day of teaching yoga in the park. But she didn’t complain. Money is money! She earned $110 from that student. It was a lot of fun trying to get students and scrape up a living teaching in the park.

She’s got big dreams of saving up enough money to buy her own yoga studio. But for now, she’s roughing it in the park.

Manicures & Pedicures

Just like with yoga and meditation, your Sims can give manicures and pedicures anywhere in the world – as long as there’s a special chair. It’s the hand/foot massage chair, but it now has the mani/pedi functionality.

You’ll need level 6 wellness skill to offer manicures and pedicures. Once you’ve reached a high enough level, just click a chair and choose “Tend.” Clients will approach you for hand/foot massages, and/or nail services.

Sims 4 Spa Day Foot Massage
My Sim’s giving foot massages to strange men next to the garbage.

You can tend the chair on your home lot in addition to on community lots – the same with any wellness services your Sim provides. It might take a little longer to get clients on your home lot, but you can advertise on Simstagram to rustle up business.

I really, really like this. It makes the possibility of a home business a reality for our Sims. And if you’re wondering – foot massages only earn about $40 (but sometimes the clients tip too). Yoga is much more lucrative.

Manicures are really well-done in this pack. If a Sim gets their nails done, they degrade over time and you have to get them touched up. (You have the option of perfect nails forever if you add them in CAS.)

Sims 4 Spa Day Refresh Nail Polish Chooser
You can choose nail type, polish color or pattern, and finish.

When giving (or getting) manicures, you can choose the nail type, polish color, and finish you want for the job. I’ve found manicures are very profitable. My Sim earned $138 for her first one – and that’s before the tip of $98!

Massages

In addition to hand and foot massages, your Sim can get and give body massages on the massage table. With the Spa Day refresh, you can earn money for giving massages and you can perform them anywhere like the other activities.

Sims 4 Spa Day Massage Table
Tend the massage table at the spa to earn money fast.

If you just want to get started right away, head to the Spa and tend a massage table (or teach a class, give a manicure, etc). You don’t even have to pay for any equipment. But you will need to have level 2 wellness skill first.

Start a massage business or just relax at the spa and let someone else pamper your Sim for a while. You can even hire a massage therapist to come to your house if you have your own table.

Other New Features

There are several other smaller features added in this pack such as two new cucumber quick meals, face masks for adults and children, burnable incense, aquariums, saunas, and even a new radio station.

The quick meals are pretty meh. Eat a bowl of cucumbers or drink a cucumber drink that makes you focused. I’m also not big on face masks, but it’s kind of nice if you want to give your Sims a Spa Day out with the girls or something.

Sims 4 Spa Day Fancy Face Mask
My Sim’s feeling fancy wearing this relaxing face mask.

Of course, the masks have different benefits and there are even consequences if you leave them on too long. There are five to choose from for adults, and one for children – the animal mask.

I love the incense because sometimes you have a Sim that just looks like she needs to burn some incense, you know? I like that you can choose the type of incense you want to burn, and each type evokes a different emotion.

Sims 4 Spa Day Incense Choices
Choose the type of incense you want to burn.

The saunas are a nice way for your Sims to relax, plus they provide a new woohoo spot! Mud baths and soaks are another way to change your Sim’s emotions or put them in a better mood.

The New Age radio station is one of my favorites because it’s so peaceful to listen to. The aquariums are pretty cool too. You can choose from six different types of fish to stock them with. And viewing them increases Fun.

Is The Sims 4 Spa Day Worth It?

As I said in the beginning, yes this pack is definitely worth it. After the Sims team refreshed Spa Day, it has more new game play in it than some expansion packs (ahem…Island Living).

In fact, I can confidently say that this is the best game pack out there. If you’re on the fence, I encourage you to give it a try. It was so much more than I expected, and that rarely happens with The Sims 4. (Actually, I think this is a first.)

I love the freedom your Sims have to earn money with wellness activities at home, a spa, or on any community lot. This opens up a lot of story-telling possibilities – and I am all about game play and story telling.

What do you think? Have you tried Spa Day – or are you going to? Leave a comment below and let me know. I’d love to hear your opinion!

7 thoughts on “Is The Sims 4 Spa Day Worth It? (After The Refresh Review)”

  1. Thanks for the comprehensive review. I think the changes The Sims have started making with refreshes etc are a really positive step and I really hope they continue. It almost seems like they are listening more now. I’m off to the spa now, lol!

    Reply
  2. Cindy, I thought of you when I saw the new aspirations! They are like the mod that changes the old aspirations into a life long quest. Just up your alley! I am impressed by the changes and think this is the best thing that’s happened to the Sims 4 in a long time!

    Reply

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