The Sims 4: Outdoor Retreat is the first addendum to the main base game, introducing the newest pyramid monetization that EA concocted when releasing The Sims 4.

Released in January 2015, The Sims 4: Outdoor Retreat is a Game Pack - the tier just beneath Expansion Pack - that retails to this day at $19.99. Its equivalents in the other series are The Sims 3: World Adventures, The Sims 2: Bon Voyage! and The Sims: Vacation albeit they aren't exact comparison as we won't have a direct holiday themed DLC until the release of The Sims 4: Jungle Adventures (GP), The Sims 4: Snowy Escape (EP) and The Sims 4: Island Living (EP). The game launched to an 'Average' Metacritic score of 66 and an 'Average' user score of 5.6.

Outdoor Retreat is a marketed Game Pack that adds some features to the game and some new mechanics such as camping, the main selling point of the game, in scenic Granite Falls, a new neighborhood, and camping-themed objects and clothes.

Granite Falls isn't a proper neighborhood such as Creepy Hollow (The Sims: Makin' Magic!) and your Sims won't be able to live there - it typically wouldn't be an issue if The Sims 4 didn't launch with a pale two neighborhoods, all with fixed lot sizes and lot slots. What can you do in Granite Falls? Put down your tent and enjoy some camping activities or get a rented house and simply stay there to do what you would do in the base game.

Sadly, Outdoor Retreat falls short of delivering anything outdoors-y: the neighborhood comprises only one forest loot and the hidden spot is a hermit's cabin that has no functional use whatsoever (aside from just being a common 'residental' lot, of course). You can sightsee a Sim wearing a bear costume, if you're into furries and fursuiting, but aside from that you won't do anything that you can already do by having the main game.

However, we are almost a decade far from this release and now I can safely say that Outdoor Retreat works fine if you wish to use it in tandem with The Sims 4: Jungle Adventures for immersion (the camping elements fit the overall theme) or with The Sims 4: Snowy Escape, always for immersion (you won't struggle in the extreme sports section if you don't have a tent or gear, no worries)... which isn't what the highlight of a $19.99 should be.

In poor words, Outdoor Retreat insists upon itself as a $19.99 waste of disk space and money.

For $19.99 you can buy (PORO'S PICK OF THE DAY!):

• Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

One has a hot cyborg men. The other has low budget fursuiting. One has multiple Geneva Suggestions infringements. The other has a hermit's cabin.

For $19.99 you can also buy:

• Inscryption
• Death's Door
• Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition
• Cuphead
• Dave The Diver
• Dying Light