Kelsey Impicciche is well-known throughout The Sims community for a variety of reasons. She runs the Buzzfeed Multiplayer YouTube channel, on which she’s participated in the 100 Baby Challenge in The Sims 4. She’s also been a judge on The Sims Spark’d, a competition television show that used The Sims 4 to tell complex and creative stories. Impicciche also runs her own YouTube channel and participates in challenges revolving around The Sims, from living like her Simself for 24 hours or doing build/buy challenges.
In an interview with Game Rant, Impicciche discussed a few different aspects of The Sims 4. She talked about her favorite expansion, game, and stuff packs and what makes them stand out among the rest. She also gave her opinion about the addition of Kits to The Sims 4, how they could affect the future of the game, and far more.
Impicciche’s History with The Sims
According to Impicciche, her first Sims game was The Sims — the first one that was ever released. She didn’t play it for long, but only because The Sims 2 came out not long after she got the first game. Surprisingly, Impicciche missed The Sims 3 entirely. It wasn’t until The Sims 4 was teased and its release was imminent that she got a copy of The Sims 3.
At the time, Impicciche only had a Mac, which made it difficult to play The Sims 3. Many players love the third iteration of the franchise because of its open-world aspects and gameplay opportunities, but in Impicciche’s experience, it was “very glitchy and very frustrating.” Impicciche isn’t opposed to playing The Sims 3 now, though, especially now that’s she’s got the proper setup for it.
It was really hard to run the game. Like, very glitchy and very frustrating, so I never really got into it. Then when The Sims 4 came out it was so much smoother and the graphics were so much nicer, in my opinion, that I was like "oh I love this."
The Sims 4 Favorites
Impicciche cited two different expansion packs as her favorites with interesting different reasons. As far as what could be considered a “necessary” expansion, Impicciche says The Sims 4: Seasons is her top pick and thinks a lot of The Sims community feels the same way. Seasons helps add realism to the game with the passing of seasons and random weather patterns.
It’s probably most people’s favorite. It just adds a lot of depth to the gameplay, adds more variety in terms of [feeling] like you’re moving through the seasons with your Sims.
As a personal favorite, Impicciche says that spot belongs to City Living. She enjoys taking her Sims to the festivals that come through town and exploring different parts of the city, San Myshuno. For game packs, both Vampires and Parenthood take the cake as Impicciche’s personal favorites. To Impicciche, Vampires had a good mix of vampire-specific build/buy as well as not so niche items that could fit into everyday gameplay. Parenthood is the one she feels like she doesn’t even realize she uses a lot, being a family-oriented Sims player and observing the interactions between parents and their children.
Narrowing down a favorite stuff pack is a bit difficult, especially because there are 18 to choose from. For Impicciche, Tiny Living has build/buy objects that are cute and add a new “mid-century modern” style that players won’t find in other packs. The gameplay is also fun, especially when players are starting out and don’t want to use cheats because the pack adds powerful bonuses when living in a tiny home. Impicciche has also really been enjoying Paranormal because of its eclectic build/buy mode items.
Opinion on Kits
Impicciche says she can see both sides of the argument for and against the new Kits that have come out for The Sims 4. She didn’t play The Sims 3 at its time of launch, so she also missed The Sims Store and its microtransaction setup. She’ll never be upset about the announcement of new Sims content, but there were definitely some Kits that stood out to her before others. The Country Kitchen Kit was a definite hit for Impicciche, and she really enjoyed the pleated skirt that came in the Throwback Fit Kit. However, she did wish that a better gameplay Kit was released.
I'll say that if I were in the position I was before, where I could only get so many packs, it might open up a little bit to me. The ability to add more clothes because I just want clothes, or add more build/buy because I just want that. But at the same time, I do understand why people could be frustrated because it's still 5 dollars. 5 dollars is different to everyone. Some people, it's just a coffee, some people it's a lot more.
As far as gameplay Kits go, Impicciche has never been the kind of Sims player that enjoys having chores in-game, so the Bust the Dust Kit didn’t appeal to her all that much. Instead, she would have liked to see something along the lines of a more “sophisticated attraction system” or a Kit focused on teens and giving them more activities. She’s excited by the concept of Kits and has a hopeful outlook for their future. However, she can see how people wouldn’t be excited as well.
If there's something new to do and something new to show, it kind of refreshes the game and makes it more fun, so I'm excited about the Kits. But I can understand why people wouldn't be.
Impicciche’s name is practically synonymous with the 100 Baby Challenge at this point, having an over two-year journey on the Buzzfeed Multiplayer YouTube channel completing the challenge. Though the 100 Baby Challenge is coming to an end, Impicciche still has some tricks up her sleeve for her personal YouTube channel.
The Sims 4 is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.