The Sims 2: Seasons brought weather and seasonal cycles to the series for the first time. Released on March 1, 2007, it was developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts as the fifth expansion pack for The Sims 2.
What Seasons adds
The main feature is a four-season cycle that changes how the entire game looks and plays. Rain, thunderstorms, hail, and snow all affect the environment, and each season shifts how your Sims interact with the world around them.
In summer, friendships grow faster. Winter boosts family relationships. Spring favors romance. And autumn accelerates skill building instead of affecting social interactions at all. Weather can also be dangerous: lightning strikes can hit trees and even your Sims directly.
Gardening and fishing
Seasons added two outdoor hobbies that quickly became fan favorites. Sims can plant crops, water and fertilize their gardens, and harvest produce for cooking or selling. Fishing works similarly, giving your Sims another way to stock the fridge or earn some extra simoleons.
Both systems follow the seasonal cycle. Different plants thrive in different seasons, and winter frost can kill unprotected gardens.
PlantSims
Overuse pesticides on your garden and your Sim might turn into a PlantSim, a green-skinned, leaf-haired hybrid life state new to this expansion. PlantSims replace the standard needs panel with just three motives: Sunlight, Water, and Love. They skip the toddler stage entirely, aging straight from baby to child, and can reproduce on their own without a partner.
Every PlantSim starts with a gold gardening badge, making them natural fits for farming-focused households.
New careers
The expansion adds six career tracks:
- Adventurer
- Education
- Gamer
- Journalism
- Law
- Music
Riverblossom Hills
Seasons ships with Riverblossom Hills, a countryside-themed neighborhood with six pre-built occupied lots. It's smaller than the base game neighborhoods but fits the expansion's rural, outdoorsy tone. Most homes come with garden plots already laid out, so you can start experimenting with the new gardening system right away.
Seasonal activities
Each season brings its own set of activities. Snowball fights and building snowmen fill the winter months. Spring and summer open up water balloon fights, bug catching, and chasing fireflies after dark. Autumn is for jumping in leaf piles and raking the yard.
The expansion includes over 125 new objects to support all of this, from seasonal decorations to gardening tools.
Reception and legacy
Seasons sold more than one million copies and ranked as the third best-selling PC game of 2007. It earned a Metacritic score of 78. The soundtrack featured a Simlish cover of Lily Allen's "Smile," which became the first official Sims series music video.
For more on The Sims 2 expansion lineup, see our Nostalgia Sunday feature on University.