A new lot challenge that requires Sims to have actual ingredients in their inventory or fridge to cook meals, encouraging players to grow their own crops or shop at the local market.

Released in July 2021, Cottage Living shifts the focus from urban life to a "cottagecore" lifestyle centered on self-sufficiency and animal husbandry in the virtual English countryside.

For the first time in The Sims 4 , players can raise cows for milk, chickens for eggs, and llamas for wool. Wild animals like bunnies, foxes, and birds also inhabit the world and can be befriended to provide "gifts" or help with gardening.