inZOI Preview: Is It a Candidate for the Sims’ Throne?

Let’s take a preview of what inZOI, the last and most ambitious representative of the life simulations in which we live the lives of our dreams, or at least try to make our characters experience, promises to the players in the early access process.

The life simulation genre, of which the most notable representative has been The Sims series for years, is identical to this series in the minds of many players. However, inZOI, developed by inZOI Studio and published by Krafton, is preparing to appear with a great wind of expectation behind it. I had the opportunity to experience the game during the early access period and have been dealing with life simulations (okay, I admit it, mostly The Sims series) for as long as I can remember. It fell to your dear editor to write an inZOI preview article.

Let’s Start with the Character Creation Screen

Backed by the power of Unreal Engine 5, inZOI presents impressive and realistic graphics that surprise with the level of detail. Naturally, this level of detail and realism also shows itself in our characters. While creating our ZOIs, we can intervene in many different details, from a tiny mole on your face to the length of your nails, from the shape of your pupils (yes, their shape) to the smallest detail of your make-up. Besides, are there any shortcomings? Of course there are. What caught my attention the most on the character creation screen was the lack of missing clothing options, but I attribute this to both early access and our freedom to make changes to the clothes as we wish. Although the ready-made clothes offered by the game are not very diverse, it is possible to dress your ZOI like a k-pop star or fashion icon by spending a little time. You can create a completely different piece by changing everything from the collar to the sleeves of the outfit you choose. In short, if you cannot find an outfit that suits your taste, you can dress your character in a “haute couture” design by making your own changes after finding the closest outfit to it.

What the character creation screen offers is not limited to our character’s appearance. We also select the personalities, life goals and passions of our ZOIs from this screen. The game offers us the opportunity to choose between a total of 18 personality types and characteristics, and these personality characteristics form the basis of our character’s behavior. For example, entrepreneurial characters can tolerate stress better than characters of other personality types. These character traits also affect the communication between ZOIs throughout the game. For example, as expected, authoritarian ZOIs and free-spirited characters do not get along very well.

We Created the Character, Now It’s Time to Find a Place to Lay Our Heads

InZOI also maintains diversity in the character creation screen in terms of construction. As someone who has been playing each and every game of The Sims for years, I’ll be honest, it was a little difficult for me to get used to inZOI’s building system at first, but once I got used to it, it was very easy to continue. In early access, the game welcomes us with 3 cities with different themes, where we can throw our character into the streets as we wish. My preference was for city life, but if you wish, you can send your character to have fun in a quiet coastal town. Going back to the construction part, inZOI allows us to focus heavily on customization of items. After choosing among many different items, you can personalize them as you wish. For example, once you have decided on a bed, you can add your own touch to almost every detail, from the type of material to its color, from the fabric of the bedspread to the weaving of this fabric. If you say, “I don’t have that much time or patience,” then let’s take you towards the ready-made houses that the game offers. Personally, that’s what I did.

One of the most striking aspects of InZOI is that you can add any object you want to the game. Thanks to the 3D printer, you can transfer a photo you uploaded into the game as a 3D model and use it. This includes many things, from different clothes and accessories to spouse’s belongings or decorations. In my opinion, this is one of the biggest features that puts InZOI ahead of its other competitors. Also, I am already curious about the “interesting” designs that mischievous players will create. In addition, one of the issues that developers often emphasize is that movements and facial expressions can be transferred from video to game, but to be honest, I have not tried this and I have no idea how it performs.

So How Are Our ZOIs Living?

We created the character, we furnished our house. It’s time to hit the streets ourselves. Even though the developers have said that they are not The Sims rivals, many of us, as players, compare the game with The Sims series for many and justified reasons. InZOI offers a much more realistic environment than The Sims series we have been used to for years. This realism is not only about character appearances or graphics. For example, when you want to go from one place to another, you need to blend into the streets of the city and use public transportation. In addition, inZOI does not have the unique and sometimes sarcastic sense of humor of The Sims series in the face of disasters. Even though everything was much more realistic, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was left hanging somewhere deep within the game. Even though there was a world in front of me that was truly alive and seemed alive, there were many places where that mask of realism fell off piece by piece from time to time, perhaps due to the privilege of early access. Even though the streets seem full, the other characters you interact with feel no different than robots for now. For example, dialogues. I have experienced many moments when I felt like both the dialogues and the conversations were looping when I tried to chat on different topics.

Let’s put all this aside and talk about a day of a standard ZOI. Our characters have a wide range of needs and responsibilities, as one would expect. For example, if you have a character who goes to school, you should do your homework and be active in school. InZOI differs from The Sims series at this point. While your character is in the office, you do not have to monitor the work area from outside, but it cannot be said that you can spend this time very actively. A ZOI office worker spends a significant part of the day here after going to work, and although we can use this time to intervene in small things, we mostly have to sit and wait for the time to pass. But let’s be fair, inZOI offers many different career paths, some of which are crazy (for example, you can be a k-pop idol!) and some are very down-to-earth. You can choose between these as full-time or part-time, or even try to make a living by working freelance if you wish.

Let’s Come to the Last Words

Although InZOI adds many differences and brand new wonderful details to life simulations, it often feels like it is in early access. Although the game still has many shortcomings and breaks from time to time, I hope that some of these problems will be solved with the full version. The game fulfills many of its promises in its current form, this is clear, but it does all of this with a coldness that is difficult to name and does not feel natural at all. However, don’t get me wrong, inZOI is definitely a candidate to be one of those games where you don’t understand how time flies at the beginning when it reaches its full potential.