InZOI: Everything We Know About The Biggest Sims Competitor

The upcoming realistic life simulator inZOI is set to become the next gaming sensation, with several players having tested the Character Studio version and coming out with overwhelmingly positive reviews. InZOI might just be the game to raise the bar for all future life simulators, including The Sims. We'll discuss some of the game features we're most excited about and the potential release date window.

InZOI: Best Features, Gameplay and Official Trailer

InZOI lets you play as an omniscient God in charge of people called Zoi, and practically the entire world. You can customize absolutely everything in the game, from the Zoi you're taking care of, to the city you live in.

The game was made by Krafton, the developer of PUBG, and it's quite interesting to observe the pipeline from producing a battle royale experience to a giga-realistic life sim. There's seemingly an influence from action shooter titles like GTA V, but we'll discuss that more later in the article.

Let's take a look at some of the features that make inZOI stand out, and make us believe that it's out to get Sims' plumbob-shaped crown.

Graphics

The game is developed using Unreal Engine 5, and it looks absolutely magnificent. The light tracking, lifelike animations, and flow add a deep level of realism and immersion to inZOI and should serve as a bar for the standards of all future simulator releases. The only downside we can think of is that you'll need good specs and space to run the game on your PC, but that also means it's probably time to upgrade your gear anyway.

Character Customization

The customization options in inZOI are honestly wild, even from what we've seen in the demo version. When it comes to creating your Zoi character, there are all the possible representations and diversity you can think of, all the colors of the wheel to pick for their hair, eyes, accessories, and clothes alike, different personality types, and so much more that it's impossible to squash in this article.

Building and City Edit

Building a house in inZOI seems intuitive, the mechanics feel familiar, offering so much potential to make your visions come to life! You can customize the furniture inside your home just as detailed as you can customize your character. And if that wasn't enough, inZOI also allows you to free build in the city! You can place billboards that broadcast YouTube videos 24/7 (think of the possibilities) and decorate any public space to your liking, breathing life into the world around you.

Relationship Settings

If you've played The Sims 4 without any mods, you know how ridiculously easy it is to marry a complete stranger within 10 minutes of continuously high-fiving and complimenting them. With inZOI, you have the option to keep that aspect of the simulation because it's just funny—or go in the complete opposite direction and make your inZOI experience a literal social anxiety simulator. You have the option to toggle the level of social difficulty in the game, which is a feature we're really curious to explore.

Social Life

InZOI lets your Zoi text with their friends, and you can read what they're talking about! Not only you can, but you should, because that's how your Zoi will schedule hangouts. You'll get alerts when your friends want to meet up with you at a certain location—or when a new family has moved into the neighborhood. Your phone will be your world navigator, which is quite true to real life.

Careers

You will be able to follow your Zoi to work every day! Watch them complete their daily tasks and earn their living with an array of careers you can choose from. You can work at an amusement park, convenience store, or office, as a firefighter, and even a K-Pop idol trainee! Naturally, the game has a Korean influence in all aspects since the developers are Korean, and that makes the game stand out with its own signature aesthetic.

Vehicle System

This is where things get a bit GTA-ey. It's like Krafton was spying on all the Sims fans who were disappointed by yet another release without interactive cars, or a lack thereof, and took notes the entire time. InZOI comes with an in-depth vehicle system, where you can enter first-person POV inside your car, interact with the windows and blinkers, choose to enter or exit the car at any point, and actually drive the car. Yes, accidents can happen if you're not careful, and no, you can't skip through the inevitable confrontations with the victims of your actions.

Reputation

Speaking of consequences, this feature is a straight-up lovechild between the GTA and Sims reputation systems. The way you behave and communicate with others will shape their opinion about you, and your reputation might precede you! This means that if you get in trouble often, chances are you will suffer the consequences of your actions later, sometimes through total strangers! You might have trouble starting friendships, as Zoi won't trust you, or get into random fights more often.

Time Machine

This might be one of the coolest features that sets inZOI apart from its competitor Sims. If your Zoi dies in an accident (even if it was their fault), you can rewind time and reload an earlier save, showing you the actions of your Zoi you're rewinding like a showcase. This taps into the godlike ability to control time and cheat death (since you get the final say, after all), allowing you to continue your Zoi's legacy instead of calling it game over.

Other Features

Apart from these major features, inZOI will have its own internal social media where you can share your created content with other players. Not just that, the game also comes with a Studio, which works similarly to the one in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. You can use backdrops and decorations to take pictures of your Zoi in different scenarios, recreate famous TV and movie scenes, and potentially shoot your own film if you're ambitious!

You can watch the official trailer for the game here:

InZOI: Release Date Window and Platforms

For the time being, inZOI doesn't have a specific release date, however, Krafton confirmed they'd like to release the game sometime toward the end of 2024. InZOI will first debut on PC, but will subsequently release ports for PS5 and Xbox Series X & S, though we're not sure what the time window between PC and console releases would be.

It's good news that The Sims is finally getting a challenger that promises innovations within the genre because that means that we're looking at a much more immersive future for simulator games. We're excited at how much this game has offered players who tested the demo, and we're impressed at how well inZOI runs for what it is.

There's a lot we haven't covered here, such as the fact that Zoi can dream and predict their upcoming day that way, but we'll make sure to update you with more in-depth inZOI guides once the game debuts in Early Access. Until then, stay in touch with any upcoming inZOI and other relevant for you gaming news with some of our other articles:

• Tiny Glade: Reviews Suggest It's a Must-Play
• Bloomtown: A Different Story Beginner Tips
• The Sims 4: Reaper's Rewards Event Guide
• The Sims 4: Best Mods for More Realistic Gameplay