Since The Sims initially launched in 2000, there has yet to be a game that has rivaled it in the life simulation genre. Now 25 years later, Inzoi is throwing it’s hat into the ring. Inzoi (styled as Inzoi) is a realistic life simulation game published by Krafton that is making a serious play to court avid Sims players, perhaps more than any attempt before it. That’s a lofty goal, but is it one that Inzoi can truly live up to?
I’ve spent a decent amount of time tinkering around with the playtest version of Inzoi on PC just before its early access launch. After customizing my Zoi down to the finest details, building a house with my horrible design skills, and living out different lives, I can say for certain that Inzoi is at the cusp of something special. It’s not all the way there yet, but from what I’ve played, this early access version has the building blocks of something that could someday be an incredible life simulation game.
The devil isn’t in its details
Inzoi is a realistic life simulation game that has players creating a single Zoi or a family and living out their lives. Think of it like The Sims but with a lot more creative tools, granting players the ability to fine-tune their Zoi’s clothing, home, and the entire city they live in. Start a family, have children, grow old, die, and the cycle repeats. While the early access version is missing features such as pets and pools, it offers others missing from its competition such as the ability to drive a car and move a Zoi around manually.
You can’t fault an early access game too much for missing features and quality-of-life issues, but if you’re putting a price tag on it, there’s a lot that players should know when hopping into this early build of Inzoi. Let’s start with the Zoi creation menu. Without a doubt, this is one of the most realistic character creators ever (so long as you have a PC that can run it smoothly). There’s a significant amount of details on the face I could fiddle with to make an entirely unique Zoi. I could have spent hours on it.
The collection of hair and clothing is decent enough that provide a vast array of options. It’s nice to have full control over the color with a wheel, and that wheel carries over into the interior decorating.A major gripe with The Sims 4 is its lack of a color wheel, so that’s just one small way that Inzoi feels like it’s looking to win over fans with its hundreds of color options. Currently, there aren’t a ton of fabric or pattern options when it comes to furniture, wallpaper, or flooring, but you can alter the size of the pattern and its direction to make more unique designs.
While the creation suite is impressive, the true backbone of this entire game will rely on how good the simulation gameplay is. Although it takes inspiration from the Sims franchise, Inzoi sets itself apart in how players interact with their characters. The dialogue options between Zois are more detailed than I imagined they’d be, giving a better variety to gameplay between Zois. Whether I’m trying to become best friends or worst enemies with another Zoi, I can choose vague options like “Discuss Hairstyles” or specific ones like “Claim that this world is not real” and even “Talk about the cat you saw in front of your house.”
I’m not sure how fine-tuned every dialogue choice is in terms of the effects they have on a relationship, but there are multiple dialogue branches I can sort through to make it easier to say exactly what I want. I can even decide on certain relationship dynamics depending on what relationship level I’m at. When attempting to grow my Zoi’s relationship with their partner, I had the chance to say that they wanted to grow even closer instead of saying they felt they were growing apart.
For an early access release, there are a surprising amount of things my Zois can do within the world. Skills like painting, programming, or cooking give my Zois something to do during their downtime, and there was a lot to interact with when they left home. On my Zoi’s day off, I enjoyed walking around town to discover I could try my luck with a lottery ticket or a claw machine. Events will occasionally pop up too that can offer places to go and meet other Zois who are playing the guitar or painting a canvas.
With three different cities to choose from, it’s already fun to explore locations like Bliss Bay’s amusement park which resides beside the beach littered with towels to tan on and live music to listen to occasionally. Although I enjoyed watching my Zoi play carnival games and tan on the beach, there was a whole spot on the map presented for beach volleyball without the ability to engage in the sport. It’s a good start, though this is a game that players could be invested in for a decade. I need to see more to get a sense of how stale Inzoi‘s current content could become, and how long it will take for fans to lose interest in what’s available.
A slow, bumpy ride
While it’s a good start, Inzoi is far from perfect in its early state. There’s a lot that it lacks that will hopefully be fixed by its full release. The biggest gripe I had while playing was how slow the timing was. If you’re a Sims player who hates how fast the days go by and wants a slower-paced game, Inzoi could be a good fit for you. This was fine up until it came time for my Zois to sleep. Until the clock struck midnight, the clock wouldn’t speed up. After playing for two hours, only around three in-game days had passed.
The slowness of time could be felt when taking on jobs, too. While waiting for my Zoi to finish work, I had to pull out my phone and wait around five minutes until they were done because of how slow time crawls by. This is one of those issues that may just be the game working as intended, but other quality-of-life features can easily be fixed throughout early access.
This ranged from Zois only being able to cook a one-portion meal to placing wallpaper and flooring feeling like an unnecessary chore. The wall and floor painting especially made me feel like I was missing a feature that could’ve made it a lot easier, but unless you paint each closed-off room with the same floor and wallpaper, it’s convoluted and time-consuming.
My first impressions of Inzoi are mainly positive, though, as this life simulation game shows a ton of potential with the ideas it’s playing around with. There are still many quality-of-life issues that leave me wondering how long Inzoi could keep the attention and goodwill of players like me who love the genre. It also begs the question of how worthwhile it is to play in early access and if it’s easier to wait until the full game is out.
After spending hours playing out the life of my Zois, I can tell that Inzoi has the perfect pacing for life-sim fans who want slower and more methodical gameplay. Time goes by a lot slower, but in return, you get intricate customization and realistic graphics. There’s a huge audience looking for that type of gameplay, and for just $40, Inzoi will hopefully hit with that crowd if it can grow in early access.
Inzoi launches into early access for PC on March 27.
