The Sims competitor from Krafton not only relies on impressive graphics in Unreal Engine 5, but probably also on exciting game mechanics that Sims fans have been dreaming of for years

After its announcement at the end of last year, the Sims competitor from Korea inZOI is finally showing more gameplay. In a 13-minute video, lead producer Hyungjun “Kjun” Kim and community manager Suri dive deeper into the game’s mechanics

The announcement trailer already made big waves in the life simulation community. The grandiose graphics in Unreal Engine 5 caused great amazement, but also a great deal of skepticism. Is inZOI really a good life sim? Or is it nothing more than a graphics blender?

With the new video, the developers present us with a whole truckload of new features – and many Sims fans are likely to gasp with excitement at the sight. This is because the planned game mechanics include features that were taken directly from the fan wish list on the Discord server and that Sims players have wanted for years. If the developers really get all of this implemented, InZoi is well on the way to becoming the ultimate life simulation game.

What the new video tells us

• Cars as a means of transportation (from minute 01:30)
  Yes, you read that right: Cars are not just for decoration in inZOI, they actually take us from point A to point B. We can simply hop into our car and drive through the city in the first or third person view.

  And what would a life simulation be without random encounters and a bit of drama? Our characters can therefore also get involved in accidents and even die in the process. More on that in a moment.

  Of course, we can also change the color of our vehicle at will, give it a good bubble bath, go on road trips with friends or attract everyone’s attention when we cruise through the city in our convertible.

• Resurrect Zoi (from minute 03:00)
  The “Time Machine” feature allows us to travel back in time. It’s a cool name for automatic saves that we can call up at any time to undo things. So if a Zoi dies, the game asks us if we want to load an old save game.
• Group activities (from minute 03:18)
  Another big fan request are the group activities, where our Zoi goes to karaoke with friends, for example. But it also includes small and very human moments, such as when our wife walks us to the door when we leave the house. If we meet our friends on the way, we can also play chess with them, shake hands or fool around.
• Relationships (from minute 03:59)
  There are three types of relationships: Acquaintances, Family and Strangers. The development team is currently working on controls that determine how high the success rate is in romantic relationships or friendships. On the highest settings, for example, it only takes a few interactions for a zoi to fall madly in love with us. On lower settings, we have to make a little more effort. Zoi can also give us a whack if we’re not careful.

• Call (from minute 04:30)
  Our behavior has an impact on how other Zoi react to us and can strongly influence our interactions with other people. For example, if we pull someone off, this lowers our reputation, but at the same time opens up new options for action.

  Even actions that no one notices will have an effect on our character’s future. This is where reputation becomes karma: if we gossip about someone behind their back, it can even affect our children. The developers are not yet revealing exactly what this looks like – and are also very open to suggestions from the community.

• City planner (from minute 05:45)
  We can also shape the city according to our ideas. At least in some details: Selected YouTube videos play on the billboards. We set the weather and the seasons. We even determine which trees and animals we encounter in the world. How about a panda in the city park? No problem! We even set how clean the city is, how likely a fire is to break out, and set crime rates.

• Mod support (from minute 06:43)
  InZoi should offer possibilities to integrate mods and CC into the game right from the start. A special Unity Engine plugin is intended to make the creation of custom content as accessible as possible. The developers are even working with an external agency for this purpose.
• Dreams (from minute 08:55)
  When the lights go out at night, many life simulations fast-forward the time until our characters wake up again and plunge into the new day. InZOI wants to fill this gap and include dreams as a separate feature – these can be nightmares or “happy” dreams (no, that’s not dirty!).

  Dreams have an impact on how our Zoi feels the next day. For example, if we had a lucky dream, we should definitely buy a lottery ticket, because our success rate is 100 percent. We can also have our dreams interpreted by clairvoyants and fortune tellers.

  Sleepwalking should also be part of our nocturnal adventures. Perhaps we simply wander into the bathroom and wake up in the bathtub the next morning. Or maybe we decide to donate all our money in our sleep …

This is what our expert says:

Hold on a second, I’m going to get my popcorn! The life simulation genre hasn’t been this exciting for a long time. EA and The Sims are probably sitting on hot coals, because more and more promising competitors are appearing on the horizon.

Paralives aims to create a comprehensive experience full of loving details and without any DLCs. Life by You puts the creator tools completely in our hands and lets us tweak not only the city, but also the dialog and stories. And then inZoi comes around the corner, blows us away with its graphics in the first trailer and now also introduces numerous features that are just as likely to be on numerous Sims fans’ wish lists.

I was particularly impressed by all the mechanics relating to the relationships, reputation and karma of the Zois. As fans of Sims 4, we had to wait almost ten years for at least a little more family dynamics to come into play with the add-on Growing Together. A simulation in which we can customize a lot of things and have to work hard for our relationships sounds like a dream. The superficial interpersonal situations have been one of the biggest criticisms of the top dog The Sims 4 for a decade now.

Another positive sign for me is the focus on the community. Not only will features be implemented directly from the Discord wish list, but mod support will also be available right from the release. Since not only modders, but also numerous community wishes have always been neglected by EA, a life simulation that openly asks for suggestions and wants to implement them is of course incredibly attractive for fans of the genre.

But I don’t quite trust it yet. InZoi came out of nowhere a few months ago and is due to be released this year. In addition to the absurdly good graphics, numerous complex game mechanics are to follow, wishes from the community are to be incorporated, and so on. What’s the catch?

If inZoi can really pull all this off, then the next big step in the life simulation genre could be waiting for us. The game would certainly be worth it. After all, inZoi is backed by one of the biggest Korean publishers (PUBG, TERA, The Callisto Protocol). But I won’t believe it until I’ve had a chance to play it myself. Until then, I’ll continue to follow the announcements with skeptical anticipation