Talked to my roommate today in inZOI, and between giving advice about coffee beans and explaining how death is the best teacher, my ZOI (the game’s term for its humans) told her how awkward things were between us. The pleasant conversation turned to, “Oh, I guess we’re just annoyed with each other now,” before I chose a better topic, and we went back to excited Sim-glish and emotes. Perplexing.
Got a job with a development studio, Blue Moon Soft. The interview process consisted of rigorously pushing a button on my smartphone and automatically getting in. Slept early, woke up early, and spent a significant portion of the morning preparing…only for my ZOI to just disappear off-screen for work. At least I could delegate tasks from the little sidebar icon and take control of my roommate.
“The bigger macro goals of your ZOIs eventually need defining, whether that’s venturing into school or taking a job to pay the bills.”
Saying that inZOI is surreal would be an understatement and not because of completely intentional happenings. It’s one thing to see my ZOI converse with another by standing up and then sitting back down. Or speak to the back of their head while behind them. Or read a book in front of the computer as opposed to the balcony or spacious living room.
That’s not even getting into that one day of irritable bowels, which required visiting the bathroom every hour upon the hour (perhaps due to the diseases that can be suffered from). Or the conversation my two ZOIs had over the phone, which highlights the nearly impenetrable inanity of the AI potentially powering their interactions.
Yet as a Sims-like, it is a fascinating experience, even in early access. When starting, you have a choice of multiple different personality types for your ZOIs. Becoming an Adventurous individual means constantly being curious about things and venturing to experience them. A more Authority-like figure will try for more control and become annoyed for longer if things don’t work out. And so on among the numerous other available types. There’s also the ridiculously in-depth character creator, allowing one to finely sculpt their ZOI in multitudes of different ways and clothing styles.
After selecting a city and property to stay in, you have to manage the ZOIs’ different Urges, which randomly pop up. These are meant to drive your character to do new things and maybe get out there to interact with the wider world of NPCs, each with their own families and lives. For example, becoming filled with a certain emotion might encourage you to seek out another person and share those thoughts with them. It may lead to awkward reactions, but at least you get some MeowCoins in return (all for the fluffy overlord that serves as the game’s mascot).
You can ignore these tasks, of course, opting not to look under the vending machine or disinfect the bedding. The bigger macro goals of your ZOIs eventually need defining, whether that’s venturing into school or taking a job to pay the bills. This isn’t to say that you can’t meander about the park, randomly criticizing people for giving you stares, or the beach and taking in the admittedly somber scene. But if real life is any indicator, the money will run out eventually, so some kind of plan is appreciated, especially one that fits your schedule of hanging out and winging it.
“I’m not too keen on the generative AI used to create textures based on prompts, and not because they take time while offering meager results without much room for customization. “
If you’re the kind of person to leave the ZOIs to their own devices and expect all kinds of chaos to unfold, then I’m not sure inZOI is quite at that level yet. There’s some appeal to gazing through the microscope, fascinated by the lives of the ZOIs as they go about their business, building different bonds, working and otherwise.
Yet outside of going to coffee shops, the park, art galleries and whatnot, the amount of activities felt a bit sobering. Even hosting a party where my ZOI displayed their awful singing felt admittedly muted, in no small part due to their propensity to cling to their roommate even when the option “Greet the guests” had been selected.
Granted, after several hours with an early playtest, it seemed like I had only just begun to understand the underlying systems. A quick look at the map and the Families tab highlighted how extensive those lives can be.
However, as intriguing as these stories felt, they didn’t manifest in as many interesting ways as I would have hoped. I know, I know – it’s analogous to real-life and I have to really get out there and interact with it rather than waiting for things to happen. Creating multiple ZOIs might solve that problem, as flipping over and controlling my roommate as she went about her day was a refreshing feeling.
inZOI also offers extensive customization for living spaces. With the Creative Studio, you can select different templates for houses and modify them to your heart’s content. Knock down walls, make them glassy and see-through, adjust tile types and colors – it’s all here. I’m not too keen on the generative AI used to create textures based on prompts, and not because they take time while offering meager results without much room for customization.
But you can ignore it and arguably obtain better results. All these options carry over in-game, which means you can knock down walls, rotate them in ways that don’t make sense and make the space your own.
“Limited as it currently seems on the surface, there’s definitely something about venturing out into the world and speaking with other NPCs, getting to know them and seeing what develops.”
On that note, it’s worth discussing inZOI‘s performance. I ran it in mostly High settings in DLSS Quality Mode, tweaking a few other things to ensure a better frame rate. The playtest initially had several frame drops and stuttering alongside at least one crash. Things improved with a subsequent patch, and after transferring over to the early access build, there were significant improvements.
However, even passing vehicles just a few meters away had pop-in issues and lower image quality. Your mileage may vary and things will likely improve over time (if the playtest’s updates are any indication). If you want the full range of graphical fidelity, you’ll need some serious hardware.
Even with its idiosyncrasies and odd occurrences, inZOI is still worth keeping an eye on. Limited as it currently seems on the surface, there’s definitely something about venturing out into the world and speaking with other NPCs, getting to know them and seeing what develops. The hustle and bustle of life, from its socializing and climbing the work ladder, may not be to everyone’s taste, and on the opposite end, the sheer depth of content in The Sims definitely dwarfs it.
However, inZOI offers a robust set of features on its own and a relatively solid foundation to build off, one that will hopefully see its various gaffes addressed.
