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The Sims has a new rival in town, and it’s off to an impressive start. The first-weekend player count for Krafton’s InZOI has seen the realistic life sim blow past its most senior inspiration and rival on Steam – although it’s still yet to top the lifetime peak that The Sims 4 has reached on the Valve platform. Early user reviews are also strong, and there’s a lot of praise for the game’s impressive visuals. As game director Hyungjun ‘Kjun’ Kim tells me, however, that direction didn’t come without its drawbacks.
There’s no question that InZOI’s graphics blow its rival life games out of the water from a technical standpoint. At times, it borders on the almost uncannily realistic, especially when combined with the game’s motion tracking tools. Plenty of players have been eagerly recreating themselves in game, and we’ve even seen vtubers craft detailed versions of their anime avatars that were quickly dubbed ‘RTX models.’ But with that increased realism comes fresh considerations around how the game tackles certain aspects.
One of the most immediately obvious consequences is showering. Zois wear towels when taking a wash, which the developer says was a necessity as using Sims-style pixelation still looked “overly suggestive” due to the graphical fidelity, adding, “we actually tested this ourselves during development, so you can trust us on this.” It’s a simple solution, but it certainly stands out as odd against the otherwise true-to-life depiction of the everyday.
In a slightly less fun twist, InZOI Studio has already had to emergency-patch an oversight that allowed children to be killed by driving into them when in a car. Indeed, Kjun has previously talked about crime being a “source of fright” for the team, and that he initially wanted to exclude any “provocative or violent themes” before determining that “they’d likely appeal to players” and should be incorporated in some form.
With that in mind, I ask Kjun whether the high-definition visuals have caused any other problems during development. “This was something we thought about a lot,” he responds. “With such realistic graphics, we constantly questioned how far we should take that realism. At times, we wanted to incorporate comical or lighthearted elements, but they didn’t quite fit with the grounded visuals, which was a bit disappointing sometimes.”
Kjun has spoken at length about his love for and respect of The Sims, and in its current state the EA game’s charming goofiness is certainly an edge it maintains over its newfound challenger. From the exaggerated, over-the-top expressions to limb-flailing brawls and slapstick slip-ups, The Sims is a tremendously silly game. InZOI certainly has the looks and the breadth of creative tools, but it feels like it’s yet to truly find its sense of identity.
Despite this, Kjun says he believes in the value of InZOI’s visual direction. “The realistic graphics also have clear advantages,” he explains, “they enhance immersion in both building and character customization, and the detailed world design has even led to some interesting moments during development. There were times when we looked at screenshots and had to double-check whether they were from the game or real-life photos.
“We believe this level of immersive graphics will resonate with players and, throughout development, we’ve felt both proud and excited to bring this world to life,” he concludes. There’s certainly no arguing that InZOI is the sort of thing you’d show your parents as a demonstration of how far the best games like The Sims have come. I just hope that its developer isn’t too afraid to push the boat out there and have a little fun with it.
InZOI is out now on Steam, priced at $39.99 / £34.99. Find it here if you’re ready to render yourself into its realistic virtual world.
Our comprehensive building guide has everything you need to know to move and rotate objects in InZOI – and if you’re having any trouble finding the finances for your dream house, you can always turn to our updated list of InZOI cheats for free money.
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