The life simulation genre offers unique flexibility: it can be as expansive or as constrained as the developer desires, allowing players to take on the role of a benevolent or sadistic god with their digital characters, or explore a particular concept that mixes home design and character creation with any other number of genres. However, since its debut in 2000, The Sims has dominated this niche – becoming a massive franchise, featuring four mainline entries and countless expansion packs over nearly 25 years. However, it could be argued that the series peaked with its third instalment, while the latest iteration is criticized for being less innovative and more restrictive.
As technology continues to advance, the demand for something fresh in this genre has grown, yet few alternatives have emerged to fill this void—until now. Despite one ambitious project falling short just weeks before its early access launch, several studios are stepping up to the challenge, aiming to create innovative life simulation games that can compete with this industry giant. One such contender is the South Korean development team at KRAFTON, currently working on their ambitious project inZOI, which is set for a late 2024 release on PC.
KRAFTON has been gradually releasing test builds of inZOI to influencers over the past few months to generate hype. While I would eagerly jump at the chance to playtest one of these builds, there’s a significant difference between a closed build and something made more publicly available. Recently, this broader access comes through a time-limited inZOI: Character Studio, available on Steam for just one more day.
This marks the first opportunity for most players to experiment with the game’s Zoi Creation tools. Although they could have released a simple character creation tool, the developers went a step further by incorporating elements that hint at their broader vision, the user interface style, and a few sneak peeks of what’s to come. Also, there are cats. Who can say no to any game first greeting you with kitties?
There appears to be a “You” in inZOI
A nice bit of context, which hopefully won’t be too dominant in the grand scheme of inZOI, is the overarching narrative introduced in the game’s opening cinematic. Players assume the role of an intern at an AR company responsible for managing the virtual world the Zois inhabit. This setup includes interactions with the company’s human resources manager before accessing the game’s Zoi-sharing platform, Canvas, for the first time. It’s a thoughtful touch that adds an extra layer of depth to the experience. Instead of being a nameless, godlike figure wielding power over your Zois, you play a more relatable role – arguably more of a caretaker for these virtual beings.
The futuristic office setting, combined with the content glimpsed in previews, adds a stylish yet approachable touch to the user interface. This aesthetic is carried into the Character Studio mode, which feels perfectly suited for someone crafting characters from behind a monitor in a futuristic simulator. While all this could change in the final build, I liked what I saw.
Create a Zoi
Watching any preview of the game, you can tell that while The Sims 4, in particular, has favoured a more cartoonish style to their Sims, the Zois in inZOI are much more realistic in their designs – which ultimately gives them a style all to their own, and is much like the characters you might see in games like CyberPunk 2077 (Albeit much less cyberpunk). Furthermore, the design of these characters is realistic but not to the point of being uncanny-valley — the style works well for a virtual world and offers options for both those who want to create a realistic-looking community with diversity – and those who want to craft something perhaps a bit more distinct.
It is clear from the ‘In Development’ notices that this is not a final build of the system, with a few systems such as the ‘Desired Life’ and ‘Sexual Identity’ being blanked out at the moment – although good on KRAFTON to include a Non-Binary option!
As you begin customising the basics of your character, one of the first options you are given is to set a Zoi’s Trait, which rather than choosing a mish-mash of options is refined into one of eighteen categories from Adventurous and Entertainer to Artistic and Social Activist. Each of these is associated with different keywords and characteristics which will influence how your Zoi goes about their life.
For example, the ‘Kind and Generous’ Volunteer trait has defined characteristics such as ‘Frequently engages in helping others’ and ‘Frequently feels sentimental’, however also has associated weaknesses such as ‘Confidence feeling lasts for a longer time’. While this system doesn’t offer the same level of diversity and freedom as The Sims 4, and I hope the number of traits expands over time, having predefined traits could give them more significance, particularly from a CPU-controlled perspective. Perhaps it is the Persona fan in me, but I also love the tarot card motif associated with each of the traits.
As of this build, inZOI doesn’t have the traditional ‘Teenager’ age group, instead transitioning from Child –> Young Adult –> Adult –> Middle Aged –> Senior, with subtle and substantial graphical differences setting the characters apart. While there is a big gap left by the teenage years, I love the three variations of adulthood and am curious how that will play into the life simulation aspect of inZOI. Crafting your character is very much hands-on, mostly forgoing sliders outside of a few options such as Muscle/Body Weight, with players tasked with getting hands-on and shaping their characters to their desired form – at least for Young Adults and above. Moulding a Zoi’s face gives access to basic and detailed modes, which are very intuitive, while body shape is mostly limited to a basic mode, with hopefully more detailed controls in the final build. For those who are curious, big butts are not an option (at least, not yet). From the other body features, there are a few skin styles on offer (with custom colouring allowed), a surprisingly good range of eye shapes to choose from both realistic and creative contact lenses, and a small but decent enough range of makeup.
The range of hairstyles available to all ages is adequate and remains consistent across age groups, meaning characters aren’t suddenly required to change their hairstyle as they age. However, I hope the number of official hairstyles expands before inZOI‘s official release – doubling or even tripling the current selection might be ambitious, but given the quality of the existing designs, more variety would be a welcome addition to the game. The same goes for the outfits, which include a good variety of tops, bottoms, outerwear, sets, accessories (though some occasional clipping occurs), shoes, and underwear. While the selection is decent, more options would be appreciated, especially considering the quality of what’s currently available – in addition to other content like swimwear, pyjamas etc. Additionally, there is a collaboration with CLO and Marvelous Designer to bring some outfits into the game, with plans for mod support at least by the final release.
What I appreciate is the ability to customize at least some tops and bottoms. You can adjust details like the collar style, whether the shirt is tucked in or not, sleeve length, and leg length. This means that for some official clothing, you don’t have to compromise on style due to length preferences – you can tailor it to suit your needs. Additionally, certain pieces of clothing are fully customizable with a HEX colour range for both main and sub-colours. There’s also an option to load your custom outfit textures or use a built-in AI texture feature. Although I don’t see myself utilizing the AI option as the textures I tried to generate were underwhelming at the very least.
Overall, outside of wanting to scream “Give Me More of Everything!”, and hopefully expanding upon some of the limitations imposed by the Character Studio demo, I can see myself spending hours crafting my individual Zois and families using this tool.
A Photo Mode!
As you would undoubtedly know from my Take That (In-Game) Snap series, photo modes in games, especially well-designed games are always greatly valued by not only myself but the broader community of in-game photographers, Instagrammers, YouTubers and more who make use of such tools on the regular. While most life simulation games have had some form of photo mode since the early 2000s, I appreciated the inclusion of a simple Studio Mode within the Character Creator – something I didn’t expect but welcomed. It features a few pre-determined poses and expressions, basic lighting controls, and various backdrops. It’s nothing over-the-top, but it’s a fun tool to experiment with for an hour or two. I’m excited to see how they expand this system in future updates, especially since these screenshots can be integrated into the game’s Canvas system, an online community designed to encourage the online sharing of Zois.
A Sneak Peek at the World Map
And finally, if you go through a few more menus to create a family and receive some more creative attempts at integrating the overarching narrative of you working at an AR Company, you get a sneak peek at the world map – and both some of the confirmed and perhaps future cities you will be able to build, create and play in.
Just a Character Creator But…..
With life simulation games being dominated by one franchise, and having recently faced the cancellation of Life by You, it has been a little challenging to feel too confident about a new big-hitter in the genre… at least until something is in players’ hands.
For inZOI, the Character Studio is most certainly it. While there are some options greyed out, we don’t have any direct hands-on experience with actual gameplay and there are a few small issues here and there – I know I have my Zoi counterpart created and cannot wait to dive into the game should it release later this year, or into 2025. Have been itching for a new life simulation game for years now, and as a fan of the genre, am hopeful inZOI meets the mark. At the very least, at this stage, they have an intuitive character creator in-place, a solid aesthetic and great design language.
While the preview is still active, you can download the inZOI: Character Studio client via Steam.
