We here at 12DOVE have been known to occasionally brand the upcoming life sim inZOI a "Sims competitor," but as it turns out, its director doesn't think of it that way.
In our defense, we aren't the only ones calling inZOI a Sims rival/competitor/what have you, and it certainly looks the part, but in an interview with PC Gamer, director Hyungjun Kim suggested he's keen to distance inZOI from the genre titan.
"We see Inzoi not as a competitor to The Sims, but rather as another option that fans of this genre can enjoy," Kim said. "We have great respect for the legacy The Sims has built over the years, since we know that reaching that much depth in such a short period of time is no easy task. This is due to the nature of life sim games which cover the vast and complex concept of 'life,' making it difficult to capture its every aspect."
Kim didn't get into specifics of everything that makes inZOI unique from The Sims, and to be clear no reasonable person would look at it and call it a Sims clone, but one element that's been spotlighted before is its hyper-realistic visuals, partly achieved using AI. It also sounds to me like at least one of the main goals is to maximize player agency.
"Inzoi is designed to allow players to freely shape the life they desire, using various creative tools," Kim said. "To achieve this, we have a realistic visual style powered by Unreal Engine 5, in-depth customization features, and AI-driven creative tools. We hope that players explore these features to bring their imaginations to life, become their own protagonists and live in those worlds."
InZOI is set to release in Early Access in March.
