The Sims players tempted by ultra-realistic competitor Inzoi’s character creator demo

Inzoi, the competitor to The Sims from PUBG developer Krafton, is attracting many new fans with its character creation demo, which shows off its ultra-realistic graphics.

Krafton has employed the same strategy as Dragon’s Dogma 2 and others by releasing the character creator portion of its game early. The Inzoi: Character Studio that is currently available on Steam will only be around for a few days, however, until August 25 at 9pm Pacific Time.

The full version of Inzoi is expected in late 2024 and is described as “a life simulation game where players become gods within the game, allowing them to change everything as they wish and experience endless new stories in different life forms.”

Fans of The Sims were already surprised by this, but the character creator demo seems to have really caught their attention. The Sims 4 itself is almost a decade old, but has been criticized for only having basic features and for making users pay for countless expansion packs.

“I’m not looking back,” slickkpanther said on Reddit. “All I’ve ever wanted in a life sim is to walk around a nice city, look pretty, maybe have a cup of coffee, read a book, and plant some flowers.

“It sounds like a lot, but it really isn’t. I’m not asking for every building to be accessible. I’m not asking for hundreds of unique NPCs on screen. I’m not even asking for a realistic weather system. What I want only sounds like a lot because the bar has been set so low by The Sims 4.”

Countless others agreed. “All life sim fans should feel the same way as you,” one user said in the comments. “Because if Inzoi were to be successful, it would at least put pressure on EA to do better. Lack of competition has allowed EA to underperform with The Sims 4 and fund everything to the max. It’s easy for them to exploit fans when fans don’t have better options to turn to.”

These comments come despite the fact that Inzoi is still in its infancy and Krafton certainly seems to have big plans for the game.

“Our goal with Inzoi is to create a world where creativity knows no bounds and every choice leads to new and unexpected experiences,” said director and producer Hyungjun Kim. “We want players to experience not only the joy of creating their ideal life, but also the thrill of navigating a dynamic, evolving world.”

It also bodes well for life simulator fans, including that mod support will be available from day one and that Inzoi will continue to be supported post-launch.

Many still have reservations, as the genre has apparently not received as much attention in recent years. But even those who have doubts seem quietly optimistic.

“I’m excited about this game, but I also have my concerns,” said Old-Cobbler402. “First of all, I think the game looks beautiful, but some of the visual aspects regarding the Zois concern me. Some of them may be because the game isn’t finished yet.”

They pointed out a difference in visuals between the character creator and the live mode, which essentially recreates what the gameplay will look like in real life. There are also some other visual bugs, but fans are hoping that these will be fixed before Inzoi’s launch.

Only time will tell what this will look like. Krafton only announced Inzoi in November 2023, and the character creator’s release suggests development is going smoothly, but late 2024 is fast approaching, so a release date announcement should come soon.

Ryan Dinsdale is a freelance reporter for IGN. He talks about The Witcher all day long.