inZOI: Early Access Review – A Promising Life Sim?

Atarita takes a deep dive into inZOI, Krafton’s highly anticipated life simulation game! Our editors spend hours with each game to provide you with an objective and comprehensive review. Curious about our process? Check out our [review policy](link to review policy if you have one).

_PC review copy of inZOI provided by Krafton to Atarita._

Hello! Today, I’m excited to share my early access review of inZOI, a life simulation game that many of us have been eagerly awaiting. Over the years, the life sim genre, once graced by the likes of The Sims, has dwindled in variety. The Sims has reigned supreme, with alternative experiences largely found in online games – and even those are limited. But could inZOI be the game to change that? Let’s find out together!

# A Revolutionary Title in the Making?

Built on Unreal Engine 5, inZOI’s system requirements raised concerns amongst players. The character creation demo and trailers showcased the game’s impressive realism and attention to detail. Realistic graphics, environments, and dynamic living are certainly desirable in a life simulation game. However, the demanding system requirements have fueled optimization worries.

Creating a game is one thing, but ensuring players can actually *play* it is paramount. I know many of you reading this share these concerns. I even received messages like, “Wait, that game isn’t canceled, is it?” when I started this review. I’m here to address those concerns and provide clarity. Before we begin, it’s important to note that inZOI is currently in Early Access on PC. There is no confirmed release date for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

# inZOI Early Access Review: First Impressions

Developed by South Korean company KRAFTON, inZOI promises players a unique and liberated experience in every aspect of the game. Where do you want your “Zois” to live in this virtual simulation? A Korean-inspired metropolis? A resort-like town reminiscent of Indonesia? Or a charming, American-style coastal city? Each city offers families, karaoke bars, parks, schools, workplaces, and properties to explore. You can even customize the city’s prosperity levels and the advertisements displayed.

inZOI’s ideals are well-integrated into the game. From character customization to clothing options, and from city design to character animations, the focus on realism and freedom is evident. Share your buildings and Zois with other players in the online media section for active social interaction. But is that all? Of course not! Now, I’ll explain why the system requirements are so high and break down what it’s like starting the game from scratch. Let’s dive in!

# A Groundbreaking Technology for Character and Building Design Enthusiasts

I want to emphasize again that the game is in Early Access. In line with its core values, inZOI presents a promising, design-focused structure. I believe the team is driven by an idealist vision. This is exemplified by dedicated game sections for character and building design that are currently in development and available to try. You can create your dream buildings or craft elaborate scenes. However, as someone eager to experience the life simulation mode – the core promise of the game – that’s where I’ll focus my review.

Because I wanted to experience the game firsthand, I didn’t download the character creation section when it was initially released to players months ago. Therefore, I can’t comment on the differences between the version previously available and the current one. However, the basic structure is as follows: the most important aspects of your Zoi are their name, age, gender, relationship outlook, traits, and desired life. The physical design is divided into face, body, clothing, jewelry, and overall design.

You can choose from dozens of pre-designed Zois and jump straight into the life simulation aspect, or use them as a base for creating your own unique Zoi. With simple and detailed editing options, you can shape your Zoi’s appearance exactly as you desire. However, there isn’t a dedicated section with different designs for details like nose, lips, and eyes. Creating your vision is entirely up to you. This could be a positive for some, but a negative for others. My advice is to choose the Zoi with the facial type closest to your vision and start making changes from there.

# Diverse Characters, Yet Limited in Scope

Personalization options aren’t restricted by gender. Although the game’s animations and clothing designs reflect its Korean origins, the variety of hairstyles shows a dedication to character diversity. However, there are limits. You can’t add body hair to female characters, and there aren’t options like headscarves. In other words, the diversity isn’t as comprehensive as it could be – at least, not in its current state. The color adjustment is entirely up to the player, allowing for great freedom in that regard. You can simply paste the code of your desired color into the game.

Different irises, from vertical lines to stars, are offered. These options initially excited me about the character design possibilities. However, they seem to function more like lenses in the game. Perhaps in the future, the game will allow us to create more than just humans, who knows? At least, different skin overlays, facial scars, and freckles allow us to get closer to our dream character. However, it’s worth noting that these are limited to the face. While the game has a body hair feature, freckles don’t appear on the rest of the body. So, skin customization is limited to the face. Maybe more body detailing will be added later. “But what about the clothes?” I hear you ask. Let’s take a look:

The game features nine different looks: everyday, formal, event, sleep, school, sports, swimming, summer, and winter. Currently, you can’t choose separate hair and makeup for each one. Whatever you select applies to everything. However, this isn’t the case with accessories. It would be nice to avoid repeatedly applying accessories like nails and piercings, which are likely to be worn all the time. I don’t know if they’ll make changes in this area, but I hope they will, given their overall goals. There are other reasons why I think this. Let’s take a look at them:

# A Paradise for Idol Careers and Fashion, Especially for Korean Culture Enthusiasts. But What About Everyone Else?

While the game talks a lot about diversity and realism, it has its limitations. Of course, there will be limits. After all, it’s a game. Being in Early Access is also a major factor. They will make the necessary improvements to the game based on feedback.

inZOI reveals its Korean origins most prominently in the clothing choices for female characters. Modern Korean fashion designs allow you to achieve your dream idol look. You can create the cute girl of your dreams. But what else? It seemed absurd to me that a game with so many different types of trousers didn’t have a single slip dress. Or not even being able to find cotton shorts for my character to wear comfortably at home… I thought a life simulation like this would build on the basics while going for diversity. Of course, I’m not saying they won’t add them, but I have to say that what you’ll see when you enter the game is more in the structure I mentioned. I was more comfortable creating male characters.

Considering this issue, the team added a fantastic feature to the game: Design. With the options provided, you can create the product of your dreams with the tops, bottoms, and jewelry. Do you want a puff sleeve, crop-cut turtleneck sweater? Do you want it to be one color? Or should it have more than one color? You can do that. You can also play with the fabric of the clothes that the game offers. However, the artificial intelligence used to do this isn’t supported by every device. Unfortunately, mine was one of them. My device is in the middle between the minimum and medium system requirements that the game offers. As a player, I want to experience the content it offers to me without any problems, even if it’s not in super graphics. Maybe this will change over time, but I had to mention that there is such a negative situation right now.

Unfortunately, there is no dress section in the design section. I didn’t understand why. I mentioned that the game generally has a Korean fashion feel. Jewelry and hat options were also chosen to be more appropriate for this. If you like Korean fashion and prefer to make choices for it, you’ll love it. But if you’re not very familiar with Korean fashion, the options will definitely seem limited to you and won’t appeal to you. Still, I tried to create characters that remained in opposition to what was offered for you to observe. You can personalize up to the level you can see in the visuals. This much is possible if you don’t want to create a sweet-looking character.

I wish I could detail the items and our character in more depth in the game. Regardless of the gender of the character we create, I wish the features we choose were visible not only in socializing, but also in activities. If I wanted to create a rude woman character, it’s too hard to enter that atmosphere after she walks around with a feminine look. Or you can’t hear the tone of voice in the voice that you associate with the character when you talk to someone.

# Some Restrictive Approaches to Character Design Don’t Yet Meet Today’s Standards

Hopefully they’ll expand the design section even more in the clothes. I think they’ll create a wide catalog with the wardrobe they offer and get very positive feedback. I couldn’t observe the media upload section firsthand, my review process was offline. So I don’t know the content exactly. But if we can put the designs we’ve made, I think it would be great. Even if they’re not thinking that extensively, it would be nice if they let the player decide whether the hair is visible on some hats depending on the hair we choose, or not on others. I didn’t find it nice that I was forced to design restrictions when I had to make just one hairstyle.

At least in a game that will be released today, I’m in favor of not having these mandatory clothing boundaries anymore. I think things like whether the top will be tucked in or out should be left to the player. Just like we can adjust the fat and muscle distribution of the character, I wish there were subtleties such as tall, short, or medium-sized. Because most games that stand out with the detail of character design today have such subtleties.

Let’s come to the mistakes I encountered in this section:

I already mentioned the first one just now. I don’t know how right it is to call it a mistake, but it’s worth mentioning that not being able to do something in the game due to hardware is a negative feedback. When you put earrings on your Zoi, the earrings may seem to be standing in the air a little bit outside of the ear instead of being embedded in the ear. The color change section can sometimes be corrupted. For example, when you quickly select the same nail and want to adjust the color change according to one of them, the game starts to not work properly. In these conditions, making quick movements with the color sample didn’t seem like a very logical approach.

I don’t know exactly how, but in one of my character design sequences, all my clothes that I had spent so many minutes on were reset. They didn’t come back when I got them back. Those who know how long character designs take will understand how demotivating this is. Since I’m playing for review, I also have a time constraint, so things like this annoy me extra. That’s why I switched to just changing the daily clothes of the character and playing that way.

# Personality Types Offer a Simple But Inclusive Structure With Simple Design

The clothes are finished. Now let’s look at the last important part of the design section, that is, the character features and desired life, and let’s move on to the main gameplay part.

We have a total of 18 personality types with groups that are all divided into 2. The values of each are different, and the characters are also different. Although we don’t choose the structure of our Zois one by one, these features have a structure that actually leaves you free due to being divided into two. I mean, those two may look almost the same, but one of them may be more self-centered, while the other is more of a person who acts by thinking of others. Personality approaches that are separated within the details are provided with such examples. These are of great importance while our Zois are socializing. Zois whose values don’t match start to not get along, even if you start them as a couple in the game. This negatively affects their relationship level.

The desired life is left to the players as an option. Does your Zoi want a free life? Or would they prefer a life of abundance? How about simplicity? You don’t have to choose this, but I can say that the answers are obvious since the appropriate characteristics are already stated in the options. Personally, I wasn’t in favor of not choosing. But of course, you can do it that way if you want your Zoi to discover themselves. Since I’ve explained the character design enough, we can now move on to the building design. What do you say?

# To Those Who Want to Create the Structure of Your Dreams and Those Who Can’t Ever Create Structures in Games Like Me…

inZOI promises you a structure where you can create any design you want without a floor limit. Let’s not lie by saying that. I can’t do floor climbing very well in games like this. So I couldn’t do a limit test to see how many floors we can climb, but I saw one that extended up to 6 floors from the structures given as an example. Since there are already beautiful houses ready in the game, I don’t prefer to buy land and place a new structure suitable for the size of the land by making an extra effort. Of course, you don’t have to be like me. So these details are for you:

You can create a modest one-story house if you want, a very luxurious villa if you want, or a structure like a family apartment if you want. You may not be able to find the furniture you want one-to-one in this process. But unlike the clothing design, the furniture design options are presented to us in all their details without any hardware problems. We can take a basic chair in front of us and create its skeleton in different designs, fabrics in different designs, colors and varieties.

If you don’t like the furniture at all, then there are two things you can do: you can create your own custom furniture design or use the 3D printer feature. This is actually something that is also important in character design, but I thought it would be more correct to mention it here. Let’s come; let’s see exactly how this technology that inZOI offers us is like.

# With New Technology, You Can Integrate the Furniture of Your Dreams Into the Game and Make Your Zoi Do Gangnam Style

The 3D printer is a very innovative technology that allows any visual you upload to the game to be integrated into the game. As an example, I tried an aquarium design and I was very pleased with the result. With this, you can integrate many things into the game as you wish. At the same time, these appear in the character design section as well. So it can allow you to put out quite crazy designs as well. This is not the only thing you can place files in the game and include it in your experience.

Our Zois have in-game movements. We can talk about these as classic movements such as dancing, waving, and beating the heart, which we can now see in almost every game. But if you find it insufficient, you can also add the video you uploaded as a movement to the game. You can even make your Zoi do Gangnam Style dance! Speaking of Korea, it wouldn’t be right not to mention this structure that made a global splash. You can continue reading the article by opening it from behind. Joke aside, I think this technology is quite interesting and fun. It also has content such as face and body movement detection, but since I couldn’t experience these in the version I experienced, I don’t have any information to tell you about.

In the process of being able to experience the game, I generally tried to learn its structure. How does the daily life of our Zois work? What is the situation with relationships, career, school, and basic needs? I think it’s difficult to start from scratch in games like this with a child or baby. First, you need to open an adult character and learn. Still, in order to learn about family life, I made my start with a core family by creating a teenager and two adults. Of course, if you want, you can create a family that extends to 8 people.

# Which Do You Think Is Longer: One Day, Sleep Time, Or The Journey of Pee In Zoi’s Body?

Days are quite long in inZOI. A day lasts 96 minutes with the standard time frame set. This makes you think that you can do many things full in a day. But is that exactly so? Not quite. Although inZOI stands out with its realism, the distribution within the day is not very suitable for this with its current system. Sleep time doesn’t know how to pass even in the fastest setting, and most of the other actions take quite a long time. Actually, I’m saying this, but some of them are over in the blink of an eye. The basic needs of Zois do not decrease proportionally. It almost never has to go to the toilet for a day and a half or two days. The censorship part is also a bit… weird.

There is not much of a problem in terms of censorship in parts such as the need for toilet, but in moments of “experiencing love”, the red eyes of the characters, who are like demons, can be seen from behind the heart. I can say that it creates a creepy atmosphere. I also found the “experiencing love” moment in the game generally weird. The music of the game is beautiful, it definitely doesn’t get boring in the design parts. But in the moment of entering this action, there is an unfinishedness in every aspect, both in music and animation.

Maybe there are other actions that need to be polished like this that I couldn’t experience. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make much progress in the relationship part due to the problem of fluency and the feature of Zois running away. I’ll elaborate on this in a moment. For these kinds of reasons, playing with a single Zoi definitely doesn’t offer a fluid structure. So what changes when there are more than one Zoi? Let’s take a look at that.

Of course, the first difference that stands out is that we can focus on another Zoi instead of spending time empty while waiting for the action time of a Zoi. So what are the Zois doing? Zois have requests that have a certain time limit. These include all kinds of activities that you can think of, such as having tarot read, boxing, and playing the cello. If you do these, they return to you as “Meow Coin”. We can buy donuts from Meow Store with Meow coins. The game has sworn an oath to remind us of its main mascot, the cat, everywhere. So what do these donuts do? Each donut has its own features. We can generally call these a “needs cheat” that plays with the basic needs of our Zois. But as I said, basic needs don’t cause much difficulty in the game right now. So it’s entirely up to you whether to spend it or not.

As you can understand from here, there are quite various hobby options in the game. Also, money can be earned from these. You can sell the drawings, games, or applications you make. You can write books, you can make music… If you have money problems, there is also a money cheat in the game itself, but there is no need for this. If you have created a young adult character, you can earn money by both studying and working. There are three schools. Zois of all ages go to the same schools. The time they get out of school is different for each of them. We can’t directly experience the inside of the school unlike the working time, so we can’t do anything other than assigning tasks to our Zoi inside the school. I couldn’t really figure out the logic of limiting homework to a certain time frame instead of until the next day when they get out of school. Still, there is such a system.

Let’s talk a little bit about work. There are two types of job postings, full-time and part-time. Some of the full-time ones also hire inexperienced people, while the rest are looking for qualified personnel. The criteria also change for each profession. It’s only young adults for some, while it has a scale that extends to middle age for others. You can be a CEO, Gamer, software developer, military force, professor, journalist, lawyer, secretary, cashier, idol, and firefighter. Or you don’t have a full-time job, you work as a Freelancer by selling like I said before.

Each profession has its own assigned tasks at the workplace. Since the tasks are given in a timely manner, it’s of course important to go to the workplace on time. If you leave your Zoi completely alone, they can somehow take care of many things including basic needs, but it will be much more guaranteed to take care of the work if you do it until they reach that level. In this process, your Zoi can turn into a baby that doesn’t have a little bit of ability. How? For example, you had their food made, they served it. Despite being hungry, they don’t sit down and start eating. Cook food, then do this, then do that… If you have given a task order, your Zoi will move on to other tasks without eating that food. This is again something that will not be much of a problem, but it can be a little annoying in the socializing part.

# One of the Reasons Why the Game Is In Early Access Is Probably the Problems In The Communication Process of Zois

Let’s say your Zoi is single. Depending on whether you choose to look for a romantic relationship or not, they are looking for a partner or friend. Meeting a new Zoi may not be as easy as you think. Of course, there are many places you can visit. They are all open from 8 am to 10 pm. There is no time limit in open areas such as parks, but you shouldn’t expect activity after a certain hour at night. Anyway, as a result, you have found someone. The features of our Zois need to match in order for them to get along. The first important thing is this.

If they can get along, then you need to constantly open a new conversation so that the continuity continues. But is this enough? It’s not enough. The Zoi in front of you can suddenly go away at their pleasure. I never understood what it was based on. I even experienced this with neighbors who came to ask me something at home. They just went away as if I had brought them by force. Unfortunately, the information in the game is insufficient on these issues right now.

It can be clear whether your Zoi likes that type or not, starting from the food your Zoi eats, but we can’t know exactly why when they get along or not with the Zoi in front of them. Also, things like this sudden going away inevitably affect the motivation of the game, I think. In fact, there is a problem of fluency in the relationship other than the new meeting process. I said that I opened a core family at the beginning. Unfortunately, I experienced this problem at the beginning. I realized that the core family was not a logical decision when I had just started to discover the game and I switched to a record where I will manage a single Zoi. I think it’s a more logical choice to both learn how the system works and to understand socializing.

I found the socializing bubbles in the game a little bit complicated. They of course have tabs in themselves, but being able to find something when they are opened takes a little bit of effort. It may not be a big deal for everyone, but for my own sake, I think it’s an eye-straining action. You may not be able to find the option you are looking for fluently and continue the conversation in so many bubbles when there is no Turkish language support. This can be made more player-friendly with colors, symbols, or a different design.

# Our Phone, Which Works In Many Things Such As Shopping, Career, And School, Will Also Have A Messaging Feature With Zois In The Future

There is a messaging section on the phones of our characters. It’s not an existing feature yet, but I guess we will be able to communicate by messaging with Zois in the future. For now, we can only give feedback to what they write within the framework of certain options. They can also send us gifts through this. But for some reason, when I tried the same thing, I couldn’t send it. I liked the idea that the phone can be used for different actions. At the same time, we can have products such as food and drinks brought from outside through a company from an application on the phone. I think the variety of food and drinks is also sufficient. It’s enough to know that it’s enough to make sure that your Zoi will like it or not.

Sometimes we can have trouble selecting Zois with our mouse cursor. Especially if there is other furniture nearby, the game can have trouble distinguishing what we will choose. If you want to communicate with someone virtually, there is a virtual dating site, but other than that, I couldn’t find activities such as spending time on social media empty. With this, I want to mention something I noticed in the game.

The game has a side that tries to instill quite positive examples. You can’t get into a proper argument or fight with Zois you don’t get along with, there are no professions such as theft; it doesn’t stop with these, there isn’t even a proper action of spending time empty on the computer. I understand that it’s due to the values of my Zoi, they may want to look at public affairs in their free time, but it can’t always be like that… I think such things spoil the realism. With this, a question comes to mind: What is your expectation?

# The “Eureka” Moment Of The Poor Player Who Doesn’t Know That You Can Move Your Zoi With WASD Keys Is Unexplainable, You Have To Experience It…

If you are going to start playing inZOI under these conditions, your expectation should be like this: A structure that tries to instill good actions, has a more modern structure, carries Korean culture quite a bit, doesn’t have perfect fluency in relationship and daily life parts, but where you can easily spend your hours in character and building design. You need to not forget that it’s in early access.

Beautiful details such as the fact that your house gets dirty over time and you need to clean it, as well as factors such as being able to move your Zoi with WASD keys, make it have a quite revolutionary structure when taken into account. I mentioned quite a bit about the technological elements it provides above as well. The structures that are problematic or missing right now will of course be eliminated over time.

There is not no element of danger in the game: Although I haven’t encountered it, there are elements such as theft and fire. Since it offers an active life, I tried to see if I could cause a car accident. Unfortunately, it doesn’t go that far either. At least I measured its artificial intelligence. The cars stop for a while, accumulate, and when they reach a level that will really affect the traffic, they start to flow as if you weren’t there. In this way, the car passes through the inside of your Zoi as if it were that ghost and goes away. You can also get involved in the traffic by driving the car. In fact, there is even a setting about whether this is manual or not.

I won’t say that driving a car is a very polished experience. You may not prefer it since you can easily go from one place to another by subway if you don’t have a car. I guess it doesn’t matter if you hit something somewhere, including the Zoi. In fact, did you know that when you hit a Zoi, it disappears mystically after a metallic sound? We are turning into a wizard who can somehow send Zois to the other dimension. Joke aside, this actually offers a different experience. It will get a much better result if it improves.

The innovations it promises in terms of technology are quite interesting and can be given a chance, I think. The fact that the game automatically records at a certain time apart from the manual recording ensures that there is no anxiety in cases such as the game crashing. Of course, except for the character creation part. My game only crashed 3 times during this experience. One of them was unfortunately just before my character design was finished. Of course, these can be taken care of with things like the first release update of the game. Maybe you can experience these kinds of problems less if you have better hardware. One of the things I’m most curious about whether it’s due to the hardware is how the small icon forms of our Zois look in other players. I find mine a little weird, even scary. You will notice what I mean from the visuals as well.

Yes, my inZOI review is up to here. I hope my review has been able to eliminate the questions and problems in your mind. I tried to touch on everything I thought was important with the accumulations left over from my experience. Be sure to state any questions you have other than these in the comments. I will try to give feedback to them within my knowledge as well. Thank you for reading to the end. I wish you good days and good games until my next article! I will move on to the new game, and you to the new article.

inZOI Review: A Promising Life Simulation Game Still in Early Access

Atarita has meticulously reviewed inZOI, a life simulation game in early access! Our editors dedicated hours to exploring every aspect, providing an objective analysis of the details you need to know. Discover our review policy for insights into our process.

*Krafton provided Atarita with a PC review copy of inZOI.*

Hello! I’m excited to share my early access review of inZOI, a life simulation game many, including myself, have eagerly anticipated. The genre, once diverse with titles alongside The Sims, has dwindled. Today, experiencing a popular life simulation outside The Sims often meant online games with limitations. But inZOI aims to change that. Or will it? Let’s find out.

# Is inZOI Truly Revolutionary?

Built using Unreal Engine 5, inZOI’s system requirements raised concerns among players. Its character creation preview and trailers highlighted realism and detail. Realistic visuals, environments, and an active life are desired in a life simulation game, but the system requirements sparked concerns about optimization.

Playing the game is vital, but players being able to actually run it is even more important. I know some of you might be thinking, “Wasn’t this game cancelled?” I’m here to address all your worries and provide clarity. It’s important to note: the game is in Early Access on PC. A release date for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S remains unconfirmed.

# inZOI Early Access Review

Developed by South Korean company KRAFTON, inZOI promises players a unique and free experience in every aspect of the game. In this virtual simulation, where do you want your Zois to live? A Korean-inspired metropolis? A town reminiscent of Indonesian resorts? Or a charming American coastal city? Each city has families, karaoke spots, parks, schools, workplaces, and properties. You can even modify city aspects like prosperity levels and advertisements.

inZOI integrates its ideals beautifully. From character customization to clothing, city design, and character movements, their focus on realism and freedom is evident. You can actively socialize by sharing buildings and Zois with other players in the game’s online media section. But there’s more. Now, I’ll explain the system requirements. First, let’s pretend we’re starting the game for the first time. Let’s begin!

# Groundbreaking Technology for Character and Building Designers

I want to re-emphasize that the game is in early access. inZOI shows great promise, particularly in design. I believe the team is working with an idealistic approach. Currently, there are dedicated character and building design sections in the game that are available for you to experience. You can create any building or scene you desire. However, as someone eager to experience the core gameplay of life simulation, I’ll focus on those aspects in this review.

I hadn’t downloaded the character creation portion released months ago to experience the game from scratch. I’m unsure if there are changes between the preview and the current version. The core elements include: the Zoi’s name, age, gender, relationship perspective, traits, and desired life. The physical design is divided into face, body, clothing, accessories, and design.

You can choose from pre-designed Zois and start the life simulation aspect immediately. Alternatively, you can use these designs as a base for creating your ideal Zoi. With basic and detailed editing options, you can shape your Zoi’s appearance. However, there isn’t a section to experiment with different nose, lip, or eye designs beyond the pre-designed Zois. Creating your desired design is left to you. This could be great or negative, so I recommend choosing a Zoi with a face type closest to your vision and then making changes.

# Character Diversity: Extensive Yet Limited

Almost nothing in the customization area is gender-locked. While the game’s Korean origins are apparent in animations and clothing designs, it emphasizes diversity with various hairstyles. However, there are limits. We can’t add body hair to female characters, and elements like headscarves are missing. So, we can’t say the diversity is entirely comprehensive, at least not currently. The game is very flexible with color settings, allowing you to directly paste and use your favorite color code.

Different irises, from vertical lines to stars, are available. These options excited me for the character design. However, it seems these are only like lenses in the game. Perhaps, in the future, we’ll be able to create more than just humans. At least different skin textures, face scars, and freckles allow us to get closer to our dream character. But note that these are only for the face. Although there’s a body hair feature, freckles don’t appear on the rest of the body. Customization is limited to the face. Maybe body detailing will be added later. “What about the clothes?” I hear you ask. Let’s take a look:

There are nine different looks in the game: daily, formal, event, sleep, school, sports, swimming, summer, and winter. Currently, we can’t choose separate hairstyles and makeup for each; whatever we set applies to all. However, this doesn’t apply to accessories. It would be nice to not have to reapply something like nails and piercings every time, as these will likely always be present. I don’t know if they will change this, but I hope they do. There are many more things that fuel this thought. Let’s explore them:

# A Paradise for Idol Careers and Fashion, Especially for Those Who Love Korean Culture. But What About Others?

While the game emphasizes diversity and realism, it has limitations. Of course, there will be limits. After all, it’s a game. Being in early access is a big factor. They will make improvements based on feedback.

inZOI’s Korean origins are most evident in the female characters’ clothing choices. Designs from contemporary Korean fashion allow you to achieve your idol dreams. It’s possible to create that cute girl you’ve always imagined. What’s more? In its current state, the game features multiple pant styles but lacks a simple strappy dress, which seems absurd. Or not being able to find cotton shorts for my character to lounge around in at home… I thought a life simulation like this would build on the basics when it comes to diversity. I’m not saying they won’t add them, but I must say that what you’ll see when you enter the game is mostly the structure I mentioned. I was more comfortable creating male characters.

The team has added a great feature to address this issue: Design. With the provided top, bottom, and accessory options, you can create your ideal product. Want a puff-sleeved, cropped turtleneck sweater? Do you want it to be one color? Or have multiple colors? You can do it. You can also play with the fabric of the clothes provided by the game. However, the AI used for this isn’t supported by every device. Unfortunately, mine is one of them. My device meets the minimum and medium system requirements provided by the game. As a player, I want to experience the content it offers without problems, even if it’s not with super graphics. Maybe this will change over time, but I had to mention this negative situation.

Unfortunately, there is no dress section in the design area. I don’t understand why. I mentioned that the game generally has Korean fashion. Accessory and hat options are also more suitable for this. If you like Korean fashion and prefer to make choices accordingly, you will love it. But if you are not familiar with Korean fashion, the options will definitely be too few and not appeal to you. I still tried to create characters that remained opposed to what was presented for you to observe. You can customize to the level you can see in the images. If you don’t want to create a cute-looking character, this much is possible.

I wish I could detail the items and our characters a little more deeply in the game. Regardless of the gender of the character we created, I wish the features we chose were visible in activities, not just socialization. If I wanted to create a rude female character, it’s difficult to get into that atmosphere after she walks around with a feminine appearance. Or you can’t hear the tone of voice that you associate with the character when talking to someone.

# Some Restrictive Approaches in Character Design Don’t Meet Today’s Standards Yet

I hope they expand the design section further in clothing. I think they could create a large catalog with their own wardrobe and get very positive feedback. I couldn’t directly observe the media upload section; my review process was offline. Therefore, I don’t know its content exactly. But if we can also put our designs there, I think it would be great. Even if they don’t think that extensively, it would be nice if they left it up to the player to decide whether the hair shows from some hats according to the hair we chose, or not in others. I didn’t like being forced to the design limitation while forced to make a single hairstyle.

At least I’m in favor of not having these mandatory clothing boundaries in a game to be released today. I think situations such as whether a top will be tucked in or left out should also be left to the player. I would like to see subtleties such as whether the character is tall, short, or of medium height, just as we can adjust the fat and muscle distribution. Because most games that stand out with the detail of character design today have such subtleties.

Let’s come to the errors I encountered in this section:

I already mentioned the first one just now. I don’t know how correct it is to call it an error, but it’s worth mentioning that not being able to do something in the game due to hardware is a negative feedback. When you have your Zoi wear earrings, the earrings may appear to be floating a little outside of the ear instead of being embedded in the ear. The color change section can sometimes break down. For example, when you quickly select the same nail and want to adjust the color change according to one of them, the game starts to not work properly. In these conditions, making quick movements with a color sample didn’t seem like a very logical approach.

Without knowing exactly how it happened, all the clothes I had spent so many minutes working on in one character design sequence were reset. They didn’t come back even when I restored them. Those who know how long character designs take will understand how demotivating this is. Since I was playing for review, I also had a time limit, so things like this bothered me extra. For that reason, I only changed the character’s daily clothes and switched to playing that way.

# Personality Types Offer a Simple But Comprehensive Structure with a Plain Design

Clothes are done. Now let’s look at the last important place in the design section, namely the character features and desired life, and move on to the main gameplay section.

We have a total of 18 personality types with groups, all divided into 2. Each has separate values, and separate characters. Although we don’t choose the structure of our Zois one by one due to the separation of these features into two, it actually has a structure that leaves us free. I’m saying, those two may look almost the same, but one may be more self-centered while the other may be someone who thinks more about others and acts accordingly. Personality approaches separated in details are provided with such examples. These are of great importance while our Zois are socializing. Zois whose values don’t match start to not get along, even if you start them in the game as partners. This negatively affects their relationship level.

The desired life is left to the players as an option. Does your Zoi want a free life? Or does it prefer a life of abundance? How about simplicity? You don’t have to choose this, but I can say that the answers are obvious since the appropriate characteristics are already mentioned in the options. Personally, I wasn’t in favor of not choosing. But of course, you can do it that way if you want your Zoi to discover itself. Now that I’ve explained the character design enough, we can move on to the building design. What do you say?

# For Those Who Want to Create the Structure of Your Dreams, and For Those Like Me Who Can’t Seem to Manage to Form a Structure in These Kinds of Games…

inZOI promises you a structure where you can create any design you want without a floor limit. Don’t let me be a liar when I say this. I’m not very good at getting floors in these kinds of games. So I couldn’t do a limit test to see how many floors we can go up, but I saw one that extends up to 6 floors from the structures given as examples. While there are already beautiful houses ready in the game, I prefer not to take land and make an extra effort to place a new structure suitable for the land size. Of course, you don’t have to be like me. So these details are for you:

You can create a modest one-story house, a very luxurious villa, or a structure like a family apartment if you wish. You may not be able to find the furniture you imagine one-to-one in this process. But unlike in clothing design, design options in the furniture section are presented to us with all their details without hardware problems. We can take a basic chair in front of us and create its skeleton differently, its fabric with separate design, color and variety.

If you don’t like the furniture at all, then there are two things you can do: You can create your own custom furniture design, or you can use the 3D printer feature. This is actually something that is also important in character design, but I thought it would be more accurate to mention it here. Come; let’s take a look at exactly how this technology that inZOI offers us is like.

# You Can Integrate the Furniture of Your Dreams Into the Game With New Technology and Make Your Zoi Do Gangnam Style

3D printer is a very innovative technology that allows any image you upload to the game to be integrated into the game. As an example, I tried a design attempt like an aquarium and I was quite pleased with the result. It’s possible for you to integrate many things into the game as you wish with this. At the same time, these appear in front of us in the character design section as well. In other words, it can allow you to put forward quite crazy designs as well. This isn’t the only thing you can place files into the game and include in your experience.

Our Zois have in-game movements. We can mention these as classic movements such as dancing, waving, heart beating that we can almost see in every game now. But if you find it lacking, you can add the video you uploaded as a movement to the game as well. You can even make your Zoi do the Gangnam Style dance! Speaking of Korea, I couldn’t help but mention this structure that made a global impact. You can continue reading the article by turning it on in the background. Jokes aside, I think this technology is quite interesting and fun. It also has content such as face and body movement detection, but I don’t have any information I can explain because I couldn’t experience these in the version I experienced.

In the process of being able to experience the game, I generally tried to learn its structure. How does the daily life of our Zois work? What is the situation with relationships, career, school and basic needs? I think it’s difficult to start with a child or baby when starting from scratch in these kinds of games. First, you need to open and learn an adult character. Still, in order to learn about family life, I started my core family by creating a teenager and two adults. Of course, you can create a family as wide as 8 people if you wish.

# Which Do You Think Is Longer: A Day, Sleep Time, or the Journey of Pee in Zoi’s Body?

Days are quite long in inZOI. A day lasts 96 minutes with the standard specified time frame. This makes you think that you can do many things in the day to the fullest. But is that exactly so? Not exactly. Although inZOI stands out with its realism, its distribution within the day is not very suitable for this with its current system. The sleep time doesn’t know how to pass even at the fastest setting, and most of the other actions take quite a long time. Actually, I’m saying this, but some of them are over in the blink of an eye. The basic needs of the Zois don’t decrease proportionally. It almost never has the obligation to meet the toilet need for one and a half or two days. The censorship part is also a bit… weird.

There isn’t much of a problem in terms of censorship in sections such as toilet needs, but in moments where “love is experienced”, the characters’ eyes, which are covered in red like demons, can be seen from behind the heart. I can say that it creates a spooky atmosphere. I generally found that “experiencing love” moment in the game weird as well. The music of the game is beautiful, it definitely doesn’t bore you in the design sections. But in this moment of getting into action, there is an incompleteness in every aspect, both the music and the animation.

Maybe there are other actions that need to be polished, similar to this one, that I couldn’t experience. I couldn’t make much progress in the relationship section due to the fluidity problem and the Zois’ feature of running away, unfortunately. I will detail this shortly. For these kinds of reasons, playing with a single Zoi definitely doesn’t offer a fluid structure either. So what changes when there are multiple Zois? Let’s take a look at that.

Of course, the first difference that stands out is that we can focus on another Zoi instead of spending time doing nothing while waiting for a Zoi’s action time. So what are the Zois doing? Zois have requests that have a certain time limit. These include all kinds of activities you can think of, such as getting a tarot reading, boxing, and playing the cello. If you do these, they come back to you as “Meow Coin”. We can buy donuts from the Meow Store with Meow coins. The game has sworn an oath to remind us of its main mascot, the cat, everywhere. So what do these donuts do? We can generally call each donut a “need cheat” that plays with the basic needs of our Zois. But as I said, basic needs don’t cause much difficulty in the game right now. So it’s entirely up to you whether you spend it or not.

As you can see from here, there are quite a variety of hobby options in the game. Also, you can earn money from these. You can sell your drawings, games, or applications. You can write books, make music… If you have money problems, the game also has a money cheat in it, but there is no need for this. If you have created a young adult character, you can earn money by both studying and working. There are three schools. Zois of all ages go to the same schools. They all have different exit times. Since we can’t directly experience the inside of the school unlike the work time, we can’t do anything other than assign tasks to our Zoi within the school. I couldn’t quite figure out the logic of limiting homework to a certain time frame, not until the next day after school. Still, such a system exists.

Let’s also talk about work a little. There are two types of job postings: full-time and part-time. While some of the full-time ones also recruit inexperienced people, the rest are looking for qualified staff. The criteria also change for each profession. For some, it’s only young adults, while for others, it has a scale that extends up to middle age. You can be a CEO, Gamer, software developer, military force, professor, reporter, lawyer, secretary, cashier, idol and firefighter. Or you don’t have a full-time job, you work as a Freelancer by selling as I said before.

Every profession has assigned tasks in the workplace, which will be separate. Since the tasks are given on time, it is of course important to go to work on time. If you leave your Zoi completely alone, it can somehow take care of many of its affairs, including basic needs, but making you realize it will guarantee the job much more until it reaches that point. Your Zoi can turn into a baby that has no talent in this process. How? For example, you had her make her food, she did the service. Even though she is hungry, she doesn’t sit down and start eating. If you have given the task order such as make food, then do this, then do that…, your Zoi will move on to the other tasks without eating that food. This is still not going to be a big problem, but it can be a bit annoying in the socialization part.

One of the reasons why the game is in early access is probably the problems in the communication process of the Zois

Let’s say your Zoi is single. It is looking for a partner or friend depending on whether you choose whether it is looking for a romantic relationship or not. Meeting a new Zoi may not be as easy as you think. Of course, there are many places you can visit. All of them are open from 8 am to 10 pm. There is no time limit in open areas such as parks, but you shouldn’t expect activity after a certain hour at night. Anyway, as a result, you have found someone. The features of our Zois must match for them to get along. The first important thing is this.

If they can get along, then you need to constantly open a new conversation so that continuity continues. But is this enough? It’s not enough. The Zoi in front of you can suddenly leave completely at its own pleasure. I never understood what this was based on. I even experienced this in neighbors who came to my house to consult me about something. They left as if I had brought them by force. Unfortunately, the information is currently insufficient in these matters in the game.

It can be clear whether your Zoi likes that type, starting from the food it eats, but we don’t know exactly why when they can’t get along with the Zoi in front of you. Also, things like this sudden departure inevitably affect the motivation of the game, I think. In fact, there is a fluidity problem in the relationship even outside of the new acquaintance process. I said that I opened a core family at the beginning. I unfortunately experienced this problem at the beginning. While I had just started to discover the game, I realized that a core family was not a logical decision and I switched to a record where I would manage a single Zoi. I think it’s a more logical choice both to learn how the system works and to understand socialization.

I found the socialization bubbles in the game a bit confusing. Of course, they have tabs within themselves, but it takes a bit of effort to be able to find something when they are opened. It may not be a big problem for everyone, but I think it’s a tiring action for me. Since there is no Turkish language support, you may not be able to find the option you are looking for fluently in so many bubbles and continue the conversation. This could be made more player-friendly with colors, symbols, or a different design.

Our phone, which is useful for many things such as shopping, career and school, will also have a messaging feature with Zois in the future

There is a messaging section on our characters’ phones. It’s not a feature that exists yet, but I guess we will be able to communicate with Zois by messaging in the future. For now, we can only respond to what they write according to certain options. They can also send us gifts through this. But for some reason I couldn’t send it when I tried the same thing. I liked the idea that the phone can be used for different actions. At the same time, we can bring in products such as food and drinks from outside through a company through an application on the phone. I think the variety of food and drinks is sufficient. It’s enough to know that it’s enough to make it separate whether your Zoi will like it or not.

We can sometimes have trouble selecting Zois with our mouse cursor. Especially if there is other furniture nearby, the game can have trouble distinguishing what we will choose. If you want to communicate with someone virtually, there is a virtual dating site, but I couldn’t find activities such as spending time idly on social media outside of this. Along with this, I want to mention something I noticed in the game.

The game has a side that tries to instill quite positive examples. You can’t have a proper argument or fight with Zois you don’t get along with, there are no professions such as theft; it doesn’t stop with these, even the act of spending time idly on the computer is not found properly. I understand that it is due to Zoi’s values, it may want to look at public works in its spare time, but it can’t always be like that… I think such things spoil the realism. When this happens, a question comes to mind: What is your expectation?

The “Evraka” moment of the poor player who doesn’t know that you can move your Zoi with the WASD keys can’t be described, it has to be experienced…

If you are going to start playing inZOI under these conditions, your expectation should be like this: A structure that tries to instill good movements, has a more modern structure, carries Korean culture quite a bit, doesn’t have perfect fluidity in the relationship and daily life sections, but where you can easily spend hours designing characters and buildings. It is necessary not to forget that it is in early access.

Nice details such as your house getting dirty over time and you needing to clean it, and also factors such as being able to move your Zoi with the WASD keys are quite revolutionary when taken into account. I also mentioned quite a bit about the technological elements it provides above. The problematic or missing structures right now will of course be eliminated over time.

There is no element of danger in the game at all: Although I haven’t encountered it, there are elements such as theft and fire. Because it offers an active life, I tried if I could cause a car accident. Unfortunately, it doesn’t happen that much either. At least I measured its artificial intelligence. The cars stop for a while, accumulate, and when it comes to the point where it will really affect the traffic, it starts to flow as if you weren’t there. When this happens, the car passes through your Zoi as if it were that ghost and leaves. You can also get involved in traffic by driving a car. In fact, there is even a setting about whether this is manual or not.

I won’t say that driving a car is a very polished experience. You may not prefer it because you can easily go from one place to another by subway if you don’t have a car. I guess it doesn’t matter if you hit somewhere, including Zoi. Did you know that when you hit Zoi, it disappears mystically after a metallic sound? In a way, we are turning into a wizard who can send Zois to another dimension. Jokes aside, this actually offers a different experience. If it develops, it will get a much better result.

The innovations it promises in terms of technology are quite interesting and can be given a chance, I think. The fact that the game automatically records at a certain time apart from the manual recording ensures that it doesn’t create anxiety in cases such as the game crashing. Of course, except for the character creation section. My game only crashed 3 times during this experience. One of them was unfortunately just before my character design was completed. Of course, these can be solved with things like the first release update of the game. Maybe you can experience these kinds of problems less if you have better hardware. One of the things I’m most curious about whether it’s caused by hardware is how the small symbol forms of our Zois look to other players. I find mine a little weird, even scary. You will notice what I mean from the images.

Yes, my inZOI review article was up to here. I hope my review has eliminated the questions and problems in your mind. I tried to mention everything I thought was important with my accumulation from my experience. Be sure to mention your questions in the comments if you have any questions other than these. I will also try to respond to them within my knowledge. Thank you for reading to the end. I wish you good days and good games until my next article! Let me move on to the new game, and you move on to the new article.