inZOI Early Access Review

In my experience with inZOI, it’s clear that the game is trying to do something unique. The idea of creating and managing digital lives, from shaping personalities to guiding them through their daily routines, feels like a fresh take on the simulation genre. You’re not playing as a god, but as an intern at AR Company, managing the lives of Zois (the in-game characters) in parallel universes through a tablet.

The character creation is impressive, offering a lot of customization options for things like name, gender, age, and personality traits. There are 18 traits to choose from, like Scholar or Adventurer, which affect how your Zoi behaves and interacts with the world. The system is quick and easy, but I felt like it could have been more in-depth. For example, the personality traits and preferences (like a love of coffee or disliking showers) don’t always seem to lead to distinct or noticeable differences between the Zois. After a while, they all started to feel pretty similar, even though they had different traits and quirks.

That said, there’s still a lot to enjoy. The gameplay lets you manage Zois as they go through life, from going to school to falling in love and starting families. It’s similar to The Sims, but with its own spin on things. The in-game world looks great, and the social systems add some interesting layers to the experience. However, despite the cool ideas, the game doesn’t always feel completely cohesive, and at times it can be hard to see how everything connects.

inZOI is a promising experiment, but it’s clear that it’s still a work in progress. The Early Access version has some great features, but it feels like there’s more potential that hasn’t been fully realized yet.

inZOI Character Customization Guide: How to Create and Style Your Perfect Zoi

Customizing Your Zoi: Character Creation in inZOI

After choosing your Zoi’s personality, it’s time to shape their appearance. You can start with preset designs or customize every detail using anchor points. Move them around to create a sleek, natural, or even dramatic look. If you want even more control, the Detailed Editing mode adds extra points for fine-tuning your Zoi’s face. One standout feature is the symmetry toggle. It helps keep your character balanced, but turning it off can create fun, quirky, and unique results — like a permanently raised eyebrow for extra attitude!

You can go beyond facial structure too. Add layers of makeup like blush and highlighter, include freckles or scars, and use sliders to adjust skin texture and features like chin clefts or smile lines. Hairstyles also come with flexible options, including real-time changes to highlights, lowlights, and length. It’s a deep, polished system that’s easy to get lost in. If you love detailed character creation, this will be your favorite part of inZOI.

Outfits and Fashion: Dress Your Zoi in Style

Once your Zoi’s face is ready, it’s time to pick their outfits. There are nine outfit categories, from cozy winter wear to swimsuits and pajamas. The clothing selection is inspired by modern trends like cargo pants and puffer jackets, along with timeless options like army jackets and pencil skirts.

For even more variety, the Craft menu lets you customize clothing pieces by adjusting sleeves, necklines, and more. While simple, it adds helpful variety and helps your Zoi stand out from the crowd.

Choose Your Perfect Home: inZOI’s Living Options

After styling your Zoi, you’ll pick where they live. inZOI offers two locations: Bliss Bay, a relaxed beachside area with burger joints and a pier, and Dowon, a city inspired by Seoul, filled with skyscrapers and green parks. Both locations include premade homes and empty lots for custom builds, plus public spaces to explore. However, this is where the game’s early excitement starts to fade a little.

Exploring inZOI’s Environments and Gameplay: Building, Managing and Customizing

inZOI’s Environments: Busy, But Lacking Depth

Krafton clearly wants the cities in inZOI to feel lively, but the longer I spent exploring, the more the environments started to feel repetitive and empty. While I appreciated the fun nods to real-world places, like a mock convenience store and faux fast-food chains, the charm quickly faded. Random Zois would go about their day, but soon, they all started to move in packs, rushing to the same spots. Watching them race to a park or vacuum the same room is amusing at first, but it leaves you wishing for a world that feels more dynamic and human. Instead, the odd behavior and strange architecture make it feel more like a stage than a living world.

Building Your Own Space in inZOI

You can escape some of the world’s repetitive feel by creating your own space. The build mode in inZOI lets you place and customize buildings or rooms with a variety of walls, windows, doors, and furniture. You can even create unique furniture by combining different parts. While the crafting system is simple, I enjoyed creating quirky designs like a “funguspunk” lamp. However, the user interface can be clunky, making it difficult to place items or extend rooms, often forcing me to simplify my designs.

Managing Your Zoi Family in inZOI

Once your family and home are set up, it’s time to keep everything running smoothly. Zois have basic needs like hygiene, hunger, and sleep, along with short-term Urges and long-term Ambitions. Completing these tasks, such as having a conversation or buying a new item, rewards you with mood boosts. You can track everything through the Zoi Card, which shows skills, values, and goals. It’s nice to see how your Zoi’s values change over time — one of my Zois shifted to a “Love” value after having a child.

While managing these tasks is fun, I often felt like I wasn’t working toward something meaningful. Many of these metrics didn’t have much impact on the gameplay, leaving me to wonder if they were truly worth tracking.

inZOI Review: Fun Ideas, But Lacking Depth and Meaningful Progression

Playing inZOI, I often felt like I wasn’t working toward anything meaningful. The game’s job and school progress depends on your Zoi completing simple tasks, most of which they handle on their own. This left me with little to do, and my actions had almost no impact on their growth. Even major milestones like marriage and having kids felt empty. My Zois didn’t seem to care about their achievements — at one point, a family even left their newborn baby home alone!

While the Zois show some emotions and personality at times, it rarely changes their behavior. Whether they’re happy or sad, they mostly act the same. Krafton seems to have big ideas, but right now, the game feels disjointed and lacks meaningful progression.

There is a bright spot: inZOI’s Karma system adds some excitement. Good-natured Zois can win prizes, while mischievous ones face more troubles. Strangely, my Zois often leaned toward bad behavior — stealing, yelling at strangers, and causing chaos. These funny, unpredictable moments reminded me of the charm found in The Sims, offering shareable moments full of personality.

However, there’s an issue with inZOI’s use of AI. Krafton’s partnership with Nvidia means AI-generated textures and, possibly, in-game dialogue. Conversations often felt stiff and unnatural, sometimes veering into odd topics like crypto or AI development. While it’s easy to ignore in building mode, it stands out awkwardly in social interactions, especially when forming friendships or romances.

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Pros and Cons of inZOI

✅ Pros	⚠️ Cons
🧩 Fresh and unique idea for a life simulation game.	🤔 Zois feel too similar, even with different traits.
🎨 Great character customization with lots of options.	🎭 Personality choices don’t change gameplay much.
👗 Nice variety of outfits and style choices.	🏙️ Cities feel a bit empty and repetitive over time.
🏡 Two locations to live in, with room to build.	🚧 Game feels unfinished and needs more work.
💞 Fun social gameplay like school, love, and family life.	🧩 Some game features don’t connect well together.
🌆 Good-looking graphics and world design.	🕳️ Needs more depth to keep it exciting longer.

Conclusion

inZOI is not perfect, but it’s fun and has potential. The Early Access version mixes unfinished features with enjoyable gameplay. Even after 30 hours, I’m still finding new things. The character creator and build mode are easy to use, and the Karma system adds some drama.

But the game feels a bit uneven. Characters act strangely, and conversations can be awkward. Right now, inZOI is a good choice if you like creating detailed scenes with your custom Zois. However, if you want deep, day-to-day gameplay like The Sims, you’ll need to wait for more updates.