INZOI's ongoing early visit reviews
Blog Andrew Joseph 20 Mar , 2025 0
There are a lot of details that can make the life simulator fun, but it also reflects the real world. You have to balance customization and creative freedom with enough rules to make choices realistic and challenging, and then invisibly weave these decisions together in a satisfying way. (It turns out that recreating life is hard – sorry for all the flak, Dr. Frankenstein.) However, despite it being hard, it's a quest to developer Krafton based on the considerable attacks of Inzoi that I've played with in my early access boot versions so far. Its beautiful, realistic aesthetic makes a stunning first impression, and the ambitious simulator system below initially produces an impressive harmony. But as I continue to spend more time in this simulation, the seams of the Inzoi universe begin to show up, making the world more empty than you expected.
First of all, talk about elephants in the room, it is impossible to immediately talk about Inzoi with The Simsa series is obvious, both of which are inspired by and try to compete with it. You play an all-powerful character who can create and control small citizens because they live their best life, or worse. You can build a house from scratch, manipulate the characteristics of everyone (called ZOI) and embroider them in all the local dramas you can find. They can have work, go to school, and explore as much free will as possible or as little free will as possible. But once you start digging into Krafton's unique perspective on this genre, these surface-level similarities quickly become thinner.
When you launch a new game in Inzoi, you must first build a family using the detailed character creator studio. In addition to choosing their name, gender, and age, you can also choose a trait that defines Avatar’s personality. There are 18 options to choose from, from authoritarian to individualist, each offering a handy feature sidebar describing how such choices will affect how they operate in the game. As a hardworking freelancer, I chose the Go-Gotter trait that values professional activities and also maintains a longer tension than other Zois in the lovely twists. As you press the ebb and flow of virtual life, your Zoi will further develop their self into their mood when they encounter likes and dislikes (like likes and dislikes like fast food and fitness). Inzoi neatly combines personality prototypes, limiting it to simple snap-up options, which, although convenient, may be somewhat limited.
In terms of appearance, you can pick from a fairly large list of presets, or take a more delicate comb method, pulling specific anchors on ZOI's body and face – I chose a combination of the two, found my closest match, and generously shaped them in the image. There are also pickups with preset colors and grain colors as well as many options for more nuances. Offered by Inzoi's realistic visual style, my Zoi quickly resembles a real person and I love the process of coordinating with my own makeup and hair.
A system that adjusts facial features is a very fascinating time trend, but the Inzoi's stylish sensibility really makes it stand out. During the creation process, you need to curate nine different outfits, including formal outfits for summer and winter, pajamas and weather-friendly outfits. Modern trends such as freight parachute pants, as well as tailored classics such as military and leather jackets, all have a decent mix of modern trends. Basics like t-shirts also come in multiple lengths, and you can mix and match and fit into the content of your heart. It's safe to say that I spent a little longer here curating a Y2K-style outfit with leg warmers, Doc Marten Dupes and a cute oversized baseball jersey. This isn't a perfect system with a weird way to cut the Zois's bag-style silhouette option. Still, this is one of the more refined aspects of Inzoi and I really like to dress up with my own work.
Once your family is organized, the next step is to find their home. Currently, Inzoi has two locations: the North Korean-style city of Taon and the Happiness Bay in California. You can build your own house or enter a pre-designed lot with a small amount of public land in each township, such as shops, cafes and open spaces like parks or shrines. Unfortunately, here I first noticed the seams of Krafton's ambitious project begin to show. The illuminated neon signs are filled with dreamy multi-colored lights on the streets of Taunn, while in Bliss Bay, the setting sun is filled with a soothing coastal atmosphere. However, after sitting for too long, everything started to feel a little hollow. These neon signs sit on empty buildings, soft sunlight reflecting from fixed dressings. Obviously, I have given it with great care impression In a bustling environment, I admire these details, especially the artificial McDonald's, which giggled from me – but I couldn't shake the feeling of a lot in the world.
This na feeling continues to my Zoi's daily life, where I can manage their needs such as hunger and hygiene, but it doesn't actually really introduce how they adapt to the digital culture. Despite choosing the Go-Gotter feature, I didn't get the obvious different impression of my daily activities, especially when my other ZOI was behaving essentially the same, despite giving them opposing personality styles. When I set up a family in a separate family, I encountered the same blockade, and many conversations were repeated in the loop no matter who I wanted to control. Topics like cryptocurrency and humility are constantly emerging in my conversation tree. The first few times recognized as interesting, but gradually, this repetition makes the developmental relationship a little monotonous.
It's pleasant to see that treadmill monitors like Zoi look practical, or their food details are so convincing that my stomach often emanates with my Avatar as they hide in lunch. However, these carefully designed moves can make simple or repetitive alternatives feel cold. As time goes by, it seems like my ZOI is no longer an individual, not a semi-controlled drone, with no rhyme or reason to perform a mission. Perhaps once you fill in your liking, don't like it and make more friends, these choices will diversify these choices, although I certainly haven't noticed any of the differences in the approximately 15 hours I've played so far.
Thankfully, this weird thing is Inzoi’s karma system, which punishes or rewards citizens based on its behavior. When interacting with other ZOIs or objects, you occasionally have a choice with yin and yang symbols that let you know that performing the action will affect their karma score. Stealing coins from a parking table is considered bad, while providing instructions to a random person is considered good. When I was initially skeptical, I quickly felt the anger of the system. I sent my Zoi to a needless Tirade, clumsy in the local park, kicked a vending machine, and then tried to win a stuffed turkey toy on the claw machine. After a shocking attempt, the toy is still trapped in its plexiglass prison. From here, I directed my Zoi to be a model citizen, praised strangers, and told secret jokes before returning to the same machine. You won't believe that they won the award for the first time this time. Karma is a simple concept that works well in practice and provides a pleasant invisible boundary to compete with – I just hope more movements will affect the score.
There is more to do and view before I reach my final ruling, such as the trivia of sneaking into its career, cars and build patterns, and that's just the beginning. Inzoi is an early access game, and so far it certainly feels like one. Lifelike visuals and highly detailed interactions are confusing with its rough, less immersive edges, making the world a sometimes weird, sterile atmosphere. Even so, there is still a surprising depth hidden in these blind spots, and I would love to see if Inzoi can make a huge promise – both in the long run, I’m working on a final review of the launch in the coming weeks.
