InZOI could very well be The Sims rival we’ve all been waiting for. Krafton’s upcoming life game is poised to be even more expansive than EA’s longstanding series, and in the lead-up to launch the team continues to feed us information on what we can expect in terms of mechanics. That’s why I’ve got a deep dive for you, as InZOI promises to take one Sims career path in all-new directions.
With the InZOI release date creeping ever closer after a recent delay, I’m incredibly excited to see what The Sims competitor has in store for us. The life game is already promising to let you play by your own rules, and I always assumed that meant you could take on a life of crime. Turns out, if you want to break the law and make the lives of other Zois exponentially worse, you can.
InZOI director Hyungjun ‘Kjun’ Kim says crime has been a “source of fright” for the development team, because they were originally going to avoid all “provocative or violent themes.”
“My goal was for InZOI to offer fun without relying on these elements,” Kim says. “Still, for a developer, it’s difficult to ignore them altogether, knowing they’d likely appeal to players.”
As the world of InZOI revolves around the currency Mew, you can try and steal it from other Zois as you play. “Interestingly, stealing only ranks as the second-worst crime in inZOI (any guesses on number one?),” Kim adds. “Defining an appropriate set of actions for both criminals and police has been a challenge.”
Kim says one approach is for criminals caught by police to be put in jail for a maximum sentence of three days. If your Zoi lives in a one-person household this would mean you need to control another house while you wait, but the team at Krafton wants to players to tell them if this sounds ideal or not.
“While being forced to control another household might not be ideal, we also didn’t want to pursue the familiar over-the-top police chases with helicopters and tanks,” Kim adds. “My vision for InZOI is a balance where good and bad coexist, like in real life, without creating a perfect utopia. Adding crime mechanics like stealing aligns with this vision while remaining grounded.” Kim then asks for player thoughts on the system, with other crimes potentially being added to InZOI as well.
While arrests and jail time have been around in The Sims for a long time, I think what Krafton is proposing with InZOI is a lot more interesting. In older Sims games you’d get punished when a sim is locked up, but more often than not the crime and related punishment weren’t that tough – it was often just a fine. InZOI, on the other hand, might very well have you locked out of using a Zoi for a time if they’re caught, so you’ll want to be extra careful when turning to a life of crime.
With InZOI’s early access launch now just a few months away, I’m not sure how much player feedback the team will be adding before then. That said, giving the team at Krafton as much feedback as possible will help them in the long run.
If you just can’t wait for InZOI to release soon, we’ve also got all the best management games and simulation games you can play to stay busy in the meantime.
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