inZOI Early Access reviews and reactions are starting to trickle in from big and small games industry names alike. I’ve been ravenously reading them all to gather a consensus.
inZOI is one of my top anticipated cozy games in 2025. I can’t wait to build a hyper-aesthetic doll-like world and spend hours crafting my perfect avatars. But let’s see what the loudest voices in the industry have to say about “Sims killer” life-sim inZOI’s release so far!
What is inZOI?
inZOI is a cozy game on Steam developed by inZOI Studio and published by Krafton. Drawing parallels to titles like The Sims, inZOI offers players the ability to create and manage virtual characters, known as ‘Zois’, within aesthetic open-world environments inspired by cities such as Seoul, Los Angeles, and Indonesian holiday destinations. So far, marketing for inZOI emphasizes advanced AI-driven character behaviors, extensive customization options, and photorealistic graphics.
inZOI releases in Early Access this month: March 27th, 2025!
In my opinion, inZOI is packed with potential but will probably take some time to reach its highest highs. And that’s okay! The hyper-focus on customization, character design, and building is already enough to keep me satiated for weeks.
inZOI Early Access: Reviews Roundup
What are “the big 3” games sites saying about inZOI Early Access so far? Let’s take a look!
1. Gamespot — Review by Jessica Cogswell
Here are the key takeaways from the Gamespot inZOI review:
- Visually Stunning but Lacking Depth: The game’s graphics and customization options are impressive, but the world and characters feel sterile and lifeless.
- Extensive Customization Features: The character creator allows for detailed customization, including layering clothes and tweaking outfits, but has limitations in hairstyles and body diversity.
- Innovative Open-World Mechanics: The game’s world is immersive, allowing players to alter cityscapes and adjust community behavior dynamically.
- Shallow Social and Personality Systems: Despite a variety of social interaction options, characters feel generic, and relationships lack depth and impact.
- Brimming with Potential but Not Yet Fun: The game introduces fresh ideas but suffers from dull gameplay, frustrating mechanics, and a lack of meaningful interactions.
2. GamesRadar — Review by Miri Teixeira
Here are the key takeaways from the GamesRadar inZOI review:
- Top-Tier Customization: The character creator offers unmatched detail, from custom textures to color palettes. However, it lacks body diversity and accessibility options, though updates are planned.
- Beautiful but Shallow: The visuals and home-building tools impress, but the world feels empty. Stunning environments can’t compensate for a lack of engaging simulation.
- Repetitive, Uninspired Gameplay: Once the novelty of creation fades, Zois lead dull, robotic lives. Jobs are basic “rabbit holes,” hobbies lack depth, and interactions feel sterile.
- Misses the Life Sim Appeal: Despite not aiming to rival The Sims, inZOI adopts its weakest aspects: rigid AI, lifeless socialization, and little emergent fun.
- Potential, but Incomplete: A strong sandbox for designers, but without major improvements to AI and interaction depth, it feels more like city-planning software than a life sim.
3. IGN — Review by Sarah Thwaites
- Visual Appeal: The game features realistic visuals with detailed cities and lifelike avatars. Over time, however, the world feels hollow due to static elements and a lack of interactivity, reducing immersion.
- Character Customization: The character creator offers extensive options for customizing your Zoi, including facial adjustments and a diverse wardrobe. However, the personality traits have minimal impact on gameplay, making the Zoi feel more like a blank slate.
- World Design: The cities, Dowon and Bliss Bay, have distinct atmospheres, with Dowon featuring neon lights and Bliss Bay offering a coastal vibe. Yet, many buildings feel empty, making the world seem more like a backdrop than a dynamic environment.
- Gameplay & AI Limitations: Gameplay can become repetitive, with actions and tasks feeling monotonous. Despite different personality traits, Zois behave similarly, making the gameplay feel robotic and lacking engagement.
- Karma System: The Karma system allows players to influence Zois’ fate based on their actions. While it adds fun moments of cause-and-effect, the system feels underdeveloped as only a few actions impact the Karma score.
inZOI Early Access Reactions: My Thoughts
I don’t know who needs to hear this (cough cough, games journalists), but no one thought that inZOI was going to be a “Sims killer” right at the point of Early Access launch. More so that the scope and inspiration of the game could one day topple our life sim monarch, so long as the developers haven’t over-promised on the inZOI roadmap.
Do I think inZOI has overpromised? I’m going to be honest, I don’t think they have promised much of anything. Pre-launch marketing materials focused on: 1) new, softer, “pop art” aesthetics, 2) deeper, near endless customization options, 3) leveraging new AI technology in innovative ways. And inZOI Early Access has succeeded in doing those three things.
Where inZOI goes from here will depend on player feedback, developer tenacity and resources, the cultural zeitgeist of the simulation games industry, and more than a little bit of luck.
Let me know in the comments what you hope to see in inZOI within the next twelve months and beyond!
Stay cozy, gamers!