InZOI has a lot of unique features that not many players expected to see. While there is still a long way to go for the game, it’s nice to see the gaming straying from the formula laid down by The Sims.

EA’s franchise has stagnated so if The Sims wants to do better, it should take some features that InZOI has.

10

InZOI Lets Players Go to Jail

The jail feature in InZOI introduces an interesting gameplay mechanic that could make playing The Sims more realistic. Right now, when Sims misbehave, the only real consequences are that other Sims might not like them as much, or they might miss out on certain opportunities. It’s one of the reaons that InZOI may be the game you’re looking for.

InZOI’s system takes things further by adding a real, physical punishment: jail time. If a Sim does something bad enough, like repeatedly destroying property, stealing, or being violent, the police will step in, arrest them, and send them to jail for a set amount of time.

While in jail, a Sim wouldn’t be able to go to work, maintain relationships, or do any of their usual activities. InZOI’s system lets Sims sleep, eat, and take care of basic needs while locked up, but they don’t get any extra benefits or special activities during their sentence. Since jail time is only temporary, it doesn’t ruin the game by being too harsh, but it still makes players think twice before having their Sims break the rules.

9

Non-DLC Jobs That Let You Work in Them

InZOI’s career system is a big step up from The Sims’ usual “rabbit hole” jobs, especially when looking at the base game DLC. Many Sims players feel annoyed by how little they can do while their Sim is at work. Right now, the workday is boring. Your Sim leaves home, and the game fast-forwards until they come back with money. However, you never get to actually play out what happens while they’re on the job.

8

Zois Can Drive Functioning Cars

Adding working cars to The Sims games, like the system in InZOI, would make the game more fun and realistic. In InZOI, players can buy different cars, change how they look, and pick between automatic or manual driving.

This gives players more control, letting them go on road trips and explore, making the game feel bigger than just staying on one lot. Being able to drive manually makes the game feel more realistic. Crashes can happen, too, which makes driving feel more risky and realistic.

7

There Are House Presets to Choose From

The InZOI “House Preset” feature makes owning a home much easier, and this kind of system would be a big improvement for The Sims games. Right now, The Sims players either have to spend a lot of time building a home or get stuck with an existing house to fix up. This can be annoying, especially for players who care more about playing the game than spending hours on construction.

InZOI’s solution gives players a set of ready-made houses, sorted by style and size, that can be placed on any empty lot right away. This removes the boring work of building or remodeling, letting players quickly fill their neighborhood with different kinds of nice-looking homes. When a player picks a preset house, they get all their money back for the cost of the lot itself. This means there’s no risk if they change their mind or want to try out different house styles.

6

Players Can Make Their Own Animations

Making your own animation in InZOI is pretty flexible and lets players design custom animations for their Zois by using pictures or videos. This is a big improvement over The Sims which offers nothing like it. Players have to stick with the animations that are already in the game.

In InZOI, players can take a full-body image of a single person and turn it into a still pose or use a video to make a short animated gesture. This gives players a much higher level of personalization than in The Sims, where players are stuck with a small set of pre-made animations and gestures.

5

Walking With WASD Around the Town

While The Sims can teach your more than your college degree, it can’t teach you to use WASD. The InZOI feature of WASD movement is a significant upgrade to The Sims‘ traditional point-and-click locomotion. Currently, Sims navigate their world with a somewhat clunky system that often feels restrictive and unnatural. The direct control afforded by WASD keys allows for smoother, more intuitive movement.

The Sims 2 on consoles used to have a similar feature where players could effortlessly guide their Sims through environments with the controller. For some reason, that’s gone.

4

Bring Create-A-Style Back

The Create-A-Style feature in InZOI lets players customize clothes and colors in ways that The Sims games don’t. The Sims 3 had a very similar feature, but it was removed in The Sims 4, probably because it let you do whatever you wanted without DLC. If this feature were added back into The Sims, it would make the game much better.

In InZOI, players don’t have to stick with the default clothing options; they can change colors using a full-color wheel, tweak the shade, intensity, and brightness to make any color they want. This detailed control also works for patterns, letting players design their own styles or even upload their own pictures to use as repeating patterns on clothes.

3

InZOI Has a Karma System

The InZOI karma system is an interesting feature that could make playing The Sims even more engaging. In InZOI, every Zoi has a personal karma meter that changes based on what they do. Being kind and helpful raises karma while being mean or breaking the law lowers it.

A Zoi with high karma might get more help from others, get better job offers, or even get random good luck. On the other hand, a Zoi with low karma could be ignored by others, miss out on opportunities, or even get arrested. This used to be a big feature in The Sims 3 on consoles, but it is nowhere to be found in The Sims 4.

2

Longer Days Than Sims’ Short Sprints

InZOI lets players make in-game days much longer than in The Sims, which has several big benefits for the franchise. In InZOI, players can choose how long a day lasts, whether 48 minutes, 90 minutes, 4 hours, or even a full 24 hours in real-time. This gives players much more control over how fast or slow the game moves. One of the biggest complaints about The Sims is that time passes too quickly, making it hard to enjoy everything the game has to offer. InZOI fixes this problem by letting players slow things down.

With longer days, players can take their time and really get into the game. They can enjoy small moments, carefully plan their Sims’ daily routines, and watch events play out over a longer period. This makes the game feel more real and helps players feel more connected to their Sims. Longer days also make character growth feel more natural.

1

Altering City Elements Easily

In InZOI, players can easily change many parts of the city, which is a big improvement over how city customization works in The Sims. In InZOI, there’s a special menu where players can use simple sliders and selection tools to quickly adjust how the city looks and works. They can change the weather (sunny, cloudy, rainy, or snowy) and even control how strong the weather effects are. They can also decide how much greenery appears in the city, choose which animals show up more often, and add fun decorations, like huge inflatable pandas.

Another feature lets players control how clean or dirty the city looks, affecting things like trash on the streets or broken-down buildings. They can even personalize billboards by adding their own pictures or videos, making each city feel one-of-a-kind. Right now, The Sims doesn’t have this kind of quick, city-wide customization.

If EA added these features to a new Sims game, it would completely rejuvinate the series. We’ll have to wait and see how the company responds to InZOI‘s success.