The CMK video, in-question:
https://youtu.be/eeBcLBdBqSQ?si=fDP7JjiIMYzf8Q9Mp
Obviously, Kevin's thumbnail appears to be Sims 3 on the left, rather than Sims 4, and what appears to be an LLM generation of his famous character, Jim Pickens, rather than a recreation of him in inZoi (but I could be wrong!) on the right.
But, he goes through the game, loads in some "ground beef" texture, plasters his home with it, makes the ugliest character I've ever seen, drives around town, recruits random children as his sons, and he asks two questions: Is this just an AI tool more than it is a game? Where is the game?
He asks these questions, but I totally watched him do the things he did in this game, three whole times, because it was actually entertaining. And I realized, the game is right there. It's what you're doing.
Now, I am a diehard Sims fan. I've been playing since the year 1999, or 2000? And I love The Sims 4, despite it's lack of cars, and open cities. To me, I can play a Sims game that's either open, or not open. It doesn't matter. I like making sims and screwing up their lives.
So I grabbed inZoi, and full-stop, I didn't expect to get in-game immediately without issues. I didn't expect to be able to do this, because I am on Linux. And Linux is notoriously not-so-good with certain types of games. It's kind of like gambling. You buy the game, and maybe it works, maybe it doesn't.
inZoi loaded up right away, zero issues, no crashes, no framerate drops, nothing. It was ... fine.
Meet Valerie, my first Zoi to be created in the "CAZ."
She lives deep in the middle of the city of Dowon.
Quoted from the fandom wiki, here.Dowon, similar to Korea's capital of Seoul, is one of the parallel cities in the multiverse. Standing as a major city in Korea, the modern urban vibe of Dowon seamlessly blends with the breathtaking natural beauty that surrounds it.
Renowned for its vibrant arts and culture epitomized by the Hallyu wave, visitors can also simultaneously experience the serene calm of temples nestled between skyscrapers. Experience the joy of ZOI engaging in conversations and building relationships in a garden where traditional and modern elements coexist.
Her apartment is carpeted in fake grass, she has a purple leather couch, a knock-off Nintendo Switch, and a photo of Our Dear Leader by the kitchen.
She has a job working as an idol entertainer trainee, where she practices her dancing and singing, for the low, low daily rate of just 186, uhm, zois? meow meows? I'm not sure what the currency is.
And, that's kind of it so far. I bought her a kickboard (electric scooter?) that she can ride around the city through traffic, and she's been in a few accidents. Both of which caused the opposing driver to jump out of their car and yell at my Zoi, the woman on an electric scooterboard thing. Because that makes sense. You're in a car, bro. I could've died.
I've visited a cafe and had lunch, jumped into a random community pool, and also visited some kind of religious monument center. I've also walked around and introduced my Zoi to random passersby, and attempted romance in some respect on at least three different other Zois. And I did this, running around, exploring, decorating, meeting Zois, going to work, checking out the actual texture upload feature, plastered my floor in transparent glass, covered the couch in other weird textures (I didn't use the AI features, because the one time I tried it out, all I got was a blank, grey blob) ... and then I realized: This is kind of exactly what it was like to play The Sims 3 for the first time, when it initially came out.
You know what a basegame Sims game is like. You know you do. It's basically got almost nothing in it, and the most you can do is explore around town, meet sims, and go to work.
That is exactly the state inZoi is at, right now, and it's relatively stable, too! ... if your PC can handle it. Which mine can, just fine. And I'm not even on top tier hardware (aside from the 64 gigs of ram I have).
I think there's legitimate criticism to be had here, like: Krafton, none of these AI features are needed. You can literally just let people upload their own textures and models, and you're good. In fact, that's what Second Life is, and it costs money to do that in Second Life. You guys almost have an offline Second Life here. That's, currently, completely free once you pass the 40 dollar entry. And this is how people use Second Life nowadays. They make an avatar, and then coerce people into pretending to be their family members.
Look, I'm not saying you could potentially create the successor to Second Life, but I'm saying you could use this to make a Second Life successor in the style of The Sims.
And that's definitely something.
Suffice to say, I like it. Uhm, it's kind of good. I think people are just not playing it much right now because they're waiting for more content, or they're waiting for it to come out of Early Access.
It could use a little more soul, like, put some ghosts in it (are there ghosts?). Make Zois do random weird things that don't make sense, because that's funny. Give us supernatural stuff to make things wild and interesting (I know some people don't like vampires, werewolves, and fae, but those people are boring). Create a whole system where people can tell their own stories, and create, and craft to their heart's content, with regular updates, fixes, and hey, even DLC, and I can see this game being a gem. Even if it doesn't "kill" The Sims (I don't think we need to kill one of the greatest franchises in gaming history, anyway), it could at least be ... a second entry in the life sim category.
Number two.
Be number two.
Source: https://mkultra.monster/gaming/2025/09/ ... -life-sim/
