Thousands of Sims fans are flocking to the limited time demo for Inzoi Character Studio to make effortlessly gorgeous Zois

Inzoi character studio - A Zoi designed to look like Billie Eilish
(Image credit: Krafton / Adapted from Canvas template by IngridBee)

Upcoming life sim Inzoi launched a demo for its Inzoi Character Studio last night and, surprising no one, Sims fans who've been starved for any kind of alternative to the series that's been uncontested in the space for decades are flocking to it—to the tune of 18,000 concurrent players and rising. Not just for a change of pace either, because Inzoi really is gorgeous.

You can download the Inzoi Character Studio on Steam right now and its demo runs until 9 pm Pacific this Sunday, August 25. Apparently lots of you stayed up later than I did last night to jump in and try it out right at launch because the creations are coming in fast. (Update: I now have some Inzoi Character Studio tips to help you find all its editing options.)

Lots of usual creations are showing up: celebrity faces, recreations of standard Sims characters, and of course the Shreks. Modders always have Thomas the Tank Engine and character creators always have Shrek.

The easy thing to love about Inzoi's character creator is that it's beautiful by default. Everyone's got luscious lips and a shine in their eye and the hair textures are genuinely to die for with realistic waves and the occasional stray strand. There are lots of detailed face editing options for individual features, color pickers, a custom pattern uploading feature, and an eye bag slider if you want a lightly haggard (but still beautiful) look.

Sims players are constantly chasing this realistic visual style with "alpha" style Sims 4 custom content. From what I've tried so far, Inzoi just has that shiny, hyper realistic look right out of the box which no doubt is attracting a lot of disaffected Sims players.

It's not above critique though. Players have been experiencing crashing and DirectX errors that Krafton has been working to address today. As for the character creator itself, there are some longtime life sim assumptions baked in, like a real lack of facial hair options.

Inzoi's full game launch doesn't have a release date but is still expected in late 2024. 

So... i made Eliza Pancakes from r/inZOI
Lauren Morton
Associate Editor

Lauren has been writing for PC Gamer since she went hunting for the cryptid Dark Souls fashion police in 2017. She accepted her role as Associate Editor in 2021, now serving as self-appointed chief cozy games and farmlife sim enjoyer. Her career originally began in game development and she remains fascinated by how games tick in the modding and speedrunning scenes. She likes long fantasy books, longer RPGs, can't stop playing co-op survival crafting games, and has spent a number of hours she refuses to count building houses in The Sims games for over 20 years.

Read more
Inzoi - Two Zois in wedding attire walk down an outdoor ceremony arm in arm
Everything we know about Inzoi—the first major Sims competitor launching this year
Inzoi - two characters pose for a selfie together in front of a blue convertible car
Inzoi is creating a newfangled life sim NPC that can 'grow and develop its own personality' with Nvidia's AI tech
Inzoi
Inzoi director says 'we have great respect for the legacy The Sims has built' and doesn't see their game as a direct competitor: 'Our aim is to provide a different experience'
Inzoi -fictional AR Company rep Henri whispers behind his hand conspiratorially
Inzoi won't stop promising new features even though its launch is only 2 months away
Inzoi -fictional AR Company rep Henri whispers behind his hand conspiratorially
'It was truly eye-opening to realize just how many people deeply love this type of game': Inzoi director hopes his life sim will 'bring comfort to many players' lives'
Inzoi - A Zoi with blonde hair and blue eyes wears a cardigan and smiles in a gaming room
'I was recklessly brave to even think about creating a game of this scale': Inzoi director admits he now sees 'why so few companies have attempted to develop a life simulation game'
Latest in Life Sim
Inzoi - A Zoi with blonde hair and blue eyes wears a cardigan and smiles in a gaming room
'I was recklessly brave to even think about creating a game of this scale': Inzoi director admits he now sees 'why so few companies have attempted to develop a life simulation game'
Player character and chococat sat next to a stick in Hello Kitty Island Adventure
Where to find sticks in Hello Kitty Island Adventure
Swen Vincke
Swen Vincke stamps seal of approval on Stardew Valley mod that yoinks the Baldur's Gate 3 cast out of D&D and into a cosy pastoral life
Pixel-art portraits of Astarion and Shadowheart against a seasonal backdrop of Stardew Valley
The Baldur's Gate 3 mod for Stardew Valley is out, so here's another opportunity to romance Astarion
The Sims 4 - stacks of laundry machines in a small laundromat small business next to chairs with laundry
The best part of The Sims 4 Businesses & Hobbies expansion is just coming up with fun small business ideas
The Sims 4 - A business owner looks at a customer angrily
How to get disruptive customers to leave in The Sims 4 Businesses & Hobbies
Latest in News
A masked man with an axe in the woods
Rebellion CEO seems kind of awed by major studios making massive videogames: 'How do you organize a game that has 2,000 people working on it?'
A young witch watering a smiling mushroom in a magic garden
Here's a roguelite dungeon crawler Steam reviewers call 'a botanical Diablo' and 'like Cult of the Lamb' except you manage a mystical garden
Destiny 2 Rite of the Nine: The Emissary, massive, ominously standing at the edge of a water basin.
Oops! Bungie rolled out Destiny 2's Rite of the Nine event three weeks early, and new loot is already dropping
Chatacabra from Monster Hunter Wilds
The latest Monster Hunter Wilds event quest gives piles of Armor Spheres for hunting a Chatacabra, making this a very bad week to be a frog in the Forbidden Lands
No Rest for the Wicked Steam early access screenshots
No Rest for the Wicked developer Moon Studios is now 'fully independent' after acquiring the rights to the game from Take-Two
A hunter posing with an absurd Blangonga outfit in Monster Hunter Wilds.
Attention, fashion hunters: There's a Monster Hunter Wilds mod to disable all those obnoxious glowing buff effects that distract from your fits