There should be an option when boot up the game for the very first time is to jump into the game and create your own family or play a tutorial family similar to the Newbies from the first Sims game.
I’ve noticed quite a few new players that don’t know some key features and basic mechanics even exist. There’s the tutorial videos but I believe there needs to be something more interactive. Some folks really need more hand holding than others.
This whole tutorial family can even woven into the framing storyline with Inzoi in general. Remember, player is an intern at a virtual reality firm, whose job is to manage Zois. This can also go into more in depth with the karma system.
When you start a new game, first thing that pops up is Psycat’s Guide and there is everything explained. I don’t know how new players can possibly miss it?
Some of these ‘new players’ just complain for the sake of complaining and trolling, especially on reddit ö.Ö
I too think that a tutorial playthrough would be a really helpful feature, walking you through basic things in live and build modes. I think there was something similar when I first played some of the Sims games. Not everyone wants to sit and read through Psycat’s Guide when they first open the game — we just want to get into the game and start playing! And we learn by doing stuff in the game, rather than by reading how to do it. But it should certainly be optional, so new players can choose whether to accept the tutorial or not.
inZOI is no rocket science ^^’
The game already explains itself and it leads you through when you mouse over the icons in th UI, for example, and just play along. Also, Psycat’s Guide isn’t there to be fully read before you play, it’s just to give you a quick heads up when you’re stuck somewhere.
For most people it’s pretty obvious what you have to do and where you have to go when your Zois are hungry or need to go to the bathroom, and that your might want to click on another Zoi if you want to interact with them.
And there is nothing you can really do ‘wrong’. We learn while playing. And from what I have seen over the last months, players rather want to jump in and play their own Zois instead of some premades.
With ‘Island Getaway’ there are also quick guides when you first enter the new world.
For people new to sim games the tutorial won’t help. When you’ve played these games before there are things that you expect and others that you figure out. When you are new, everything has to be learnt.
Also, the guide only scratches the surface.
Inzoi is already such a layered game that a playable tutorial would really help people. Things like how to use items in your bag. It took me ages to get my zoi to put a seahorse in the fish tank. I didn’t know why you couldn’t just click on the item in the bag and say place in tank. She had to take it out, have it in her hand, then I had to click on the fish tank for her to put it in there before she put it straight back in the bag.
I played the sims for more than 10 years, and Inzoi still has quite a steep learning curve to it. For those who have never tried such a game, it’s going to be a miserable experience trying to figure everything out.
So far, what you’re describing suggests a fragmented and non-intuitive UX/UI (possibly limited by actor-based logic or UWidget in UE5, doesn’t really matter though — I frequently notice excessive multiple-click per-object option chains in inZOI.)
Many games introduce basic onboarding, but they rarely provide a separate tutorial for every gameplay element in isolation from the core experience. Even when simulating something as intricate as a tabletop framework like DnD, the interface should guide the player naturally, through affordance and flow — not through instruction-heavy overlays.
A game must feel like a game first. If the UX feels tense, obstructive, or tutorial-dependent, it’s a sign the system lacks ergonomic clarity. That’s not a player issue. And when that happens, it’s time to bring in people who can rebuild the interface with intuitive logic (the studio has around 150 people — they can afford it.)
I’m actually on the players’ side — my critique is aimed precisely at the non-intuitive UX/UI. My first experience with games was Japanese JRPGs on the Sega MD in the ’90s, without knowing Japanese, and later with PROMT translations on the PS1 (and TS1 on PC) that didn’t match the original at all. Wouldn’t recommend that to anyone.
So, I’m referring to that process you described. That shouldn’t be accompanied by a tutorial or help guide — it needs to be redesigned. That’s my whole point.
Inzoi is already such a layered game that a playable tutorial would really help people. Things like how to use items in your bag. It took me ages to get my zoi to put a seahorse in the fish tank. I didn’t know why you couldn’t just click on the item in the bag and say place in tank. She had to take it out, have it in her hand, then I had to click on the fish tank for her to put it in there before she put it straight back in the bag.
I agree with this. I think for those of us who’ve played Sims games for years, we probably find it relatively easy to dive straight into the game and work it out as we go along. Sure, there are still plenty of things we need to learn — it’s a totally different game from the Sims so a lot of things work very differently. But if you’ve never played a Sims game of any kind before, I wonder if it all might feel a bit overwhelming at the start — especially as new content and new systems get added. Anything that can help ease players into learning how to handle just the basics in practice (i.e. not through reading the guide) must surely be a good thing. And then there should be a setting where you can turn that off, for players who don’t want or need it.
And it needn’t involve premades. It could take you into CAZ and help you make your own zoi, then direct you into finding them a home, etc.
