At yesterday’s Behind the Sims Summit, we got our first look at what’s to be Sims 5, dubbed “Project Rene.” In the very early look at the game, we got to see quite a bit of unique features. The upcoming title, which likely won’t be out fully for a few years, will have new creative tools, solo and collaborative play styles, and cross-device support like we’ve never seen from a Sims game before. Sound intriguing? Let’s take a closer look at what we can expect from Project Rene below.
Sims 5 is called Project Rene, currently in development
Announced at the Behind the Sims Summit, we’re told the Project Rene name was picked because it’s similar to worlds like “renaissance and rebirth” which represent “the team’s renewed commitment for The Sims’ bright future.” Project Rene is going to “evolve how Sims think and behave, how players create and customize their worlds, and innovate in entirely new ways.”
Starting things off is the creative tools. Project Rene looks to have support for changing the color of objects, their attributes, and even size in a wide range of ways that we haven’t seen since Sims 3 – a welcomed change. The team is “taking a look at what has worked before” and seeing “how we can offer more flexibility to help with building and decorating in-game.” I’m very interested to see how this progresses, as more customization of in-game items is something that’s sorely missing from The Sims 4.
Another area that’s actually quite unique in the way we’re shown the game is how the cross-platform support works. Something I have longed for is a way to play a proper Sims game on mobile, be that my iPad or iPhone. Sure, there are games like Sims FreePlay on the App Store, but that’s not the same experience as The Sims 3 or 4. Well, with Project Rene, we’re given a demonstration of someone designing a home on a computer, but it’s updating in real-time on mobile before switching to designing on mobile, which then updates in real time on the computer – which is something we’ve never seen in a game before. I’m very excited for this aspect of Project Rene and can’t wait to try it out myself.
Something else that we’re getting, though not much information was given, is the choice of playing either solo or collaborative with other players. This is likely going to be a much better implementation than the current Gallery system, but it’s unclear if you’ll be playing real-time with other Simmers or if it’ll be a way to share things between accounts.
Project Rene for The Sims 5 has no set date, nor even a time frame for release, so we can expect that the launch is a few years away. However, it seems that The Sims team wants to keep the community involved in the development process this time around, which is something we haven’t ever seen before from the company. So only time will tell how much insight we’ll be given leading up to the release.
9to5Toys’ Take
As someone who has played The Sims game since The Sims 2 and who has hundreds and hundreds of hours (thousands?) between The Sims 3 and 4, I’m very excited by what The Sims 5 has to offer. Project Rene looks very interesting, and while the crafting portion I’m excited for, the biggest thing for me is the cross-platform play.
The thought of being able to start a save on my MacBook, pick it up on a PC, and then continue playing the same save/family from my iPad is something that I have wanted for quite some time. In fact, even just cloud saves for progression would be nice, but going as far as Project Rene seems to be doing is something that’s even better in my book.
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