inZOI Tips and Tricks: What to Do First
Image Credits: inZOI Studio
Just landed in inZOI and already overwhelmed by the godlike level of freedom? Yeah, that’s normal. inZOI throws a lot at you from the jump—photorealistic Zois, custom cities, AI-generated poses, and about a hundred different ways to mess up your first household.
Here’s a quick, no-nonsense guide to help you start off strong and avoid chaos (unless chaos is your goal, in which case… carry on).
1. Create Your Family and Pick a Place to Live
Start in character creation. You can spend hours sculpting faces and browsing outfits—or you can slap together a quick Zoi and just get moving. Totally up to you. If you want roommates, make them now. If you want a whole family, make them now. It’s easier to build them all at once than to edit them in later (though you can do that too).
Once your Zoi crew is ready, choose a city—Dowon for urban life, Bliss Bay for beachy vibes. Then pick a house or apartment. If you choose an empty lot, make sure you install the basics or your Zois are going to be very uncomfortable, very fast. At minimum, you’ll need:
Shower, toilet, sink
Fridge, stove, counter
Bed, table, chair
Washing machine and trash bin
Fire alarm (unless you're living dangerously)
2. Customize the City Before You Hit Play
Before you jump in, press M to open the map and go to Manage City. This is where you can tweak how the world works—sanitation levels, fire risks, relationship chances, and even what kind of trees grow in your town. You can change this stuff later, but it’s more fun to set the mood from the start. Want a chill utopia? Crank the kindness slider. Want a crumbling mess of drama and garbage fires? You know what to do.
3. Don’t Forget to Set Preferences
For some reason, Zoi Preferences aren’t set during character creation. You’ll need to click your Zoi’s card in the bottom left corner and manually set their likes and dislikes. This stuff matters. A Zoi who likes cooking will cook more. A Zoi who hates fitness will get annoyed if you make them jog. The more Likes you pick, the happier and more productive they’ll be.
4. Pick an Ambition (or Regret It Later)
Ambitions are little life-goal paths your Zoi can follow for extra rewards. Unlike “Desired Life,” which you pick during creation, Ambitions are set in-game. Open your Zoi’s phone, tap the Ambition Notes app (top right), and pick something that makes sense. Otherwise, the game might assign something random—like giving your wholesome bookworm the urge to cause “Social Disorder.”
5. Start a Career
Only adult Zois can get jobs—kids go to school, and seniors chill. Open the phone, tap the Career app, and browse entry-level jobs. Jobs are your main source of money unless you’re planning to live entirely off stolen goods or vibes. If you want to be more hands-on, look for Active Careers where you can follow your Zoi to work and control what they do.
6. Ready to Play? Start Clicking Stuff
At this point, your Zois are ready to go. Click on them, click on the fridge, click on the PC—just click everything. Try going to a café, exploring the art gallery, or testing the driving feature (yes, you can drive). Also, check your game settings: you can tweak day length, turn on manual driving, and more.
Final Blurb
The start of inZOI is a lot, but once you get the basics down, it opens up into one of the most flexible and chaotic life sims ever made. Set your Zois up right, give them a purpose, and let the simulation unfold—or fall apart. Either way, it’s going to be entertaining.
