New information regarding the upcoming Project Rene has appeared online, giving us our first potential major look at the next installment in the The Sims franchise. The leak, which reportedly comes from a recent private playtest, reveals some further details about the game’s possible mechanics and potential overall direction.
In a recent post to the aptly titled ‘/r/GamingLeaksAndRumours’ subreddit, a user who claims to be part of a recent playtest has spilled the beans on what it involves. They have detailed everything from the information found on the game’s private Google Play Store page to some screenshots of the playtest itself.
They claim that the game was previously internally referred to as The Sims 5 and that this is now no longer the case, which aligns with recent confirmation from developer Electronic Arts that The Sims 5 isn’t in the works any time soon.
The post also describes some of the game's mechanics, which involve completing daily quests in a large Parisian-style neighborhood. Although the character creator was absent from the early build, the user has shared some screenshots of the four premade sims that were available to play.
The overall art style here looks very similar to The Sims Mobile, with exaggerated proportions and a heavily stylized world, as does the very mobile-centric UI. The focus on completing tasks will also sound immediately familiar to anyone who has played that game.
In the screenshots we can see the player working a shift at a local cafe, tapping on pieces of equipment to brew coffees and deliver them to customers. Jobs like this will allegedly reward you with an in-game currency that can be spent on outfits and other customization options. The user notes that you can only choose between five preset outfits right now, but this is likely just a limitation of the early access build.
Of course, as an early playtest, it’s worth bearing in mind that everything here is subject to change and could be reworked before the finished product is released. Still, all of this might come as quite disappointing news to those who expected something akin to a traditional The Sims game.
I’m personally not that surprised, though, as it’s been clear from that very beginning that Project Rene has always been intended as more of a free-to-play spinoff than anything else - despite a few claims to the contrary.
You might also like...
