Summary
Ever sinceit was revealed, Project Rene and The Sims 5 were assumed to be one and the same. However, EA clarified earlier this month that Project Rene is actually a spin-off in the vein of The Sims Online and thatthe long-awaited sequel isn’t happening. Developer Maxis will instead continue to supportThe Sims 4.
Project Rene is a free-to-play mobile game. But it will also be available on PC.
In light of this news, gameplay screenshots from a new playtest have leaked, giving us our best look at Project Rene so far. There’s no character creator yet as it will reportedly be added in a future update, it takes place in a “Parisian” neighbourhood, there are jobs to work such as at the cafe, and there are daily quests that net you Simoleons which can be spent on pre-designed outfits (you can also get Simoleons by levelling up, but it appears to be a premium currency).
Fans Call Project Rene “Trash” And “Horrific”
This brief look has fans worried, with many comparing it to the already-released Sims Mobile, as others slam the visuals and paid clothing: “From a series with such creativity, […] crafted with so much love and detail, to this drivel.”
Some are even calling on the community to pre-emptively boycott Project Rene, writing that it “goes against [everything] The Sims franchise should stand for”. This reaction is mostly being spurred on by the XP and daily quest system, feeding into what appears to be premium currency and microtransactions, as the core customisability of the series is stripped back to make way for paid cosmetics. “By playing this, by enabling them to make stuff like this and letting them get away with it, the community is to blame for the demise of this franchise.”
Looks trash, smells like $$$ for EA…
It’s worth noting that the visuals aren’t final, which have been subject to a lot of the backlash, but it’s not just the quality that has fans concerned. The art style itself is already proving unpopular, as some say that the Sims themselves look like “weird claymation” orPlanet Coasterand Instagram avatars.
“I know it’s still in the alpha stage and the textures are bound to change but oh my god,” one comment reads.
We don’t have a release date yet, and there hasn’t been much in the way of official news about Project Rene, but from the leaked playtest footage alone, a lot of people in the community simply aren’t sold on this mobile spin-off yet.
The Sims 4
WHERE TO PLAY
Developed by Maxis, The Sims 4 is a life simulation game in the vein of its predecessors. It launched in 2014, becoming one of the biggest-selling PC games of that year. In 2022, the base game became free-to-play, while paid DLC continues to be released on a regular basis.
