A video purportedly from the next iteration of The Sims has surfaced online, sparking concern among fans about the future direction of the beloved series. Dubbed Project Rene, which is sometimes mistakenly referred to as The Sims 5 despite EA's clarification that it's a spin-off, this project has been in development for several years. Recently, a 20-minute video of gameplay from a game titled "City Life Game With Friends" has led many to believe it might be the next Sims installment.
In the video, the player navigates through text prompts to customize their character's appearance and activities before entering a vibrant Plaza de Poupon to purchase food and interact with other characters. The gameplay later shifts to working at an outdoor café. The characters, referred to as Sims, communicate in Simlish and are marked with the iconic Plumbob, reinforcing the connection to The Sims.
"I am terribly disappointed with Project Rene. Yes, I know, according to EA, 'this is not the final game.' Is this a joke or what?" expressed a disgruntled player on The Sims' subreddit in a post titled "I think Project Rene is a red flag (I hope not)," which received hundreds of upvotes."EA clearly wants to kill off normal Sims games and push people toward the mobile-style experience. So in their mind, a reboot literally means this — at least that’s what I THINK."
"This is not going to be for me, I can tell already," another fan commented. "It just seems so basic and I don't want to play The Sims on my phone."
"The funny thing is, making a PC/mobile cross-compatible Sims game isn't a bad idea," suggested a fan. "EA just believes that mobile games HAVE to be ugly for some reason. They're chasing all of the design trends of the past decade, but it means that this thing already looks dated and it's not even out yet."
"The way The Sims was literally a satire about capitalist suburban consumption-as-happiness... And this is where the Sims ended up. Endless consumption-as-happiness," another user remarked.
Project Rene, initially speculated to be The Sims 5 until EA clarified otherwise, was first hinted at in 2022 during a Behind the Sims Summit. Described as a free-to-play game with multiplayer elements inspired by Animal Crossing and Among Us, it has yet to be officially revealed or given a release date. EA has been conducting small, invite-only playtests since the announcement, and it's likely that these tests are the source of the recent leaks.
The name "Rene" was chosen to evoke concepts of "renewal, renaissance, and rebirth," symbolizing the developer's renewed commitment to the future of The Sims.
Last October, leaks from a closed online test of Project Rene surfaced, leading to criticism regarding the game's art style, limited features, and the inclusion of microtransactions. The addition of a café, reminiscent of 2018's The Sims Mobile, drew particular skepticism. It was then that EA reiterated that Project Rene was not The Sims 5 but a different "cozy, social game" under the The Sims franchise.
Meanwhile, fans of the series were reminded of the past with the return of The Burglar in the latest update for The Sims 4, a character well-known to long-time players of the series.
