The Sims: Project Rene is basically The Sims 5, sneak peek boasts crossplay and in-depth customization

The Sims studio Maxis has announced the next major entry of the franchise, currently codenamed “Project Rene,” during the Behind the Sims Summit live stream. During the livestream, Maxis vice president Lyndsay Pearson shared some light details about what we can expect from this newest entry to The Sims, which may or may not be called “The Sims 5” in the future.

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The project will likely be a massive win for fans who love to customize, as this preview showcased some incredibly robust and detailed options unseen in a Sims game before. The showcase featured a demonstration of editing and customizing a sofa, including the ability to change the color and patterns of individual cushions, their overall shape, and their size and placement on the sofa. Additionally, a bed is shown being customized, with individual parts such as the headboard color and pattern being changed, as well as its shape.

Project Rene will also be a more social experience when it comes to building, as the buy-and-build phase will include a multiplayer option for players who want to work with friends to make their perfect homes. This new multiplayer approach will also seemingly be fully cross-platform with “supported devices,” as we see a player using their phone to scroll through a furniture catalog and tinkering with their choices on PC. Whether the game will have full multiplayer support and crossplay is still up in the air.

Related: When is the release date for The Sims: Project Rene?

This preview showed the very early stages of development, so the developer made sure to mention they will share updates about the project over the “next few years.” Don’t expect to see much more about Project Rene for a while. During this livestream, Maxis made sure to mention plans to continue support for The Sims 4 as it goes free to play, with two additional expansions planned for 2023. The studio also announced plans to collaborate with CurseForge, the mod platform to help support the game’s vibrant modding community and its great content.

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Matthew Fuller

Matt is a freelance writer based in the UK and has spent over three years covering and writing about video games. He discovered his love of games journalism while attending Canterbury Christchurch University, where he earned a bachelor's and master's degree in Game Design and has been writing ever since. He will find any excuse to play and write about games. When he isn't fighting dragons or exploring far-off galaxies, he spends his free time playing D&D, listening to music, or reading a good book. His primary game bests are Diablo IV, the Final Fantasy series, D&D, and anything new releasing that tickles his fancy.

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