The Sims: New Project Rene-Leak shows supposed gameplay screenshots

A new leak makes Project Rene a little more tangible again.

After Electronic Arts recently revealed the future of the Sims franchise, a closed playtest took place for the upcoming online offshoot Project Rene. Screenshots and information are now circulating online that give a closer look at the new game.

Project Rene: What does the new leak show?

On Reddit, the account u/DzXAnt22 shares his findings from a recent playtest of the mobile version. In terms of content, the leak describes a small part of the game, which should provide limited insights into some online functions.

The game world based on Paris was already part of previous leaks. What’s new now is working together in a small café to earn money, as u/DzXAnt22 explains in his detailed article. A number of his shared screenshots are currently spreading in other subreddits and on X/Twitter.

Link to Reddit content

Work together and earn money

As Online game Should it be possible to play together with other people in the same environment in Project Rene? The current playtest shows that this obviously includes working and shopping together.

In the small pre-release version there was no character editor. But that shouldn’t apply to the finished game. Instead, participating figures can choose between four finished figures. There are various quests to complete in the game world updated daily become.

One of them concerns working as an employee in a café. The gameplay loop sounds pretty simple. NPC Sims enters the store, sits at a table and places an order. Which dish she wants can be seen in a thought bubble above her head.

The staff then have to take the orders and organize the corresponding items such as coffee, croissants and the like. If the customers are happy, there are Simoleons. A second way to earn money is to level up your character. For more XP you can work, talk to NPCs or complete quests for them.

You can spend your earned Simoleons in the clothing store. At least in the playtest there were only 5 different outfits that could not be further customized.

The images shown mainly cause ridicule among the corresponding posts. “Please don’t let this be real,” one tweet reads, for example. The simple graphics in particular are often criticized, after all, the Korean competitor inZOI has been showing us for some time how good life simulations could actually look.

Link to Twitter content

In addition, the integration of Microtransactions viewed with concern. Daily quests and fully purchasable outfits sound suspiciously like a lot of monetization. This concern is completely understandable, after all, as a free2play game, The Sims 4 is already known for being overwhelmed with packs and expansion packages.

The playtest screenshots showing the character and outfit menu also suggest paid items for a premium currency, which unpleasantly reminded many fans of well-known practices from other service games.

However, keep in mind that the entire discussion is just about possible playtest material that should never see the light of day. Of course, what Project Rene will look like in the end and how it will play still remains to be seen.

What is your impression of Project Rene so far?