The Sims 5 was officially announced today by EA and Maxis during the Behind The Sims Summit Stream. The studios aren’t calling it that. According to rumors, The Sims will be announced in October. According to the official press release, The Sims’ next generation game is called Project Rene. Rene is reminiscent of words like renewal, renaissance, and rebirth, symbolizing the developer’s renewed commitment to the franchise. It’ll still be called The Sims 5.
We also got an early look at “what Project Rene will become,” and it’s sure to please Sims builders. The Sims 3 “create a style” allows you to change not just the size of objects, but also their patterns, colors, and shapes. However, the advanced placement tools shown off in the clip really got me (and undoubtedly others) excited. Cushions can now be rotated, titled, and moved in ways that were previously only possible with cheats.
Players can also play solo or collaborate with others across “supported devices” in The Sims 5, but it’s not clear how that will work. You can pull build items from the game on your phone, and it’ll show up in-game on all your platforms. Will The Sims 5 have multiplayer in a shared world like The Sims 4 multiplayer mod? Are there any cross-play features? There aren’t any details yet, but that’s probably because EA and Maxis have said The Sims 5 journey will take a couple of years.