The Sims 5: Project Rene revealed as the future of the franchise
EA’s Behind The Sims Summit stream event took place tonight, offering fans of the long-running franchise tons to look forward to. But perhaps the biggest reason for tuning in was to see if EA would finally announce The Sims 5.
Well, did they? Sort of.
Towards the end of the stream, EA gave fans a first look at the future of The Sims innovation — what the studio is calling “Project Rene.”
“We are building the next generation Sims game and creative platform. Reimagining the sims you know and love, and new ways to play,” announced Lyndsay Pearson, VP of Franchise Creative. “This is the future of The Sims, built on the foundation of charming Sims, powerful tools and meaningful stories.”
Project Rene isn’t exactly what The Sims 5 will be when it’s officially revealed. But it does seem to be the core platform and concept behind it.
Project Rene was chosen because it’s “reminiscent of words like renewal, renaissance, and rebirth. And it represents our renewed commitment to the Sims,” said Pearson.
Project Rene is still in the very early stages, which means The Sims 5 is still a long way off. But we did get a pretty good look at what EA is building towards.
During the stream we got a behind-the-scenes look at what looks to be the most robust suite of creative tools ever in a Sims game. We saw a bed being edited piece-by-piece, with elements such as the base, headboard, footboard and breadspread color and pattern being customized individually. We saw a similar level of detailed editing with a sofa, including adjusting surface colors, cushion patterns, and even the general shape of various objects.
It goes even more in-depth than that though. On that same couch, you could add individual pillows and adjust their placement and angle. It looks like Project Rene will not only streamline the placement of furniture within a room, but provide more control over individual object placement as well.
Project Rene expands well beyond furniture customization, though. EA wants you to have direct control over who you play with and how you play. This includes playing The Sims 5 — or whatever it’s called — on the platform of your choice. During the segment, we saw the same game file running on both a PC and mobile device, and it looked impressive and seamless on both. “Same experience, different screen,” boasted Pearson.
It sounds like Project Rene is still super early so it will probably be a couple of more years until The Sims 5 is officially announced. Thankfully, EA has plenty in the pipeline for The Sims 4 to keep us busy.