inZOI: what August's update changes — 90% autonomous Zois, vacations, free diving and mod manager

inZOI Studio has lifted the veil, in two stages, on inZOI's August 2026 update. Internally dubbed "Making Things Better," it doesn't add a city or a big pack: it tackles what players have been criticizing about the game since early access — Zois wandering aimlessly instead of taking action.

No exact date has been confirmed yet. Here's what's coming, what it will really change in your game, and what you'd best do before installing it.

The real overhaul: 90% goal-oriented actions

This is the goal the team has set for itself, and it comes with a number attached: 90% goal-oriented actions, 10% random behaviors. The example given by the developers speaks for itself. A Zoi who walks into a bakery will buy bread, sit down to eat it, then head home — instead of lingering there for no reason. And crucially, Zois will naturally leave a location once their goal is achieved.

It's worth taking a moment to consider what this really means. In a life simulation game, believability hinges less on graphics than on the coherence of routines. Unexplained crowding and Zois pacing around aimlessly in a shop have, since launch, been the fastest way to break the illusion.

A practical consequence to anticipate: if you run a business, foot traffic will change shape. Fewer customers standing around idle inside, more brief, complete visits. Our tips on business profitability are worth revisiting once the update is installed.

Vacations: a system separate from relocation

The most important design point to understand, as explained by developer Kjun: travel will be separated from relocation. Right now, sending a Zoi elsewhere means uprooting their whole life. Going forward, they'll be able to leave, stay for a while, and come back.

Around this system, the team is preparing accommodations, city events, and places to visit. Trips will be able to include Zois from outside the household.

And eventually — this is explicitly a future prospect, not a promise for August — players will be able to run their own lodging establishments through the business system, with room setup configured on a case-by-case basis. For anyone who's built a business empire in inZOI, this is the logical next step.

Water becomes playable

Three additions turn bodies of water from scenery into playground:

• Free diving, with full player control, allowing free swimming beneath the surface. It was in preliminary testing, and is now announced as implemented and polished;
• pool interactions: splashing, and conversations between a Zoi in the water and someone at the poolside;
• surfing, which gains a directional balance mini-game.

On the wardrobe side, detailed diving suits come along with this addition.

Create-A-Zoi: the Zoi map becomes an entry point

Four notable changes to the editor:

• The Zoi map now lets you enter Create-A-Zoi to directly create family members of an existing Zoi. This is a considerable time-saver for multigenerational playthroughs;
• a voice customizer is arriving, with about six preset voices and a pitch slider, with no gender-based restrictions;
• a family photo generator automatically poses characters for a group portrait;
• photos taken in-game become usable in decorative frames.

Existing facial presets have also been revised, and new hairstyles, casual outfits, underwear, pajamas and shoes join the catalog.

The point that concerns modded players

This is where you need to pay attention before the update. Two changes directly affect mods:

• the mod manager becomes accessible during gameplay, without returning to the main menu;
• the modkit expands, giving modders the ability to customize the main menu and lobby.

As with every update to an early access game, the rule remains the same: disable your mods before installing, and re-enable them one by one. An overhaul of autonomous behavior touches, by definition, the core of the simulation — this is exactly the type of change that breaks gameplay mods.

Good news on the side: a button now lets you locate your saves directly on the disk. Use it to make a copy before switching over.

Babies, interface, and miscellaneous

The baby system has been thoroughly reworked: they now run on the same architecture as adults and move on their own to a bed to sleep. The abnormal reddish tint of infants' skin has been fixed.

On the interface side: optimized minimap navigation with selective icon activation, improved hiring interface for small businesses, enhanced display of holidays on the calendar, and drag-and-drop of inventory items anywhere in the world.

Among the small additions that are nice to have: new prefab houses, an oven mitt for cooking, campfire dance animations, interactive animations for photo mode, and a movie — "The Last Clue" — screened in the game's cinemas.

What not to expect from this update

Two warnings, to avoid disappointment.

Graphical improvements are not coming right now. Visual enhancements are being studied, but their concrete results are expected more around October.

And the date is not set. The team states that the list of improvements remains long and that the date will be announced in advance once finalized. August isn't over yet, but a delay remains possible.

What to do right now

• Copy your saves outside the game folder;
• list your active mods, so you can re-enable them one by one after the switch;
• don't start any big business project this week: the overhaul of autonomous behavior will change customer flows, and therefore your profitability calculations;
• keep a test household to observe the new routines before judging the whole thing on your main save.