^{Image: Electronic Arts}

The Sims 4 is finally getting a sequel codenamed ‘Project Rene’.

Electronic Arts and developer Maxis are finally moving on from The Sims 4 after eight years’ worth of expansions and DLC. The developer officially unveiled an early look at The Sims 5 this week, confirming that the sequel is in development under the codename ‘Project Rene’ at a Behind the Sims Summit.

The next mainline entry in The Sims franchise will bring back collaborative and solo play, as well as cross-play across all platforms - making for an Animal Crossing: New Horizons-like entry where multiple players could work together to build up a single town of Sims. The building phase of the game is a lot more social, as friends can now jump into a room and decorate it together. Using cross-platform play, you can also use your phone to drop items into a Sim’s house before making adjustments on PC seamlessly. While Maxis wasn’t ready to show us what the Sims will actually look like in Project Rene, it did reveal that The Sims 3’s Create-A-Style feature is returning.

If you’re not familiar with this feature, Create-A-Style lets players modify specific parts of furniture items in Sims’ houses by changing out materials, patterns and other components. In the video above, Maxis uses a bed as an example of how the feature works - you can take the bed apart and adjust the texture of its blankets and shape of its headboard. You can also rotate objects on the Z-axis now, which players are unable to do in The Sims 4 without the use of a mod.

Basically, the new features just let you build a house for your Sims with as much specific detail as possible, without relying on certain items showing up in the store that fit your style. Maxis says that Project Rene will, “fundamentally evolve how Sims think and behave, how players create and customize their worlds, and innovate in entirely new ways.” It sounds like after all this time spent on The Sims 4, the team is ready to make some drastic changes to the series’ fundamentals.

Maxis also reiterated that Project Rene is in very early development, and players can expect more updates on the sequel over the, “next few years.” In the meantime, The Sims 4 will continue to receive more free DLC and paid expansions now that it’s gone free-to-play. Two more expansions will drop for the game in 2023, as well as a major change to the baby stage of a Sim’s life with the introduction of infants.

EA officially announces The Sims 5 with early look at new build mode