The inZOI team is moving the game to Unreal Engine 5.6, and rather than dropping it on everyone at once, they're opening a public beta branch first so players can test it.

What and when

• Opens: March 5, 2026
• Runs until: the engine update's live release
• Steam only

The goal is to test what UE 5.6 brings — crash fixes and performance improvements chief among them — with real players rather than internal testing alone.

How to opt in

1. Select inZOI in your Steam library.
2. Right-click it and open Properties.
3. Go to Game Versions & Betas.
4. Select next_engine from the beta branch list.

Steam downloads the beta build automatically once selected.

Things to know before you switch

• You can go back to the main branch at any time.
• Save files are compatible both ways — beta saves work on the main branch.
• Mods don't work on the beta branch due to version compatibility. Mod support returns with the live release.
• Crashes during testing are automatically reported to the team.

What the engine update should improve

Based on Epic's engine update history, the team expects changes across: rendering performance, visual quality, stability and crash fixes, memory and loading, PCG (procedural content generation), HLOD (hierarchical level of detail), Niagara visual effects, World Partition and streaming, Sequencer, and landscape and environment.

That list reads as exactly what inZOI needs most. Performance has been a persistent complaint given the game's demanding system requirements, and the team has been chipping at it with Nanite options and PSO cache fixes since v0.4.0.

Feedback goes to Discord or the official inZOI forums.

Read the full announcement: Official inZOI Website