The October update arrived on October 30, 2025, and it is a big one. Death is no longer the end — Zois can carry on as ghosts, attend their own funerals, and unlock ghost-only skills. Alongside that, the whole mentality system has been rebuilt, and the default in-game day is now 48 minutes instead of 96.

Build versions

• Windows PC (Steam): 20251030.8377.W
• Mac (Steam): 20251029.8352.M
• Mac App Store: 5.4.16 (0.198) / 20251029.8353.M — updated October 31

Halloween happenings

• Pumpkin farming — pumpkins are a new crop you can grow, buy from the Farming Supply Store, or order on Pocket Market. Three recipes come with them: Pumpkin Soup, Pumpkin Pie, and Pumpkin Candy.
• Carve jack-o'-lanterns — process pumpkins at a crafting table into lanterns with different shapes and faces. Wear them as headgear or place them as decorations.
• Trick or Treat — place special Halloween items on your property and children visit each night. Hand out candy to earn Halloween-themed item rewards. (These visiting children never age, by design.)
• Ghost fish — 5 new fish that only appear during the Halloween season, catchable between 6 PM and 6 AM, and rare even then.

Playing as a ghost

This is the headline feature. After a Zoi dies, you can choose "On to the Afterlife" and keep playing them as a ghost for three in-game days. At the end of that, the ghost either ascends or attends their own funeral before departing.

• Fulfilling urges tied to the cause of death unlocks special ghost-only skills.
• Claire at the AR Library hands out missions that uncover the stories of different ghosts.
• Reincarnation is not in this update.

Existing saves lose ghosts

Loading a save with "Continue" releases any remaining ghosts — they ascend and disappear. Continuing also resets your relationship with Claire to its default.

Funerals

New Funeral Home & Columbarium and Cemetery properties have been added to all three cities. When a Zoi in the city or someone they know dies, an urn is generated, and you can hold a funeral through Make Event and enshrine the urn at the cemetery.

Urns are only created for Zois who die after this update — earlier deaths don't retroactively get one. This considerably expands what was previously covered on our death and ghosts page.

The 48-minute day

The default in-game day is now 48 minutes, and the balance of needs and interaction durations has been retuned around it. Practically:

• Zois no longer oversleep — even after a late night they wake at a sensible hour.
• Naps last about an hour and no longer fully restore needs.
• Hunger is aligned to normal mealtimes.
• Zois pick activities appropriate to the time of day.

If you prefer the old pace, switch it back under Game Options → Simulation → Day Length.

The mentality system rework

Traits, characteristics, ambitions, and urges are now one integrated system.

• Traits — Entertainer, Volunteer, and Collaborator have been merged or removed, and three new traits added: Troublemaker, Recluse, and Rulebreaker. On existing saves, the removed traits convert automatically (Entertainer → Troublemaker, Volunteer → Recluse, Collaborator → Rulebreaker).
• Characteristics — 15 new ones including Extroverted, Depressed, Bookworm, Emotionally Needy, Fitness Enthusiast, and Slacker. Each Zoi can have up to two non-conflicting characteristics; existing saves get two assigned at random, adjustable with cheats.
• Ambitions are no longer random — you choose them during Zoi creation, and NPCs get ambitions matching their traits.
• Urges — over 140 new urges plus 120 reworked ones, appearing based on age, relationships, situation, and traits.

Other gameplay changes

• Karma has been largely dismantled — Karma interactions merged into general interactions, the Karma score and conversation icons removed, the "Zoi Karma Status" section deleted from the Karma Report, and two Karma donuts pulled from the Meow Store. See our karma system page.
• Ten new social events bring visitors — blind dates, group studies, fitness clubs — plus a new burglar break-in event. Leave clear space near doors on custom lots or these can misfire.
• Crowds gained roles: police officers, thieves, cleaners, artists. Body type changes apply to new games only.
• Loans now generate escalating text pressure, can become known to family and friends (affecting relationships), and a new "Side Job" rabbit hole helps you repay. You can also repay early by phone or computer.
• 144 new rabbit hole career opportunity cards for jobs in Dowon and Bliss Bay.
• Death by natural disasters or temperature is less likely — a continuation of the v0.3.4 adjustment.
• The "Tranquil" emotion is now called "Content".
• A Photo Mode app was added to the smartphone (P).
• All cities got property work: a Beach Club and Wedding Studio in Cahaya, pool tables and bowling lanes in the Dowon and Bliss Bay club lounges, new street objects everywhere. On "Continue" saves you apply these with the property update feature; residential properties are left alone.

Interactions

• Newborns, toddlers, and children — "Give Formula", "Give Snack", "Do Baby Stretches", self-interactions like "Suck on Finger" and "Roll Around", and "Reprimand" for children.
• "Ask Them to Live with You" and "Suggest Living Separately" — move lovers, betrothed, friends, or children in, or push roommates out when relationship points are low.
• "Comfort" and "Soothe" shorten Sad or Enraged states, with success depending on Rhetoric skill.
• Teen romance gained its own set: "Study Together in Romantic Mood", "Share Earphones", "Write Secret Love Letter", plus "Beg Tearfully" and "Brag About Your Relationship".
• "Break Off Engagement" can now be done by text from the Smartphone menu.
• New NPC conversations with prison lifers ("Provoke", "Pick a Fight") and occupational NPCs like massage therapists and yoga instructors.
• New romantic and cooperative interactions: "Sit and Kiss", "Sit and Give Massage", "Play Bowling", "Play Billiards Together".

Autonomy also improved — Zois cook random recipes to satisfy hunger instead of repeating one dish, stop hogging the computer, and keep conversations going in groups.

Character customization

100 new items (44 makeup, 37 accessories, plus hair, eyebrows, facial features and presets) and 38 unlockable Halloween items obtainable through Canvas events.

New features include Makeup Presets, 15 new CAZ and Photo Mode motions, a Halloween studio background, randomizers for every category, and an Edit Appearance button on the HUD.

Building

120 new items and 58 unlockable Halloween items earned through Trick or Treat events.

• AI Build (experimental) — specify a number of rooms and write a description, and the game generates a building. Needs an RTX 3000-series with 8 GB VRAM or an RX 6000-series with 12 GB VRAM, and won't work on properties with exterior elements, public properties, streets, or Themed Studio.
• Smart Snap — press [X] while placing an item to snap it to others.
• ~30 special effects items (fire, smoke, lightning) under Furniture → Special Effects, colour- and material-editable. Using a lot of them will cost you frames.
• A double door category, overlapping roofs, and optional wall placement guidelines.

Cheats

New commands landed alongside the update — see our cheats guide:

• setTrait [ZoiID] [TraitID] [CharacteristicID] [CharacteristicID] — works with all 18 traits and 15 characteristics. Conflicting characteristics in one command are ignored.
• ShowUserDevCategory [true/false] — surfaces the DEV category in Build Mode. DEV items are excluded from saved presets.
• addItemToBag [object ID] [quantity] — covers all 9 pumpkin items and dishes.
• AddResortCoin

Mods and ModKit

As announced a week earlier, localisation mods are here: translation mod support, a translation wizard for editing and testing, and a Preview Translations option. Also added — CAZ wizards for hair and skin, building wizards for doors, fences, pillars and windows, automatic install of CurseForge subscriptions at launch, fixed local mod detection, and UE5 ModKit tutorials. Canvas posts now show which mods a creation uses, and those mods download with it.

Performance

Graphics performance has been optimised for frame rate stability and loading speed, with PSO cache fixes and a new Nanite option (Game Options → Graphics → Nanite) that disables itself automatically on low-end cards.

Back up your save

The team's own note with this update is blunt: with systems this interconnected they can't test every "Continue" scenario, and if your save misbehaves you should back it up and wait for a fix rather than keep playing.

Read the full patch notes: Official inZOI Website