History Analysis / ImmersiveSim

Speaking of genre, the stew approach can also be observed in how many core [[UsefulNotes/MechanicsDynamicsAesthetics MDA aesthetics]] (unique combinations of which define most genres)[[note]]Fun fact: Marc [=LeBlanc=] worked on most of Looking Glass' seminal titles prior to coming up with his "8 types of fun", which transformed into the gameplay aesthetics of MDA.[[/note]] the immersive sims target at once:

Following the closure of Ion Storm, the genre went dormant for several years, although the break of creative continuity played a bigger role in it than the actual time gap (which was, in fact, shorter than the [[UsefulNotes/WesternRPG dark ages]] between ''System Shock'' and ''Thief''). Ultimately, it was the first wave survivor Irrational who brought the genre back under the spotlight with the original ''VideoGame/BioShock1'', although it wasn't until the other survivor, Arkane, released the original ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'' that people started talking about a genre comeback and the "modern immersive sims".

This distinction explains many of the difficulties historically faced by the genre. Because the stew only comes together as something delicious after every ingredient has been cut and mixed, producing an immersive sim takes a lot of time, during which no real assessment of the final product's quality can be made. This tends to discourage both (new) developers and the money-givers, who can neither focus-test, nor market the game until well into production. Marketing is also not helped any by the fact that immersive sims tend to hit too many bases genre-wise by design, confusing the target audiences as to what gameplay exactly they should expect from it. Last but not least, the emergent nature of the simulation requires a different type of thinking than what has been drilled into both gamers and designers by the mechanically focused games of the past decades: in the article, Spector recalls how utterly stumped ''Deus Ex'' playtesters were by the game expecting them to co-author their own experience.

Following the closure of Ion Storm, the genre went dormant for several years, although the break of creative continuity played a bigger role in it than the actual time gap (which was, in fact, shorter than the [[Analysis/WesternRPG dark ages]] between ''System Shock'' and ''Thief''). Ultimately, it was the first wave survivor Irrational who brought the genre back under the spotlight with the original ''VideoGame/BioShock1'', although it wasn't until the other survivor, Arkane, released the original ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'' that people started talking about a genre comeback and the "modern immersive sims".

The first wave consisted of the "classical immersive sims": ''VideoGame/UltimaUnderworld'', ''VideoGame/SystemShock'', ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'', and ''VideoGame/DeusEx''. These were primarily created by Creator/LookingGlassStudios and Creator/IonStorm Austin, and their closures (in 2000 and 2005, respectively) are often cited as the cutoff point of the classical immersive sims (although Ion Storm's late titles ''Invisible War'' and ''Deadly Shadows'' are often contentious specimen). Most of the games in this period had been PC (mainly DOS and Windows) exclusives, which may be why some purists draw the line at the original ''Deus Ex'', after which the genre went MultiPlatform.

As Warren Spector explains [[http://www.pcgamer.com/the-designers-of-dishonored-bioshock-2-and-deus-ex-swap-stories-about-making-pcs-most-complex-games/ here]], the immersive sim design paradigm runs counter to the entire traditional wisdom of video game design: instead of coming up with an innovative or, at least, an entertaining core mechanic first, and then building content and secondary mechanics around it, immersive sims rely on the interplay of a large number of mechanics and subsystems, most of which are not integrated with each other until very late in development. Ricard Bare in the same article compares making an immersive sim to making a stew, where each ingredient tastes meh on its own but awesome in combination. To continue with the food metaphor, the traditional game design wisdom, exemplified by most games, from indie hits to quintessential Nintendo titles, would be the ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haute_cuisine haute cuisine]]'' of video games.

* '''Narrative''' provides the crucial context for the player's actions, and the games also strive to let players co-author their ''emergent'' narratives.

Unfortunately, the commercial failures of ''Mankind Divided'', ''Dishonored 2'', and ''Prey'', followed by the closure/rebranding of Irrational, Eidos' apparent abandonment of ''Deus Ex'', and Arkane wrapping up the "Kaldwin era" arc of ''Dishonored'', mean that the second wave was effectively over by 2017, with only [=OtherSide=] still actively working on new entries in the genre, including ''System Shock 3''. The good news, however, is that while this specific genre has once more failed to root itself in the mainstream, the much broader notion of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnpAAX9CkIc systemic gameplay]] appears to be on the rise across multiple genres.

Unfortunately, the commercial failures of ''Mankind Divided'', ''Dishonored 2'', and ''Prey'', followed by the closure/rebranding of Irrational, Eidos' apparent abandonment of ''Deus Ex'', and Arkane wrapping up the "Kaldwin era" arc of ''Dishonored'', mean that the second wave is essentially over in 2017, with only [=OtherSide=] still actively working on new entries in the genre, ''VideoGame/UnderworldAscendant'' and ''System Shock 3''. The good news, however, is that while this specific genre has once more failed to root itself in the mainstream, the much broader notion of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnpAAX9CkIc systemic gameplay]] appears to be on the rise across multiple genres.

Speaking of genre, the stew approach can also be observed in how many core [[UsefulNotes/MechanicsDynamicsAesthetics MDA aesthetics]] (unique combinations of which define most genres)[[note]]A bit of trivia: Marc [=LeBlanc=], who came up with the original "8 types of fun", a.k.a. gameplay aesthetics, worked on most of the seminal Looking Glass titles before that[[/note]] the immersive sims target at once:

Unfortunately, the commercial failures of ''Mankind Divided'', ''Dishonored 2'', and ''Prey'', followed by the closure/rebranding of Irrational, Eidos' apparent abandonment of ''Deus Ex'', and Arkane finishing the ''Dishonored'' story arc, mean that the second wave is essentially over in 2017, with only [=OtherSide=] still actively working on new entries in the genre, ''VideoGame/UnderworldAscendant'' and ''System Shock 3''. The good news, however, is that while this specific genre has once more failed to root itself in the mainstream, the much broader notion of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnpAAX9CkIc systemic gameplay]] appears to be on the rise across multiple genres.

Following the closure of Ion Storm, the genre went dormant for several years, although the break of creative continuity played a bigger role in it than the actual time gap (which was, in fact, shorter than the [[Analysis/WesternRPG dark ages]] between ''System Shock'' and ''Thief''). Ignoring the weird 2005 oddball (in every sense of this word) ''VideoGame/{{Pathologic}}'', it was the first wave survivor Irrational who brought the genre back under the spotlight with the original ''VideoGame/BioShock1'', although it wasn't until the other survivor, Arkane, released the original ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'' that people started talking about a genre comeback and the "modern immersive sims".

The first wave consisted of the "classical immersive sims": ''VideoGame/UltimaUnderworld'', ''VideoGame/SystemShock'', ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'', and ''VideoGame/DeusEx''. These were primarily created by Creator/LookingGlassStudios and Ion Storm Austin, and their closures (in 2000 and 2005, respectively) are often cited as the cutoff point of the classical immersive sims (although Ion Storm's late titles ''Invisible War'' and ''Deadly Shadows'' are often contentious specimen). Most of the games in this period had been PC (mainly DOS and Windows) exclusives, which may be why some purists draw the line at the original ''Deus Ex'', after which the genre went MultiPlatform.

||''VideoGame/DeusEx'' ||Ion Storm Austin ||June 17, 2000 ||PC ||

Unfortunately, the commercial failures of ''Mankind Divided'', ''Dishonored 2'', and ''Prey'', followed by the closure/rebranding of Irrational, Eidos' apparent abandonment of ''Deus Ex'', and Arkane finishing the ''Dishonored'' story arc, mean that the second wave is essentially over in 2017, with only [=OtherSide=] still actively working on new entries in the genre, ''VideoGame/UnderworldAscendant'' and ''System Shock 3''. The good news, however, is that while this specific genre has once more failed to root itself in the mainstream, the much broader notion of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrhmX5aQoPg systemic gameplay]] appears to be on the rise across multiple genres.

Speaking of genre, the stew approach can also be observed in how many core [[Literature/MechanicsDynamicsAesthetics MDA aesthetics]] (unique combinations of which define most genres)[[note]]A bit of trivia: Marc [=LeBlanc=], who came up with the original "8 types of fun", a.k.a. gameplay aesthetics, worked on most of the seminal Looking Glass titles before that[[/note]] the immersive sims target at once:

As Warren Spector explains [[http://www.pcgamer.com/the-designers-of-dishonored-bioshock-2-and-deus-ex-swap-stories-about-making-pcs-most-complex-games/ here]], immersive sim design approach runs utterly contrary to the traditional wisdom of video game design: instead of coming up with an innovative or, at least, an entertaining core mechanic first, and then building content and secondary mechanics around it, immersive sims rely on the interplay of a large number of mechanics and subsystems, most of which are not integrated with each other until very late in development. Ricard Bare in the same article compares making an immersive sim to making a stew, where each ingredient tastes meh on its own but awesome in combination. To continue the the food analogy, traditional game design wisdom, exemplified by a lot of games from indie hits to most successful Nintendo titles, would be ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haute_cuisine haute cuisine]]'' of video games.

This distinction explains many of the difficulties historically faced by the genre. Because the stew only comes together as something delicious after all of its ingredients have been cut and mixed, producing an immersive sim takes a lot of time, during which no real assessment of the final product's quality can be made. This tends to discourage both (new) developers and the money-givers, who can neither focus-test, nor market the game until well into production. Marketing is also not helped any by the fact that immersive sims tend to hit too many bases genre-wise by design, confusing the target audiences as to what gameplay exactly they should expect from it. Last but not least, the emergent nature of the simulation requires a different type of thinking than what has been drilled into gamers by mechanically focused games of the past decades: in the article, Spector recalls how utterly stumped ''Deus Ex'' playtesters were by the game expecting them to co-author their own experience.

Speaking of genre, the stew approach can also be observed in how many core [[Literature/MechanicsDynamicsAesthetics gameplay aesthetics]] (unique combinations of which define most genres)[[note]]Interesting trivia bit: Marc [=LeBlanc=], who came up with the original "8 types of fun", a.k.a. gameplay aesthetics, worked on most of the seminal Looking Glass titles before that[[/note]] the immersive sims target at once:

* '''Fantasy''' is often just as important, especially in the 451 games, which often put the player in the shoes of a powerful agent out to fix the screwed-up game world.

The only aesthetics that are not targeted by immersive sims are Fellowship and Competition, since the genre is traditionally a single-player experience (another reason why marketing-driven publishers avoid it), as well as Submission, which is antithetical to most aesthetics it goes for (particularly Challenge and Expression).

Unfortunately, the commercial failures of ''Mankind Divided'', ''Dishonored 2'', and ''Prey'', followed by the closure/rebranding of Irrational, Eidos' apparent abandonment of ''Deus Ex'', and Arkane finishing the ''Dishonored'' story arc, mean that the second wave is essentially over in 2017, with only [=OtherSide=] still actively working on new entries in the genre, ''VideoGame/UnderworldAscendant'' and ''System Shock 3''.

Unfortunately, the commercial failures of both ''Mankind Divided'', ''Dishonored 2'', and ''Prey'', followed by the closure/rebranding of Irrational, Eidos' apparent abandonment of ''Deus Ex'', and Arkane finishing the ''Dishonored'' story arc, mean that the second wave is essentially over in 2017, with only [=OtherSide=] still actively working on new entries in the genre, ''VideoGame/UnderworldAscendant'' and ''System Shock 3''.

%%||''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}: Shadow of Chernobyl'' ||Creator/GSCGameWorld ||March 20, 2007 ||PC ||

||''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}: Shadow of Chernobyl'' ||Creator/GSCGameWorld ||March 20, 2007 ||PC ||

!!Immersive sim: A stew, not ''haute cuisine''

Unfortunately, the commercial failures of both ''Mankind Divided'' and ''Dishonored 2'', followed by the closure/rebranding of Irrational, Eidos' apparent abandonment of ''Deus Ex'', and Arkane finishing the ''Dishonored'' story arc, mean that the second wave is essentially over in 2017, with only [=OtherSide=] still actively working on new entries in the genre, ''VideoGame/UnderworldAscendant'' and ''System Shock 3''.

The first wave consisted of the "classical immersive sims": ''VideoGame/UltimaUnderworld'', ''VideoGame/SystemShock'', ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'', and ''VideoGame/DeusEx''. The first wave was created primarily by Creator/LookingGlassStudios and Ion Storm Austin, and the closures of these two (in 2000 and 2005) are often cited as the cutoff point of the classical immersive sims (although Ion Storm's late titles ''Invisible War'' and ''Deadly Shadows'' are often contentious). Most of the games in the period had been PC (mainly DOS and Windows) exclusives, which may be why some purists draw the line at the original ''Deus Ex'', after which the genre went MultiPlatform.

Following the closure of Ion Storm, the genre went dormant for several years, although the break of creative continuity played a much bigger role here than the actual time gap (which was, in fact, shorter than the dark ages between ''System Shock'' and ''Thief''). Ignoring the weird 2005 oddball (in every sense of this word) ''VideoGame/{{Pathologic}}'', it was the first wave survivor Irrational who brought the genre back under the spotlight with the original ''VideoGame/BioShock1'', although it wasn't until the other survivor, Arkane, released the original ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'' that people started talking about a genre comeback and the "modern immersive sims".

Unfortunately, the commercial failures of both ''Mankind Divided'' and ''Dishonored 2'', followed by the closure/rebranding of Irrational, Eidos' apparent abandonment of ''Deus Ex'', and Arkane finishing the ''Dishonored'' story arc, mean that the second wave is essentially over in 2017, with only [=OtherSide=] still actively working on new additions to the genre, ''VideoGame/UnderworldAscendant'' and ''System Shock 3''.

Following the closure of Ion Storm, the genre went dormant for several years, although the break of creative continuity played a much bigger role here than the actual time gap (which was, in fact, shorter than the dark ages between ''System Shock'' and ''Thief''). Ignoring the weird 2005 oddball (in every sense of this word) ''VideoGame/{{Pathologic}}'', it was the first wave survivor Irrational who brought the genre back under the spotlight with the original ''VideoGame/BioShock1'', although it wasn't until the other survivor, Arkane, brought out the original ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'' that people started talking about a genre comeback and the "modern immersive sims".

Unfortunately, the commercial failures of both ''Mankind Divided'' and ''Dishonored 2'', followed by the closure/rebranding of Irrational, Eidos' apparent abandonment of ''Deus Ex'', and Arkane finishing the core ''Dishonored'' story arc, mean that the second wave is essentially over in 2017, with only [=OtherSide=] still actively working on original additions to the genre, ''VideoGame/UnderworldAscendant'' and ''System Shock 3''.

Following the closure of Ion Storm, the genre went dormant for several years, although the break of creative continuity played a much bigger role here than the actual time gap (which was, in fact, shorter than the dark ages between ''System Shock'' and ''Thief''). Ignoring the weird 2005 oddball (in every sense of this word) ''VideoGame/{{Pathologic}}'', it was the first wave survivor Irrational who brought the genre back under the spotlight with the original ''VideoGame/BioShock1'', although it wasn't until the other survivor, Arkane, brought out the original ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'' that people started talking about a genre comeback.