Line #74 Main/ImmersiveSim


1	The "immersive sim" is a video game genre[[note]]There's ongoing debate about whether immersive sim constitutes a genre, or if it's closer to a narrative structure or game design philosophy, but for the sake of simplicity, we'll be referring to it as a genre for the rest of this article.[[/note]] that has existed in some form since TheNineties, when it was codified by Creator/LookingGlassStudios and Creator/IonStorm Austin, but has experienced a major comeback in TheNewTens. Games in this genre aim to simulate a large believable lived-in 3D space wherein the [[PlayerCharacter players' avatar]] exists as an active physical entity, [[NonEntityGeneral unlike]] in many other SimulationGame subgenres, -- hence the "immersive" part. To this end, the developers combine clever {{game system}}s with {{a\|rtificialBrilliance}}dvanced VideoGameAI and afford the players maximum expression, while also refusing to hold their hand. Immersive sims commonly have following traits (although this list is neither normative, nor exhaustive):
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3	* '''High levels of player intentionality and agency'''. Players are thrown into the virtual space and given goals to achieve and tools to use, but no predetermined paths to follow. Instead, they are expected to explore the environment, to assess their tools and resources, to make plans, and to adapt them on the fly in order to reach their objectives, relying on creativity and improvisation rather than on guessing the "correct" solution. To avoid overwhelming new players, the designers may offer some entry points and starting suggestions, but these are never rigid paths to be followed for the rest of the game/level.
4	* '''High systemicity'''. The game is governed by global rules, properties, and mechanics (such as the MediaNotes/PhysicsEngine and NPCScheduling) that work consistently throughout, with minimal use of systemic exceptions like {{Scripted Event}}s, [[VideogameSetpiece one-off animations]], and {{cutscene}} setpieces. Immersive sims also tend to recycle previously introduced elements and obstacles in new and different contexts.
5	* '''Emergence'''. Interactions between various game subsystems facilitate [[EmergentGameplay emergent combinations]] thereof that the developers did not explicitly code into the game. Combined with high player agency, this also enables the UnexpectedlyRealisticGameplay characteristic of the genre.
6	* '''Consistency'''. As noted above, special cases and one-offs are generally few and far-between: e.g. there are no {{Invisible Wall}}s and no StoryDrivenInvulnerability -- but even if an important NPC bites the dust, there is no GameOver, either, and the simulation [[AnyoneCanDie just carries on]]. In fact, player character's death is often the only explicit failure state.
7	* '''High reactivity'''. The game world [[ChoiceAndConsequenceSystem reacts to the player's actions]] and observably evolves over time. StoryBranching often occurs not via explicit (dialogue) choices, but [[PromptlessBranchingPoint through gameplay actions]], including ones that [[DevelopersForesight may appear]] like ScriptBreaking at first. To enhance reactivity, developers of immersive sims also tend to prioritize [[ArtificialBrilliance sophisticated AI]] (or at least, [[VideoGameAI AI]] that [[FeigningIntelligence appears sophisticated]] enough to be credible at its role).
8	* '''High physicality'''. The player character's body is a tangible object that exists in the game's universe, and is governed by said universe's laws. Magic, if it exists, will have a "tactile" feel[[note]]potions to slow your fall, greatly enhanced speed, and offensive powers designed to [[WreakingHavok flex the physics engine]][[/note]]. CriticalExistenceFailure is often averted, and the game may even account for how an injury was sustained and to what body part. The game may feature inventory management, and the player may be vulnerable to attack while accessing the inventory. More modern immersive sims are all but guaranteed to have a physics engine, which may be integrated into gameplay. Presentation-wise, this means that FirstPersonGhost is often averted and a DiegeticInterface may be used.
9	* '''Non-linearity'''. Both in terms of StoryBranching and level design. An immersive sim needn't be open world -- most aren't -- nor need it allow players to freely revisit old levels, but each level will feature many side paths, loads of alternate routes, secret areas (often with hidden StoryBreadcrumbs), and small touches that create the impression of a real, lived-in place that does not exist solely for the player. To this end, immersive sims very often ''break'' TheLawOfConservationOfDetail.
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11	Because the genre had historically evolved under the expectation that {{Virtual Reality\|Index}} technology was just around the corner, games in it often feature UnbrokenFirstPersonPerspective and {{Diegetic Interface}}s to improve their PlayerAndProtagonistIntegration, although this is not a requirement. {{Exposition}} and WorldBuilding tend to be handled through environmental storytelling, with StoryBreadcrumbs scattered throughout the game world to encourage exploration thereof, and BackTracking is a common activity -- in this, the genre is similar to EnvironmentalNarrativeGames[[note]]which, unlike immersive sims, tend to deemphasize traditional gameplay challenges[[/note]]. Many games in it also contain nods to the number [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAtAyycx-uY 0451]][[note]]often as the first password the player uses[[/note]], in reference both to the original ''VideoGame/SystemShock''[[note]]whose first password was "451" in a nod to the keycode of the Looking Glass offices during its development[[/note]] and to ''Literature/Fahrenheit451''. Indeed, "451 game" is another common name for the genre and with the genre's traits now common in other game genres, some have considered a 0451 appearance being required to qualify a game as an immersive sim.
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13	The term "immersive simulation" was [[http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131523/postmortem_ion_storms_deus_ex.php coined]] in 2000 by Creator/WarrenSpector, the grandfather of the genre who had worked at both Looking Glass and Ion Storm. Spector, however, instead [[http://www.pcgamer.com/the-designers-of-dishonored-bioshock-2-and-deus-ex-swap-stories-about-making-pcs-most-complex-games/3/ attributes it]] to Doug Church, also of Looking Glass Studios. Church and the Looking Glass co-founder Paul Neurath are usually named as the genre's "fathers", as it was them who laid its basic design foundations.
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15	Because the term was obscure for many years[[note]]and because, again, "immersive sim" is arguably a philosophy rather than a genre[[/note]], most games in this genre have traditionally been classified as [[FirstPersonShooter first-person shooters]] on the higher end of the FacklerScaleOfFPSRealism, [[StealthBasedGame stealth games]], SurvivalHorror, or {{Western RPG}}s instead. That said, many games in the WideOpenSandbox and stealth genres tend to incorporate elements of the immersive sim genre without going all the way into the EmergentGameplay territory. Examples of these include Creator/{{Bethesda}}'s [[NPCScheduling Radiant AI]]-based [=RPGs=] (''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' from ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'' onward, ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' et seq.) and the ''[[VideoGame/WorldOfAssassinationTrilogy Hitman - World of Assassination]]'' games. The SurvivalSandbox shares the immersive sim's focus on emergent gameplay, but tend to be less focused on telling a coherent story.
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17	For more details on the genre, see Mark Brown's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbyTOAlhRHk video]] and Website/TheOtherWiki's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immersive_sim article]] on the topic.
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19	!!The universally-acknowledged "Immersive Sim Canon"
20	The "Immersive Sim Canon" is a loose agglomeration of genre-defining titles and series created by Creator/LookingGlassStudios and its direct descendants: Creator/IrrationalGames, Creator/IonStorm Austin, Creator/ArkaneStudios (via Ion Storm), and [=OtherSide=] Entertainment. This is not to imply that these games are "better" than additional titles listed further below -- just that when developers and critics discuss immersive sims, they tend to use one or some of these as reference points for describing the genre:
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22	[[index]]
23	* ''VideoGame/ArxFatalis'' (2002, Creator/{{Arkane\|Studios}}), intended as a SpiritualSuccessor to ''Ultima Underworld'', is likewise set in a giant underground cavern populated by a simulated FantasyKitchenSink of various creatures. The player character's task is to find a way to prevent the arrival of a GodOfEvil by manipulating the game systems to obtain a weapon strong enough to banish him. Notably, there is no dialogue system, and the player instead makes StoryBranching choices, including different quest resolutions, [[PromptlessBranchingPoint exclusively through in-game actions]].
24	* ''VideoGame/BioShock1'' (2007, Creator/{{Irrational\|Games}}) sees the player trapped in an UnderwaterCity of Rapture, once utopian, but now fallen to anarchy and civil war. It features the iconic splicers, Big Daddies. and Little Sisters. However, unlike earlier immersive sims, its explorable areas are highly linear, there are less ways to interact with the world, and the game is heavily scripted, sparking some debate over whether or not it should be classified as a first-person shooter instead. Furthermore, the game's big twist can be seen as a [[DeconstructionGame deconstruction of the genre]], explicitly denying players any form of agency on what is arguably the most important decision in the game, and revealing that they only had as much as the BigBad -- and, by extension, the developers -- allowed them.
25	** ''VideoGame/BioShock2'' (2010, 2K Marin) returns to Rapture, although a decade into the future and even more decrepit. Much like its predecessor, its status as an immersive sim is somewhat questionable.
26	** [[/index]]''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'', on the other hand, is usually ''not'' considered part of the genre, due to its levels being even more linear and an even heavier emphasis on FirstPersonShooter combat mechanics than the previous games.[[index]] Its two-part DLC ''BioShockInfinite/BurialAtSea'', however, was a deliberate return both to Rapture and to the immersive sim mechanics of the previous two games (part two even includes a challenge "1998 Mode" as a throwback to the original ''Thief'').
27	* ''VideoGame/{{Deathloop}}'' (2021, Arkane) is set on the IslandBase of 8 super-villains and their {{Mook}} armies, going through a simulated cycle of an endlessly repeating 24-hour day. You are then free to use a variety of intel gathering, sneaking, weapons and superpowers to reach and then take out the 8 rulers of the island in any order you can manage, with the various antagonists reacting to your actions in a variety of ways.
28	* ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' (2000, Creator/IonStorm Austin) is considered one of the two great {{Trope Codifier}}s of the genre (alongside ''System Shock''), and the game Warren Spector is most proud of. Set in a {{Cyberpunk}}, ConspiracyKitchenSink future, the game follows the ''Thief'' model of distinct missions and simulated level hubs, but allows the player character JC Denton to navigate them in any way and sequence imaginable. It was also one of the earliest games to make action-based and stealth-based walkthroughs equally viable, gameplay-wise.
29	** ''VideoGame/DeusExInvisibleWar'' (2003, Ion Storm Austin) improved upon the reactivity of the story and game world, but its levels were much smaller and simpler than those of its predecessor, as a result of designing the game around the technical limitations of consoles. Another point of contention was the streamlining and simplification of many of the RPG elements of the previous game. Both contributed to the game's poor reception.
30	** ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'' (2011, Eidos Montreal) had streamlined the first game's formula, albeit still allowing for emergent gameplay (such as hacking an automatic turret and hauling it to the next boss arena). It also features several ''Deadly Shadows''-like hub levels from which the main story missions can be accessed.
31	** ''VideoGame/DeusExMankindDivided'' (2016, Eidos Montreal) improved upon the ''Human Revolution''[='=]s immersive mechanics, particularly in its central hub level of the futuristic Prague, as well as added more options to tackle in-game challenges and affect different outcomes.
32	* The ''Franchise/{{Dishonored}}'' series by Creator/ArkaneStudios was one of the games that revived this genre for TheNewTens, becoming a GatewaySeries for players unfamiliar with it, as well as updating it to accommodate faster-paced playstyles. Unlike ''Thief'', the PlayerCharacter may use both stealth, and open violence, or any combination thereof to assassinate (or to otherwise put out of commission) his marks, he can also use magical and technological tools to achieve his goals.
33	** ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'' (2012, Arkane) is set in the [[ThePlague plague-stricken]] city of Dunwall and with each level simulating the behavior of city guards, civilians, zombie-like weepers, and wildlife (e.g. rats). The ''Knife of Dunwall'' and ''Brigmore Witches'' DLC duology starring the assassin Daud follows the same model, at one point even simulating an all-out MobWar between two Dunwall gangs.
34	** ''VideoGame/Dishonored2'' (2016, Arkane) follows in the previous game's footsteps, albeit moving the bulk of the action to a different city, Karnaca.
35	** ''VideoGame/DishonoredDeathOfTheOutsider'' (2017, Arkane) is still set in Karnaca, but lets you play as Daud's apprentice Billie Lurk instead.
36	* ''[[VideoGame/Prey2017 Prey]]'' (2017, Arkane) strongly resembles ''System Shock'' in that it is set on an abandoned Talos I space station overrun by the alien Typhon. The station is one continuous interconnected zone, inhabited by a variety of Typhon creatures and a handful of human survivors, including the player character Morgan Yu. Like ''VideoGame/ArxFatalis'' before it, [[PromptlessBranchingPoint the player's in-game actions are entirely what determines the plot's branch-points]]. The ''Mooncrash'' DLC further experiments with the boundaries of the immersive sim genre by adding elements of {{Roguelike}} into the mix, like randomly generated settings, enemy placement, and objectives.
37	* ''VideoGame/SystemShock'' (1994, Creator/{{Looking Glass\|Studios}}) is often listed as one of the two great {{Trope Codifier}}s of the genre (alongside ''Deus Ex''), being Looking Glass' first original project. Its setting, the Citadel space station, is a single multi-layer zone controlled by the malevolent AI with a god complex and populated by robots, cyborgs, and mutants it controls. Among other things, ''System Shock'' introduced to the genre and popularized the AfterTheEnd settings (often involving [[ThePlague epidemics]] and/or societal collapse, thus [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration justifying]] even the [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential most extreme]] styles of play) with few speaking [=NPCs=], and {{Apocalyptic Log}}s as the main storytelling medium.
38	** ''VideoGame/SystemShock2'' (1999, Irrational) is set some time after the first game on two docked spaceships, the ''Von Braun'' and the ''Rickenbacker'', after both have been overrun by a mutagenic alien hive mind known as "the Many".
39	** [[/index]]''System Shock'' (2023, Creator/NightdiveStudios) is a [[VideoGameRemake remake]] of the original 1994 game. Remaking the game room-by-room, making it a very faithful recreation of the original game, but at the same time with better graphics and modern video game design principles.
40	** ''System Shock 3'' (TBA, [[Creator/TencentGames Tencent]]) is currently in development, initially under Warren Spector's [=OtherSide=] Entertainment, with him and Doug Church helming production; however, the rights to the game were sold on to Tencent in 2020, who have kept mum about it ever since. For his part, Spector has claimed that his involvement with the game ended with the sale, and that anything else is "up to [Tencent] to say what they want to say". [[index]]
41	* The ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'' series (1998-present) is universally considered one of the genre-codifying titles[[note]]For the first three installments, at least[[/note]]. This is due to its highly systems-based stealth gameplay, its organic problem-solving elements, and its sprawling, open-ended levels. However, all titles in the series deviate from traditional immersive sim conventions by restricting the player's ability to use violence with automatic {{Game Over}}s based on difficulty level[[note]]In the first two games, the "Hard" difficulty proscribed killing civilians while "Expert" mode forbade the player from killing any human beings at all. ''Deadly Shadows'' toned it down by forbidding killing only innocents, in "Expert" mode, during story missions -- no restrictions whatsoever applied while traversing the hub world. But the reboot brought the restrictions back, with its hardest mode permitting the killing of guards ... but forbidding the player from even ''blackjacking'' civilians, a mainstay of the prior installments.[[/note]]. In traditional immersive sim design, a game should end with the player character's death, or with a NonStandardGameOver that is very tightly woven into the narrative. While an immersive sim certainly could force nonviolent play, this would traditionally be done by just not giving the player any weapons (or by making combat prohibitively difficult), whereas Garrett always carries a sword/dagger and arrows, whose usage the rules inorganically restrict.[[note]]And while Garrett can't reliably beat even one sentry sword-to-sword on any difficulty level, he's no slouch when it comes to archery or ambushes.[[/note]]
42	** ''VideoGame/ThiefTheDarkProject'' (1998, Looking Glass) is remembered primarily as one of the early success stories of the StealthBasedGame, because of its heavy emphasis on avoiding detection,[[note]]which is why some view the series, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx7BWayWu08&t=7m36s justifiably or not]], as a failed evolutionary branch of the immersive sims,[[/note]] but the sneaking itself was very much based in emergent problem-solving within a largely-unscripted game world (one particular innovation was the intricate simulation of light, shadows, and noise). It was also the first entry in the genre to ditch the "single interconnected world" model in favor of smaller sequential levels, each representing a location within a much larger (nameless) City.
43	** ''VideoGame/ThiefIITheMetalAge'' (2000, Looking Glass) scaled down the fantasy elements of the first game, such as non-human monsters and maze-like dungeons, in favor of making the City behave more like a realistic urban environment. It also expanded the protagonist Garret's toolset with new technological tools.
44	** ''VideoGame/ThiefDeadlyShadows'' (2004, Ion Storm Austin) introduced a hub world consisting of several districts of the City, from which the plot missions' locations are accessed, and which contains some surprisingly involved sidequests of its own. The AI was also ramped up, with alerted guards becoming downright relentless hunting you. It also closed the last immersion-breaking gap of the previous games, transforming their inter-mission shopping screens into an [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration in-universe interactions]]. Paradoxically, the hub-map was seen in some ways as a step ''away'' from immersion: the hardware limitations of the time, plus the game's cross-development for PC and consoles, forced the developers to break up the hub world and all levels with loading zones.[[note]]Modders have since then removed the loading zones from the dedicated "level" maps, but the hub itself remains broken up into separate loading areas.[[/note]][[/index]]
45	** The [[VideoGame/Thief2014 2014 reboot]] by Eidos Montreal, however, is generally not considered part of the genre anymore, for much the same reasons as ''[=BioShock=] Infinite'': more linear level traversal with fewer opportunities for exploration; reliance on scripted events; reactive, rather than proactive AI; and a smaller, yet more specialized toolset for overcoming challenges. One change that is often cited to illustrate the difference between simulated and scripted worlds is that the [[TrickArrow rope arrows]] in the new ''Thief'' can only be attached to specific hotspots placed by the level designers, rather than to ''any'' wooden surface (including freely moveable wooden crates), like in the older games.[[index]]
46	* ''VideoGame/UltimaUnderworld: The Stygian Abyss'' (1992, Looking Glass) is usually named as the TropeMaker of the genre. A SpinOff of the ''VideoGame/{{Ultima}}'' series, it put the recurring dungeon of the Stygian Abyss into the focus, simulating its massive and complex multi-level ecosystem in real time. The [[PlayerCharacter Avatar]] found himself thrown into the Abyss with an overarching task to free a kidnapped damsel from a powerful demon, but no obvious path towards it, requiring the players to try out different strategies and to improvise. [[http://www.pcgamer.com/the-designers-of-dishonored-bioshock-2-and-deus-ex-swap-stories-about-making-pcs-most-complex-games/2/ Warren Spector's inspiration]] for this emergent approach to in-game problem solving came both from ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' and from watching a playtester solve an UnintentionallyUnwinnable puzzle in ''VideoGame/UltimaVI'' by exploiting the fact that his animal companion Sherry the Mouse could squeeze under a locked door and open it from the other side. Lessons learned from ''UU'' influenced both ''Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds'' (1993, Looking Glass) and the now-legendary ''VideoGame/UltimaVII'' to a considerable degree.
47	* ''VideoGame/UnderworldAscendant'' (2018, [=OtherSide=]) is a Website/{{Kickstart\|er}}ed SpiritualSuccessor to ''Ultima Underworld'' (would be a sequel if not for trademark issues) developed by many of the same people, led by Paul Neurath himself. It simulates the Stygian Abyss as a massive underground ecosystem and society, and the developers have created what they call the "Improvisation Engine" to make sure players always have several ways to reach their goals. Unfortunately, the game was released in a very unfinished, unpolished and buggy state.
48	[[/index]]
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50	!!Other games featured on some Immersive Sim lists but not on others:
51	* ''VideoGame/AlienIsolation'' (2014, Creator/CreativeAssembly), while lower in player agency than most immersive sims[[note]]the player cannot even ''jump''[[/note]], is often listed as one, mostly owing to its extremely sophisticated and systemic AI.
52	* ''VideoGame/{{Consortium}}'' (2014, Interdimensional Games) was made as a SpiritualSuccessor to old-school immersive sims, especially to DeusEx. It emphasizes player choice ''immensely'', in terms of both gameplay and story-branching. Indeed, one possible ending is for the player to complete the game without having solved the central mystery. Is setting -- the CoolPlane that serves as the mobile HQ for the intelligence agency the player character serves -- also evokes the closed-off space station of ''VideoGame/SystemShock'' (sans the SurvivalHorror elements). This setting inevitably means that ''Consortium'' has probably the narrowest scope of any of the "canonical" immersive sims[[note]]although the plane is still quite large and interconnected[[/note]], but the game's nonlinearity and ''narrative'' openness goes some way to counterbalancing this.
53	** As of 2020, a Sequel titled ''Consortium: The Tower'' is in the alpha stages of early access on Steam. It promises to keep its predecessor's narrative openness, while offering a larger setting and even more freedom.
54	* ''VideoGame/CrueltySquad'' (2021, Consumer Softproducts) features many common traits of the genre, such as open-ended levels and high-intentionality customization of the player character. Set in a disgusting BioPunk world, the main character can be seen as a deconstruction of typical Immersive Sim protagonists: a depressed corporate assassin who augments himself with horrifying biological implants and kill people just to feel something. Although players have lots of decisionmaking around how they want to complete the open-ended objectives, ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption; to choose stealth, mobility, or a guns-blazing approach does not wholly excise the [[RocketTagGameplay rocket-tag combat]], fighting only becomes easier or less necessary. That fact, combined with [[AdvancedMovementTechnique an unrealistic player movement system]] and [[SensoryAbuse a violent art direction]], it could be argued that this game isn't "immersive", but more of a {{Retraux}} FirstPersonShooter with open-ended levels and player customization.
55	* ''VideoGame/{{Crysis}}'' (2007, Creator/{{Crytek}}) and its 2009 stand-alone expansion ''Crysis: Warhead'' have much more in common with the FirstPersonShooter[[note]]and their sequels are considered sophisticated FirstPersonShooter games at most[[/note]] than with immersive sims. However, the sprawling levels of Crysis's first half and of almost all of Warhead, the flexible Nanosuit powers, the absence of artificial failstates (besides a late-game EscortMission), and the first game's nearly UnbrokenFirstPersonPerspective[[note]]Abandoned for traditional cutscenes in ''Warhead''[[/note]] reflect the immersive sim's ethos. Incidentally, the Nanosuit gives its wearer powers reminiscent of JC Denton's augmentations.
56	* ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' (2020, Creator/CDProjektRed) features some elements of an ImmersiveSim, such as UnbrokenFirstPersonPerspective, open-ended level design, lots of interactivity with the environment, diverse skills, and the ability to complete missions through non-linear means. It is, however, primarily an ActionRPG with explicit setpieces and limited story branching.
57	* ''VideoGame/DarkMessiah'' (2006, Creator/ArkaneStudios) was made as a spiritual successor to ''VideoGame/ArxFatalis'' and has many of Arkane's signature touches: reactive environments which encourage the player to be a CombatPragmatist, branching skill trees, and gleeful use of the Source physics engine. It was by far Arkane's most action-focused game until 2019's ''VideoGame/WolfensteinYoungblood'', which puts it in a ''VideoGame/BioShock1''-esque limbo of being either a very reactive action game with RPG elements, or a mechanically minimalist immersive sim.
58	* ''VideoGame/DeadSpace'' (2008, Creator/ElectronicArts) is sometimes included on lists of immersive sims for its atmospherics, its level design, its memorably involved combat mechanics, and its unusual synthesis of a DiegeticInterface with a third-person perspective. This classification is controversial, however -- probably the most controversial on this list -- and none of its sequels are considered immersive sims by anyone.
59	* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' (1994-present, Creator/BethesdaSoftworks) have been occasionally described as an immersive sim since ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', but it was ramped up in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]''. The games feature ''very'' open-ended gameplay, allowing you to explore freely, complete quests in any order, and even ignore the main storyline. ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'' also introduces Radiant AI, allowing you to manipulate enemies to your whim with magic or stealth, and even make them fight each other. The game is also heavy on systems, even allowing you to interact with mundane objects like spoons and plates. The early games were heavily inspired by the ''Ultima Underworld'' games. However, most dungeons are still fairly linear and there are few examples of SequenceBreaking, as the games are primarily WideOpenSandbox [[ActionRPG Action RPGs.]]
60	** ''{{VideoGame/Fallout}}'' (2008-present, Creator/BethesdaSoftworks) series under Bethesda (''VideoGame/Fallout3'' (2008), ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' (2015) and especially ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' (2010, Creator/ObsidianEntertainment)) for the very same reasons of the Elder Scrolls series, as both share similar engines and design conventions. The first two games in the series (''VideoGame/Fallout1'' (1997, Creator/InterplayEntertainment) and ''VideoGame/Fallout2'' (1998, Creator/BlackIsleStudios)) are isometric [=CRPGs=] but contain a very systematic, responsive and immersive worlds, which would influence later games in the series.
61	* ''VideoGame/EYEDivineCybermancy'' (2011, Streum On Studio) is a FPS/RPG with considerable influence from the genre, such as a wide variety of VideoGame/DeusEx style cybernetic upgrades, emergent gameplay (Most things in the world can be hacked, and trigger a turn-based RPG minigame, including enemies that you can turn on their teammates.) and multiple ways through most encounters. Unique for featuring a multiplayer component, which some may consider to exclude it from being an Immersive Sim.
62	* ''VideoGame/FarCry2'' (2008, Creator/{{Ubisoft}}) has, as of 2020, earned the "Immersive Sim" tag on the Steam Store. It embraces immersive sim conventions like UnbrokenFirstPersonPerspective, a DiegeticInterface-style in-game map, and an atmospheric, highly reactive environment[[note]]You wanna clear out a machine gun emplacement with a flamethrower? In an African savanna? During dry season? You'd better be ready to run like hell[[/note]]. Even its polarizing experimental mechanics -- the malaria system, the total lack of a targeting reticle, the weapon degradation -- evoke the immersive sim philosophy. Unfortunately, while its world is reactive, it lacks ''persistency''[[note]]Most egregious is its habit of respawning enemies at locations that your character had "cleared out" minutes prior[[/note]], and it loses more points for the unscaleable rock formations cluttering its map, that can make the sandbox feel paradoxically linear.
63	* ''VideoGame/{{Firewatch}}'' (2016, Campo Santo) is an AdventureGame that borrows a lot of elements of the genre to immerse the player in its world, from an UnbrokenFirstPersonPerspective and DiegeticInterface elements like the map and the compass, to real-time conversations and StoryBreadcrumbs scattered all over the place and not walled-off by any [[InvisibleWall artificial (non-diegetic) barriers]].
64	* ''VideoGame/{{Gloomwood}}'' (TBD, New Blood Interactive) is an upcoming SurvivalHorror StealthBasedGame that wears its ''Thief'' influences on its sleeve, alongside other immersive sim titles. A promising public demo was released in 2020, with an early access launch following in 2022.
65	* The ''[[VideoGame/WorldOfAssassinationTrilogy Hitman - World of Assassination]]'' games (2016, 2018, 2021 - Creator/IOInteractive) transplant the series' core stealth assassination gameplay into a highly systemic setting, governed by global rules and combinable mechanics set in vast, nonlinear maps, very much like in many of the best immersive sims. The maps are also perhaps the closest adaptation of Warren Specter’s early concept of the immersive sim as a highly detailed single block of a city where every person goes about realistic lives off of advanced programming. What changes there are ''add'' to immersion: hiding in a crowd now conceals 47 from guards who'd otherwise recognize him. It breaks from genre conventions by being third-person, however, and it relies on scripting[[note]]although sometimes very intricate, naturalistic-seeming scripting[[/note]] to maintain the series's tradition of [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident "signature" kills]]
66	** 2006's ''VideoGame/HitmanBloodMoney'', due to the time's technological limitations, wasn't as expansive as the games are now. However, the levels are quite open, 47 always has multiple ways to complete objectives, and it even tried to create a cause-and-effect relationship between levels with its "Infamy" system[[note]]Make a mess or leave too many witnesses during a hit, and the guards at the next level will be more suspicious of you[[/note]].
67	* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' (2017, Creator/{{Nintendo}}) expands the traditional ''Zelda'' exploration with strongly systemic gameplay that facilitates extensive player agency and emergence. However, while taking obvious cues from immersive sims (like a post-disaster setting), ''[=BotW=]'' still maintains numerous gameful elements that preclude full immersion.
68	* ''[[VideoGame/NeonStruct Neon Struct: Die Augen der Welt]]'' (2015, Minor Key Games) can be described as a minimalist, miniature, synthwave-styled tribute to ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' with a much greater emphasis on stealth, and a shadow-based system reminiscent of ''Thief's''[[note]]The HUD has a Light Gem-like indicator of how visible you are.[[/note]].
69	* ''VideoGame/NeverlootedDungeon'' (TBD, Wild Mage Games) is an upcoming Dungeon Crawler Immersive Sim with an emphasis on treacherous deadly traps, with a strong immersive sim design philosophy. The public demo released during the Steam Game Festival Autumn 2020 showed great promises of open-ended problem solving and physics-based interactivity.
70	* ''VideoGame/TheOccupation'' (2019, White Paper Games) brings the immersive sim to a slightly dystopian 1980s London, putting you in the shoes of an investigative journalist/whistleblower nosing around a governmental office building. Besides the usual dynamic AI, heavy exploration, and organic approaches to obstacles, ''The Occupation'' adds an unusual element: a hard, real-world four-hour time limit. If you start a game, get distracted, and forget to pause it, then the story ends with your character having dawdled smoking cigarettes on the balcony.
71	* ''VideoGame/{{Pathologic}}'' (2005, Creator/IcePickLodge) is set in an unnamed steppe town ravaged by a mysterious epidemic, and the player steers one of three variously eccentric characters in an attempt to find a cure. Notably, the game runs in actual RealTime and always ends after 12 [[InUniverseGameClock in-universe days]], and it is entirely possible to miss the vast majority of the story events unless you know exactly when and where the next one will occur.
72	** ''VideoGame/Pathologic2'' (2019) is a SoftReboot of the first game, and brings back the immersive design philosophies of its predecessor in a more polished package.
73	* ''VisualNovel/ThePortopiaSerialMurderCase'' (1983, Chunsoft) was the first game to have most of the key immersive sim elements [[OlderThanTheyThink seven years before the founding of Looking Glass]], making it arguably an UrExample. It was a first-person adventure game with an open world, character AI, choices and consequences, non-linear game design, open-ended narrative told through notes and diaries, interactive environments, emergent gameplay, allowed multiple ways to achieve objectives, and lacked fail states.
74	* ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2'' (2018, [[Creator/TakeTwoInteractive Rockstar Games]]) is filled with high levels of environmental detail and interaction, alongside many other hallmarks of this genre including realistic NPC behavior and consistent rules governing the player's many ways to engage with the world (don't bathe, and the characters will comment on it for just one example). However, it loses points in term of being part of this genre due to its extremely linear and strict mission design that forbids the player from looking for alternate routes.
75	* ''VideoGame/SpaceStation13'' (2003, [=Exadv1=]) has got nearly every characteristic that defines the genre aside from being a 3D single-player game. You could even say it's ''more'' systemic than everything on this list, having systems that simulate metabolisms, atmospherics, chemistry, energy production, and so much more, built up through the game's unusual development history and its disregard for graphical prowess. However, the game is played in a 2D Isometric perspective, and it's a multiplayer sandbox roleplay game without any set objective (beyond the vaguely defined "do your job"), this is actually what makes all the game shine, as the multiple systems all react to the many inputs by the players transforming the station into a beautiful symphony of chaos.
76	* The ''VideoGame/SplinterCell'' series (2002-2013, Creator/{{Ubisoft}}) as a whole does ''not'' belong to the immersive sim family, but its third installment, ''Chaos Theory'' (2005), comes very close. It kept the first two games' uncompromising demands that the player use stealth, but gave Sam Fisher far more tools and weapons[[note]]Plus the option to choose between several loadouts pre-mission[[/note]]. It also introduced nonlinear level design[[note]]the bank heist in Panama City being a particularly good example[[/note]], and gave players multiple ways to complete objectives[[note]]The manner in which previous objectives were completed sometimes affects whether or not subsequent ones will be given[[/note]]. It also nearly abandoned artificial fail-states: while in earlier games raising too many alarms often meant an automatic GameOver, the player may now screw up and still finish levels[[note]]Killed a merchant ship's captain without interrogating him about a target passenger's location? Well, the target is ''somewhere'' onboard; you'll just have to hunt him down yourself. Wrought havoc during the bank heist? You can still get out, provided you can handle the Panamanian Army's reinforcements[[/note]]. With these changes came much-improved AI: as the alarm level rises, panicking guards will begin donning armor, fixing lights onto their flak vests, tossing flares, and firing wildly into shadows. Sam's superiors berate him should he get needlessly violent, but only a few, plot-justified times will killing fail you a mission.
77	* The ''VideoGame/{{STALKER}}'' series (2007-ongoing, Creator/GSCGameWorld) are WideOpenSandbox {{First Person Shooter}}s set in the vast Zone of Exclusion surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which, in this timeline, had spawned a large number of bizarre anomalies and mutants. The player character is a "stalker" (a professional Zone trespasser) and must navigate the simulated environment and ecosystem of the Zone to survive. The series is occasionally cited as immersive sims, or influenced by them, thanks to their systemicity, player agency, and in particular "A-Life", an advanced (for its time) AI system that governed the actions and routines of both mutants and NPC stalkers across the entire game world, similar to Spector's vision for [=NPCs=].
78	* ''VideoGame/{{Subnautica}}'' (2018, Unknown Worlds Entertainment) is more often considered a SurvivalSandbox, but it can just as easily be called an immersive sim. Setpieces are few and far between and ''never'' interrupt gameplay, object permanence is a core mechanic, and while the diving system is jam-packed with AcceptableBreaksFromReality[[note]]the player character can survive depths that would kill a real human (and will indeed destroy an un-upgraded submersible's hull), the planet's two immense moons exert no tidal forces, underwater visibility is much greater than it would be in real life, and the bends, bane of real-wold divers, do not exist[[/note]] but these decisions contribute to an immersive gameworld. It also is a rare SurvivalSandbox ''not'' to have been procedurally generated; rather, the developers created numerous intricately designed underwater biomes, each of which organically encourages the player to adopt different strategies.
79	* ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'' (2004, Creator/TroikaGames) is a WesternRPG that, despite its numerous explicit ludic abstractions (it was based on a TabletopRPG [[TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade system]], after all), manages to create a powerful sense of real space with its Gothic, vampire-run UsefulNotes/LosAngeles, with huge levels and far-reaching choices. One level in particular, the Ocean House, is often [[https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/313302/7_influential_immersive_sims_that_all_devs_should_play.php cited]] as a hallmark of immersive space design. It is not universally accepted as a true immersive sim, though, because of the player character's relatively limited ability to interact with the world's physical elements despite having the famous Source Engine at its disposal and its often-clunky handling which can make the gameplay feel like it's governed more by dice rolls than by the player's input.
80	* ''VideoGame/WeHappyFew'' (2018, Compulsion Games) had set out to be an immersive sim in the vein of ''VideoGame/BioShock1'', albeit with a greater focus on survival and procedurally generated elements.
81	* ''VideoGame/WeirdWest'' (2022, [=WolfEye=] Studios), created by former Arkane employees is a top-down action RPG, with systems and a interactive and reactive world. Some don't consider it an Immersive Sim due its IsometricProjection.

Context Main / ImmersiveSim