Immersive sim
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An immersive sim (simulation) is a video game genre that emphasizes player choice. Its core, defining trait is the use of simulated systems that respond to a variety of player actions which, combined with a comparatively broad array of player abilities, allow the game to support varied and creative solutions to problems, as well as emergent gameplay beyond what has been explicitly designed by the developer.[1] This definition is not to be confused with game systems which allow player choice in a confined sense or systems which allow players to easily escape consequences of their choices.
Immersive sims by definition allow for multiple approaches, and typically incorporate elements of multiple genres, including
The term "immersive sim" may also be used to describe the game design philosophy behind the immersive sim genre, which uses interacting, reactive and consistent game systems to create emergent gameplay and a sense of player agency.[5][6]
Concept
Immersive sims typically task the player to make their way through levels and complete missions, but do not enforce the means by which the player does this. A common example would be where the player-character must get past a guard. The choice of how to do this would be up to the player: they may attempt to sneak around; use parkour or other similar abilities, aided with some equipment, to slip around them; find small passageways that allow them to get around the guard; create a distraction that draws the guard away from their post; convince or bribe the guard to ignore them; or simply attack and kill or disable the guard directly. The choices may be limited by the player-character's abilities and current inventory, and there may be consequences of the player's choice. For example, killing or disabling the guard could leave the guard's body to be found later, raising the alert level of other guards. However, this element of consequence can be seen as a negative to players if taken throughout the game. For example, Dishonored introduced a "chaos" system that adjusted how enemy guards would behave due to how much violence and disturbance a player had done earlier in the game, which discouraged players from trying different tactics to avoid making future encounters harder. This system was removed for Dishonored: Death of the Outsider, as well as the addition of optional quests to encourage alternate approaches to missions.[7]
Warren Spector, part of Looking Glass Studios, said that immersive sims create the feeling that "you are there, nothing stands between you and belief that you're in an alternate world".[8] Many of the key developers of immersive sims compare them to tabletop Dungeons & Dragons games hosted by a good gamemaster, or to live action role-playing games, in that there are a set of rule systems to keep it a game, but the game will react to the players' actions rather than force the player to conform to a specific action.[8] Spector is credited with the term "immersive sim" in a post-mortem he wrote on the development of Deus Ex in 2000,[9][10] although Spector himself attributes it to his Looking Glass colleague Doug Church instead.[8]
Mark Brown of the YouTube series Game Maker's Toolkit identified that a key differentiating feature of immersive sims is that they do not readily use scripted or fixed events. Instead, they use a consistent series of rules and systems throughout the game. These consistent systems then can be exploited by the player to complete objectives in unique and unpredictable ways, with the game reacting to the player's decisions.[1] Brown uses the example of being able to fire rope arrows (to climb on) at any wooden surface in the original Thief: The Dark Project (1998), while the 2014 Thief game limited what locations these could be used, removing the immersive sim elements.[1] Rick Lane of PC Gamer noted that while earlier games in The Elder Scrolls series were not immersive sims, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006) transitioned the series to an immersive sim.[3]
History
Warren Spector considered Ultima VI: The False Prophet (1990) the first game to have an immersive sim mentality as while played from a top-down view, it relied less on events and planned-out puzzles, and instead provided the rulesets and systems through its living world to allow players to craft their own solutions to situations. Spector described one playtesting example from Ultima VI that he considered the genesis of the immersive sim genre, in which a playtester lacked a magical spell needed by his party to pass by a closed gate, and instead used a pet mouse character to sneak through small spaces and access the necessary controls to open the gate, something none of the developers had anticipated.[11]
Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss (1992) is considered the first game to demonstrate the necessary elements of an immersive sim according to Spector and others.[11] It built upon Ultima VI's gameplay and added in the first-person perspective, predating Wolfenstein 3D, the game that first popularized first-person shooters, by a few months. The first-person view helped to cement the impression that the player was part of the game's world that they had full control of, and completing the impression of immersion.[11] Spector recalled that he had thought to himself "Do you not realize that the entire world just changed?" on seeing the initial demo for Ultima Underworld.[12] Other early examples include System Shock (1994) and its sequel System Shock 2 (1999), Thief: The Dark Project (1998) and its sequel Thief II (2000), Deus Ex (2000), and Arx Fatalis (2002).[1][13] However, at the same time, more action-oriented games with strong narrative elements that followed from Wolfenstein 3D, like Doom (1993) and Half-Life (1998), drew larger commercial sales, making it difficult to gain publisher interest.[1][11]
Around 2006–2008, several games emerged that revitalized interest in the immersive sim, including
Performance in the industry
While the immersive sim genre is well-received critically, its performance within the video game industry tends to be poor and sales of immersive sim games have been varying. The original Deus Ex sold more than 500,000 units (at the time, a respectable number) but its immediate sequel, Deus Ex: Invisible War was considered a commercial failure. More recently, while Deus Ex: Human Revolution sold more than 2.1 million copies within a month of its release, its sequel Deus Ex: Mankind Divided had not yet cleared one million in sales a year after its release.[9] Dishonored 2 also did not see a sales uptake similar to the one the original Dishonored had.[25] System Shock 2 only sold about 58,000 units eight months after release, in contrast to System Shock's 170,000 units.[26][27] As a result of poor sales of System Shock 2 and Thief from its multimillion dollar budgets, Looking Glass suffered mounting debts and closed down in May 2000.[27] Irrational Games still wanted to make System Shock 3, but Electronic Arts, which held the publishing rights to the franchise, felt sales of the second were not sufficient to justify a sequel, leading Irrational to make a spiritual successor that shared the same concepts but avoided the intellectual property rights issues in BioShock.[28]
Jody Macgregor of
Arkane's Harvey Smith believed that while the sales trends for immersive sims in the 2010s were disappointing, there will always be a market for them but there will be a need to balance the cost of development to lower sales numbers.[25] Smith attributes the lower sales of more recent games to the general trend of players favoring fast-paced action games with strong multiplayer components - with publishers being wary of games without such elements. Immersive sims by nature tend to be single-player experiences requiring thought-out approaches but Smith believes that the new titles will adapt to these player preferences in the future, particularly from indie developers.[29]
Lineage
A small number of studios and developers have been associated with the immersive sim genre, creating a lineage in its development originating from
Separately,
Many immersive sims that feature numeric passwords use the numeral "451" (or "0451") as part of the first code that the player encounters, such as in
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Biery, Thomas (August 18, 2016). "What makes an Immersive Sim, and why are they staging a comeback?". Polygon. Archived from the original on March 3, 2017. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
- ^ "How Resident Evil 4 Influenced BioShock". Den of Geek. October 29, 2018. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
- ^ a b Lane, Rick (July 7, 2016). "History of the best immersive sims". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on May 22, 2017. Retrieved April 7, 2017.
- Gamasutra. Archivedfrom the original on April 27, 2017. Retrieved April 21, 2017.
- ^ Savage, Phil (February 10, 2017). "Is Prey the BioShock successor we've been waiting for?". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on May 18, 2017. Retrieved April 21, 2017.
- Gamasutra. Archivedfrom the original on May 9, 2017. Retrieved April 21, 2017.
- ^ McKeand, Kirk (November 13, 2018). "Chatting immersive sims, Underworld Ascendant, and communicating options with Warren Spector and Otherside Entertainment". VG247. Retrieved November 14, 2018.
- ^ a b c Fenlon, Wes (March 10, 2017). "The designers of Dishonored, Bioshock 2 and Deus Ex swap stories about making PC's most complex games". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on May 18, 2017. Retrieved April 20, 2017.
- ^ a b c Macgregor, Jody (August 15, 2017). "The uncertain future of games like Deus Ex and Dishonored". PC Gamer. Retrieved August 15, 2017.
- Gamasutra. Retrieved August 15, 2017.
- ^ Glixel. Archived from the originalon July 7, 2017. Retrieved June 2, 2017.
- ^ Glixel. Archived from the originalon May 18, 2017. Retrieved April 20, 2017.
- ^ a b Pitts, Russ (June 27, 2012). "The Mirror Men of Arkane". Polygon. Archived from the original on February 26, 2017. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
- ^ Purslow, Matt (10 May 2018). "Underworld Ascendant's quest to keep immersive sims alive". PCGamesN. Retrieved 2022-11-25.
- Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 2022-11-25.
- ^ Purchese, Robert (29 September 2012). "Why Dishonored ditched its Thief shadow stealth mechanic". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on 17 May 2013. Retrieved 29 September 2012.
- ^ Reeves, Ben (28 December 2016). "Arkane Knowledge: Five Reasons Dishonored Fans Will Love Prey". Game Informer. Archived from the original on 29 December 2016. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
- GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 2022-11-25.
- ^ Horti, Samuel (2019-03-04). "The Occupation review". PC Gamer. Retrieved 2022-11-25.
- ^ Scaife, Steven (2022-03-31). "'Weird West' Review: A Fatal Mix of Immersive Sim and Top-Down Shooter". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 2022-11-25.
- Vice Games. 30 December 2019. Retrieved 2022-11-25.
- ^ Pechalin, Andrei (2021-04-07). "Immersive Sims Are Less Niche Than They Appear". The Escapist. Retrieved 2022-11-25.
- ^ Mahardy, Mike (2023-05-01). "Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom owes its design to one of the most overlooked developers". Polygon. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
- ^ "System Shock Remake proves that immersive sims are brilliant, and everyone that dislikes them is wrong". 4 June 2023.
- ^ a b Brimbaum, Ian (August 29, 2017). "Games like Dishonored 2 aren't going anywhere, says Harvey Smith". PC Gamer. Retrieved August 29, 2017.
- ^ Janicki, Stefan (August 25, 1999). "System Shock 2 Review". GameSpot. Archived from the original on February 26, 2014. Retrieved March 13, 2007.
- ^ a b c Mahardy, Mike (April 6, 2015). "Ahead of its time: The history of Looking Glass". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
- ^ Parkin, Simon (April 17, 2014). "Rapture leaked: The true story behind the making of BioShock". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on April 21, 2014. Retrieved April 22, 2014.
- ^ McKeand, Kirk (August 31, 2017). "Dishonored's Harvey Smith expects an explosion of indie-made immersive sims". PCGamesN. Retrieved September 5, 2017.
- ^ Robertson, Adi (May 8, 2021). "Why Even The Studios Behind Bestselling Games Shut Down". The Verge. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
- ^ Sarkar, Samit (February 17, 2016). "Warren Spector joins OtherSide Entertainment for Underworld Ascendant, System Shock 3". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on February 18, 2016. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
- ^ a b Mahardy, Mike (September 13, 2021). "Deathloop's earliest Easter egg has a 27-year history". Polygon. Retrieved September 13, 2021.
- ^ Bourbeau, Ian (October 26, 2019). "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has a sly reference to Looking Glass Studios". PCGamesN. Retrieved October 26, 2019.
- ^ LeBlanc, Marc. "OG System Shock dev plays remake 1". YouTube. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
- ^ Peckham, Matt (July 1, 2014). "There's a New Underworld Game in Town, but It's Not an Ultima". Time. Time Inc. Archived from the original on January 8, 2016. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
- ^ Robertson, Adi (May 8, 2017). "Prey is a complex, tense, and scattered piece of survival horror". The Verge. Archived from the original on May 8, 2017. Retrieved May 8, 2017.