Immersive Sim

Overview

Immersive sims are primarily concerned with making players feel as though they are truly experiencing a believable world by creating mechanics that feel appropriate and logical within the game world and try to avoid feeling arbitrarily 'Gamey'.

This school of game design was established by Looking Glass Studios with Thief, Underworld, and System Shock. The concept of immersive sims is still alive today in games such as BioShock, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and Dishonored.

Defining elements

It should be noted that not all of these characteristics are necessarily required for games to fall into this category

• Immersion in an elaborate and believable game world.
• Simulation: physics and AI are used to create believable behavior in objects and characters which the player can freely interact with, resulting in 'emergent gameplay'.
• First-person perspective so as to truly look through the eyes of the protagonist.
• Game design that allows for multiple paths and/or multiple solutions in every situation.
• A systemic game world that keeps track of the player's actions, which can affect the "whole" game.
• open-ended/non-linear game design with an emphasis on choice and consequence.
• Full control over the player's character in every situation.
• A world with consistent rules that the player can interact with.
• Narrative that is not always forced on the player, but instead can be told through exploration and gameplay at that players will.
• No fail states, beyond player death.

Rock Paper Shotgun ran a series of interviews on the past and future of the genre and the GAMBIT Game Lab also interviewed several ex-Looking Glass developers on the subject.