Immersive sim

An immersive sim (simulation) is a video game genre with games that are typically played from a first-person perspective, and include a number of different elements borrowing from computer role-playing games, stealth games, and platform games. These elements are combined along with a compelling environmental setting as to give the player a stronger feeling of control within the game (the sense of immersion), and to encourage emergent gameplay, where the player has the ability to complete game objectives through a variety of options. These games generally feature open-ended gameplay, allowing the player to progress in any order, often by pursue side missions alongside various main story missions.^[1][2] Immersive sims are generally compared to the first titles in the game series Thief, System Shock, and Deus Ex, known as the earliest and critically acclaimed titles in the genre.^[3]

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.^[4][5] For example, Gone Home, a non-action narrative first-person exploration game, used the essential elements of the immersive sim philosophy to allow the player to discover the narrative at their own pace by exploring an empty house under their own agency.^[6]

Concept

Warren Spector said that immersive sims create the feeling that "you are there, nothing stands between you and belief that you're in an alternate world".^[7] 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.^[7]

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.^[2] Brown uses the example of being able to fire rope arrows (to climb on) at any 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.^[2] Rick Lane of PC Gamer noted that while earlier games The Elder Scrolls series were not immersive sims, the change from a class-based to a class-less, skill-based system in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006) transitioned the series to an immersive sim.^[1]

History

Warren Spector considered Ultima VI: The False Prophet (1990) the first game to have an the immersive sim mentality as while played from an overview 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.^[8]

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.^[8] It build up on Ultima VI's gameplay and added in the first-person perspective, predating Wolfenstein 3D, the game that launched 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.^[8] 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.^[9] 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).^[2][10] 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.^[2][8]

Around 2006-2008, several games emerged that revitalized interest in the immersive sim, including The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006), BioShock (2007), S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl (2007), The Witcher (2008) and Fallout 3 (2008).^[2][8] Spurred from these successful titles, there have been new titles in the Deus Ex series, including Deus Ex: Human Revolution (2011), as well as a planned System Shock 3 and Underworld Ascendant releases.^[2] New properties, including Dishonored (2012) and Prey (2017) were developed acknowledging the design principles of immersive sims.^[11][12]

Lineage

Warren Spector is one the key figures that defined the immersive sim genre.

A small number of studios and developers have been associated with the immersive sim genre, creating a lineage in its development principally from Looking Glass Studios and its projects. Ultima Underworld was created by Paul Neurath and Doug Church under their studio Blue Sky Productions, which they took to Origin Systems for publication. Warren Spector of Origin, who had worked on Ultima VI, eagerly worked closely with Blue Sky to finalize the game, transitioning Blue Sky into Looking Glass, which created the System Shock and Thief games.^[9] Spector later joined Ion Storm and founded its Austin, Texas, studio, where they developed the Deus Ex series.^[9] Looking Glass Studios eventually closed down, but developers from it launched their own studios; notably, Ken Levine, who had helped with Thief and System Shock 2, left to form Irrational Games, creating the BioShock series.

Separately, Raphaël Colantonio had been part of the quality assurance team supporting Origin Systems for Electronic Arts (EA) that were publishing games like System Shock in Europe. Colantonio left EA and eventually founded Arkane Studios, desiring to make an immersive sim sequel to the Ultima Underworld series. EA denied them the use of the intellectual property, and instead Arkane produced Arx Fatalis. Later, Colantonio brought on Harvey Smith, a quality assurance tester for Origin for System Shock and one of the lead developers under Ion Storm for Deus Ex. They subsequently designed the Dishonored series as well as building the new Prey atop similar immersive sim fundamentals. ^[10] More recently, Neurath founded a new studio OtherSide Entertainment, obtaining the rights for an Underworld sequel from EA, and for the System Shock property through Night Dive Studios whom had acquired the rights from EA. Neurath brought on Spector to help create both sequels.^[13]

In immersive sims that include numeric codes, several of these games use the numerals "451" as part of the first code that the player encounters. The origin comes from both System Shock games which use it as part of the first door codes seen in the game, and itself a reference to Fahrenheit 451. Since then, its reuse in immersive sims is described as a "kind of a signature that developers use to align themselves with Looking Glass", according to former Looking Glass developer Tim Stellmach.^[14] The name "Looking Glass" is also played upon by developers of immersive sims to reflect on the importance of Looking Glass Studios to the genre. OtherSide Entertaiment took its name as a play on "Looking Glass".^[8][15] Prey includes the "Looking Glass" computer system that the player encounters frequently on the station.^[16]

References