Irrational Games

System Shock 3 → BioShock

>"The year after System Shock 2's release, [Ken] Levine sent a two-page pitch for a sequel to publisher Electronic Arts. The document was bare bones, describing how the previous game's cliff-hanger would be resolved. EA rejected the idea, most likely because, while System Shock 2 was a critical success, it was also a commercial failure."

>"While Irrational continued to work on other projects - Deep Cover, a cancelled game made in conjunction with Looking Glass, Freedom Force and The Lost, a game that was completed but never released due to legal complications - Levine wanted to return to System Shock's freeform, immersive style of narrative."

>"The first demo for what would become BioShock was created in 2002 for Microsoft's first Xbox using Unreal Engine 2. Set within a utopian project turned to dystopian ruin, the underwater city of BioShock's Rapture has become one of video gaming's most enduring locales. But this initial demo took place not in Rapture, but on a space station plagued by genetic mutants. Enemy designs were pulled directly from B-movie science-fiction with working names like 'eel man' and 'jelly man'."

Source: Eurogamer.net

EA Redwood Shores

System Shock 3 → Dead Space

>"Originally, we were pushing around this idea of maybe we could make System Shock 3. And you can look at the Dead Space blueprint and be like, 'Oh, this is kind of like System Shock,'"

>"To do a System Shock 3, you're really tackling a monumental task, to make people happy with a sequel that wasn't made by the same team as the original,"

>"It was like, 'Everybody, get your System Shock 2 copy, play it start to finish, and let's figure out what we're going to do,'"

>"Then Resident Evil 4 came out and we were like, 'Oh. No, this is the shit.'"

>"It's pretty obvious when you play Dead Space, to look at it and go, 'Yeah, it's almost like they decided to make Resident Evil 4 in space,' which is exactly what we were doing."

Source: PC Gamer

Arkane Austin

Project Danielle/Prey (2017)

>"Let me tell you what's an example of something a reporter might not even realize that happened, right? Like when someone world learn that our concept for... for Prey, for example, is based on a homage to System Shock, and they find this powerpoint and says 'this is System Shock 3', for example... That sounds like a small thing, right? It sounds like, well, you know, the public would like to know that, 'why not [publish a report about it], that's fine, let's do it'. What you don't know is that at the same time we are trying to negotiate the [System Shock IP] with the owner of this IP, and as [the company] see the news, suddenly it changes the business entirely, they go 'oh'..."

Source: The House of the Dev podcast

OtherSide Entertainment

System Shock 3

>"It's a very simple story. I worked on it for a couple of years. I had a team of 17 people. We were making good progress. It was very imm-simy. I had a core mechanic that I love that I got married to, to its detriment. We had a publisher, it was Starbreeze. I guess it's okay to say that. They came along and said, 'We've gone into whatever the Swedish equivalent of bankruptcy is, and we're killing all of our external projects.' So, at that point… three years in doesn't sound like much of a startup anymore, but it really is. And Paul and I looked at the bank account and said, 'Uh oh.' And Tencent came along and said we want to go big with System Shock. They said they could go big with it in a way that we couldn't. They made an investment. They kept us alive. Thanks, Tencent. And at this point, if anything's ever going to happen with it, it's Tencent that's going to do it, not us.

Source: Game Informer

>"The only reason I'm posting is because I saw so much confusion about the state of the company and the project I thought some first person information would be welcome. I never suggested we were halfway done, core systems are a great foundation for a game but most of the work is content development which we were critically behind in, both in real assets and in tool support for an efficient pipeline."

>"Was the failure of the project right? It's hard to say. If Starbreeze hadn't gone into crisis I think we would've delivered something interesting with some fresh and innovative gameplay, but a much smaller game than what people were expecting and inevitably disappointing for a sequel to such a beloved franchise."

>"Those high expectations drove a lot of expensive experimentation. We were a small team and knew we couldn't compete with current immersive sims in production quality and breadth, so we had to be creative and clever and weird. And we were on our way to make something unique and possibly fun, but probably not what the audience was hungry for."

Source: RPGCodex

I can barely think of any:

• Dark Messiah of Might and Magic (the involuntary GOAT of comedy imsims)
• No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way (Nightdive's white whale)
• Skin Deep (the most recent game I can think of)
• Jazzpunk? (Maybe/Not really)
• Postal 2

I also think these games can be hilarious:

• Gunpoint (features imsim-adjacent gameplay)
• Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (Peak Kojimbo slapstick IMHO)

What am I missing? Are you aware of any honest-to-goodness comedy-driven immersive sim?

Suggested games so far:

• Abiotic Factor (u/CD274)
• Alpha Protocol (u/ms45)
• Breathedge 2 (u/PulseCheater)
• Ctrl Alt Ego (u/Sinnoware)
• DEATHLOOP (u/Jaded_Obsidian_Witch)
• Dr.Clone (u/razminr11)
• Fallen Aces (u/cravex12)
• Hitman (u/Mrazish)
• JobLoop (u/PenguinJoker)
• Low-Budget Repairs (u/ReployerTechnician)
• NEET (u/Russian-Bot-0451)
• Postal 4 (u/PulseCheater)
• RetroSpace (u/pemboo)
• Secret Agent Wizard Boy (u/Terenfear)
• Sorceress (u/PulseCheater)
• The Adventures of Sir Kicksalot (u/Omedan)
• Untitled Goose Game (u/mjxoxo1999)

This is the updated and upgraded Definitive Edition for the "article" I posted in this sub back in 2023.

Please enjoy.

Deus Ex: Insurrection

Developer: Ion Storm Austin

Led by Art Min, a veteran Looking Glass programmer, and making good use of an improved version of the engine that powered both the studio's past efforts, Invisible War and Deadly Shadows, the development team went through several iterations of storyline and gameplay design, ultimately deciding on a more grounded vision, closer and faithful to the original's roots, but also taking new ideas into consideration. Insurrection's progress stopped halfway through pre-production, after Warren Spector left Ion Storm, according to Art Min, and he himself shortly followed suit. A year later, they founded Junction Point Studios together. You can read (and see!) more details in way better written pieces at both Eurogamer and Unseen64 (or watch their video).

Deus Ex 3

Developer: Ion Storm Austin

At Ion Storm, Deus Ex 3 was worked on concurrently with Insurrection, during the final months period of the latter. This version of the follow-up to Invisible War was under the leadership of Jordan Thomas, designer of the Shalebridge Cradle level on Thief: Deadly Shadows (and future game director for BioShock 2 at 2K Marin). Jordan Thomas vision's mainly differs in that he wanted to make a truly open-world experience. Story-wise, Deus Ex 3 was meant to be a prequel to the series, having JC's father as the main protagonist. This project came to a close as the publisher, Eidos Interactive, shuttered the studio in 2005, following the departure of key staff and continued financial failures. And I'm serious, you really should read both feature articles in Eurogamer and Unseen64 if you want to learn more. (There's also a video essay, if you prefer that format).

Deus Ex: Clan Wars

Developer: Crystal Dynamics

Clan Wars (its working title) was intended to be the third entry in the Deus Ex series, and was planned as a more action-focused spin-off, in an attempt to broaden the appeal of the IP. While it was developed by Crystal Dynamics, best known then for the Legacy of Kain games (and before taking over the Tomb Raider duties for Eidos), Ion Storm would still oversee the project, as Zak McClendon, a designer on Clan Wars, told Gamespot in a 2004 interview: "Warren Spector and Ion Storm were amazingly helpful at an early point in the project. Much of their help and inspiration can still be seen in a huge number of weapons, abilities and gadgets, and in the multiple ways players can meet the game's challenges." Originally set between the original Deus Ex and its sequel, Invisible War, Clan Wars would have starred a character named Dixon Denton, in line with the previous protagonists. A few months into development, Eidos had a change of heart. When the game was officially revealed to the public at an E3 event, it was now titled Snowblind. Despite Eidos's efforts to distance the game from its Deus Ex origins, the shared DNA was obvious for those with the eyes to see: a game set in a dark, dystopian future and that featured a special ops commando packing an arsenal of high-tech weaponry and nano-augmentations that granted him superhuman abilities. With a final title settled on, the game was launched as Project Snowblind in 2005.

Necessary Evil

Developer: Junction Point Studios

In 2009, Warren Spector, then at Junction Point, the studio he co-founded after leaving Ion Storm, revealed that he sought to reacquire, although unsuccessfully, the rights to the Deus Ex IP from Eidos. "There were, and still are, Deus Ex stories I would like to tell. That story is not done for me", he added. The failed bid didn't deter Warren and his team, mainly composed of Ion Storm alumni, from developing a similar concept that they could then pitch while looking for a deal. Thus, out of necessity, a spiritual successor was conceived: Necessary Evil, which was "a science fiction idea that was basically Deus Ex with the serial numbers filed off and fiction more in keeping with the postmillennial era than with the pre-millennial conspiracy-obsessed world" and, unlike Deus Ex, Necessary Evil was supposed to be "a multiplayer game about augmented soldiers and independent operatives who could collaborate with or oppose each other, serving the military, businesses or mercenary groups. It was all about what happened when augmented military soldiers mustered out." Disney Interactive Studios bought Junction Point, together with the Necessary Evil IP, but the game never got off the ground.

Untitled Blade Runner game

Developer: Arkane Studios

>...Bethesda approached Arkane Studios and revealed that it might secure the rights to make a Blade Runner video game, and asked the studio to pitch a project based on that IP as well. Now, two teams within the studio were competing over what the studio would make next. Colantonio led the Thief 4 team, which produced some concept videos of its own. Smith led the Blade Runner team, which he recalls rendered the Epser computer in 3D and started animation work, as its main characters "would be doing things with their bodies that humans couldn't do." Colantonio and Smith look back positively on these pitches, but Bethesda ultimately could not secure the rights for Arkane to make games based on those IPs.
While Colantonio was concerned that Bethesda would abandon Arkane after those projects fell through, the publisher came to them with a different proposition. "None of them worked out, and we thought maybe they're going to, you know, shut down the deal," Colantonio explained. "We were not acquired yet, but we had this deal with them to do the next Thief or the next Blade Runner. Eventually, they said, 'It's okay, keep what you're doing and call it Dishonored.' The point here is that [Dishonored] started on the base of our version of Thief 4." As Harvey's Blade Runner project also did not see the light of day, he joined Dishonored as co-director.

[This entry was almost cut from the article because I couldn't come up with an good argument as to why Arkane's Blade Runner would have been a spiritual successor to Deus Ex besides having Harvey Smith as the lead of that effort, or both IPs being in the cyberpunk genre.]

Untitled follow-up to Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Developer: Obsidian Entertainment

According to Feargus Urquhart, CEO of Obsidian, the follow-up to Human Revolution (which he simply refers to as "Human Revolution 2") "would have been out two years before [Mankind Divided, the actual sequel, that was released in 2016]" because his studio, Obsidian Entertainment, was originally tapped by Square Enix to make the game, and while the publisher "totally [wanted] [Obsidian] to do it", however, there was "a budgetary issue and other games didn't sell as well [as Human Revolution]". Ultimately, Feargus continues, "[Square Enix] needed to do it internally to be able to give a team [at Eidos-Montréal] a job."

The second half of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Developer: Eidos-Montréal

As most of you can tell, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided doesn't feel like a whole game. There's a good reason why. Reportedly, Square-Enix split the follow-up to Human Revolution in half, partly in a attempt to avoid budget and scope creep, but also to maximize the potential profits, by selling two, separate but connected, US$60 products, and with that new reality facing Eidos-Montréal, a group of developers was then focused on reworking the second half of the story into a full-blown sequel to the sequel. Around that time, the publisher, Square-Enix, wasn't particularly satisfied with the sales numbers of its game catalog on the market, chiefly the ones developed by the studios under its European branch, like Avalanche's Just Cause, IO Interactive's Hitman and Crystal Dynamics' Tomb Raider. Mankind Divided's number were no different, so the sequel (to the sequel) was put on ice in 2017, and some of the better known lead developers left the studio. Most of the Deus Ex team at Eidos-Montréal went on to make the acclaimed Marvel's Guardian of the Galaxy game (and reunited once again after that for the next game on this list). Another evidence that Mankind Divided Part Deux indeed was a thing is a brief mention in a LinkedIn profile, which notes "Project MD2 (cancelled)". On January 2025, one of the writers for Human Revolution and Mankind Divided, Mark Cecere, appeared in the podcast From Script to Life. He revealed story details on what could have happened in the events following Mankind Divided.

Untitled Deus Ex game

Developer: Eidos-Montréal

Not much is known about this project other than it was greenlit in 2022 by Eidos-Montréal's new owners in Embracer Group, and, about two years later, that same company laid off its entire 90-plus people development team, resulting in the unannounced game's cancellation. Most likely, this situation was collateral damage from Embracer failing to close a strategic partnership worth $2B with Saudi Savvy Games Group in 2023, that led to a cost-cutting restructuring program within the publisher in that same year. What we can speculate upon are the few crumbs of information one can find around the web, like, for instance, when industry insider Jeff Grubb commented that Eidos-Montréal wanted to "challenge [CD PROJEKT RED]" and "do what Cyberpunk 2077 couldn't" with their next iteration. Considering the long and troubled (and expensive) development cycle of Cyberpunk at the Polish studio, and the diminishing returns and appeal of the Deus Ex IP, you could infer the reason why Embracer might have gotten cold feet. It didn't help that another internal project at Eidos-Montréal was in trouble. In March 2026, Insider Gaming reported that codename P11, also know as Wildlands, was struggling since early 2019, "with 4 different game engines used throughout development, narrative direction conflicts, and a budget that had exploded to several hundred million. The game’s spiralling budget resulted in several projects at the studio being cancelled, including a new Deus Ex game in January 2024." Oh, well. Another info nugget is that this ill-fated Deus Ex title could've been partially set in a fictionalized South Asian location, if a job listing for game writer was indeed connected to the project's needs. We'll never find out, unfortunately.

We never asked for this.

Listen on: SoundCloud | Apple Podcast

>The first season of Jewel Cases comes to a close in an episode with Harvey Smith, Black Pony Interactive founder and a designer whose work includes Deus Ex, Thief: Deadly Shadows, Dishonored, Prey, and much more. /// Jewel Cases is a new interview series, hosted by Ed Smith and modelled after Criterion Closet videos, where an individual developer picks and discusses a handful of the games that have influenced their work.

Nightdive head honcho Stephen Kick shared these renders around 4 years ago. Unfortunately, I couldn't find them in time to go along with my reporting on the next remake project at Nightdive Studios.

Don't get me wrong, I'm excited about what Ken Levine and his team at Ghost Story are working on, and I'm very eager to learn how far they're able to push in what's going to be the first practical implementation of the framework/concept known as "Narrative LEGOs" (on an actual game). It's worth mentioning, in the game's favor, the many prestigious contributors to Ken's endeavor: Raphaël Colantonio did some consultancy work for it; Chris Avellone brought in his writing chops, helping with the demanding narrative design; top-tier level designers from Arkane also joined the effort for a time (after the Austin studio's closure), and Ken even tried to get in touch with Brian Mitsoda (why exactly? TBD).

So, what's the problem? For me, it's the art direction. It's not even a recent trend with Ken's games. Going back to the original BioShock and, in particular, BioShock Infinite, Ken Levine tends to favor this carnival/funfair/amusement park-like look and feel to his games. In Judas's case, the environments shown so far are mostly fine, but the enemy design is what irks me the most. They seem to be based on old toys and animatronics. It gives me the heebie-jeebies and, Judas being a sci-fi game, the overall aesthetic is also potentially immersion-breaking.

Do you have the same pet peeve as mine?

(Repost to fix the title)

Is that a scoop? I couldn't find it anywhere, and I don't recall Tim ever mentioning it, either on his YouTube channel or when he was hosted by u/rcolantonio on his The House of the Dev podcast.

During an interview for TKs-Mantis back in April, writer Chris Avellone shared his most recent projects, and at one point he revealed that not only him, but also Tim Cain, of Fallout and Arcanum fame, contributed to WolfEye's as-yet-untitled retro sci-fi FPS/RPG:

>"I will say that me and Tim did work together at WolfEye, who did the Weird West game, and they're made of ex-Arkane developers, and we did work on their most recent project together before Tim went back to Obsidian, and that was fucking great. Like, we had Raphaël Colantonio, Tim and me, like, just all kicking around design ideas and that was fucking awesome."

Chris Avellone, most known for his work on Fallout 2 and Planescape: Torment, among others (New Vegas and Alpha Protocol are also worth a mention), is no stranger to immersive sims: Chris was one of the main writers for Arkane Austin's Prey (or Typhon, in our hearts) and he helped shape the narrative design on the upcoming conceptual "narrative LEGOs" game, Judas. He also was enlisted to modernize the story delivery of an earlier version of Nightdive's remake of System Shock (that was more akin to a reboot around that time). Chris also have additional design credits on Weird West, Raf's homage to top-down games like Ultima 7 and Fallout (that personally influenced him).

As for Tim Cain, his body of work presents him as a proponent of diverse playstyles, multiple solutions to quests, ever-present reactivity, and deep choices and consequences (C&C): all of these being highly valued staples of the immersive sim design philosophy (even though he denies that some of his games could be referred to as "immersive sims"). And not unlike Raf's, his now-defunct studio, Troika Games, almost made their own spiritual successor to Ultima Underworld in the shelved sequel to Arcanum. Promising "multiples solutions to problems and puzzles", and "an infinite number of playing styles" with the use of "magick" and "technology", and "scripted events" the player "can be involved in and affect the outcome", Arcanum 2 would've been an imm-sim enjoyer's wet dream. They even name-dropped Deus Ex in the pitch document.

Kind of a fun friday thing. Bear with me. Let's recap: Harvey Smith finally founded his own game studio (not for the lack of trying, as he revealed recently) and, alongside studio co-founder Ben Horne, he assembled a team of some of the best and experienced developers around. 26 in total.

Some of these folks are new faces, but mostly they go way back. Besides the usual suspects (e.g. almost all of the design team from Ion Storm's Deus Ex games), there are a handful of game developers that Harvey first met over 20 years ago, in his time at Midway, that also were brought into this new team:

.

• Seth Shain, lead designer at Black Pony Immersive
  • Game designer on BlackSite: Area 51 (2007)
  • Game systems tuner/designer on Dishonored (2012)
    • and on The Knife of Dunwall & The Brigmore Witches DLCs (2013)
  • Lead systems designer on Prey (2017)
  • Lead combat designer on Marathon (2026)

.

• Karen Welford Segars, worldbuilding director at Black Pony Immersive
  • Lead environment artist on BlackSite: Area 51 (2007)
  • Lead level architect on Prey (2017)
  • Lead level architect on Prey: Mooncrash (2018)
  • Art director on Redfall (2023)

.

• Rusty Sempsrott, lead technical designer at Black Pony Immersive
  • Lead technical designer on BlackSite: Area 51 (2007)
  • Technical design director on Saints Row: The Third (2011)
  • Lead technical designer on Redfall (2023)

.

While at Midway, Harvey was joined by other Ion Storm alumni (that now work at Black Pony Immersive):

.

• Ricardo Bare, design director at Black Pony Immersive
  • Game/level designer on Deus Ex (2000)
  • Lead designer on Deus Ex: Invisible War (2003)
  • Creative director on a cancelled original IP game [at Midway]
  • Campaign lead designer on BlackSite: Area 51 (2007)
  • Lead technical designer on Dishonored (2012)
    • Additionally: level design, game systems design and writing credits.
  • Creative director and writer on The Knife of Dunwall & The Brigmore Witches DLCs (2013)
  • Lead designer and writer on Prey (2017)
  • Creative director, lead designer and writer on Prey: Mooncrash (2018)
  • Creative director and writer on Redfall (2023)

.

• Monte Martinez, principal encounter designer at Black Pony Immersive
  • Game/level designer on Deus Ex (2000)
  • Senior game/level designer on Deus Ex: Invisible War (2003)
  • Game/level designer on Thief Deadly Shadows (2004)
  • Senior game designer on Criminal (Cancelled) [at Midway]
  • Special Thanks credits on BlackSite: Area 51 (2007)
  • Level designer on BioShock 2 (2010)
  • Level designer on Dishonored (2012)
    • and on The Knife of Dunwall & The Brigmore Witches DLCs (2013)
  • Level designer on Prey (2017)
  • Level designer on Prey: Mooncrash (2018)
  • Level/quest designer on Weird West (2022)
    • (Senior designer on WolfEye's next game. Left the studio in November 2025.)

.

And before anyone starts pilling on Redfall:

>"A lot of people that I worked with at Midway on BlackSite were actually on the Dishonored and Redfall team. Some of them were on the Prey team. It just goes to show that very often the right context around the team makes the difference. Given more time, different corporate mandates – those are the things that can really screw with your team."

Harvey Smith, co-founder and creative director at Black Pony Immersive

(That's a quote that comes from an EDGE magazine article by Jeremy Peel, featured on the issue 381, March 2023)

I was reading this preview article of Neon Giant's NO LAW and came across this paragraph:

>Something interesting I learn here is that you only earn XP in No Law from completing objectives. You get XP for reaching the informant's room, regardless of how you do it. "We always reward the 'what,' but never the 'how,'" Berg says. "If I gave you XP for lockpicking [which we do to enter the room with the password], you'll start lockpicking everywhere. The same with headshots – we don't even give you XP for shooting enemies because you could sneak around them instead." 

It immediately brought the likes of Deus Ex: Human Revolution to my mind, and how it allows you to exploit and cheese your way throught the game to earn that extra XP, or just the basic fact that the game pats you on the back and rewards you for somewhat mundane actions; one of my few nitpicks with the way Eidos-Montréal approached its iterations of the series. The original game had its share of problems, but with regard to the modern Deus Ex titles, it's mostly by deliberate design.

I think I prefer Neon Giant's way of tackling this issue: immersive sims should only reward XP to the player for getting things done (the "what"), but still acknowledging their methods (the "how") in a more meaningful way (e.g. repercussions in the narrative, NPC reactions/callbacks, gameplay-affecting consequences, etc.).

Discuss!