r/ImmersiveSim

New studio news

Guys, I just finished ‘Death of the Outsider’ and I feel really deflated. It’s more Dishonored, which is never a bad thing, but I feel like it strays so far away from what made the first 2 really special. I know it’s more of a stand alone expansion, however, it still doesn’t hit the same notes for me as the first two.

In my opinion, now that I’ve completed the series, including all DLC’s the first one is GOAT’ed. The level design was amazing, but I think the thing that really nailed it for me was the atmosphere. The dark and decrepit streets of Dunwall feel home to me. The powers were simple but really interesting and allowed so much replay value, the mystery of the outsider was intriguing, and the overall plot and chaos system were peak gaming I think. It was a game I’m excited to play again, probably more so than D2.

That being said I loved the innovation in map design in D2. The clockwork mansion is hands down the best map in gaming imo, it’s so intricate and carefully designed. The devs really took their time in crafting that experience and I think it pays off. I also did like Emily as a protagonist and her powers were a nice change of pace to Corvo’s and the dual protagonist system added so much replayability.

But DOTO … the premise was really interesting, the voice acting was solid, the return of Daud was exciting too. It earns some cool legacy points. But I think it takes a sidestep with the level design. It didn’t feel as organic as the previous two and everything is guided through UI markers. That organic feeling of exploration isn’t there for me like the previous games and it made me genuinely sad. And the void powers are interesting but there’s only 3 of them and in NG+ they just get replaced with older powers? I just don’t get that game design logic. Idk, I feel like the replabaility isn’t there like the last two. Glad I played it but I don’t think I’ll be as eager to play it as I am with D1 or 2. Idk if you guys think the same or I’m just being very pedantic :L

Basically anything a modded 3DS can run - also kinda gives the question if 2D ImmSims even really exist since those would usually run on the 3DS if they were old

Would like to play a good ImmSim again but am mostly capable of playing on 3DS or my Vita as of lately since I can't bring myself to play on PC (stupid ik but I always end up doing personal work stuff like setting up my own server or checking out stuff I need for it)

Let's talk about Reliks and builds focussed around them.

Godzone 6 is a new roguelike first-person game in development by Blue Manchu, creators of [Void Bastards ](https://www.reddit.com/r/VoidBastards/)and [Wild Bastards](https://www.reddit.com/r/WildBastards/). Build mutants to explore wildly different play-styles in an immersive first person world. We call it a first-person mutator. Join the community on our [Discord](https://discord.gg/n6tN6vJE) channel or [subreddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/Godzone6/). There's also more info on the [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/3850440/Godzone\_6/) page.

Hey guys, like all of you I enjoy immersive sims both big and small. Currently playing through Skin Deep and I'm having a great time so far.

My girlfriend sometimes watches me play it and we got onto the conversation of immersive sims after I brought up it's one of my favourite types of games. She asked me what exactly immersive sims are. I joked that "that's a running joke in the imsim community that nobody can agree on a definition" but attempted a fair definition of the term.

However, I quickly caught myself using terms and concepts like emergent gameplay, systems interacting with each other, dynamic AI etc and realised it was getting more complicated and confusing than it needed to be. I think these are ideas that a lot of gamers can wrap their heads around, but not necessarily someone who doesn't play video games.

How would you describe immersive sims if you were explaining to someone who doesn't really play video games and is perhaps unfamiliar with these concepts?

I’m pretty saddened by how immersive sims, and the Dishonored series in particular, have been treated lately, so I tried to create a stylistic, story-driven short video centered around Dishonored because I think both community and developers deserve more. This isn't a typical review or retrospective, but a personal journey about discovering what truly separates video games from other mediums. To me, the immersive sim philosophy is the ultimate answer. This is my very first video of this style, so I really hope you enjoy it! :)

So, a while back, I bought the Hitman trilogy. I'm the type of guy who just plays a game once, unless I really like it. I actually didn't really enjoy the hitman games, because it felt like I wasn't really doing much a lot of the time. Every level I would just sneak around, kill a dude, and leave. Recently, I've bought dishonored, and while I'm enjoying it a lot more, I still kind of feel like I'm not getting the most out of the game if I don't engage with the systems. I've mainly been jumping in a lot and fighting enemies, because I'm not very good with the stealth. I also have this habit of constantly saving, which ruins the flow of the game for me, but that's kind of irrelevant. So, I really want to engage with these types of games more. But if I replay dishonored, I won't really know how to change it up. So what should I do? Am I making any sense?

As someone who didn't play any System Shock game yet and planning to buy the Steam Frame, it sounds like an insane news. Always been interested in what an Immersive Sim would be like in VR.

It makes me wish even more for a Deus Ex 1 VR mod (I think there are fans working on this) but considering the look of the remaster that was announced I'm not sure an official one would convince me or I'd need a mod to make it look like the original game.

I don't want to share mine because I'm still not sure what an immersive is. And at this stage I'm starting to feel that people are being a bit subjective. Thanks!

I mean, AAA has never really been the right fit. AAA means "the safest investment," which inherently makes it a bad fit for immersive sims, especially if you want devs to experiment and iterate on new systems or technology.

The Eidos Montreal Deus Ex reboots are AAA and, while great, look at how their owners handled that series purely because of the ROI risk. And Xbox divesting from Arkane says a lot about the state of immersive sims in the AAA space.

The only real hope for big-budget, highly polished immersive sims is established IPs integrating more and more immersive sim design values, like Nintendo did with BOTW or Kojima did with MGSV.