The Immersive Sim thread

[Nameless Voice]

Immersive Sims
An Immersive Sim is a game which uses systems to simulate a believable world, and then builds its gameplay from those intuitive systems.
Because the systems that make up these games are simulations of some mechanic rooted in reality, they tend to be usable for varied purposes and therefore promote emergent gameplay.
It is more of a design philosophy than a genre.



This thread is now obsolete.
Please see The Immersive Sim Wiki instead!

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This is a thread cataloguing Immersive Sim games.




Immersive sims in development
A lot of these fine games don't have TTLG threads - so feel free to go and make one so I can link them here!

Immersive Sims in Development - part 1
Immersive Sims in Development - part 2
Immersive Sims in Development - part 3

Twitter list of developers working on Immersive Sims


Released Immersive sims
Released Immersive Sims - part 1



TO DO: Full list of released immersive sims, just as soon as we agree on what exactly is and isn't an immersive sim.

[Nameless Voice]

Immersive Sims in development (page 1)

Gloomwood
A dark, Victorian stealth/survival horror game.
Heavily inspired by Thief, Call of Cthulhu Dark Corners of the Earth, and survival horror classics.


Developer Twitter
TTLG thread
Steam page



Monomyth
A dungeon crawler inspired by Arx Fatalis, Ultima Underworld and the King's Field series.


Developer Twitter
TTLG thread
Steam page
Website



Graven
A retro medieval first-person shooter with immersive sim elements, inspired by Heretic and Hexen.


TTLG thread
Steam page
(No developer Twitter)



Peripeteia
"Polish Deus Ex."
An indie stealth FPS-RPG/Immersive Sim, heavily inspired by Deus Ex.


Developer Twitter
(No TTLG thread)
Steam page
Demo on itch.io
Website



Safe Not Safe
First-person stealth game with procedurally-generated levels.
"Challenging stealth game, solving shortcomings of the genre. Infiltrate well-guarded outposts against all odds. Fight, sneak or hack your way to the safe."
Developer Twitter


(No TTLG thread)
Steam page



Delightfyl (Cancelled, no longer in active development)
First Person Stealth game, Thief inspired. UE4.


Developer Twitter
TTLG thread
Itch.io page


Neverlooted Dungeon
Immersive-sim dungeon crawler.


Developer Twitter
TTLG Thread
Steam page


Child of Lothian
Third-person historical stealth adventure.
"Child of Lothian is a historically-accurate 3rd person stealth-adventure game where you play as an Orphan who has been robbed of her childhood as her family is put to trial during the 18th century Witch Hunt trials. The game takes place in the old town of Edinburgh. "

Developer Twitter
(No TTLG thread)
Steam page




Imprisoned Hyperion
Underground first-person RPG inspired by Underworld/Arx.
"Imprisoned hyperion is an imersive sim, first-person rpg. Explore the dark and dangerous dungeons of a world that has survived its end. Survive by finding safe resting places and cooking food. Help different creatures and learn the dark history of this world and your own. "

(No Developer Twitter)
No TTLG thread
Steam page

[Nameless Voice]

Immersive Sims in development (page 2)


Hapax
"Hapax is a puzzle focused immersive sim set on a hard sci-fi alien spaceship."


Developer Twitter
(No TTLG thread)
Offical website



Terminus Cyberstar
"Low-poly cyberpunk immersive sim in the vein of late-90's PC games like Deus Ex 1 and System Shock 2."


Developer Twitter
(No TTLG thread)



Project Sorceress
A physics-based puzzle immersive sim.
"Aspires to be a game with systemic approach to spellcasting that serves for exploration and combat in first person relying on different system interactions and player quick thinking."


Developer Twitter
(No TTLG thread)
itch.io page



Ad Infernum
Survival horror/immersive sim. Unity.
"Stranded alone at a gas station in the middle of the desert. Dark Rituals. Demonic Pursuers. No escape."


Developer Twitter
(No TTLG thread)
itch.io page



Athanasia
A survival horror immersive sim with dinosaurss and prehistoric creatures.
(Previously a sci-fi game, but that has been cancelled/reworked.)

Developer Twitter
(No TTLG thread)
(No Steam page)
Developer website



Shadows of Doubt
"First-person detective stealth game set in a fully-simulated sci-fi noir city. There’s a serial killer on the loose, and it’s up to you to catch them by any means necessary: Sneak, tail, hide, hack and lock-pick. Just keep a low profile!"


Developer Twitter
(No TTLG thread)
Steam page



Core Decay
Low-poly sci-fi immersive sim.
"Explore vast facilities across a dying Earth and uncover a sinister plot to preserve humanity no matter the cost - even if it means redefining what makes us alive - in an atmospheric immersive sim that explores the nature of consciousness and individuality. "

Developer Twitter
(No TTLG thread)
Steam page




Skin Deep
A stealth-shooter where you need to pick shards of glass out of your feet.

Developer Twitter
TTLG thread
Steam page
Official website



System Shock Remake
Modern remake of the original System Shock, in development by Night Dive in the Unreal Engine. Has terrible pixellated textures.


Developer Twitter
TTLG thread
Systemshock.org thread
Steam page



Unnamed dungeon crawler by Michel Mohr
Thief-inspired dungeon crawler.

Developer Twitter



Thievery: Beneath the Veil of Night
Stealth/thieving game, very early development.


(No TTLG thread)
Official website
Steam group



Synther (Cancelled / no longer in active development.)
Low-poly cyberpunk adventure/sim.
"Synther is an FPP simulation game with adventure-like, detective elements set in a futuristic, open world. The game is innovative and reminiscent of early 3D games and DOS applications. "


Developer Twitter
(No TTLG thread)
Steam page

[Nameless Voice]

Immersive Sims in development (page 3)







RetroSpace
Retro-fueled first-person sci-fi horror immersive sim.
"An immersive sim stealth-action horror shooter that tries to evoke the sci-fi atmosphere of the 60s and 70s."

Developer Twitter
(No TTLG thread)
Steam page



Heir Obscure
Low-poly stealth immersive sim, heavily inspired by Thief.
"Heir Obscure is a stealth immersive sim inspired by beloved classics. Stay in the shadows, listen carefully for enemy positions, unlock magical abilities, and take back what’s rightfully yours. Unravel the deceptions of those who took everything from you, and restore an old kingdom to its glory. "

Developer Twitter
No TTLG thread
Steam page





Fallen Aces
Retro-style noire FPS with immersive sim elements.

Developer Twitter
No TTLG thread
Steam page





SCP: Fragmented Minds
First-person survival-horror immersive sim set in the SCP universe.
"Discover a thrilling mix of action and survival horror in SCP: Fragmented Minds. You awaken in the remains of Mars Site-113 after a global catastrophe, but you're not alone and many of the horrifying anomalies contained here have escaped and are hunting down the remaining survivors "

Developer Twitter
No TTLG thread
Steam page





CORPUS EDAX
A retro immersive first-person melee RPG.
"A first-person-melee RPG set in a retro-futuristic city of Corpus Edax. Create your character and make your own choices in a reactive world on the brink of a revolution - fight, talk or sneak your way out of confrontation. Your decision, is the right decision."

Developer Twitter
No TTLG thread
Steam page




Spectra
Cyberpunk immersive sim being made in Unreal Engine 5.
"A Thief and Deus Ex inspired immersive sim set in an alternate history 1972. Solo developed by Ellis Tucci. Not coming for a very long time."

Developer Twitter
(No TTLG thread)
Official website
(No Steam page)




HEARTRENDER
Surreal immersive sim.


Developer Twitter
(No TTLG thread)
(No Steam page)



Fortune's Run
An immersive sim / retro boomer-shooter hybrid.


Official website
Developer Twitter
(No TTLG thread)
Steam page (Demo available)



‘Escape to outer space’ (working title)
An immersive sim made in Unity.

Developer Twitter
(No TTLG thread)
(No Steam Page)



Aquametsis
Aquametsis is an ARPG / Management hybrid, set in a post-post-apocalyptic world where all the ice sheets are melted and not a meter square of land is left. Inspired by classics like Deus Ex, System Shock and X-COM: UFO Defense. Currently in early stages of development.

(No developer Twitter)
(No TTLG thread)
(No Steam Page)
Official website

[Nameless Voice]

Released Immersive Sims (page 1)


Deathloop
FPS/Immersive sim set in a time loop, developed by Arkane Studios.

Steam page
TTLG thread
Developer Twitter



Filcher
Filcher is a first-person, 2.5D, mission-based stealth game where you steal from the wealthy and corrupt, using only your senses, your wits, and a handful of tools and gadgets.


Steam page
TTLG Thread
Developer Twitter



Cruelty Squad
Retro shooter/immersive sim with extremely bright colours.
"An immersive power fantasy simulator with tactical stealth elements set in a sewage infused garbage world"

Steam page
TTLG thread
Developer Twitter



Ctrl Alt Ego
Low-poly sci-fi immersive sim.
"First-person sci-fi immersive action game in which your disembodied ego roams a retro tech space station by taking ctrl of various robots and devices."

Developer Twitter
No TTLG thread
Steam page



Teardown
Voxel-based heist simulation with fully destructible terrain.
"Prepare the perfect heist in this simulated and fully destructible voxel world. Tear down walls with vehicles or explosives to create shortcuts. Stack objects to reach higher. Use the environment to your advantage in the most creative way you can think of. "

Developer Twitter
No TTLG thread
Steam page




HEXCRAFT: Harlequin Fair
Atmospheric experimental retro first-person RPG immersive sim.
"Harlequin Fair is an experimental RPG and immersive sim set in the shadows of Toronto by night. Cast dreadful spells, buy small arms with cash: cling to the light 'til the light bites you back"

Developer Twitter
No TTLG thread
Steam page

[Nameless Voice]

(Reserved #2)

[Nameless Voice]

(Reserved #3)

[Pyrian]

None of those are immersive sims.

...What? Someone had to say it!

[Thirith]

Wasn’t there some supposed top-down Wild West immersive sim coming up? Or is this thread firmly in the camp that an immersive sim must be first-person?

Weird West, that’s the one.

[henke]

Ooooh, I hadn't even heard about several of these.

I'm still most excited about Skin Deep and Gloomwood.

[qolelis]

TO DO: List of released immersive sims, just as soon as we agree on what exactly is and isn't an immersive sim.

So, never, in other words.

I can contribute by mentioning The Occupation.

[Anarchic Fox]

Thanks for making this useful thread, Nameless Voice.

[Jeshibu]

Tried Peripeteia's demo, but it's rough. Imagine EYE Divine Cybermancy but 10 times as janky, with no idea where to go. Couldn't find any sneaky ways other than shooting someone from the dark, having the entire armed guard team swarm (taking the long way around) the location the shots came from, and making a run from there to where I needed to go. There's also a lot of messed up culling portals that they need to fix, and at one point I couldn't progress because the doors to where I assumed I was supposed to go didn't render from a distance, nor were they interactable up close. It's also very dark and using your night vision takes from your finite energy reserves. I raided the bar's liquor supply (incorrectly marked empty bottle) while the bartender watched and said nothing. I sold the liquor for a flashlight that doesn't do enough to illuminate the really dark areas. A hobo spotted me and made a beeline for me. He made the reticle turn red, but just stood there while the TRESPASSING indicator on my hud lit up. I shot him in the head and nobody was around to care. I tried finding a back way into my objective but eventually gave up and shot a guard a short distance away from two others, who started rotating left and right without animating on the spot, in sync. Then I shot a barrel next to them and they blew up.

Yeah, this one needs a lot of work. I'm still interested though, I like Sewerslvt's music and the aesthetic they're going for.

One last protip if anyone else is trying this: F is interact, but holding F is picking stuff up.

[Renault]

Using this as a guide seems like a bad idea:

https://store.steampowered.com/tags/en/immersive-sim

This is better:

https://www.reddit.com/r/ImmersiveSi...sim_guidelist/

[henke]

Oh yeah, that reddit thread reminded me of the existence of Consortium: The Tower. A game which everyone forgets. I even played through the alpha ages ago, liked it, and still forgot. Here's the TTLG thread on it. The devs are still working on it, and it should definitely go on the list.

Also, is Teardown an immsim? It just presents a set of systems, gives you a goal, and then you're free to accomplish that goal however you see fit. Tho as for the overall plot you don't have much choice, rather you just have to go along with the predefined script. (then again, that was also true for Thief)

edit: also, Cruelty Squad? Has anyone played Cruelty Squad yet? It's apparently hot shit.

[demagogue]

We can get the definition war, er, debate rolling...

I think the first thing to note with the definition question is that there are two ways to take it.

(1) By the set of features that combine "immersive" (realistic 3D world that you're in and can manipulate) and "simulation" (open world, problems not puzzles, lots of verbs other than just shooting, systems work like they're supposed to, fire & water spread, the world goes on without the player, etc.).

(2) An actual historical lineage of games that share a way of thinking or philosophy in the gameplay, starting with Origin > LGS > Irrational, Eidos, Ion Storm > Arkane > ???. Ideas like: respect the player, let the player make their own game instead of railroading or spoonfeeding them; more like adventure game, not so much an RPG or FPS; have combination locks set to 451; a kind of moody, cool, dark visual style; guys in black trench coats / cloaks; games made by MIT-grad hobbyists for other MIT-grad hobbyists like them; etc.

I think disagreement comes from people coming on one side or another. Games like Teardown or Skyrim & Fallout fit in (1), but less in (2). I'm playing Control right now, and it fits more or less in (2) but not (1). Arkane is of course the main studio that's staying more or less true to both sides of that coin.

[Nameless Voice]

That was part of the reason why I went with in-development games only, it saves on a bit of the debate-war!
I think I'll probably divide the "released" list into groups of different types of games, so something like Hitman would be on there, but would be in a section for non-first-person games. That's probably the best way to handle it.

I left Cruelty Squad off the list because I thought it was released, but it looks like it's still in Early Access, so yes, I should definitely add it.

[Jason Moyer]

[Malf]

I see no-one's mentioned Elderborn, which is like Dark Messiah had a baby with Dark Souls. There's a modern Doom influence in the music too.
It's great!

[Renault]

That looks more hack and slash than immersive sim.

[ZylonBane]

https://www.reddit.com/r/ImmersiveSi...sim_guidelist/

Any list of immersive sims that includes Bioshock is automatically suspect.

[Jeshibu]

What criteria is Bioshock not meeting?

[Pyrian]

Can't stack crates.

[demagogue]

I think Bioshock was the first game that crossed the threshold into Imm Sim 2.0. I think Halflife 2 instilled some tropes into the whole field of FPS that basically required major studios to present a cinematic experience and practically strangled the whole imm sim philosophy, as in players wondering wtf they were supposed to do and why wasn't the game providing a very controlled experience and throwing up its arms and shouting "are you not entertained?" at them around every turn?

And Bioshock was the first game post HL2 that internalized that HL2 spirit, making this controlled cinematic experience, while still trying to resuscitate a lot of imm sim tropes: open level design, multiple approaches, player customaization, etc. (Okay, there was also Stalker, but GSC was kind of in a world of their own along with other Eastern European studios.)

And I think the major lesson of Bioshock is that the two philosophies don't really mix very well, as in they're at cross purposes. Making a cinematic experience and players feeling gratified by the game progression call for techniques pretty much the opposite of what you want for an imm sim.*

And of course then Arkane took that model and ran with it, pretty much defining the field of imm sim 2.0 with Dishonored & Prey, etc. I mean I had a great time playing them, but I can see how they raise the question if these two models can really mix well and how their sales wouldn't be great exactly because of the remnant imm sim features in them. And since I'm playing it right now, Control strikes me as exactly the kind of game that waves its hands at imm sim tropes (same list as above), but are so dominated by the controlled experience philosophy that it's a nominal imm sim at best and plays a lot more like HL2 than System Shock 2 or Deus Ex.

I think this is where we're at now, in this weird space where imm sim 2.0 games are technically in the air, but not really gelling. And now we have this space of indie studios going back to basics, but I haven't played enough of them to have a strong opinion about this development yet maybe.

* I haven't played the later BS's yet, but just by watching some videos, I think already by Bioshock 3 it'd basically drank the HL2 koolaid.

[ZylonBane]

I'll let some random internet guy answer that question:

A lot of people describe BioShock as an immersive sim and as the spiritual successor to games like System Shock. I describe it as more like – there’s an expression – kissing cousins. It’s similar in some ways to a System Shock game, or a Deus Ex, or an Underworld. Ken Levine is one of the most talented people in this business, and one of the best writers. But if you boil it down, I think he’s more interested in telling his story than we are. We’re much more into the player telling his or her own story. Whereas BioShock is is very much Ken’s story, and it’s a great one. But it’s fairly different than what we do.

And regarding the above ImSim2POINT-OH nonsense about Dishonored:

Dishonored is a fairly traditional immersive sim, which is to say that they’re about empowering players. They were clearly inspired by Thief and Deus Ex, which is really cool, and I think they do a great job with empowering players, so no beef there.

https://www.pcgamesn.com/warren-spec...shonored-zelda