I remember this huge info wave about immersive sim dying as a genre because they are too expensive to make and the public don't really buy them because they are hard (it was after pray and DX:MD). And I am so glad that people are getting into them again and new indie projects are getting into the spotlight (cruelty squad, peripeteia, core decay, graven, gloomwood)
The genre was so underground, that the OG games were being accused of ripping off games that were directly influenced by those OG games. DE:HR was under fire by Mass Effect fans is an example. It's a genre way ahead of it's time that it makes sense why everyone thought Cyberpunk 2077 was a new concept in the corporate world of marketing.
Prey was kind of poorly marketed. I only ever played the demo for the original game, but it just seemed to be a trippy FPS. I don't think the new one has anything to do with the old one at all. From what I remember they just marketed it as a semi-horror FPS which people weren't real interested in. DXMD was a big step down in quality from HR which had a pretty shit ending. It was buggy, didn't run very well, the level designs weren't as good, the story was too on the nose about "not racism," etc. The best part about the game was Prague, and really only the bank. There was a lot of exploring to do in Prague, but most of it didn't mean anything and the bank was the only challenge.
@@HellShredder713 Huh. I don't really see how they're very similar, after all DE is a good game, but at least ME didn't have the trademarked Piss Filter.
I liked how in Prey if you needed to find a person you can just look it up on a security terminal and have their security tag marked as an objective. The terminals were usually locked away so you have to earn the privilege. This was great for immersion but also made clearing up side content easier or roleplaying as Morgan trying to save everyone. The game would also use this to throw a curveball now and then, like the body with the tag not being the same person or finding the tag but no body or finding a grisly scene. This allowed players to be introduce to side content they otherwise have missed or overlooked.
This mechanic spoiled a side quest twist for me, the one with the cook being a prisoner on the run) Literally figured it out even before meeting him just because i like marking people on terminals
@@glibchubik4090 ahhaa I think that detail would have made it even more special, also when the cook was speaking the portrait on the HUD was different than the real guy, when I listened to the audio recording I though it was a mistake so didnt mind it all ahaha... didnt know Prey was a masterpiece back then
just a tip for n00bs in regards to checking out the og imsims, dont be shy to find the "best" mod for you to have a less jank experience. Deus Ex's GDMX and System Shock 2's modpack on neural x2 are fantastic and definitely worth checking out today. As for stalker, I believe the most vanilla friendly nowadays is ZRP but not sure haven't seen what the community's been cookin up nowadays. cheers yall
Also if anyone is turned off by having to learn fairly complex character building systems then look up some optimal builds so you can focus on enjoying the story and gameplay without FOMO or having to worry about ending up in a dead build-wise
@@Turahk not buggy true, but kinda janky at times. But tbh this applies for the most part to Clear Sky, Shadow of Chernobyl is passable if you tolerate the gunplay and Call of Pripyat is perfectly playable even for today´s standards, and it has the Gunslinger mod which is legit just a vanilla weapons+ pack
Cruelty Squad literally took over my life for a week, until I figured out stock market manipulation and became overpowered. I wish I could wipe my brain and play it again for the first time
You didn't really mention it here, but I'd highly recommend people try the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series too if they haven't. While it's not purely an immersive sim, the series has some of my favorite moments in all of gaming without any of it being scripted. The world is incredibly immersive and the gameplay can get incredibly tense. While all the main games go on sale often, I recommend everyone try S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Anomaly, a free community made mod/game that takes all the areas from the main games and puts them together into a sandbox. The modding community for the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series is incredible, Anomaly especially has insane customization with modding.
@@MsTatakai Vanilla games aren't. Anomaly is, but it is highly customizable, you can basically make it a shooting range (or a hardcore tactical shooter)
Immersive sims are the best! So much freedom and replay value, that’s why they are my favorites! I’d love to see full reviews of Deus Ex specifically since it’s my favorite game series second only to Hitman.
Thief is worth playing for reasons beyond the fact that it’s influential. The way the sound design works with the gameplay still hasn’t been replicated and the atmosphere is extremely thick
One recent Imm Sim in Early Access is Shadows of Doubt. A detective game set in a late 1900s styled dystopia where the president is the Coca-Cola Corporation (or at least in the in-universe equivalent of it.) The cities and cases are randomly generated, but it is certainly an Immersive Sim. As an example, let's go over a common scenario. Getting into an apartment. Why? Not important, there's a variety of reasons you might do so. How can you do it? Well... Standard B&E, lockpick the front door and sneak in. Knock on the door and politely ask if you can come in, possibly with the help of some cash. Pass on subtlety and just bash the door down. Combine the last 2, and bash the door down as the person inside is opening the door, knocking them out. Crawl through an air vent. Just walk right in as they're coming/going and KO anyone who tries to get in your way. Check under the door mat for a spare key? Probably should have tried this earlier... Pickpocket the key from the occupant of the apartment. If they're on the first floor, smash a window and climb in. That one isn't very common though. And far too obvious. Idk you can probably knock, then throw a coin to get them away from the door, to sneak in while they ain't looking? Have yet to try that one honestly. Came up with it while writing this, it'll probably work. And that was only for making your way into one apartment. Nothing to do with solving any cases. Yeah, the door is where most entrances are, but with 99% of homes being above or below ground floor, that's quite the selection still. Best part of the random generation? Watching videos can't really spoil you, because they won't have the same city, people, or cases as you. Well, possibly the first 2 if you both use the default generated city that comes with the game install. But the question of "Who done it?" is still a mystery.
I played Prey 2017 in early 2020, and I'm still amazed by how great that game was. I spent hours immersing myself in that games' lore and exploring the many subtle plot hints hidden throughout the experience. It's a shame the game had issues during its launch because it's Stanley Kubrick style of storytelling was fantastic and I would love to see a sequel.
What issues? One of the main praises of the game at launch was that it was launched at a very polished state when launching bug filled games was the norm. I'd get it if you meant that it didn't really sell all that well due to its genre.
@@sirbruno95 The only issues during launch were from (and I love and owned the OTHER Prey on 360) that it was hated on due to the Bethesda being bitches with the Prey name/ip that had nothing to do with Arkane. And there were long loading screens, but only effecting people with consoles or HDD's at the time. I only have up to 10 sec loading screens for new areas and quickloads are near instant.
@@sirbruno95 The main thing that made the game fly under the radar and semi-killed its launch was, tragically, a 4/10 IGN review by a real POS who didn't keep playing it after running into a bug. The bug had been fixed before the garbage review even released, and before the game released to the public, but the POS reviewer didn't care. People like to go on and on about how they "don't listen to those game review sites," but the truth is that those sites still wield a lot of power when it comes to setting the reputation of a game, unfortunately. Nobody else reviewed it poorly, but that IGN review tanked the metascore and set the tone for the release. IGN should be sued out of business for this kind of thing.
@@sirbruno95 Basically what Yonder said. There was a pretty nasty bug that the IGN reviewer and possibly a handful of players ran into which resulted in save file data being corrupted. While people don't/shouldn't always rely on "critic" reviews, the basic notion that "this game has shipped with a game-breaking bug which corrupts save data and might render it unplayable" made it's rounds online, and really soured the release (+ sales). Like any misleading news story, people saw the initial reaction and not the retraction/correction. I didn't see the IGN review when the game launched but remember hearing through the grapevine that Prey has a potentially game-breaking bug, which turned me off initially.
Here's an important tip for beginners. Don't play immersive sims like you play traditional games. Try to problem solve a bit. And don't use walkthroughs or guides unless you are absolutely stuck. You are going ruin your entire experience.
"Play an immersive sim like you would real life. If you get pissed you die when you run into a room with a pistol against 3 guards with assault rifles and die, you're playing it wrong. When you feel proud you killed all three of them by throwing a trashcan into a landmine, you are playing it right." - Some gamer, probably.
I try to approach every (singleplayer) game in this way as much as I'm able, even when the game wasn't intended that way, and it honestly makes games so much more fun. I really appreciate games that give me super granular settings for things like HUD, damage taken vs given, AI difficulty, objective markers, etc. Some games fight harder than others against this kind of play, CoD for instance just is what it is, but often it adds a lot of enjoyment for me.
that is the best tip of all time. i wasted 20 hours playing "Breath of the Wild" like it was a Far Cry game... until that tip became a reality in my head. i'm trying to play a game as a game, not as a experience.
Cruelty Squad is one of the most memorable experiences I've had playing a "game" in awhile. Touches on interesting ideologies and buries themes deep within the game waiting for you to uncover. The entire game all the way through is 100% worth it to anyone looking for a challenge.
System Shock 2 is amazing. All I did in that game, is boost STR and PSI and only use PSI that made me STONG and HIT HARD I was one hit killing most things, while smashing my face ageist all the big robots that kicked by ass. Great game.
For a good entry level game I would recommend Postal 2. Sure a person can play it as a stereotypical shooting game to just enjoy the humor of it but telling them to play it again but this time go with the other option(s) can really open their mind to the idea of having options in the first place. Unlike most games there is no stats or even permanent choices and if you really wanted you can just explore and do your own thing for a bit. I personally feel it is a good middle ground for some people as it give choices and freedom but without outright being overwhelmed. In my personal experience getting people into the right mindset to understand what the game is even about can be extremely hard. Always upset me when people play say Morrowind then get upset when the main quest is way too hard even though what-his-face outright stated to ignore it for a bit and do your own thing, or even worst they don't even want to try to do their own thing whatsoever and feel like they always need a checklist to follow so they get "bored" and give up on the game completely. For better or for worst I think more simple immersive sims should exist to act as a middle ground, People seem to like to roleplay on Skyrim but once you give them something that objectively have more options they suddenly get scare and run away from it despite the fact it may be literally what they wanted in the first place. Kinda like Smash is to fighting games, people like the idea of X but don't want to put the effort in that normally would be required for it. Honestly in general people have no real clue what they really want until they already have it.
11:36 the gloomwood flare gun is another example of a skill expression item, sure, new players can get some use out of it, it can instakill with the flare bolts, but once you learn all it’s kinks and gimmicks, you’ll find yourself using it to pull off some crazy setups
Immersive sims are essentially “role-playing games”. They are not always “RPGs”, but they are always role-playing games, in that the best way to play the games are by role playing as your character.
They are role playing GAMES. As in, they are first and foremost a game. Some rpgs emphasize role playing through text and stat charts but immersive sims emphasize role play through gameplay.
@@schmecklin377 yeah that's how i look at it too. in an rpg if you're told "there's a cave outside of town with bandits in it" you have the choice of *what* you're going to do about it. you can take the duke's contract to clear them out, maybe try to ally yourself with the bandits if the devs had time to implement that option, ...or of course just ignore the quest entirely because you're playing a pacifist druid who doesn't care about bandits either way. however, at the end of the day if you do go into the cave there's no getting around the fact that there's a chest at the back and if you want to clear it there's at best two ways to get there: the front door or the slightly hidden side path for sneak builds. on the other hand, if this were an immersive sim mission, you're going to that damn cave whether you like it or not. you're not a pacifist druid, you're a character the writers came up with, who has a name, a backstory, and motivations of their own. however, the agency that is taken away from you in terms of *who* you are and *what* you're doing is paid back with many more options for *how* you do it. that part is totally up to you. it's not just a straight shot to the back of the cave, and you don't even necessarily need to "clear" it if you can find a better way to solve the overarching problem.
The funny thing about Arkane doe is all their games are basically just love-letters to already established games. Dishonored was Thief. Prey was System Shock (they even used the term "Looking Glass" for one of the technologies in the game as a nod to the original creators). And Arx Fatalis was Ultima Underworld. Something about imitation being the best form of flattery;.
when that game cyberpunk 2077 was still in development and being advertised, they really heavily marketed it as an immersive sim type game and in my opinion that was the most dissapointing thing about it, i wasnt super duper hyped about it like some people were but i was excited to play because it looked like an immersive sim like no other and i was super disapointed that it was just a generic open world shooter, i didn't even really care about the bugs or anything like that, it was mainly just because they didn't deliver on the immersive sim experience that was promised
I think it was days or weeks before launch, could've been a month, they wiped all of the terms like immersive sim and RPG from their marketing social media accounts and replaced it with the term adventure. What's also disappointing is I think its less than 1% of choices you can make lead to any change in the world or with characters. Gives me a headache
"ive been playing a lot of immersive sims lately" immediately shows EYE divine cybermancy my mans already down the fucking pipeline i started with vampire the masquerade bloodlines
@@ZeRoTVLife The frenchmen at Streum On Studio went on to make warhammer 40k games, like Space Hulk: Deathwing, and Necromunda: Hired Gun. Check those out if you're interested i heard that at least hired gun is cool... heard some mixed reviews about deathwing though.
I've heard rumors of a secret unfound in the sewers of New Eden. I've spent a lot of time in there but I couldn't find anything, I wish I could reach out to more informed players who can use more advanced testing methodology to find out if there is really something in there, beyond just being a way to circumnavigate combat between city blocs.
I haven't fully finished System Shock 2 yet but I'm super close and I love it! I'm definitely going to be buying the remake of the first game and the upcoming 3rd game when they both come out.
Am I the only one who feels like this isn't a genre that actually exists and this is just a way for people to connect together a bunch of games they like?
You make a video introducing immersive sims to people and the first one you cover is the most off-wall, hardcore, and convention challenging one. That takes some balls, respect.
I've played pretty much every imsim, it's my favorite design philosophy/genre. I found that once I ran out of modern ones, I appreciated the old ones so much more. IMHO you should do modern ones first, because if the imsim genre is really your thing, you'll eventually be so desperate for more you'll go back further in time and realize that the older ones actually might actually be the best. Ultima Underworld 1/2 blew my mind (play with ultimahacks for mouse look and such or the controls will make you quit), and System Shock 1 was super fun once I got adjusted. System Shock 2 has been my favorite imsim since I started, Deus Ex is my second favorite and Prey is my third.
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Consortium, it takes a different approach to the Immersive Sim genre by being a murder mystery game. You are essentially a new person on a high-tech airplane crew of around 16 people and your job is to find the murderer of one of your crewmates. From there, all of your choices matter, you have to talk to everyone, get their alibis, cross reference, and it gives you absolutely no clues as to whatever your suspicions are correct, leading to you possibly making bad dialogue decisions that effect the amount of evidence you have to properly solve the mystery. You can lose, and you probably will lose the first time you play it, but exploring the vast amount of options given to you in the next playthrough changes how you approach other's alibis and can open up new ways to view suspicious behaviours that your crewmates are inhibiting that you never noticed before.
2:20 Love the advanced swimming training followed by the gep gun which immediately aggros the security bot in your area, truly optimized Deus Ex gameplay
a good thing about these games is that theres a ton of demos for them on steam- fallen aces, gloomwood, peripeteia, filcher, neon struct, even older titles like arx fatalis, dark messiah and E.Y.E. lots of low risk ways to try out both old and new classics of the genre
My favorite genre, my Xbox One X is literally an Immersive Sim box lol. Prey, Bioshock trilogy, Dishonored Trilogy, Human Revolution, Mankind Divided. Great vid, you got a sub out of me. Keep it up.
I'm legit in my first run of Prey 2017 and would have been severely let down if it wasnt on the list. It's the perfect un-sequel to System Shock 2 (untill 3 comes out) and probs my second fav Immersive Sim next to the OG Deus Ex.
My first PC game, fps on pc and immersive sim was postal 2. You can wait in line to pay the milk $10? of you can cut the line? or steal the milk and kill the owner? or take the "do not enter" door and find out that it's secretly a taliban hideout? So many choices!
I HIGHLY recommend dishonored, and would say it's also an immersive sim. Choices you make change the game in future levels, and you find something new each time you play. I've played it through like seven times
Considering how Square Enix now owns Deus Ex and the Deus Ex team was going to make their own Final Fantasy game, I would really love to see a Final Fantasy immersive sim spinoff. Just being a one-man army that can change Jobs outside of battle just like in FF3 and FF5, or something similar to the Zodiac Job System from the HD remaster of FF12 and the Sphere Grid from FF10 with tons of options in emergent gameplay. I have been thinking about the potential of an FF-inspired total conversion mod for Deus Ex 1. They could call it Final Fantasy Deus or something, or even make it a mainline Final Fantasy game. On the other hand, I would also think that Marvel's Avengers should've been a retro-styled Action-RPG akin to the Mana games instead of the looter RPG-as-service it became.
DX's default keys are the ones that tell you it wants to rely on the RPG side, that is why scope, laser and reload are so far away from wasd keys. Once I played with the default ones and the constant/annoying search for the reload key brought me a pistolero vibe I will never forget.
In my opinion, many of the janks in Deus Ex give a whole new angle of experience. I have actually used some of the janks to to form a whole new plan and it worked. It was very tricky but it worked.
There are so many good starting points depending on tastes, so here's a rundown of some not (fully) covered here. *System Shock 1* : Initially slow and atmospheric 3D "Metroidvania" that gets pretty fast once you can skate around at 20 MPH. *System Shock 2* : Adds RPG elements and trades literal puzzles for more interactivity and real problem solving. Graphical mods help. *Arx Fatalis* : Ultima Underworld inspired, fantasy RPG dungeon crawler take of the System Shocks. Arx Libertatis mod is a godsend. *Dark Messiah of Might & Magic* : Combat-oriented Arx Fatalis with a lot of heart and even more jank. *Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines* : Buggy PnP RPG take on the genre. Broken without the GoG version and mods. *Thief 1 & 2* : Invented true light-based stealth mechanics. Mission based game with tons of ways to do most missions. GoG or bust. *S.T.A.L.K.E.R.* : Fallout but far more sim elements, some horror elements, and far fewer PnP RPG elements. *Dread Delusion* : Open world eldritch fantasy RPG inspired by classic Elder Scrolls, Shadow Tower, and so much more. Early Access. Also check out the free demo for *Monomyth* on Steam. It's an upcoming game inspired by Arx Fatalis and King's Field
I think a big reason people don't try the immersive sim games is their name, immersive sim makes me think of strategy games or the sims even though I actually love the immersive sim genre
16:20 Prey absolutely did 11:59 i grabbed this idea pretty much at the start of the game for if you remember at the very spot you pick gloo gun in neuromod division,on your left is very alike "staircase" already built,so even if i skipped the stun gun in the Sim labs few metres of "your apartment",due to a gloo bridge i made up just a few steps out of already built i was able to grab the stun gun in the second earliest location you could have get the gun
Seeing this video helped put a name to a genre I've been playing since childhood. E.y.e divine cybermancy was my first game that really showed me the potential of games as a medium, so many creative ways to approach missions and conversations! Then it just snowballed from there, I became a huge thief, Deus ex, S.t.a.l.k.e.r, etc
Prey does have the Immersive Sim tag, you just have to click on the little plus to see all the tags. Also these are user-defined tags, the developers/publishers have nothing to do with them.
Ahh yes, MGS3, the game where if you kill a guard, let the vultures eat that guard, just to kill the vulture to eat the vulture, just to get reminded during the Sorrow 'fight' from a goast "You ate me!!" Absolutely amazing. Or how you can literally kill one of the bosses of the in under a second if you have a sniper rifle and quick with aiming. To the point where it was designed that way.
I recently just started playing CP2077 and was thinking of how it can turn into a better game through modding. Your vid popped up and everything clicked. I realize I'm just obsessed with Immersive Sims.
I've tried to get into Cruelty Squad twice, but never saw the appeal. This has me tempted to try again with the new mindset of problem solving, and not just treating it like another shooter
for everyone here that is a Fallout fan or a general enjoyer of Fallout. THIS is what you want. not an RPG. RPGs now are more along the lines of Soulsborne games and DnD. Immersive is what you guys are looking for.
Nice video. I completed Prey (2017) very early this year, and it took me 56 hours of gameplay to get most trophies in one swoop. It's kinda like a much more expansive BioShock.
3:45 Oh lord, you showed like half a second of Trauma Loop, and fittingly, gave me traumatic flashbacks to playing that damn level. It felt like I was being punished for wanting to 100% the game lmao
I remember having to play the first two missions of EYE about 8 times over before I got it. Thats when it hit me that immersive sims are...what they are. Great game btw, eye.
I'm currently going though Vampire Bloodlines at the moment. I like the environments more than the game, but I do like it so far. I also recently went back to System Shock 2, fun game but goes on a bit too long.
One of the greatest things about playing games like System Shock 2 and Deus Ex when they came out was that there was nothing like them and while they were obviously different from UT and CS we still just called them shooters. The whole immersive sim thing just makes them sound sterile.
Postal 2 is still the only game where you can not kill a single person (monsters/demons/zombies/taz cats aside) and it's a completely different experience from it's "kill on sight" way of playing it. I still will never forget the mom who tried to used Postal 2 as a "see videogames are violent" and one of the devs pointed out "The game is only as fucked up as you play it, lady. No one told you to kill that marching band, that's on you."
If you want to modernize the original DX a little bit, I recommend the GMDX mod. There are a few versions out there, but personally I feel RSD beta 2.1 is the version to go with.
@Mister Majestic Revision is alright, I like some of the extra detail they put into some levels, its unreal engine cuteness. Its kinda nice seeing old ass engines being pushed to the max.
Thank you for an excellent video. As an avid player of the original Deus Ex from 2000, it was enjoyable to watch. For the past 4 playthroughs I've done over they years, I've used Totalitarians mod, Give Me Deus Ex which I highly recommend. It fixes many bugs but overhauls and rationalises so many areas of the game from skills to maps without impacting in any way on the story and essence of the game. It's simply incredible. I would pay good money to see Warren Spector come back and make another genre blurring game like this. Kudos for playing so much of the Dues Ex music throughout the video.
10:10 I would say that this is because the publisher/developer didn't want the game to be related to the immersive sim as much as possible, as pat from castle super beast put it best about Deathloop in the recent 133 podcast "Immersive sims sell like shit" it makes sense to try and separate it as much as possbile even though its basically lying.
I replayed all bioshock games recently and it was awesome. I havent played an emmersive sim in quite a wile... and i was trying to explain a friend of mine why i was enjoying it so much... i couldnt, but im going to send him this video.
Of course youtube recommends me things just when I think about them. I've been fascinated by the idea of imsims for some time now. My only problem is I have no idea where to start!
One game of the genre that I don't think gets enough notice is P.A.M.E.L.A. It's far from polished, and there's not gonna be anymore patches coming anytime soon due to finance issues, but the beauty and ambition is through the roof in many areas. I'm just gonna list most, if not all, of the gameplay mechanics in this FPS open world survival immersive sim. You have power management, armor, utilities, power sources, crafting, base building, farming, sleep, thirst, hunger, equipment upgrading, equipment and armor repairing, normal skill upgrades, genetic modifications, respawn location unlocks, PAMELA AI ability unlocks and upgrades. And this isn't including the layers in combat, such as shields, ranged and melee weapons both with alternative modes, and so on. The devs definitely bit off more than they could chew, but I still really appreciate the game. The only real problem outside of bugs, is the way the story is designed, being rather short and full of fetch quests, with two random boss fights.
I loved Prey 2017. I used to be a hardcore gamer but nowadays I only play fighting games maybe and Apex Legends. But Prey, I really liked that game. Something about it. Might re-install to play again, as there are a lot of ways to play it.
I had the exact same problem with Prey. I glossed over it because the first hour was really boring. But I recently gave it another try because i needed to scratch my ImSim itch. Currently loving the game!
I'm missing Fallout here, but yeah. Played System Shock 2 dozen of times, Deus Ex, Prey etc.. Just so much fun, gameplay, story for a few bucks. Love it.
I remember this huge info wave about immersive sim dying as a genre because they are too expensive to make and the public don't really buy them because they are hard (it was after pray and DX:MD). And I am so glad that people are getting into them again and new indie projects are getting into the spotlight (cruelty squad, peripeteia, core decay, graven, gloomwood)
Dude, I am dying for Gloomwood to come out. I don't think I've ever been truly hyped for a game before this
I appreciate this list. I looked up a few of the games you mentioned and found new titles to anticipate
The genre was so underground, that the OG games were being accused of ripping off games that were directly influenced by those OG games. DE:HR was under fire by Mass Effect fans is an example. It's a genre way ahead of it's time that it makes sense why everyone thought Cyberpunk 2077 was a new concept in the corporate world of marketing.
Prey was kind of poorly marketed. I only ever played the demo for the original game, but it just seemed to be a trippy FPS. I don't think the new one has anything to do with the old one at all. From what I remember they just marketed it as a semi-horror FPS which people weren't real interested in.
DXMD was a big step down in quality from HR which had a pretty shit ending. It was buggy, didn't run very well, the level designs weren't as good, the story was too on the nose about "not racism," etc. The best part about the game was Prague, and really only the bank. There was a lot of exploring to do in Prague, but most of it didn't mean anything and the bank was the only challenge.
@@HellShredder713 Huh. I don't really see how they're very similar, after all DE is a good game, but at least ME didn't have the trademarked Piss Filter.
I liked how in Prey if you needed to find a person you can just look it up on a security terminal and have their security tag marked as an objective. The terminals were usually locked away so you have to earn the privilege.
This was great for immersion but also made clearing up side content easier or roleplaying as Morgan trying to save everyone. The game would also use this to throw a curveball now and then, like the body with the tag not being the same person or finding the tag but no body or finding a grisly scene. This allowed players to be introduce to side content they otherwise have missed or overlooked.
This mechanic spoiled a side quest twist for me, the one with the cook being a prisoner on the run) Literally figured it out even before meeting him just because i like marking people on terminals
@@glibchubik4090 Yeah I was like
Let's check out this guy's security profile.
Wait why's he dead?
Dead in the freezer..
uh oh
UH OH
@@glibchubik4090 ahhaa I think that detail would have made it even more special, also when the cook was speaking the portrait on the HUD was different than the real guy, when I listened to the audio recording I though it was a mistake so didnt mind it all ahaha... didnt know Prey was a masterpiece back then
I never used it, got into other side quests and completely forgot about that option
just a tip for n00bs in regards to checking out the og imsims, dont be shy to find the "best" mod for you to have a less jank experience. Deus Ex's GDMX and System Shock 2's modpack on neural x2 are fantastic and definitely worth checking out today. As for stalker, I believe the most vanilla friendly nowadays is ZRP but not sure haven't seen what the community's been cookin up nowadays. cheers yall
My old pc won’t even start deus ex without some mods, something to do with the nvidia 1070.
if you want vanilla stalker, play vanilla lol, it's really not that buggy
Also if anyone is turned off by having to learn fairly complex character building systems then look up some optimal builds so you can focus on enjoying the story and gameplay without FOMO or having to worry about ending up in a dead build-wise
Vanilla stalker is just empty and lacking in many areas, but for an "enhanced vanilla" in the realm of GMDX use Memories of the Zone or just use OGSR.
@@Turahk not buggy true, but kinda janky at times. But tbh this applies for the most part to Clear Sky, Shadow of Chernobyl is passable if you tolerate the gunplay and Call of Pripyat is perfectly playable even for today´s standards, and it has the Gunslinger mod which is legit just a vanilla weapons+ pack
Cruelty Squad literally took over my life for a week, until I figured out stock market manipulation and became overpowered. I wish I could wipe my brain and play it again for the first time
Same, I unintentionally ruined the game for myself when I got super ultra rich and could jsut buy whatever I wanted
I'll make sure to try an ignore that
I really want to give the game a try, but it's gaudy use of flashing lights and strobe effects really puts me off from playing it.
Same for me with stalker anomaly and debug mode ...I have to force myself not to use it
@@KingKrouch sure that there'll be a mod for that soon ( maybe black an white or a retexture mod )
As a full-blown immersive simp, I love this genre
@Shinshocks you'll be havin more sons in music like joe jackson
~Mikill Pane
IM SIM Simp
You didn't really mention it here, but I'd highly recommend people try the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series too if they haven't. While it's not purely an immersive sim, the series has some of my favorite moments in all of gaming without any of it being scripted. The world is incredibly immersive and the gameplay can get incredibly tense. While all the main games go on sale often, I recommend everyone try S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Anomaly, a free community made mod/game that takes all the areas from the main games and puts them together into a sandbox. The modding community for the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series is incredible, Anomaly especially has insane customization with modding.
and its super hard
I play stalker every day. Usually I'm so good at it tho, they just don't even notice me following them around
@@DakinRinone but when they notice you, you get aimbotted
@@MsTatakai Vanilla games aren't. Anomaly is, but it is highly customizable, you can basically make it a shooting range (or a hardcore tactical shooter)
@@glibchubik4090 ohh ok... didn't knew that... i thought vanilla was like that too
Immersive sims are the best! So much freedom and replay value, that’s why they are my favorites! I’d love to see full reviews of Deus Ex specifically since it’s my favorite game series second only to Hitman.
TotalBiscuit's video on it still holds up all these years later.
Thief is worth playing for reasons beyond the fact that it’s influential. The way the sound design works with the gameplay still hasn’t been replicated and the atmosphere is extremely thick
Thief the Dark Project is still the best fantasy game ever.
@@spearPYN agree I love the world in thief the dark project
Best sound in a game ever, it really is embarassing how most modern games fail to meet even moderate standards, let alone equal Thief.
One recent Imm Sim in Early Access is Shadows of Doubt. A detective game set in a late 1900s styled dystopia where the president is the Coca-Cola Corporation (or at least in the in-universe equivalent of it.) The cities and cases are randomly generated, but it is certainly an Immersive Sim. As an example, let's go over a common scenario. Getting into an apartment. Why? Not important, there's a variety of reasons you might do so. How can you do it? Well...
Standard B&E, lockpick the front door and sneak in.
Knock on the door and politely ask if you can come in, possibly with the help of some cash.
Pass on subtlety and just bash the door down.
Combine the last 2, and bash the door down as the person inside is opening the door, knocking them out.
Crawl through an air vent.
Just walk right in as they're coming/going and KO anyone who tries to get in your way.
Check under the door mat for a spare key? Probably should have tried this earlier...
Pickpocket the key from the occupant of the apartment.
If they're on the first floor, smash a window and climb in. That one isn't very common though. And far too obvious.
Idk you can probably knock, then throw a coin to get them away from the door, to sneak in while they ain't looking? Have yet to try that one honestly. Came up with it while writing this, it'll probably work.
And that was only for making your way into one apartment. Nothing to do with solving any cases. Yeah, the door is where most entrances are, but with 99% of homes being above or below ground floor, that's quite the selection still. Best part of the random generation? Watching videos can't really spoil you, because they won't have the same city, people, or cases as you. Well, possibly the first 2 if you both use the default generated city that comes with the game install. But the question of "Who done it?" is still a mystery.
I played Prey 2017 in early 2020, and I'm still amazed by how great that game was. I spent hours immersing myself in that games' lore and exploring the many subtle plot hints hidden throughout the experience. It's a shame the game had issues during its launch because it's Stanley Kubrick style of storytelling was fantastic and I would love to see a sequel.
What issues? One of the main praises of the game at launch was that it was launched at a very polished state when launching bug filled games was the norm. I'd get it if you meant that it didn't really sell all that well due to its genre.
@@sirbruno95 The only issues during launch were from (and I love and owned the OTHER Prey on 360) that it was hated on due to the Bethesda being bitches with the Prey name/ip that had nothing to do with Arkane.
And there were long loading screens, but only effecting people with consoles or HDD's at the time. I only have up to 10 sec loading screens for new areas and quickloads are near instant.
@@sirbruno95 The main thing that made the game fly under the radar and semi-killed its launch was, tragically, a 4/10 IGN review by a real POS who didn't keep playing it after running into a bug. The bug had been fixed before the garbage review even released, and before the game released to the public, but the POS reviewer didn't care.
People like to go on and on about how they "don't listen to those game review sites," but the truth is that those sites still wield a lot of power when it comes to setting the reputation of a game, unfortunately.
Nobody else reviewed it poorly, but that IGN review tanked the metascore and set the tone for the release. IGN should be sued out of business for this kind of thing.
@@sirbruno95 Basically what Yonder said. There was a pretty nasty bug that the IGN reviewer and possibly a handful of players ran into which resulted in save file data being corrupted. While people don't/shouldn't always rely on "critic" reviews, the basic notion that "this game has shipped with a game-breaking bug which corrupts save data and might render it unplayable" made it's rounds online, and really soured the release (+ sales).
Like any misleading news story, people saw the initial reaction and not the retraction/correction. I didn't see the IGN review when the game launched but remember hearing through the grapevine that Prey has a potentially game-breaking bug, which turned me off initially.
Here's an important tip for beginners. Don't play immersive sims like you play traditional games. Try to problem solve a bit. And don't use walkthroughs or guides unless you are absolutely stuck. You are going ruin your entire experience.
"Play an immersive sim like you would real life. If you get pissed you die when you run into a room with a pistol against 3 guards with assault rifles and die, you're playing it wrong. When you feel proud you killed all three of them by throwing a trashcan into a landmine, you are playing it right." - Some gamer, probably.
Got it
I try to approach every (singleplayer) game in this way as much as I'm able, even when the game wasn't intended that way, and it honestly makes games so much more fun. I really appreciate games that give me super granular settings for things like HUD, damage taken vs given, AI difficulty, objective markers, etc. Some games fight harder than others against this kind of play, CoD for instance just is what it is, but often it adds a lot of enjoyment for me.
that is the best tip of all time.
i wasted 20 hours playing "Breath of the Wild" like it was a Far Cry game... until that tip became a reality in my head.
i'm trying to play a game as a game, not as a experience.
There was a time when we didn't really get "walk throughs"...
Cruelty Squad is one of the most memorable experiences I've had playing a "game" in awhile. Touches on interesting ideologies and buries themes deep within the game waiting for you to uncover. The entire game all the way through is 100% worth it to anyone looking for a challenge.
System Shock 2 is amazing. All I did in that game, is boost STR and PSI and only use PSI that made me STONG and HIT HARD
I was one hit killing most things, while smashing my face ageist all the big robots that kicked by ass.
Great game.
Prey is so damn underrated. Such an incredibly immersive game.
For a good entry level game I would recommend Postal 2. Sure a person can play it as a stereotypical shooting game to just enjoy the humor of it but telling them to play it again but this time go with the other option(s) can really open their mind to the idea of having options in the first place. Unlike most games there is no stats or even permanent choices and if you really wanted you can just explore and do your own thing for a bit. I personally feel it is a good middle ground for some people as it give choices and freedom but without outright being overwhelmed. In my personal experience getting people into the right mindset to understand what the game is even about can be extremely hard. Always upset me when people play say Morrowind then get upset when the main quest is way too hard even though what-his-face outright stated to ignore it for a bit and do your own thing, or even worst they don't even want to try to do their own thing whatsoever and feel like they always need a checklist to follow so they get "bored" and give up on the game completely. For better or for worst I think more simple immersive sims should exist to act as a middle ground, People seem to like to roleplay on Skyrim but once you give them something that objectively have more options they suddenly get scare and run away from it despite the fact it may be literally what they wanted in the first place. Kinda like Smash is to fighting games, people like the idea of X but don't want to put the effort in that normally would be required for it. Honestly in general people have no real clue what they really want until they already have it.
11:36 the gloomwood flare gun is another example of a skill expression item, sure, new players can get some use out of it, it can instakill with the flare bolts, but once you learn all it’s kinks and gimmicks, you’ll find yourself using it to pull off some crazy setups
Immersive sims are essentially “role-playing games”. They are not always “RPGs”, but they are always role-playing games, in that the best way to play the games are by role playing as your character.
Yes, they are more like RPGs than almost all CRPGs.
They are role playing GAMES. As in, they are first and foremost a game. Some rpgs emphasize role playing through text and stat charts but immersive sims emphasize role play through gameplay.
@@schmecklin377 yeah that's how i look at it too. in an rpg if you're told "there's a cave outside of town with bandits in it" you have the choice of *what* you're going to do about it. you can take the duke's contract to clear them out, maybe try to ally yourself with the bandits if the devs had time to implement that option, ...or of course just ignore the quest entirely because you're playing a pacifist druid who doesn't care about bandits either way. however, at the end of the day if you do go into the cave there's no getting around the fact that there's a chest at the back and if you want to clear it there's at best two ways to get there: the front door or the slightly hidden side path for sneak builds.
on the other hand, if this were an immersive sim mission, you're going to that damn cave whether you like it or not. you're not a pacifist druid, you're a character the writers came up with, who has a name, a backstory, and motivations of their own. however, the agency that is taken away from you in terms of *who* you are and *what* you're doing is paid back with many more options for *how* you do it. that part is totally up to you. it's not just a straight shot to the back of the cave, and you don't even necessarily need to "clear" it if you can find a better way to solve the overarching problem.
The dishonored series is my 3rd favorite game/series ever, I love the replayability. Really anything by arkane is wonderful
The funny thing about Arkane doe is all their games are basically just love-letters to already established games.
Dishonored was Thief.
Prey was System Shock (they even used the term "Looking Glass" for one of the technologies in the game as a nod to the original creators).
And Arx Fatalis was Ultima Underworld.
Something about imitation being the best form of flattery;.
@@zigfaust and deathloop was... Uh... Uhm...
Self-aggrandizing, since it’s inspiration was it’s own IP lol…
Idk what it is about old jank games but they have this weird charm to them that I love
Atmosphere
when that game cyberpunk 2077 was still in development and being advertised, they really heavily marketed it as an immersive sim type game and in my opinion that was the most dissapointing thing about it, i wasnt super duper hyped about it like some people were but i was excited to play because it looked like an immersive sim like no other and i was super disapointed that it was just a generic open world shooter, i didn't even really care about the bugs or anything like that, it was mainly just because they didn't deliver on the immersive sim experience that was promised
I think it was days or weeks before launch, could've been a month, they wiped all of the terms like immersive sim and RPG from their marketing social media accounts and replaced it with the term adventure. What's also disappointing is I think its less than 1% of choices you can make lead to any change in the world or with characters. Gives me a headache
so many commutes, so little time
"ive been playing a lot of immersive sims lately"
immediately shows EYE divine cybermancy
my mans already down the fucking pipeline
i started with vampire the masquerade bloodlines
Oh God am I in love with EYE, the single most amazing fucking thing I've ever played. Too bad its not supported anymore.
@@ZeRoTVLife The frenchmen at Streum On Studio went on to make warhammer 40k games, like Space Hulk: Deathwing, and Necromunda: Hired Gun. Check those out if you're interested i heard that at least hired gun is cool... heard some mixed reviews about deathwing though.
I've heard rumors of a secret unfound in the sewers of New Eden. I've spent a lot of time in there but I couldn't find anything, I wish I could reach out to more informed players who can use more advanced testing methodology to find out if there is really something in there, beyond just being a way to circumnavigate combat between city blocs.
I haven't fully finished System Shock 2 yet but I'm super close and I love it! I'm definitely going to be buying the remake of the first game and the upcoming 3rd game when they both come out.
Am I the only one who feels like this isn't a genre that actually exists and this is just a way for people to connect together a bunch of games they like?
Did you also come here after Razorfist's video?
@@atomicpunch1990 Nope
This is how all genres work.
holy crap peripeteia looks so cool, im glad i found this video, looking at its inspirations i can see its very much up my alley
You make a video introducing immersive sims to people and the first one you cover is the most off-wall, hardcore, and convention challenging one.
That takes some balls, respect.
I've played pretty much every imsim, it's my favorite design philosophy/genre. I found that once I ran out of modern ones, I appreciated the old ones so much more. IMHO you should do modern ones first, because if the imsim genre is really your thing, you'll eventually be so desperate for more you'll go back further in time and realize that the older ones actually might actually be the best. Ultima Underworld 1/2 blew my mind (play with ultimahacks for mouse look and such or the controls will make you quit), and System Shock 1 was super fun once I got adjusted. System Shock 2 has been my favorite imsim since I started, Deus Ex is my second favorite and Prey is my third.
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Consortium, it takes a different approach to the Immersive Sim genre by being a murder mystery game. You are essentially a new person on a high-tech airplane crew of around 16 people and your job is to find the murderer of one of your crewmates. From there, all of your choices matter, you have to talk to everyone, get their alibis, cross reference, and it gives you absolutely no clues as to whatever your suspicions are correct, leading to you possibly making bad dialogue decisions that effect the amount of evidence you have to properly solve the mystery. You can lose, and you probably will lose the first time you play it, but exploring the vast amount of options given to you in the next playthrough changes how you approach other's alibis and can open up new ways to view suspicious behaviours that your crewmates are inhibiting that you never noticed before.
Pat having to yell at chat over not knowing the term "immersive sim" caused me to take spiritual damage.
He's yelling at Twitch chat, they don't play games they watch others play them instead.
Came to this channel because of yughio stayed for reviews. Still waiting for Yakuza 2 but I can wait so no need to rush.
I also never knew Prey was an immersive sim, I started playing it last night 🤩
2:20
Love the advanced swimming training followed by the gep gun which immediately aggros the security bot in your area, truly optimized Deus Ex gameplay
2:13 You madman, you absolute insanophile! You specced into SWIMMING.
a good thing about these games is that theres a ton of demos for them on steam- fallen aces, gloomwood, peripeteia, filcher, neon struct, even older titles like arx fatalis, dark messiah and E.Y.E. lots of low risk ways to try out both old and new classics of the genre
Vampire the Masquerade: bloodlines is one my favourite immersive sims.
My favorite genre, my Xbox One X is literally an Immersive Sim box lol. Prey, Bioshock trilogy, Dishonored Trilogy, Human Revolution, Mankind Divided. Great vid, you got a sub out of me. Keep it up.
I'm legit in my first run of Prey 2017 and would have been severely let down if it wasnt on the list.
It's the perfect un-sequel to System Shock 2 (untill 3 comes out) and probs my second fav Immersive Sim next to the OG Deus Ex.
Dishonored is a pretty great intro to imsims imho, recommend it to anyone looking to get in on the genre.
Watching this in 2023 and hearing him be optimistic about Peripeteia releasing in 2022 is fun
My first PC game, fps on pc and immersive sim was postal 2.
You can wait in line to pay the milk $10? of you can cut the line? or steal the milk and kill the owner? or take the "do not enter" door and find out that it's secretly a taliban hideout? So many choices!
Instant sub for the E.Y.E. Divine Cybermancy thumbnail
I HIGHLY recommend dishonored, and would say it's also an immersive sim. Choices you make change the game in future levels, and you find something new each time you play. I've played it through like seven times
dishonored is a gateway drug into immersive sims lmao
Considering how Square Enix now owns Deus Ex and the Deus Ex team was going to make their own Final Fantasy game, I would really love to see a Final Fantasy immersive sim spinoff.
Just being a one-man army that can change Jobs outside of battle just like in FF3 and FF5, or something similar to the Zodiac Job System from the HD remaster of FF12 and the Sphere Grid from FF10 with tons of options in emergent gameplay.
I have been thinking about the potential of an FF-inspired total conversion mod for Deus Ex 1.
They could call it Final Fantasy Deus or something, or even make it a mainline Final Fantasy game.
On the other hand, I would also think that Marvel's Avengers should've been a retro-styled Action-RPG akin to the Mana games instead of the looter RPG-as-service it became.
You actually don't need to finish levels to keep mods in CS. That's only the case with guns.
DX's default keys are the ones that tell you it wants to rely on the RPG side, that is why scope, laser and reload are so far away from wasd keys. Once I played with the default ones and the constant/annoying search for the reload key brought me a pistolero vibe I will never forget.
"I've been playing a lot of immersive sims lately"
So I'm not the only one, huh...
This is literally the first time I’ve heard about Prey being an immersive sim. I am going to check it out.
Hey how was it??? Lol
@morguewalker11 guess they don't enjoy prey
@@HandyDandy6 nah I played it and loved it!
In my opinion, many of the janks in Deus Ex give a whole new angle of experience. I have actually used some of the janks to to form a whole new plan and it worked. It was very tricky but it worked.
There are so many good starting points depending on tastes, so here's a rundown of some not (fully) covered here.
*System Shock 1* : Initially slow and atmospheric 3D "Metroidvania" that gets pretty fast once you can skate around at 20 MPH.
*System Shock 2* : Adds RPG elements and trades literal puzzles for more interactivity and real problem solving. Graphical mods help.
*Arx Fatalis* : Ultima Underworld inspired, fantasy RPG dungeon crawler take of the System Shocks. Arx Libertatis mod is a godsend.
*Dark Messiah of Might & Magic* : Combat-oriented Arx Fatalis with a lot of heart and even more jank.
*Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines* : Buggy PnP RPG take on the genre. Broken without the GoG version and mods.
*Thief 1 & 2* : Invented true light-based stealth mechanics. Mission based game with tons of ways to do most missions. GoG or bust.
*S.T.A.L.K.E.R.* : Fallout but far more sim elements, some horror elements, and far fewer PnP RPG elements.
*Dread Delusion* : Open world eldritch fantasy RPG inspired by classic Elder Scrolls, Shadow Tower, and so much more. Early Access.
Also check out the free demo for *Monomyth* on Steam. It's an upcoming game inspired by Arx Fatalis and King's Field
Stalker either gives you 500 ways to complete a mission or 1 depending on how it feels. Love that series
you just made love these games even more than i used to do
Prey is such an underrated game due to poor marketing and it has one of the most worthwhile/best dlcs I have ever played.
Cruelty Squad is one of those games that I really dig the idea of but absolutely hate the visual aesthetic.
you'll get used to it. its honestly not that bad. i honestly really enjoy just how absurd it is.
Same, i wanna play but im too put off by the looks of it
@@Hates-handle Your supposed to be.
I feel the same about 2017 Prey
The visual aesthetic is what makes the game, It's part of the experience.
I think a big reason people don't try the immersive sim games is their name, immersive sim makes me think of strategy games or the sims even though I actually love the immersive sim genre
16:20 Prey absolutely did
11:59 i grabbed this idea pretty much at the start of the game for if you remember at the very spot you pick gloo gun in neuromod division,on your left is very alike "staircase" already built,so even if i skipped the stun gun in the Sim labs few metres of "your apartment",due to a gloo bridge i made up just a few steps out of already built i was able to grab the stun gun in the second earliest location you could have get the gun
Loved to see a System Shock 2 video one of my all-time favorite games.
Seeing this video helped put a name to a genre I've been playing since childhood. E.y.e divine cybermancy was my first game that really showed me the potential of games as a medium, so many creative ways to approach missions and conversations! Then it just snowballed from there, I became a huge thief, Deus ex, S.t.a.l.k.e.r, etc
2:15 Why did you spent points on swimming?!
Prey does have the Immersive Sim tag, you just have to click on the little plus to see all the tags. Also these are user-defined tags, the developers/publishers have nothing to do with them.
This is probably what pat said "Immersive sims sell like shit" publishers don't market them as their own defined genre to increase sales.
Ahh yes, MGS3, the game where if you kill a guard, let the vultures eat that guard, just to kill the vulture to eat the vulture, just to get reminded during the Sorrow 'fight' from a goast "You ate me!!"
Absolutely amazing.
Or how you can literally kill one of the bosses of the in under a second if you have a sniper rifle and quick with aiming. To the point where it was designed that way.
I recently just started playing CP2077 and was thinking of how it can turn into a better game through modding. Your vid popped up and everything clicked. I realize I'm just obsessed with Immersive Sims.
You can turn CP2077 into an immersive sim by playing a stealth build on maximum difficulty.
I've tried to get into Cruelty Squad twice, but never saw the appeal. This has me tempted to try again with the new mindset of problem solving, and not just treating it like another shooter
Glad to see him back
I completely agree. Immersive sims are the BEST genre for sure! Underrated
for everyone here that is a Fallout fan or a general enjoyer of Fallout. THIS is what you want. not an RPG. RPGs now are more along the lines of Soulsborne games and DnD. Immersive is what you guys are looking for.
Aye, a Mister Meaty callout!
Never thought I'd see it happen, but it's pretty good surprise.
literally jusut bought all of the Deux Ex in Steam just because of this video, nice vid
Nice video. I completed Prey (2017) very early this year, and it took me 56 hours of gameplay to get most trophies in one swoop. It's kinda like a much more expansive BioShock.
I sure love seeing people acknowledge EYE, and ImSims in general.
Excited to hear your thoughts on Deathloop
Great video, definitely earned the sub.
You should check out Gloomwood, the demo is absolutely fantastic!
God, cruelty squad's main menu music is so good.
3:45 Oh lord, you showed like half a second of Trauma Loop, and fittingly, gave me traumatic flashbacks to playing that damn level. It felt like I was being punished for wanting to 100% the game lmao
I remember having to play the first two missions of EYE about 8 times over before I got it. Thats when it hit me that immersive sims are...what they are. Great game btw, eye.
It wasnt until this video that I realized I love Cruelty Squad and Prey for similar reasons. Damn, guess its time to delve deeper into this genre.
Prey 2017 is such a sleeper hit. one of favs in recent years
I've played the first four Hitman games and E.Y.E. and I can say I'm definitely hooked on the Immersive Sim genre.
5:12 you can also stack up the two boxes that are in front of your spawn point to jump over the door
I'm currently going though Vampire Bloodlines at the moment. I like the environments more than the game, but I do like it so far. I also recently went back to System Shock 2, fun game but goes on a bit too long.
hope this channel picks up in the algorithm. Great Video!
2:13 DID YOU PUT SKILL POINTS INTO GODDAMN SWIMMING?!?
One of the greatest things about playing games like System Shock 2 and Deus Ex when they came out was that there was nothing like them and while they were obviously different from UT and CS we still just called them shooters. The whole immersive sim thing just makes them sound sterile.
I think more widely understandable names for them are Action RPGs or FPS/RPG Hybrids
@@MerkhVision yeah we’d say it’s an FPS with role playing stuff lol. It was just that simple.
Holy shit a game inspired by Neotokyo?!! I think the jank is an hommage
Dishonored 1 and 2 also deserve a mention here, I think.
haven't played dishonored 2 yet. Hoping to get to through them sometime soon
And you should play Shadows of Doubt. It‘s in early access but i can highly recommend it. It‘s a very unique immersive sim.
Postal 2 is an immersive sim. It doesn't have a skill tree or conversations though.
Postal 2 is still the only game where you can not kill a single person (monsters/demons/zombies/taz cats aside) and it's a completely different experience from it's "kill on sight" way of playing it.
I still will never forget the mom who tried to used Postal 2 as a "see videogames are violent" and one of the devs pointed out "The game is only as fucked up as you play it, lady. No one told you to kill that marching band, that's on you."
If you want to modernize the original DX a little bit, I recommend the GMDX mod. There are a few versions out there, but personally I feel RSD beta 2.1 is the version to go with.
@Mister Majestic Revision is alright, I like some of the extra detail they put into some levels, its unreal engine cuteness. Its kinda nice seeing old ass engines being pushed to the max.
@Mister Majestic how is gdmx a mess. Once I start playing with the mod, the base game with no mod feel worse to play.
great video. I'm a huge imm sim fan. especially deus ex MD. but loovee the genre
Thank you for an excellent video. As an avid player of the original Deus Ex from 2000, it was enjoyable to watch. For the past 4 playthroughs I've done over they years, I've used Totalitarians mod, Give Me Deus Ex which I highly recommend. It fixes many bugs but overhauls and rationalises so many areas of the game from skills to maps without impacting in any way on the story and essence of the game. It's simply incredible. I would pay good money to see Warren Spector come back and make another genre blurring game like this. Kudos for playing so much of the Dues Ex music throughout the video.
didn't know this genre existed but been a fan for years
10:10 I would say that this is because the publisher/developer didn't want the game to be related to the immersive sim as much as possible, as pat from castle super beast put it best about Deathloop in the recent 133 podcast "Immersive sims sell like shit" it makes sense to try and separate it as much as possbile even though its basically lying.
I replayed all bioshock games recently and it was awesome. I havent played an emmersive sim in quite a wile... and i was trying to explain a friend of mine why i was enjoying it so much... i couldnt, but im going to send him this video.
I always try to see the humor in playing a super modded agent who can take on an army only to fall off a ladder and die
Of course youtube recommends me things just when I think about them. I've been fascinated by the idea of imsims for some time now. My only problem is I have no idea where to start!
System Shock 1 most terrifying game ive played
6:03 gave me the biggest whiplash ever😂😂
you are finally back 😍😍 been a long 2 months 🥲
One game of the genre that I don't think gets enough notice is P.A.M.E.L.A.
It's far from polished, and there's not gonna be anymore patches coming anytime soon due to finance issues, but the beauty and ambition is through the roof in many areas.
I'm just gonna list most, if not all, of the gameplay mechanics in this FPS open world survival immersive sim.
You have power management, armor, utilities, power sources, crafting, base building, farming, sleep, thirst, hunger, equipment upgrading, equipment and armor repairing, normal skill upgrades, genetic modifications, respawn location unlocks, PAMELA AI ability unlocks and upgrades.
And this isn't including the layers in combat, such as shields, ranged and melee weapons both with alternative modes, and so on.
The devs definitely bit off more than they could chew, but I still really appreciate the game. The only real problem outside of bugs, is the way the story is designed, being rather short and full of fetch quests, with two random boss fights.
I loved Prey 2017. I used to be a hardcore gamer but nowadays I only play fighting games maybe and Apex Legends. But Prey, I really liked that game. Something about it. Might re-install to play again, as there are a lot of ways to play it.
Really REALLY need Cruelty Squad on console.
Nice, lots of recommendations from this video. Cruelty Squad was amazing btw.
I had the exact same problem with Prey. I glossed over it because the first hour was really boring. But I recently gave it another try because i needed to scratch my ImSim itch. Currently loving the game!
I'm missing Fallout here, but yeah. Played System Shock 2 dozen of times, Deus Ex, Prey etc.. Just so much fun, gameplay, story for a few bucks. Love it.