Jason Moyer on 30/10/2023 at 02:56
Backed. Somehow I forgot about it between seeing it in this thread and seeing the Gloomwood guys talking about it on Twitter.
Actually...not backed. They won't accept my preferred payment method. Buying it on Steam when it releases though.
Nameless Voice on 2/11/2023 at 00:52
So, this thread has got terribly out-of-date, and it's not exactly easy to maintain (especially as I'm the only one who can do it), so . . .
Introducing: (
http://immersivesim.wikidot.com/) The Immersive Sim Wiki!
It includes entries for upcoming, released, and cancelled immersive sim games!
What's more, anyone can edit it, update the pages, add new games, etc.
So far, I've added entries for most of the immersive sims I know about, but the pages are fairly basic, with just a few data points, the various links to learn more, and a trailer.
Jason Moyer on 2/11/2023 at 01:43
Every Arkane game but Arx? Phhht, I stopped reading right there.
That site is awesome, going to have to poke around it when I'm home from work.
Nameless Voice on 2/11/2023 at 11:00
I couldn't decide if Arx was an immersive sim or an RPG.
And so it begins!
Starker on 2/11/2023 at 11:11
I have the same relationship to Morrowind.
Jason Moyer on 2/11/2023 at 13:28
I'd say Arx is more of an ImSim than Dark Messiah (just the way food works is ImSimmy as hell), and it (and the Ultima Underworlds) should definitely be in there. My opinion on Bethsoft RPG's has generally been that I don't consider any of them to be ImSims, but Oblivion was the first one where they started adding recognizable ImSim elements. The gameplay in TES1/2/3 feels like every other RPG to me but in first person, where Oblivion onwards has felt more like a bunch of overlapping and often hilariously broken systems.
demagogue on 2/11/2023 at 21:18
I've been playing Shadows of Doubt this week & it's about as close to the core of an immersive sim as a game could get. It's procedurally simulating the daily life of every inhabitant of a whole city. There's apparently just one main developer working on it, so I can understand how he'd be overwhelmed with actually gamifying this amazing world he's brought to life.
Well I'm like 10 hours in and there's still plenty of content solving different investigations. But beyond just one-off cookie-cutter crimes & heists, he really has the potential to go full hog into the immersive world. I mean like big corruption schemes, racketeering, gangs, organized criminal syndicates, corporate criminal syndicates, government corruption... The kind of thing where you have to follow the foot soldiers around, put on wire taps, and try to turn the little fish to get the big fish, etc. Or for that matter, start your own corrupt scheme or racket.
Well I hope someday that this game can start having ambitions like that. Now that he has this living, breathing world afloat, I'd love to see it taken as far as it could be as a real living world.
Nameless Voice on 2/11/2023 at 22:27
It really does that thing Warren Spectre talked about, with the single city block with huge depth.
Aja on 28/11/2023 at 03:07
There's a new game out called Mosa Lina. It bills itself as "a response to the current trend of Immersive Sim design, where every ability is perfectly suited to solve a specific problem in the game."
Levels are small and simple, and the goal is to touch the fruit and exit through the portal. The game gives you 10 random (but not randomly generated) levels and three randomized tools for each one, with weird options like bamboo shoot, fish, or delete button. If you die, you move to another until you've beaten them all.
It's not particularly immersive, but it is a great sim, with a lot of emergent behaviour. Each tool has a unique physics-based function that may or may not work for any given level, and there are no predetermined solutions, so it's up to you to figure out how to beat it (or reroll and try for better tools). My first 15 minutes or so were spent being confused about what everything did, but the first time I successfully figured out how to use tentacles to get to a high spot, I was hooked. Unlike most immersive sims, there's no fear of failure, so you're free to just experiment. It's great for short play sessions although I ended up playing for nearly an hour on my first run.
It's also like $5, so really everyone should give it a try.
Pyrian on 28/11/2023 at 08:21
That looks like fun.
