Immersive sims can be hard to spot, since the term refers to a specific type of game design that can appear in almost any genre, from first-person shooters, to RPGs, to puzzles games. However, the experience of playing an immersive sim is unmistakable.
As the name implies, immersive sim games painstakingly simulate real-world interactions between in-game objects. For example, items you can pick up or throw have believable physical properties like weight, inertia, and velocity, and their impact affects other items in the world. Water and metal will conduct electricity. Fire will spread between flammable materials. These simulated behaviors aren’t just for the sake of realism; the flexibility of these systems gives players more agency over their experience. As such, levels, combat encounters, and puzzles are often open-ended, and can be approached in a variety of ways.
Immersive sim games often feature first-person camera perspectives, following in the footsteps of the genre’s earliest examples like Ultima Underworld, System Shock, and Thief. Modern examples that continue this trend include Prey (2017), Dishonored, and Biosock. However, many third-person games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain feature immersive sim mechanics, even if they aren’t strictly considered as such.
