The immersive sim might be the most ambitious concept a room of developers has ever drawn out, nodded at, and subsequently convinced a room of publishers to bankroll. Its a maximalist genre of multiple pathways, multiple combat approaches, multiple puzzle solutions, and in accordance with a bizarre tradition, keypads whose codes are almost certainly 0451. If an immersive sim is upholding the genre tenets properly, you play through it without seeing the vast majority of whats on offer.
That makes Deathloop a particularly clever spin. Since youre repeating the titular timeloop, youre exploring the world over and over, learning every neck-breaking nook and creepy cranny. But in order to appreciate just how cute Arkane has been about its latest immersive sims design, we must journey back. Back, through the mists of time. In the paragraph just below this one. Are you ready?
Good, because we just took you back to the dawn of the 1990s. Computers are still big scary grey boxes, 4kb is considered a big file, and absolutely no one in the world has heard of Adam Jensen. However, a producer named Warren Spector is dreaming about a first-person game that plays like the D&D games he used to enjoy, and a designer called Paul Neurath thinks he can make that game.
The birth of immersive sims starts here: a first-person RPG for DOS systems that blew our little undercut-topped minds with its 3D world, nonlinear progression, and simulation gameplay style. You could use a flaming torch on corn to make popcorn, for goodness sake!
Spector, Neurath, and the rest of the team some of whom would go on to staff Looking Glass Studios had arrived at the prototypical immersive sim. It didnt set the store shelves on fire, and that would be typical of the genre for decades to come. But those who did know Underworld knew it was different. And a bit special.
Thief is a deeply engrossing and atmospheric stealth game today. Back in 98, it was downright transportative. With Underworld alumni on its books, Looking Glass dared to imagine a gothic steampunk-medieval world that didnt fit the traditional fantasy mold and was all the more fascinating for its eccentricities street lamps in an otherwise middle ages environment, a fanatical cult-like society called the Hammerites, and those infamous supernatural left-turns.
As the title implies, the big showstopper mechanic was a real-time light detection system that allowed players to hide protagonist Garrett in the shadows or risk being spotted near light sources. Like Underworld, there was a freeform feel to levels and a wide toolkit that guided your hand away from all-out assault. Dousing a torch with a water arrow then slinking by undetected by using a moss arrow to hide your footsteps across a metal floor is way more satisfying, anyway.
Thief writer Ken Levine headed Looking Glasss System Shock sequel and used techniques that had such impact on gamers in 99 that theyre considered a bit old hat now. As you tiptoe around the Von Braun trying to understand why its deserted, youre met not by crewmates but by scrawls of blood on the walls, voice logs, and grim discoveries. Its isolating, unnerving, and keeps you an active participant in the mystery aboard. Spoilers: SHODANs involved.
Moody streets at midnight. Sewer systems hiding the headquarters of secret organizations. An inventory full of multitools, EMP grenades and taser ammo, and a story covering more shady cabals than a Joe Rogan podcast. Warren Spector, now at Ion Storm, was allowed to make his dream project in 2000, and it remains the benchmark for immersive sims today.
Before Deus Ex we had flashes of player freedom set in wonderfully atmospheric, open environments. This was the game to deliver immersive sims promise writ large: wherever there was a challenge to be faced, be that a throng of guards, a locked door, or a group of super-rich jerks making the world awful, there were numerous solutions. And all of them felt feel great.
Arkanes debut game was originally imagined as a direct sequel to Ultima Underworld, and although it ended up releasing without the license its lineage is very clear. Also set in a vast, freeform fortress and also brimming with downright weird touches at every juncture, Arx Fatalis is every bit the Spector-pleasing dungeon crawler. Its innovative magic system stands out its all about runes, swirly patterns, and manipulating the scenery in surprisingly advanced ways for 2002.
Troikas opportunity to release a Source Engine game before Valve proved a poisoned chalice: Bloodlines is remembered as well for its bugginess as it is for Vampire barbeques on Santa Monica beach and strip clubs run by warring twin sisters.
It says a lot that the community continued to patch it for well over a decade after release, and it truly deserved that restoration project. Though more linear than some on this list, the striking depiction of bloodsucker society in modern LA and class-based play carries the torch for Deus Ex as well as any.
Ken Levines third mention in this article, and the shootiest immersive sim of all. Maybe it was the advent of new hardware from Sony and Microsoft that tempted Irrational towards a more streamlined approach. Maybe Levine was just sick of inventory screens. Well never know. Anyway, BioShock was great.
Plasmids added a macabre twist to the usual gunplay, and the fact that the most valuable resource in the game was guarded by the most powerful enemy oh, and also involved killing a child certainly engaged the brain. Its Rapture itself we remember, and the mad Ayn Rand types we met along the way, blithering away to themselves about liberty and progress while the rivets slowly gave way in their ocean floor home.
If Arx Fatalis and Arkanes next game, Dark Messiah of Might & Magic, left a bit to be desired when it came to polish and letting the player in on all the depth, Dishonored certainly learned from those mistakes. Corvo the supernatural assassin is lithe and precise about the way he exacts revenge on the corrupt officials of Dunwall, almost overpowered but so accomplished in his wide toolset that you hardly care.
Deathloop players will definitely recognize the rhythms of combat and the painterly vistas, but the Steampunk Victorian London that art director Viktor Antonov envisioned isnt like anywhere else the genre has taken us.
Some would call it sacrilege to let Io Interactives jamboree of rat poisonings and blunt force suitcase traumas onto this list, but in the cold light of day theres no denying that Hitmans an immersive sim. Vast and improbable toolbox of combat options? Consider that box ticked by the beak of an explosive rubber duckie. Freeform levels with multiple pathways? Were still lost in Sapienza even now. Just because it doesnt have 0451 keypads, that doesnt mean its out of the gang.
Hitmans success on its own terms, as an episodic series that sold immersive simming to a big crowd without Warren Spectors seal of approval paved the way for the similarly adventurous Deathloop.
As you might have clocked, weve omitted sequels from this list for fear of the Deus Ex and Thief franchises taking it over. Not to mention all the reboots. None have been so strange as Arkanes Prey, though.
For starters, the original Prey wasnt even an immersive sim. It was basically Doom 3 with a Native American flavor, and nary a Ken Levine voice note or a moss arrow in sight.
But screw it, said Arkane, presumably, at some point. Its as good a franchise name as any to house our weird cheese dream about a spaceship full of rogue DNA that can shapeshift into cups then attack you.
No, but it really is very good. You should play it, if only for the GLOO cannon.
Written by Phil Iwaniuk on behalf of GLHF.
Read the rest here:
The 10 groundbreaking immersive sims that paved the way for Deathloop - For The Win
- That Day I Interviewed Ayn Rand - Foundation for Economic Education - March 2nd, 2024 [March 2nd, 2024]
- Ayn Rand's Anthem Was Adapted Into a Graphic Novel, and Its Timing Couldn't Be Better | Maeve Ronan - Foundation for Economic Education - February 16th, 2024 [February 16th, 2024]
- Real World Economics: Ayn Rand and the Grand Canyon - St. Paul Pioneer Press - February 1st, 2024 [February 1st, 2024]
- Tech Entrepreneur Elle Morrill Offers Inspirational Life Advice in ARI Roundtable - New Ideal - February 1st, 2024 [February 1st, 2024]
- America needs to clean up its act | News, Sports, Jobs - Alpena News - August 26th, 2023 [August 26th, 2023]
- How immigration creates a more prosperous world - Learn Liberty - August 26th, 2023 [August 26th, 2023]
- Yad Vashem tour by Israel Heritage Foundation visibly moves ... - JNS.org - August 26th, 2023 [August 26th, 2023]
- Anna May Wong and Chinatown Noir: 4 Essential Films - CrimeReads - August 26th, 2023 [August 26th, 2023]
- Ditch your business books and pick up these three novels for a fresh ... - ETHRWorld Middle East - August 26th, 2023 [August 26th, 2023]
- Your Guide to the Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge - The Everygirl - August 26th, 2023 [August 26th, 2023]
- BioShock 4 May Have an Edge Compared to Other Modern FPS ... - GameRant - June 2nd, 2023 [June 2nd, 2023]
- LETTER: When will Republicans wake up? - The Pantagraph - June 2nd, 2023 [June 2nd, 2023]
- 'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel' Celebrated Selfishness as a Virtue - Reason - June 2nd, 2023 [June 2nd, 2023]
- Blaming the Victim - CounterPunch.org - CounterPunch - June 2nd, 2023 [June 2nd, 2023]
- Coalition of AI leaders sees 'societal-scale risks' from the ... - SiliconANGLE News - June 2nd, 2023 [June 2nd, 2023]
- Fall 2023 Adult Announcements: Literary Fiction - Publishers Weekly - June 2nd, 2023 [June 2nd, 2023]
- 20 Box Office Bombs That Got Sequels - MovieWeb - June 2nd, 2023 [June 2nd, 2023]
- Religious Skeptics Should Question Their Moral Theology - New Ideal - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- What Ayn Rand Understood about Romantic Love That so Many Fail ... - Foundation for Economic Education - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- 1923 Emmy Submissions Revealed for Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren and More (EXCLUSIVE) - Variety - May 18th, 2023 [May 18th, 2023]
- Column: This is what happens when you take Ayn Rand seriously - April 10th, 2023 [April 10th, 2023]
- How Ayn Rand, Emerson and Thoreau perverted the American Dream - April 10th, 2023 [April 10th, 2023]
- Ayn Rand - Books, Quotes & Philosophy - Biography - February 18th, 2023 [February 18th, 2023]
- EDITORIAL: Remembering the great Ayn Rand, a champion of capitalism and ... - February 5th, 2023 [February 5th, 2023]
- The curious cult of the friend of fascism | Anthony Daniels - The Critic - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- Ocean City 'Jeopardy!' champion wins almost $60,000 in 7th consecutive win, over $220,000 total - Press of Atlantic City - October 17th, 2022 [October 17th, 2022]
- Will Amanda Seyfried (The Dropout) ride her Emmy high all the way to a SAG Award win? - Gold Derby - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Books review: What to read in October - Reader's Digest - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Democrats dig the graves of freedom and prosperity - Washington Times - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Baseball and Yom Kippur: Is there a Koufax curse? - Forward - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- The limits of Justice Ketanji Brown Jacksons power - Fortune - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Race Across The World and Louis Theroux Interviews among new BBC Factual and Arts slate - Royal Television Society | - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Fool Britannia: sloppy Tory treatise a hint of horrible things to come - Crikey - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Day one at the Tory conference: Industry cries out for stability but U-turns and uncertainty continue - Building - October 6th, 2022 [October 6th, 2022]
- Former Capitol Police Chief Steven A. Sund Set To Publish A New Book About The Attack On January 6th With Explosive Never-Before-Revealed Information... - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- Right place at the right time: freeports model gives fillip to St Helens regeneration scheme - The Guardian - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- Reflections from London on the queen's life and death - Baptist News Global - September 27th, 2022 [September 27th, 2022]
- Editorial: NH voters, beware of radical threat on ballot - Valley News - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- 10 Wednesday AM Reads - The Big Picture - Barry Ritholtz - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- Opinion: Renewables are great and all, but who'll pay when they fail? - Houston Chronicle - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- The Simpsons' Playdate With Destiny Short Was A Product Of Serendipity - /Film - August 27th, 2022 [August 27th, 2022]
- Filthy Animals Pries Open The Violent, Animalistic Notions In Human Relationships - Gaysi - August 27th, 2022 [August 27th, 2022]
- How Isabel Paterson Helped Ayn Rand Find Atlantis - The Objective Standard - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- Where Is 'The Anarchists' Star Jason Henza Today? - Newsweek - August 25th, 2022 [August 25th, 2022]
- Objectivism Q&A with Ben Bayer and Dan Schwartz - New Ideal - August 2nd, 2022 [August 2nd, 2022]
- Book Banning Is Wrong Unless It Gets Me Out of Helping My Kid With His Homework - The Hard Times - August 2nd, 2022 [August 2nd, 2022]
- THE TEACHER'S DESK: Breaking the Rules | Opinion | thetimestribune.com - Times Tribune of Corbin - July 21st, 2022 [July 21st, 2022]
- If Big Ten didnt just add lucrative programs like USC but trimmed stragglers, whod get the boot? | Jones - PennLive - July 21st, 2022 [July 21st, 2022]
- A high point of our time in southern Alberta, Canada - Patheos - July 21st, 2022 [July 21st, 2022]
- The Banality of Putin and Xi - New Ideal - June 30th, 2022 [June 30th, 2022]
- 4 Pillars of The Illusion | C. Don Jones - Patheos - June 30th, 2022 [June 30th, 2022]
- The Philosophic Case for the Absolute Right to Abortion - New Ideal - June 26th, 2022 [June 26th, 2022]
- R2AK: Will monohulls sweep the podium? - Scuttlebutt Sailing News - June 26th, 2022 [June 26th, 2022]
- Bill Maher Addressed an Eventful Political Week on Real Time - InsideHook - June 26th, 2022 [June 26th, 2022]
- Ayn Rand v Donald Trump? - Daily Kos - June 22nd, 2022 [June 22nd, 2022]
- Letter: The rules of life are very simple - Detroit Lakes Tribune - June 22nd, 2022 [June 22nd, 2022]
- The Banality of Putin and Xi | Yaron Brook and Elan Journo - IAI - June 22nd, 2022 [June 22nd, 2022]
- American culture is destroying itself, and the planet, says leading activist Bill McKibben - Yahoo Philippines News - June 22nd, 2022 [June 22nd, 2022]
- Is Discussing the Consequences of Anti-Vaccine Disinformation Fun? - Science Based Medicine - June 3rd, 2022 [June 3rd, 2022]
- O'Donnell: Will the NBA's new red-light camera calls ruin The Finals for ABC/ESPN? - Daily Herald - June 1st, 2022 [June 1st, 2022]
- The Strange and Terrifying Ideas of Neoreactionaries Current Affairs - Current Affairs - June 1st, 2022 [June 1st, 2022]
- Martin Scorsese, Objectivism, Relativism, and How We Read Cinema - No Film School - June 1st, 2022 [June 1st, 2022]
- Ayn Rand, Objectivists, and COVID - Science Based Medicine - May 25th, 2022 [May 25th, 2022]
- Ayn Rand vs. Classical Economists - The Objective Standard - May 25th, 2022 [May 25th, 2022]
- Opinion | Demolishing the Demonic Plans of Our Enemy, and Can We Get An Amen - Common Dreams - May 20th, 2022 [May 20th, 2022]
- Ayn Rand's We the Living: Back on the Silver Screenand Better Than Ever - The Objective Standard - May 17th, 2022 [May 17th, 2022]
- Congress revival: Time to break free of family - The Hans India - May 17th, 2022 [May 17th, 2022]
- The Financial Dark Ages Are Ending Thanks To Bitcoin - Bitcoin Magazine - May 17th, 2022 [May 17th, 2022]
- Marital rape: How understanding context rather than just focusing on consent will help resolve the issue - Firstpost - May 13th, 2022 [May 13th, 2022]
- Deadly Class Season 2: Is a Release Date or Rumor in the Offing on Netflix? - Federal Regulations Advisor - May 13th, 2022 [May 13th, 2022]
- The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Monday, May 9, 2022 - FlaglerLive.com - May 13th, 2022 [May 13th, 2022]
- Victory at San Jacinto liberated the individual | Opinion | jacksonvilleprogress.com - Jacksonville Daily Progress - April 20th, 2022 [April 20th, 2022]
- RUSH's GEDDY LEE Says NEIL PEART 'Didn't Want Anyone To Know' About His Illness: 'He Wanted To Keep It In The House' - BLABBERMOUTH.NET - April 20th, 2022 [April 20th, 2022]
- The Alternative Meat Industry Wants Solar Power Style Mandates And Subsidies - Science 2.0 - April 20th, 2022 [April 20th, 2022]
- diSConnected: Is Ayn Rand or Mother Teresa better for protecting South Carolinians with disabilities? - South Carolina Public Radio - April 15th, 2022 [April 15th, 2022]
- Did the John Birch Society Win in the End? - The Bulwark - April 15th, 2022 [April 15th, 2022]
- Boris Johnsons Covid bravado insults the NHS and the public - The Guardian - April 15th, 2022 [April 15th, 2022]
- Science Fiction in a Time of Crisis - Filmmaker Magazine - April 15th, 2022 [April 15th, 2022]
- The criticism facing Rishi Sunak has nothing to do with race, and all to do with greed - iNews - April 15th, 2022 [April 15th, 2022]
- Zack Snyder's Star Wars-Themed Movie Recruits The Princess Bride Star - Giant Freakin Robot - April 11th, 2022 [April 11th, 2022]