Lately, you might have heard the words immersive sim thrown around a lot in the gaming space, and if you’re unsure what they mean, Dishonored co-creator and WolfEye founder Raphael Colantonio might just have the answer.
Speaking to PC Gamer, Colantonio revealed he’s got quite a broad definition of what constitutes an immersive sim. “If you really think about it, Bethesda games—or Obsidian games—are very, very immersive sim,” he said. “The overlap between first-person RPG and immersive sim, it’s very blurry. I would say they are less physical than Arkane games, and they’re more on the stats, but at the end of the day they totally rely on simulation. Doing things such as fooling a merchant by putting a bucket on its head is definitely an immersive same thing, right?”
He certainly has a point, and a lot of elements in Skyrim come across as immersive simulation-like mechanics, such as buying a house, brewing your own potions, and learning magic from books.
“I do see Baldur’s Gate definitely as at least immersive sim-adjacent,” Colantonio continued. “If being turn-based still makes sense for an immersive sim. You can definitely see where they were going with that. I loved it, by the way. I loved Baldur’s Gate, fantastic game.”
Do you agree with Colantonio’s words?