How can you tell which games are immersive simulators and which aren’t? RPGs like The Elder Scrolls or The Legend of Zelda give players plenty of freedom, but no one usually calls them “immersive sims.”
I understand that immersive sim isn’t so much a genre as a genre characteristic, but where exactly is the line drawn? As a fan of Arkane games, I’ve always wondered about this.
I usually hurl insults while cracking the console and entering cheat codes.
Jokes aside, immersive sims have it in the description- they’re simulations of a thing, the game rules follow simulated rules, and these rules are designed to allow extreme player choice. Skyrim doesn’t really qualify even if it is ‘open world’- for example, how players are almost subconsciously pushed into being a stealth archer. (the game rewards you for sneaking in and getting the lay of the land before you enter combat. Picking people off at range is useful, and spells are too noisy for that, where archer lets you not entirely break stealth. Sure you might mop up with some magic or some sword and stuff, but, really, if you’re careful, you can clear entire rooms without people finding you.)
Also, puzzles and problems in skyrim lack the freedom of choice that’s the hallmark of immersive sims. Compare this to kingdom come deliverance, where if you’re careful you can just bullshit your entire way through the game. (speech skills, for example,) More over, the game reacts to what you do, and what you don’t do. you’re moving through a game world that changes based on how you go about everything, frequently in subtle ways… where it dosn’t really change as you progress through it.