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 think the main two things that make an immersive sim are open-endedness and mechanical depth. zelda is linear in that there’s only one valid outcome, and TES is shallow in that skills are just “press button to action”.
some outliers i’d class as imsims are, like… Divinity: Original Sin 1/2 and Hitman.