General Gaming The Future of Immersive Sims (Dishonored/Prey/Deus Ex) - PC Gamer

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

As the mainstream moves onto pastures new, what does the future hold for this shadowy genre?  The short answer is that the future is hugely exciting. For the longer answer, we need to go right back to where the immersive sim began.

[Firewithin]

give me more dishonored!

[XxEvil AshxX]

It's kind of funny because I was thinking about something similar to this the other day. The more mainstream games like PUBG and Fortnite become, the simpler games are getting in structure. Not simpler by design, but most puzzle/strategy games are going more in the 2D/Retro direction than in the immersive world.

 

Games like the old Deus Ex, Splinter Cell, etc. that had large semi-open maps with multiple solutions and different ways to go about completing an objective are becoming fewer and further between as all the publishers look toward the quick cash. Even games like Rainbow Six got much simpler, as the developers no longer had to worry about creating an immersive intricate map with good A.I.

 

It's getting to the point where it's not even a matter of laziness or quick cash, but more that the industry veterans that were so good at designing games like that have moved on, and the newer batch of developers quite possibly aren't even capable of thinking in that 3D space, because they've never really had to. They got their experience from making retro 2D pixel art games, and that's what they know.

 

Those immersive sims evolved from simpler games as the developers were learning the new technology and were excited about pushing the envelope. Now there's literally no incentive to do so, as they can just crap out a vast empty map and have people eat that shit up. 

 

This alone is a good reason why Octopath Traveler is such a hit right now. It's not because it's anything fresh or groundbreaking, it's because it's a fucking classic turn-based JRPG from a company that had practically forgotten how to make classic turn-based JRPG's. People miss that shit, and they want it, but Square's been too damn busy making a FFXV that nobody really asked for. I'd go as far as to say that the reason Octopath Traveler is so popular is because it's the Final Fantasy game everyone wanted for the last decade but Square was too stupid to make.