The endless debate about what is and isn’t an immersive sim continues, as one of Dishonored’s co-founders said he believes Skyrim is one.
The immersive simulation genre is hard to define. I won’t even attempt to give you any meaningful definition, I just know that games like Thief, Dishonored, and Deus Ex all fall into this genre. This genre has many of the main characteristics of other genres, which is why it’s hard to define. But in a recent interview PC GamersDishonored co-creator and Arkane founder Raphael Colantonio boldly stated that he considers Skyrim to be an immersive sim (and Baldur’s Gate 3 to be an “immersive sim-adjacent game”).
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“If you really think about it, Bethesda’s games (or Obsidian’s games) are very, very immersive simulations,” Colantonio explains. “The overlap between first-person RPGs and immersive simulations is pretty blurry. I think they’re less physical and more data-focused than Arkane games, but at the end of the day, they’re all about simulation. Something like fooling a merchant by dropping a bucket on his head is definitely a form of immersion, right?”
I don’t think his point is entirely wrong. Immersive sims often allow you to interact with objects in the game world in ways that produce unique outcomes, and Skyrim does allow you to do that, even if sometimes it’s unclear what the purpose of those moments is. Colantonio, whose new studio Wolfeye recently announced its next Dishonored game, went on to explain: “We’ve always made immersive sims. We always have, and we always will. But now, in general, you can make action immersive sims, and you can make RPG immersive sims. I don’t want to speak for Bethesda, but I’d be surprised if they said, ‘Oh, not at all.’ Their games rely heavily on simulations.”
Regarding Baldur’s Gate 3, a game that also lets you interact with the game world in interesting and unique ways, though not quite in the same way as Skyrim or Dishonored, Colantonio said: “I do think Baldur’s Gate is at least an immersive sim. If turn-based still makes sense for immersive sims. You can definitely see where they’re going with that. I love it, by the way. I love Baldur’s Gate, it’s a great game.” You and everyone in the world, Colantonio.
