Immersive Sims are traditionally thought of as single-player titles. They can be very dense and system-heavy games, with even one player bringing an incredible number of variables to the table as they use the freedom given to them to approach situations in a variety of ways. Enabling all of these possibilities requires a significant amount of creative ingenuity and programming knowledge, and this would only be magnified by the presence of another player or group of other players. Think of titles like System shock or prey, for example, and imagine how introducing one more player into these games – which already encourage people to ignore the rules – could completely upend them and possibly even break them. Introduce The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom with a second link that can do all the things the first could already do. It sounds unwieldy, but the granddaddy of immersive simulation thinks this is the logical next step for the genre. I think he’s probably right.
In an interview with game developer, Warren Spector, the acclaimed developer credited with creating immersive simulation and groundbreaking titles in the genre Deus Ex And system shock, revealed some details about one of his studio’s upcoming games, Thick as thieves, which aims to combine immersive simulation gameplay with a competitive multiplayer approach to break new ground in the genre. The upcoming immersive simulation would place two thieves in an environment not dissimilar to that of Thief: The Dark Project and task them with wandering the dark streets of the city and trying to outwit each other. One might set out to steal highly prized loot while the other waits in secret and tries to screw them over. Players are also offered the opportunity to collaborate or interact in various ways. Spector shared that players can avoid each other entirely if they want, follow each other, eliminate each other, or even put aside their momentary differences to work together toward a common goal.
Spector’s studio OtherSide Entertainment is also working on making the game world react to the actions of the players. Accordingly, a large part of the loop of a Thick as thieves The session is about gathering information from around the city, which can be obtained by bribing guards, for example. This type of interactivity with each other in a live and responsive environment is the “next logical step” for the genre, according to Spector. “Part of the simulation is the human interactions in the world… It’s really a simulation that we put a group of thieves into.” As part of its live service offering Thick as thieves According to Paul Nerath, CEO of OtherSide, there will likely be new districts as well as new thieves over time to encourage different play styles.
OtherSide’s design philosophy all around Thick as thieves emerged from a Dungeons Game Spector played several years ago. The team is trying to successfully recreate the feeling Spector felt while playing D&Dparticularly the novelty of player-driven storytelling by empowering players Thick as thieves to present their own story in a live environment. It’s an approach not unlike this one Running studios received recognition in his previous title, Divinity: Original Sin IIwhich was praised for the openness of its story and the world’s reaction to the player’s actions at the end of the journey.
The multiplayer angle of Thick as thieves may also sound familiar to people who have played Arkane’s Death loop, which allowed players to invade each other’s games as a key figure in the narrative. Although Death loopExperimenting with this format produced mixed results, perhaps due to its restrictive mechanics. However, there is reason to believe there is potential in this approach when looking at other titles. Baldur’s Gate 3The fully functional multiplayer in an otherwise complicated game suggests this.
There are many obstacles in the way of what is clearly an ambitious project, and I’ll definitely reserve judgment until I see the game in action, but the concept is promising. That’s not to say that immersive single-player simulations have reached their lowest point, because that’s not the case at all, but one of the most exciting things about modern games is how much players have been able to use them to tell their own stories. A studio making games that explicitly pick up on this thread and seeing what exciting new things it can bring to the medium is an overall positive in my opinion.
