The Golden Age Of Indie Immersive Sims

While Immersive Sim fans have often waited years between new entries to the genre, there's been huge revival amongst indie devs lately. I decided to look in to a handful of recent indie immersive sims - from released games to upcoming titles, there's a lot of great stuff out there.
Games Mentioned:
Gloomwood - store.steampowered.com/app/11...
Blood West - store.steampowered.com/app/15...
Ctrl Alt Ego - store.steampowered.com/app/15...
Deadeye Deepfake Simulacrum - store.steampowered.com/app/15...
Peripeteia - store.steampowered.com/app/14...
Sorceress - store.steampowered.com/app/21...
Corpus Edax - store.steampowered.com/app/20...
Shadows of Doubt - store.steampowered.com/app/98...
Ad Infernum - store.steampowered.com/app/13...
00:00 The "Immersive Sim" Genre
02:09 Gloomwood
02:59 Blood West
04:13 Ctrl Alt Ego
05:31 Deadeye Deepfake Simulacrum
08:02 Peripeteia
09:09 Sorceress
10:00 Corpus Edax
10:38 Shadows of Doubt
11:55 Ad Infernum
12:52 Wrapping Up
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Twitch ► / ephitv

[@samwill7259]

This is legit how a young me wished every game worked I was constantly coming up with odd, off the wall ways to try and solve problems that the game wouldn't let me try I've become less universal about it as I get older, having my fun with simpler games But some part of my brain is always looking for it

[@EphiTV]

Yeah, a small, well-contained story game will always do wonders. But there's a lot of joy in encountering some weird emergent gameplay that the developers never intended. Whether it's a silly bug or some cool interaction between complex systems, there's a neat little thrill of discovery there.

[@Acerola_t]

"the thinking man's hotline miami" lmao

[@danielsurvivor1372]

I think Immersive Sims can be basically considered gameplay choice part of DnD, where you could tackle problems in variety of ways, like shooting roof support to make roof crash. And RPG, real RPGs, represent more social choices aspects of DND . If only we'd find some team able to seemlessly merge those two genres to create ultimate DnD successor in video games

[@tvojejidlo8143]

Isnt BG3 quite good in merging gameplay choices and social ones?

[@xiiir838]

Lol, so I'm not the only one to thought about that. I always saw it like this: RPGs are the "make your own character", NPC interactions and dungeon crawling of a TTPRPG, while ImSims are the "I want to do this here. Can I?" Part of a TTPRPG

[@rokcetman6913]

I know it's not very new, but 5 years is still relatively good, and Brigand Oaxaca was pretty refreshing.

[@EphiTV]

Interesting, haven't heard of this before.

[@SirHugsalot13th]

YOU made Noir Syndrome?! I love that game! If my laptop hadn't went kaput, I would have done 100% of it. And yeah, when I saw Shadows of Doubt, it made me think of Noir Syndrome, it feels like the next evolution of the concept. I know Noir Syndrome wasn't the best received judging by the reviews I read, but I always enjoyed playing it, so thank you for those fun hours. 🧡

[@EphiTV]

Thanks a lot! Yeah it wasn't the biggest project, but it did well enough for my first commercial release. Shadows of Doubt is way more complex than Noir Syndrome, but I do wonder if the devs ever played it.

[@jockohomosexual]

So happy that more people are talking about most of these games, Ctrl Alt Ego and Perepetia are incredibly underrated.

[@2HeadedHero]

This is a great overview! Definitely got a few more wishlists out of this.

[@Matt-md5yt]

Glad you did this my friend. Keep up the awesome work

[@FionavanDahl]

7:13 OH NO I'M THE LOWER LEFT NOOOOOOOOOO

[@tayfaith]

Deadeye Deepfake looks right up my alley, thanks for the rec! Also wanted to say thanks for speaking so clearly. Your cadence and steady speed really help me absorb what I'm hearing 😆

[@EphiTV]

Much appreciated!

[@PoisonedHeirloom]

This was such a good recommendation from KZbin !! A bunch of great games that I haven't heard of that I am now very excited about. Ad Infernum absolutely looks up my alley and I'm really excited for its release !!

[@EphiTV]

Happy to hear it! Hoping to get it out next year if all goes well.

[@michaelclark6941]

I don't keep up with indie games any more, so videos like this are my favorite. Thank you!!!

[@jacob-the-awsome-autist]

Good job on all of your content man

[@fleshautomaton3855]

I’d classify the hitman games as imm sims, as they fit the description & idk what other genre they’d fully fit in to.

[@vogonp4287]

I've been playing a lot of Crulity Squad recently. It's rather strange in places, and somewhat surreal, but it's a great immersive sim.

[@EphiTV]

I've heard good things about it. It's probably more popular than most of the games I covered in this video though. Could always come back for another roundup sometime.

[@miracleflame]

This video is very underrated considering it's been there for almost a year. But then again, you don't have to have masses of zombies as followers to be actually amazing, like it's with immsims alone. Great collection of the latest stuff. It's obvious the game creators are better at determining what's good than the consumers themselves.

[@danielsurvivor1372]

0:05 RPG genre: What about me though?

[@hisradiancelordnasty]

Kenshi is also an immersive sim !

[@RamChop451]

Yo your game looks sick, i cant wait for it!

[@simplesimon4374]

I didn't know you made Noir Syndrome dude I've had that on my phone for years

[@EphiTV]

Yup, it was one of my first "big" projects. Mostly just did game jams and stuff before that.

[@simplesimon4374]

great game design can't wait to play more of your stuff@@EphiTV

[@WildMageGames]

Very nice selection. It's nice to see the Immersive Sims getting back. As mentioned by some other comments, you really should try Neverlooted Dungeon :)

[@The_pill.]

what about cruelty squad? looks pretty immersive to me.

[@godril90]

Loved the video, your game looks promising

[@lobarium]

Check out the Fortune's Run demo!

[@EphiTV]

I heard a couple people talking about this. I'll have to check it out.

[@toetruck1589]

the number one way to tell that a game is an immersive sim, is that people frequently argue whether or not it is

[@pixiesyay]

Great video. Instant sub.

[@densleyhabits]

Great video! Been playing Ctrl alt ego and Deadeye Deepfake since they released and absolutely love both of them so glad to see people giving them more love! Another One I'd recommend trying out Is Monomyth Its like a real love letter to the Ultima Underworld games, It also has a nice chunky steam demo up so give it a go if you get the chance. Good luck with future videos and your upcoming game Its looking great so far!

[@EphiTV]

I'll have to look it up. Much appreciated!

[@Fachewachewa]

Another upcomping game with a very good demo: Neverlooted Dungeon, this one seems more focused on exploration and trap avoidance

[@TennessseTimmy]

Great list

[@MisterBones2910]

Considering the looseness of the definition you're going with I'd say a great one to add to this list is _Sir, You Are Being Hunted_

[@SevenRedSunsOfficial]

That song's name is "everything is going to be ok" by Mick Gordon. Probably the best song from prey 2017.

[@EphiTV]

Yep, it's got a pretty good soundtrack. Semi sacred geometry is my personal fave.

[@c1borgen]

@@EphiTV Realization from Mooncrash made me just stand near jukebox for minutes. And besides, jukebox is an ingenious way to integrate music into the immersive-sim game.

[@TheOrangeDart]

Not sure if this counts, but I recently played Dread Delusion and had a ton of fun with it. It offers a lot of ways to go about your adventure.

[@EphiTV]

I did a video on that back when it released as well! Neat little game. Looking forward to seeing how the rest of it's development goes.

[@robbanbobban2]

Ad Infernum looks great. Horror and immersive sim go together really well.

[@treypowell8603]

I'd check out Fallen Aces. Might be something you'd like.

[@EphiTV]

Of course I've been keeping an eye on most of New Blood's stuff. Holding out for the release to really dive in to it. Looking good so far though, good luck with the rest of dev! :)

[@orca1361]

I been on the fence of learning of making a game in unreal or Godot that would be a Imm sim or imm sim lite but with the graphics style of 2.5d like duke or ion fury or attempt a imm sim in third person beat em up like the yakuza meets metal gear but still have stealth and gunplay with low poly 3D models.

[@toiletwineconnoisseur6434]

there are some I never heard of im interested in now. Really amped for GRAVEN

[@timotheecaron852]

Merci pour ce résumé, très utile

[@WMan37]

There's a game super, super early in development called HEARTRENDER that I'm looking forward to. For me, I think simply having mechanics that interact with each other in an Imsim isn't enough to get me interested, I like when games have a unique "vibe" the way that Deadeye Deepfake Simulacrum and Peripeteia do, where you're not just immersed because of the interlocking mechanics, but because of the mood and identity of a game, like Deadeye being kind of surreal/chill, and Peripeteia being a kind of mood that I can only think to refer to as "Depressive Breakcore music, but a video game". Heartrender, based on what I've seen of it, has more of a kind of chaotic free form jazz sort of feel in it's current state of development.

[@EphiTV]

Haven't heard of this before, will have to check it out.

[@WMan37]

@@EphiTV I wouldn't be surprised if I'm within around 150 people on this planet who has heard of it, I'm cursed to constantly find out about cool stuff when it's in pre-alpha essentially so I have to wait years to see the actual end of things.

[@deetsitmeisterjd]

If you try hard enough can't any game be any genre? 😋

[@vleos9325]

Dark Souls III is my favorite basketball game

[@TheWayoftheSith]

The best game in the genre is Prey. Followed by Shadows of Doubt. You missed them!

[@EphiTV]

Prey is great, but this video was only covering indies. I played the Shadows of Doubt demo a while back but never got around to the full version.

[@r.c.christian4633]

Talk about Cruelty Squad!

[@TriggerCrazedLunatic]

My single most controversial take about what counts as an ImSim is that Caves of Qud is one. Yeah it's turn-based and more of an RPG, but the sheer amount of systems you can engage with and clever solutions makes it feel like one in spirit. It's one of my favorites, and it's really rewarding once you get over the bundle that is understanding how it all comes together.

[@EphiTV]

Never played it, but it looks like Nethack and other Roguelikes - as in true derivatives of Rogue, not the catchall term it's become today. Pretty good genre in itself though.

[@TheBigH]

explosive radios? inspired by Underhell's "radiocracker" or just a coincidence? :D

[@EphiTV]

Never heard of it

[@daveepsin4795]

Peripeteia has a really good demo if you wanna play it

[@EphiTV]

I've been following them for a bit but I'm gonna hold out for the full release to go in blind.

[@sebay4654]

I consider things like the sims as Simulation games, Not immersive sim games

[@tivvy2vs21]

Personally I prefer the name looking glass, considering how 90 percent of the genre is made by looking glass or looking glass alumni Also, gotta mention cruelty squad and neon struct

[@Lucas-gg9yb]

immersive sims necessarily needs to be in first person?

[@EphiTV]

No but most are

[@Quick-Silver206]

I always consider sims to be like The Forest or some survival games

[@EphiTV]

I guess every game is simulating something. The Forest has some imsim elements but doesn't fully match up with the design philosophy. Survival is already a pretty good genre descriptor though.

[@Quick-Silver206]

@@EphiTV Good point.

[@slyseal2091]

I think part of it is that your choices need to interact with developer-driven functions of the game, games like the Sims and Forest are almost entirely emergent in any regard beyond the default AI behavior. Also why things like Minecraft don't fall under the category, there are probably more functions in that game the developer had to explicit stop from interacting with one another than there are those that were intentionally designed to work together.

[@amazingdrama9808]

I love me some zombie games 😂

[@prow555]

Your game seem cool but the number dmg thing make me worry about the weapon in that game is like the gun look cool but does less that this gun that not fit my style

[@EphiTV]

what

[@prow555]

My eng is not good what I want to is ,your game seem cool, I'm afraid that I have to switch to use the new gun or the time like ,this old pistol deal less dmg that this new pistol but the model may not be pretty or the sound might be not that good.

[@EphiTV]

There's a lot of weapons to choose from in the game, and you can upgrade ones that you like to be more effective. How you play it is up to you.

[@SylvesterAshcroft88]

Stealth Action game is probably the closest description, and covers most of these games, but Immersive Sim definitely feels like a better description for the genre.

[@tajskaowo7222]

weit.... hitman is NOT a imersive sim?

[@sowhatimsilly4827]

To me (and clearly steam) an immersive sim is a game that heavily plays off simulating a certain action for example fifa being a soccer sim and snow runner being a car driving sim at the end of the day there is no clear definitive definition of what a genre means for a lot of different gaming categories

[@EphiTV]

Yeah, "immersive simulation" does make sense for describing a good portion of those games on Steam. On the other hand, the coined term "immersive sim" dates back to a handful of old titles often used to describe thief/deus ex/system shock-like gameplay. It's in a weird spot where the descriptor can apply to quite a lot of games, but fans of the genre are looking for a smaller subset.

[@danielsurvivor1372]

​@@EphiTV We RPG fans have a lot of similarities with you immersive sims fans. Both have issue with our genres being misrepresented as something else and terms being watered down. Both have hard time finding good games for our genre. Both feel like an extension of DnD systems. Arguably one day, the two genres should merge, maybe not all games would benefit from the merge but I feel like we could make breath taking games from immersive sim gameplay and RPG storytelling quest design skill/perk system etc

[@hongquiao]

I wouldn't call immersive sims a genre. It's more of a game design philosophy. Also, why would you use the logo of the god awful 2014 reboot of Thief instead of the iconic box covers of the first two?

[@TennessseTimmy]

Prey didn't fit with me at all. But thief and Deus ex do. I don't think of prey as immersive sim, I think because it felt like a survival game, it felt like a chore. One of the best immersive sim ever made is kingdom come deliverance

[@donut_jam]

The reason it's weird to call "immersive sim" its own genre is because these features should be in every game already, imo. It's like if we called "innovative gameplay" its own thing when it should be universal.

[@aofi3735]

you should explore ur gender