Sequels to both followed, as well as Prey, Arkane's spiritual successor to System Shock. The year after that Arkane teamed with Bethesda to bring out Dishonored, a game in the lineage of Thief which enjoyed " the biggest launch for new IP" of the year. It sold 2.18 million copies in just over a month. The immersive sim philosophy survived in STALKER, Pathologic, and the early projects of Arkane Studios: Arx Fatalis and Dark Messiah of Might & Magic.Īnd then in 2011 Eidos Montreal's prequel Deus Ex: Human Revolution came along, a true immersive sim and one with the Deus Ex name stamped across it. Jean-François DugasĪfter Looking Glass and Ion Storm's closure the influence of immersive sims was still felt, as people who'd worked on those games brought similar ideas to Oblivion, Fallout 3, and BioShock. There is a big effort required to convince your team and upper management that spending money on things that many players will not see is a good idea. Well, at least it's no tougher than selling any other game idea-they're all tough to sell!" It's just that the player gets to decide what sort of action he or she engages in and when to do so. The reality is that immersive sims are action games, first and foremost and most people get that. It's not like you go into a pitch throwing around geeky genre identifiers. "Honestly, I haven't really noticed any particular challenge. Spector disagrees with the notion that immersive sims are harder to convince publishers on. After that, there is a big effort required to convince your team and upper management that spending money on things that many players will not see is a good idea," he says with a laugh.ĭeus Ex's Hong Kong, richly detailed and packed with things to discover. When you look at all the pieces individually, they’re not the best in class but what they offer their audience when combined is unparalleled.
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The GTA series is a great example of that. You have to rely on the effect of the sum of the parts to transcend it all. "Since you are building possibilities through game mechanics and narrative scenarios, you know that you might not be able to bring all the pieces to the quality level you would like. "You need to realize and accept that you will build a ton of material that a good part of your audience will miss," he says. Jean-François Dugas, executive director of the Deus Ex franchise at its current owners Eidos Montreal, says it can be tough convincing people to even make games that let players deviate from the critical path. Despite the love and praise for games like Deus Ex, they're not easy to sell to players.