How can you tell which games are immersive simulators and which aren't? RPGs like The Elder Scrolls or The Legend of Zelda give players plenty of freedom, but no one usually calls them "immersive sims."
I understand that immersive sim isn't so much a genre as a genre characteristic, but where exactly is the line drawn? As a fan of Arkane games, I’ve always wondered about this.
I just played through Fallout New Vegas "Dead Money," and it got me thinking about this.
What made it immersive for me was that the constraints were (a) explained within the story line, and (b) effective in making the situation consistent.
In the normal game, you start from nothing and eventually become massively overpowered, which is immersion-breaking because if you can do it, why not all of the NPCs? In Dead Money, you are strapped for resources, pressed for time, and feel the looming fear all the time. The experience is more visceral.