Immersive is a word that you hear used to described video games almost too much these days, almost losing its meaning. But it’s also a word that’s been so important to the idea of how we interact with video games that there’s an entire genre based around it — the “immersive sim.” An incredibly hyper-specific genre, immersive sims have become some of the most beloved games of all times — from Dishonored and Deathloop to Prey. But all of those, and even video games in general, simply wouldn’t be the same without a single key title, Deus Ex. While it didn’t invent the immersive sim, Deus Ex helped define the idea of what that term even means, and simultaneously pushed forward how games create reactive, grounded worlds.
Originally released in on PC in 2000, Deus Ex comes from one of the most influential video game creators of all time, Warren Spector — the mind behind the likes of System Shock, Thief, and Ultima Underworld. And in a lot of way Deus Ex feels like the ultimate realization of how Spector changed games, truly defining player freedom and choice, on top of cohesive worlds that feel alive.
