system shock was originally released in NUMBER_TOKEN it was developed by looking glass technologies and published by electronic arts if you're unfamiliar with looking glass they were easily one of the most influential game studios of the NUMBER_TOKENs and arguably one of the most influential game studios of all time those familiar might remember them fondly for their foundational contributions to the stealth genre with the thief games some might remember them more for their canon of respected flight sims and a few of you might remember them for developing the genesis version of madden NUMBER_TOKEN. yeah there's a random piece of trivia for you but looking glasses biggest contribution to gaming was their pioneering of the immersive simulation or immersive sim if you've never heard of immersive sims it's understandable if the first thing that pops into your head is something like this but in truth immersive sims are more like this actually scratch that they're really closer to this immersive sims present a non-linear reactive world governed by simulated systems in which the player has total agency in how they use these systems in order to accomplish their goals the result being a wholly unique experience for the player a simpler way to put it is that these games give the player total freedom or total freedom within some limitations to play however they want there's no right or wrong way to approach an immersive sim think of it like this a traditional action video game something like call of duty is a developer driven experience there's only one way to progress and everything that happens to them is by the developer's design it's like a theme park ride lots of thrills but the track can only go one way for immersive sims think of them more like a sandbox the developer has simulated this sandbox and put a whole bunch of toys in it from there the developer takes a back seat and lets the player drive the experience using the toys in the toy box however they want the point is the developer doesn't care how you play in the sandbox as long as you're having fun and crafting a unique experience for yourself another major aspect of these games is the concept of emergent gameplay mechanics that come about from player experimentation within the simulation mechanics often not planned by the developer now what i've given you is a pretty truncated explanation of a genre and gameplay philosophy that is a little tricky for some to wrap their head around and if you're confused or would like to know more i highly recommend mark brown's video covering the subject i'll go ahead and pop it in the description it's a great watch but just keep these things in mind simulated environments player agency emergent gameplay unique experiences
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