Video Games & Immersion

I don't know about you, but I love turned-based tactical games.  I would say I love isometric turned-based tactical games, but this upcoming game is changing the format.  The game is XCOM: Enemy Unknown.

Now, I realize that this is a remake, and I'm not the greatest fan of reused content, however XCOM: Enemy Unknown looks like an awesome game.  I've been watching interviews and gameplay footage, etc, etc, and here are some things I really like in this upcoming remake, and why this game stands out to me.


First of all, there are consequences provided by the choices you make through the game.  This isn't the first use of this, nor will it be the last.  The reason I like it is because its not based on moral choices, but instead weighing priorities and risk/reward.  I'm so done with moral, good and evil, choices in a game.  A part of these consequences is the fact that you can straight-up lose the game.

Another thing is permanent loss.  When a soldier dies on the battlefield, he is dead.  No respawning, and no revival after the mission.  I hope that this will make the experience feel more real.  One thing that always bothered me about shooter games (that have respawn) is that there would often be one guy one either team that would just charge headlong in tot he enemy, getting killing, dying, and doing it again.  No one would do that in real life, or if they only had one life in a game.  Now, shooters and tactical games are different, but the simulation of the experience is quite similar.  Its about immersion.

Immersion is a deep mental involvement that media should strive to let their audiences experience.  We want to be invested in what we watch or play, or our time is wasted.  The heart of media, or even theatre, is  the ability to make the audience feel emotion.  Forgetting that leads to crap product.  Immersion is what makes us relate and feel while we are exposed to media.  If a soldier that I have invested time and effort to train and keep alive is taken out by an unexpected event, I'm going to feel anger, sadness, and a need for revenge.  It makes me hate my enemy (or the game developers if the player can't see past his own mistakes).  When I hate my enemy, killing them isn't a problem.

Sometimes, games fade in and out of perfect immersion.  I recall when I was playing the campaign of Halo: Reach for the first time, I felt incredibly immersed for about ten minutes.  I was moving up with my team of SPARTANs, advancing when they did, etc.  But when the first combat began, I remembered I was playing Halo and thus began the charging, melee'ing, unreasonably aggressive style of play that Halo invites.  During the cutscenes, I returned to that state of immersion because I wanted to be immersed.  I wanted to be immersed because I had let myself be immersed in a previous part of the game, and I enjoyed what I found.  When games are riddled with plot holes or bad mechanics, those elements immediately get in the way of immersion.

While I'm on the subject of immersion, I'm going to say something about movies.  I do not enjoy watching horror films.  Horror films make me what to remove myself entirely from the film, instead of immerse myself.  The same can be said of me with outlandish comedy.  If I can't be immersed, my time is not well spent.

There is a richness and sense of fulfillment that comes with immersion.  XCOM: Enemy Unknown has peaked my desire for an immersive experience, as well as stepping up to the plate of those turn-based tactical games I love so much and haven't found a good one in ages.  Finally, something in the realm of video games that actually has me in anticipation.