Best Immersive Sims 2025

Immersive sims are best described as first-person action RPGs in which the world and game systems are designed with player autonomy in mind at every turn.

As a result, most challenges in immersive sims can be tackled in several different ways by exploring and interacting with characters, objects, and paths as well as harnessing particular abilities or powers.

In this list, we’ll help you discover your next favorite game by highlighting the top engrossing sims to play in 2025, including the best modern immersive sims and best immersive sims on Steam.

We’ll be updating this list in the future with new titles, so make sure to check back and let us know if we missed any of your preferred immersive sim games!

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Arkane Studios has become the go-to developer for contemporary immersive sims and their recent release Deathloop reaffirms their commitment to painstakingly crafted sandboxes.

The story centers on a hitman who’s forced to relive the same day over and over again until he manages to eliminate eight targets in a single day to end the loop.

Combining elements of first-person shooters, RPGs, and roguelikes, the game offers players with abundant weapons, abilities, and alternate paths to find their own way.

It’s a gratifying evolution of the open-ended gameplay Arkane is known for and greatly benefits from a time-traveling premise and stylish ’70s psychedelic visuals.

Before Deathloop, Arkane produced Prey, a woefully underrated survival horror shooter that suffered from inadequate marketing and controversy stemming from its name being attached to an existing property.

In this game, individuals become a researcher on a space station filled with extraterrestrials that can be battled using various weapons, tools, and capabilities.

This also spills over into traversal, with some regions and paths only made accessible by obtaining a certain ability or piece of equipment such as the Gloo Cannon.

In true immersive sim fashion, just about every obstacle can be tackled in a number of ways, including both stealth and hostility, though there is a slight focus on the former.

While it may look like a visual nightmare, Cruelty Squad is an extremely competent immersive sim from a game mechanics and systems perspective.

It’s also a bit sparse in the narrative department, with the player taking on the role of a mercenary soldier carrying out contracts for a dubious conglomerate.

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The game posits itself as a power fantasy simulator in which players have a multitude of weapons, tools, and paths at their disposal, allowing for both brutal and peaceful playstyles.

To this point, level environments are open-ended and provide a significant amount of freedom to explore alternate routes, interact with various objects, and discover hidden weapons.

Hitman 3 is the final chapter in IO Interactive’s World of Assassination trilogy that doubles down, or rather triples, on the franchise’s captivating sim qualities.

Reprising their role as everyone’s favorite hairless assassin Agent 47, players embark on a global adventure to bring down the secret organization Providence by eliminating key targets throughout open-world environments.

Each level is packed to the brim with interactive objects and NPCs that can be utilized to kill enemies or obtain a fresh disguise that lets the player get closer to their desired objective.

As a result, there are a significant number of ways to tackle every mission while utilizing permanent shortcuts, different disguises and weapons, and gaining access to forbidden areas.

You can’t talk about immersive sims without bringing up Arkane’s widely-acclaimed first-person action game Dishonored or its outstanding follow-up.

Both games see players exploring steampunk-inspired cities patrolled by guards that can be dealt with either aggressively and non-violently, using a variety of supernatural abilities and mechanical gadgets.

This includes possessing enemies, freezing time to remain unseen, deploying traps, or summoning a horde of rats to do your bidding.

Players can even go through each game without killing a single individual or outright massacring everyone, with either path significantly impacting the story.

The Metal Gear franchise is rich with espionage and systems-driven mayhem across eleven main games starring multiple protagonists with interconnected stories.

Set after Ground Zeroes, The Phantom Pain has you playing as the expert spy Big Boss after he wakes up from a coma and assembles a group of mercenaries to bring down his adversaries.

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While some convoluted story points make it a bit difficult to get into, the gameplay is an immersive sim fan’s paradise complete with expansive sandbox environments and a highly reactive enemy AI that responds to your actions.

Missions can all play out differently depending on how stealthy or hostile you are, and optional side objectives yield bonus rewards and fresh discoveries about the world.

Deus Ex is considered a pioneer in the immersive sim genre across its six installments, including the fourth and latest entry, Mankind Divided.

The game presents a limited cyberpunk story about a double agent looking to expose the Illuminati by aligning with a rebel group of hackers and infiltrating the enemy’s fortress.

Like many immersive sims, the gameplay blends first-person shooter combat with stealth and RPG-based progression with an emphasis on player autonomy.

This includes unlocking various enhancements for the protagonist that focus on combat, stealth, or survival and alter how they interact with the world.

BioShock is another franchise with deep roots in the immersive sim genre and is often credited with popularizing more adaptable, simulation-driven open-world games.

Equally as remarkable as the game’s underwater metropolis setting is BioShock’s underlying systems and game mechanics, which are just as complex as Rapture’s elaborate architecture.

The main character can wield varied elemental powers called plasmids that interact directly with the environment to manipulate turrets, security cameras, and even NPCs.

Of course, you can still play each entry like a conventional FPS seeing as flexibility is fundamental to the immersive sim experience.

While Alien: Isolation‘s immersive sim status is up for discussion, when you compare it to other entries on this list there’s no denying they share comparable DNA.

Combining stealth, action, and an ever-persistent antagonist, this survival horror adventure is ripe with jump scares and exploration as players sneak around space stations frantically trying to escape.

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Various resources can be crafted into diversion tools or weapons that can shift the odds in your character’s favor and influence enemies differently.

Even if the experience isn’t as open-ended as most immersive sims, the degree of detail in the environment and objects you interact with are enough to draw you in.

Admittingly dated by today’s standards, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines is an engaging action RPG that has players stepping into the shoes, or rather cloak, of a voracious vampire.

The tale unfolds in various ways depending on the family you support and how you engage with the world, using charisma, strength, or stealth to survive.

There’s also a vampiric code to navigate, dialogue options, and certain perks associated with different character classes that add to the captivating sim’s replayability.

While there have been several fan-made patches and mods released over the years to enhance the game’s performance and graphics, you may just want to hold out for the upcoming sequel Bloodlines 2.

Last but not least, System Shock 2 is a survival horror action RPG that helped set the standard for compelling sims and remains among the best the genre has to offer still to this day.

Players assume the role of a soldier tasked with eliminating a genetic infection that has spread throughout the ship and turned its crew into hideous creatures.

The game features three distinct skill trees that enable you to focus on one of three areas: firearms, technical proficiency, and psionic abilities, with each influencing gameplay.

In spite of all this, System Shock 2 still manages to find ways to poke holes in your armor and remind you who’s really in charge via unexpected enemy encounters and resource scarcity.