Defining elements of the Immersive Sim

It should be noted that not all of these characteristics are necessarily required for games to fall into this category

>Immersion in an elaborate and believable game world.
>Simulation: physics and AI are used to create believable behavior in objects and characters which the player can freely interact with, resulting in 'emergent gameplay'.
>Game design that allows for multiple paths and/or multiple solutions in every situation.
>A systemic game world that keeps track of the player's actions, which can affect the "whole" game.
>open-ended/non-linear game design with an emphasis on choice and consequence.
>Full control over the player's character in every situation.
>A world with consistent rules that the player can interact with.
>Narrative that is not always forced on the player, but instead can be told through exploration and gameplay at that players will.
>First-person perspective so as to truly look through the eyes of the protagonist.
>No fail states, beyond player death.

Is BOTW an immersive sim?

Immersive sim is a genre only used when other genre's don't really explain the game. BoTW has a clearly defined genre placement

Thief is a stealth game and that doesn't change the fact that it is also an immersive sim.

Depending on how strictly you want to lean on those rules, BotW would fail already at the first-person view part the very latest. Which I find to be a very poor, even misplaced requirement.

So yeah, it would very well be an "immersive sim" in my opinion. The whole term's a bit vague in general, and tends to describe games with blurry combinations of various genres and ideas.
Zeldas have always belonged to Action Adventure genre, which has sometimes caused it to get called an "RPG" at times too. However, BotW would pretty much fit the description of an RPG as well now... so take that as you wish.

The bottom line however is, that BotW's a very beautiful, atmospheric, truly open and huge game, and definitely a great, immersive experience. Time simply flies when I play this game, and I've seen this happen with other people I've witnessed play it.

Stealth isn't a genre, it's a mechanic. Stealth is a major portion of a lot of games, MGS, Splinter Cell, Hitman, but those are all different games that go into different genres

>Stealth isn't a genre, it's a mechanic
in case you haven't yet realized it, most VIDEO GAME genres are indeed defined by their GAMEPLAY mechanisms.

Platformers, sometimes called "jump & runners", are called that because you tend to run and jump a lot, on platforms.

First-person shooters are a no-brainer: You shoot things, in a first-person view.

You can however have multiple sub-genres, which are usually derived or borrowed from other media formats' genres (films, books...), often describing the style, setting, mood, or soemthing similar: Horror, Action, Romance, Scifi...

No. Ignoring everything else, the menus are not immersive at all.

>>Immersion in an elaborate and believable game world.
>sword breaks in 1 minute upon use

So much for a believable world

Menus in BOTW look similar to the HR menu and that game is an immersive sim.

botw's menus do not look that elaborate or clean

Yes they do.

I think you have brain damage

Are you for real? the menus in SS2 and Deus Ex were not clean at all certainly not as minimalistic as the ones in BOTW.

>gets told
>resorts to ad hominem

typical

so immersive

...

meanwhile in a game with actual immersion

What you just described goes against your argument for breath of the wild as an immersive sim. Genre's are more than just a mechanic, it has staples that are usually applied to fit the broader definition of similar games. The only reason we call games like System Shock, Bioshock, and Prey for example immersive sim's and not FPSs is because it goes for entirely different goals than the FPS staples, and justly so. Not every game where you have a gun and are in the first person is an FPS at heart. The goal of the game is usually what contextually it's genre, otherwise we can give almost every game a million different genres. BoTW goal is the same as any Zelda's, it's just approaching it from a less linear angle

Keep moving goalposts autist.

OoT has pretty much nothing in common with immersive sims.

Actually reasonable. I'd say that while Thief 2 was a bit more polished on gameplay-side, it was not quite as immersive and atmospheric as Thief 1 though. Also, while it makes sense that Prey isn't in the top tier, and Deus Ex HR is above Mankind Divided, Prey was considerably better than DXHR in just about every relevant aspect outside of perhaps story and music, so having them in the same line seems... slightly off.

Likewise, Dishonored was actually a lot better than Bioshock. In fact, while all above are largely cosmetical complaints, Bioshock I think deserves it's very own "meh" category bellow the rest.
It's not awful, but is by far the weakest of the lot.

Cause it doesnt use such a shitty reterming of the word "adventure."

My problem with the first Thief is that some of the levels I just don't find really fun, some areas feel more like an adventure game than a stealth game which isn't inherently bad but Thief II felt a lot more focused.

Stuff like Thieve's Guild, Escape!, the two Cathedral levels and Lost City felt way too convoluted in their design and it was too easy to get lost in a bad way. I know some people like those and I'm not saying they're bad but I much prefer missions like Assassins or The Sword, Escape! is also just flat out bad and really has no place in a game like that.