Peak of the genre for me, combat is a bit clunky at times and the game has some issues with how it paces its story, but it more than balances all that out with some of the best level design ever and an incredible depth to the mechanics you get to interact with it. Basically all the levels have dozens of small puzzles and solutions to them and let the player approach them with a lot of creativity depending on which abilities and guns they are using, nearly all of which have more than one use. Helps that the environments are both constructed beliavably as well as having tons of routes, verticality and hidden areas in them, to the point where it feels impossible to find them all in one playthrough. They are just so incredibly detailed. The story is paced a bit weirdly, but i think it has a lot of cool bits and probably one of the better uses of morality in game narrative. I found myself impressed upon replays with how many interesting details you can find around the ship and how nearly every email you read feels substantial to some extent, either as a quest hint or a small subplot about some of the crew members. Insanely fucking cool and lots of fun to mess around with on replays.

Doesn't focus as much on non linearity and different routes as other games on this list but it might be the scariest game i've played on this list, with lots of creepy audio logs, enemies and the general atmosphere. It also has a really engaging rpg system, with lots of builds and options to try, where you have to really commit to a playstyle. And also the soundtrack bangs and is good and i like it.

Likely the game with the most distinct aesthetic on this list, good thing it's one i like. I think the best thing about this game is how its style makes a bunch of the mechanics fit in quite well. In most games an upgrade letting you jump 30 meters into the air or an intestine grappling hook that allows you to go outside of the levels would be a bit ridiculous but here they fit perfectly with the aesthetic. The gunplay is good with a solid weapon variety, the level design is pretty solid with a lot of interconnectedness and hidden secrets and generally the game is really nicely put together. I also love the reload.

Absolutely banger game, was looking forward to this for as long as I've known about it and it did not disappoint. Some of the most sandboxy and truly your own gameplay from this whole list. It really lets you be extremely creative. The aesthetic of it may not be on the same level as some other games on the list but it still has a lot of pretty funny humor and a fitting story about consciousness and all the odd things surrounding it.

I love jank!!! This was the first imsim i bought and i couldn't get into it at first until i tried it later after watching hbomberguy's video on the sequel and i'm very glad i did. It is a lot of fun both in the missions basically all of which give you the many routes and freedom that define the genre. It also helps that this one has a lot of really fun character interactions and JC denton is a great protagonist. All of that combined with the awesome soundtrack and a story that is both filled with all the conspiracies you could think of yet hits pretty close to home really put the immersive into the immersive sim.

Played this one after realizing how much i love prey and going into it with those expectations made me really appreciate it. Each level is a joy to explore, finding all the various paths through it, experimenting with the tools in your arsenal, eavesdropping on conversations. All cool stuff. The game also has pretty neat art design and i really like the town of dunwall in general, whale oil and all that are fun quirks to sprinkle in. The story has some neat aspects and i think it works well as context for why you are going on the missions but it isn't super memorable(actually maybe i should rewrite this part, feels like i'm glossing over it too much). Overall though still a really fun time, will likely replay with high chaos. Oh and i don't mind the chaos system that much, it's alright.

Really damn good follow up! Polishes up and adds a lot of things on the base game (such as more non lethal options) and in general is an improvement on the gameplay front in most aspects. It also has some absolutely wonderful missions and the world is equally as detailed and filled to the brim with interesting things as the first game. I quite liked the story here too playing as Emily, it takes a bit more supernatural angle and has a different overall tone but still managed to have a lot of neat moments.

Found this a bit more interesting than Knife Of Dunwall, though both are quite good and probably work better together. This one made me realize how the dlc's fix an issue with the main game's low chaos being a bit less interesting, since your only options at eliminating targets are sleeping darts and choking them. While this one adds the stun mine and the choke dust, which expands you options a fair bit. The first mission is a cool return to the first level of the original dishonored, the second has a ton of different sections all of which are interesting in their own right and the third feels really unique in a good way. really solid duo of dlc's overall,

It's more dishonored basically, which is a good thing. The missions are similarly fun and multilayered to the original game. It adds a few additional weapons, a bunch non lethal, which is pretty neat. Kinda lost the plot which is maybe on me but it seemed fairly interesting and i liked the characters.

It's solid! More dishonored. There's some things taken away like runes and chaos which make it have a bit less replayability but the lack of chaos also makes you able to not commit to a single playstyle so that i think is a plus. The moveset is pretty damn fun, might be one of the best twist on the blink mechanic thus far. Definitely has some pretty creative options, even if it's not as diverse. Some levels are cool, some feel a bit too much like a retread without that much of interest. The bank one is pretty cool and the last one also has some really cool things even if it seems like a bitch to full stealth with the amount of enemies. Not the most essential dish entry but a good one still.

Lots of neat ideas and it's got the base game to build upon so it was gonna be good to some extent. And it is really cool for the first few hours but i feel like after a while it starts losing it's charm, the map remains almost the same and the slight changes don't really do enough. You figure out all the tricks and it becomes a bit stale and by the end of it i was just feeling kinda tired of it even if it isnt even that long. There's some fairly neat storytelling through all the characters and i like having each run be basically as an unique build but i don't think it really stuck the landing for me.

Feels like it only goes halfway to being an imsim. There are a fair few ways to mess with the phasmids and some other combat mechanics but the level design is almost entirely linear without much creative problem solving which is probably my favorite part of the genre. Still works if you're looking for more of a pure shooter with some additional quirks and admittedly a pretty cool setting but can't say it really lived up to the hype for me.