A few months back, one of my favorite let’s play channels introduced me to Shadows of Doubt, a procedurally-generated cyberpunk detective game that plays like an immersive sim. I find it kind of fascinating, and love the look, the crowded, densely-packed setting, and the depth of the simulation, where it maps out stuff like every NPC’s routine whether they’re relevant to a case or not, where they live, even where they leave fingerprints.
I don’t play many games, mostly for lack of time, and tend to avoid proc-gen stuff that relies on emergent gameplay and emergent storytelling (I guess I have an easier time justifying a story-based game as it’s more like reading a book or watching a show? I don’t know). But I keep thinking back to this one and wanting to give it a shot because the cyberpunk immersive sim thing is very much my jam. I thought I’d see if anyone else has played it, and if you’ve had any good adventures in it.
Here’s an article I stumbled onto while gathering links, in case you want more info: https://www.pcgamer.com/this-procgen-cyberpunk-detective-game-is-like-an-endless-deus-ex-and-it-could-become-a-stone-cold-classic/
That’s a pretty cool concept, I always wanted games like that. I pretty much stopped gaming because all games are way too “rigid” for my tastes.
I’ve played stuff like Kenshi to death. I glad it doesn’t have procedural generation, otherwise my life would be over.
Ever since I was a kid I dreamt of infinite Fallout/TES games, where you could one-click generate a whole new world just like those games and of the same quality.
It used to be a total pipe dream, but now with generative AI, it doesn’t seem so silly anymore.