Immersion in Video Games

[DeathsHand]

Originally Posted by Vampyr

And of course the gameplay has to be good, otherwise it doesn't even matter how immersive the rest of the game is, if the gameplay is bad no one will play it.

Try to find a Silent Hill fan who ever thought the series had good gameplay...
Hells, I thought SH4 was a step above SH3 despite the fact that it's gameplay took about two big steps back.

I would say the most important thing for me would be a well constructed WORLD...
And I don't necessarily mean it has to have a gigantic area that you can explore willy-nilly, I just mean a world that feels like it's been lived in, has a story behind it, is well designed (artistically and functionally), etc...

I don't mind cutscenes, but finding a way to incorporate them into a gameplay experience (HL2 would be the only example I can think of off the top of my head) certainly doesn't hurt...
And as a side note, I curse whoever came up with QTEs...