Key facts
- Dave Oshry, chief executive officer of New Blood Interactive, told PC Gamer that immersive sim is not a good marketing term and called the phrase awful.
- New Blood Interactive publishes immersive sims including Gloomwood and Fallen Aces, as well as the cult hit ULTRAKILL.
- Oshry said he first heard the term immersive sim from Dillon Rogers, lead developer of Gloomwood, while working on that game, and that he had never heard it before.
- Oshry said System Shock and Deus Ex were role-playing games and that people called them role-playing games.
Dave Oshry, chief executive officer of New Blood Interactive, told PC Gamer on Oct. 24, 2026 that immersive sim is not a good marketing term and called the phrase “awful.”‘}, {
New Blood Interactive publishes immersive sims including Gloomwood and Fallen Aces, as well as the cult hit ULTRAKILL. The studio deliberately rejects the immersive sim label when marketing Gloomwood and Fallen Aces, positioning them instead as role-playing games or action adventures to maximize commercial reach. Oshry said that when trying to sell an immersive sim, it is best not to refer to it as one.’}, {
Oshry said marketing a game as a role-playing game would perform better than marketing it as an immersive sim. Rock Paper Shotgun disputed the comparison, noting role-playing games bring expectations such as statistics that immersive sims usually lack. New Blood explicitly avoids marketing Gloomwood as an immersive sim because it views the label as actively detrimental to sales versus the broader role-playing genre.’}, {
Oshry said he first heard the term immersive sim from Dillon Rogers, lead developer of Gloomwood, while working on that game, and that he had never heard it before. He said System Shock and Deus Ex were role-playing games and that people called them role-playing games. He said he was familiar with classics like Deus Ex and had played them, but considered them role-playing games rather than immersive sims. “System Shock and Deus Ex, they were RPGs. People called them RPGs.” — Dave Oshry’}, {
BozokMedia traces the immersive sim lineage to Looking Glass Studios’ System Shock and Ion Storm’s Deus Ex, later influencing Dishonored, and defines the style by emergent gameplay from complex interacting systems. The outlet says the immersive sim debate reflects a long-standing industry struggle to define the sub-genre. It defines an immersive sim as a genre focused on player agency and emergent gameplay using complex, interacting systems.’}, {
BozokMedia says the friction between genre purists and marketers often dictates the commercial success of indie titles, and that average consumers may find immersive sim intimidating or obscure. It argues that rebranding immersive sims as role-playing games reaches a wider audience but risks disappointing players who expect statistics, experience points and rigid leveling that many immersive sims omit. It contrasts traditional role-playing games, which depend on numerical statistics, experience points and rigid leveling, with immersive sims that favor organic progression and environmental interaction.’}, {
New Blood’s catalog includes Dusk, Amid Evil, ULTRAKILL, Gloomwood, Faith, Fallen Aces and Blood West, all retro-inspired but distinct in tone and mechanics. Oshry said in an April 23, 2026 interview that Dusk provided New Blood’s financial base and shaped its look, and David Szymanski’s pitch already contained the visual style, movement, weapon feel, and interactivity Oshry wanted to pursue, an approach he described as putting its own take on old genres rather than following a formula. ULTRAKILL has sold over 2 million copies in Early Access, and he rejected the misconception that it was made by one person, explaining how the studio shifts resources across projects. “ULTRAKILL has sold over 2 million copies in early access.” — Dave Oshry, New Blood Interactive CEO’}, {
New Blood Interactive was founded in 2014 by Aaron Alexander, Kreyg DeZago and Dave Oshry and originally developed virtual reality games before turning to publishing. The studio’s early plans, including a boxing game for the Game Developers Conference, never materialized before it pivoted to publishing. The studio is self-funded through game and merchandise sales, rejects venture capital, and had nearly 50 employees as of December 2025. Oshry described the self-funded model as old-fashioned and said the studio would keep making affordable games rather than chasing VC-backed swings, and he said in an April 23, 2026 interview that New Blood is now a full development studio of roughly 50 people, that the studio no longer needs approval from anyone outside itself, and that its games have a unique identity.’}, {
Dave Oshry compared New Blood’s 50-person team of friends who have worked together for years to Bethesda’s 100-person Skyrim team in an April 23, 2026 interview, arguing that New Blood is large enough to stop growing and continue making games with its existing team. Apart from Hyperstrange, which assists with Blood West, New Blood no longer works with external teams, and he described the company as one close-knit group with developers influencing each other’s projects. After going fully remote, New Blood replaced separate developer chats with one Discord server for internal Gloomwood development, and he said everyone at the studio can see what others are working on and that progress is discussed in weekly meetings. The ULTRAKILL Layer 8: Fraud update drew in almost every programmer at the company, and Oshry described it as an example of how the studio reallocates programmers to support a project when necessary.’}, {
Oshry said New Blood avoids Early Access road maps because the studio would miss deadlines, adding that he hates deadlines and release dates. New Blood approaches Early Access with a solid base, a clear goal, and changes driven by feedback from players who pay for the game, which he framed as a balancing act about what can be done, when it can happen, and the best release timing.’}, {
Dave Oshry said the studio prioritizes large content updates for requested features over small incremental ones, and that big content updates tend to take longer than small incremental ones. Players have a say in how New Blood’s Early Access games are made, he said, and he likened Early Access to watching a new TV season, with players influencing how the show is made. Most New Blood titles ship in Early Access.’}, {
Gloomwood launched into Early Access in 2022 and receives large updates. Gloomwood is a retro-styled first-person stealth horror game developed by Dillon Rogers alongside David Szymanski and currently available in PC Early Access on Steam.’}, {
In an April 23, 2026 interview, Oshry said Gloomwood aims for a late 1990s Looking Glass or Source engine aesthetic, while Fallen Aces looks like a living comic book and ULTRAKILL has PlayStation 1 vibes. Dusk was intended to look like a game released in 1996, and he said New Blood’s art styles are based on the games, genres, and eras that inspired them, making each title look different. He said FAITH uses old Atari-era visuals, and Tenebris Somnia moves that style forward with live-action cutscenes, examples he offered to show that the studio’s visual direction remains distinctive without being a gimmick. New Blood has an upcoming top-down shooter or CRPG, which he mentioned as further evidence that each New Blood game looks entirely different from the others.’}, {
Gloomwood relies on custom low-fidelity retro 3D rendering made for modern personal computers and x86 handhelds, an approach ROCKSTARmedia presents as part of the game’s performance profile for personal computers and handheld devices. The game works on Windows handhelds like the ASUS ROG Ally and on Valve’s Steam Deck through Proton, delivering solid 60 frames per second at default settings, and the outlet connects this handheld performance to mobile PC users in Southeast Asia who play during commutes or power-restricted sessions. Gloomwood’s modest heat output supports longer battery on 15W TDP setups for Southeast Asian mobile PC users, a benefit the outlet highlights for players using handhelds in transit or with limited power. Gloomwood updates with expansions for vertical urban layouts, the Market District, and tavern areas keep a lean file size like ULTRAKILL and Dusk.’}, {
In Southeast Asia, Gloomwood is a digital-only PC release on Steam with no physical media SKUs for console or PC and no announced physical or digital releases for PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch or Xbox, a situation ROCKSTARmedia ties to regional storefront pricing and collector availability for Malaysian and Southeast Asian PC gamers. In October 2026, buying Gloomwood on Steam’s Malaysian Ringgit storefront saves money versus direct United States dollar conversion by avoiding import shipping and currency exchange fees, while future physical imports via Limited Run Games or Super Rare Games would typically exceed RM200 to RM250 before customs. Gloomwood currently supports only English for interface, audio and subtitles, with no Malay, Indonesian or Thai localization integrated during the Early Access roadmap, an absence listed among frequently asked questions about the game’s Southeast Asian release.’}, {
Oshry contended that shifting promotional classification toward standard role-playing or action-adventure tropes yields superior discoverability on storefront algorithms. New Blood maintains that its games align with role-playing fundamentals through player agency, emergent physics, and systemic world-building. “Shifting promotional classification toward standard RPG or action-adventure tropes yields superior discoverability on storefront algorithms.” — ROCKSTARmedia Network’}, {
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