Ken Levine says first-person games are "the most direct way to engage"

Creative lead of Irrational games and creator of Bioshock Ken Levine has been talking about the advantages of first-person games. He argues that the viewpoint is more immersive, saying it provides "one less barrier to the experience."

Speaking to Industry Gamers , Levine said the first-person viewpoint gives players the child-like ability to step into someone else's shoes. "It's something we do very naturally as children, but it's something that is much more difficult for adults. I think that games gives us enough of a nudge in the right direction to have that childhood experience of play.”

“Not just play from a fun standpoint, but transposing your identity onto somebody else's, and that is something so powerful when you are a kid. You just lose that as an adult because you get so self-conscious.”

“Games sort of allow us to break through that layer to let us go back to that space of play, which I think is really powerful.”

Is Levine right? Are first-person games the most immersive on PC?

Part of the UK team, Tom was with PC Gamer at the very beginning of the website's launch—first as a news writer, and then as online editor until his departure in 2020. His specialties are strategy games, action RPGs, hack ‘n slash games, digital card games… basically anything that he can fit on a hard drive. His final boss form is Deckard Cain.