Arkane Studios is celebrating 20 years of immersive first-person action gaming

Arkane Studios has launched Arkane 20, a celebration event where the beloved game developer is going to share never-before-seen behind the scenes videos, developer interviews, and more great details about the studio’s past and their games. To start the event off, Arkane is giving away their breakout title Arx Fatalis to everyone who joins Arkane Outsiders community.

The talented folks from the French powerhouse studio Arkane have good reason to celebrate. Not only did they manage to stay strong for two decades in a cut-throat industry where success really isn’t tied to quality all the time. But they are the shining beacon of an entire sub-genre with their excellent continuation of the immersive sim.

This niche is hardly even known by name among gamers themselves, but it had an immense impact on the gaming landscape. Landmark titles like System Shock and the original Deus Ex are early examples and set the precedent for what immersive sims are. They often offer players a wide range of gameplay possibilities and somewhat open level designs. That’s why games in the genre tend to be also lumped together with RPGs.

But while many early studios went bankrupt or changed direction, Arkane Studios has been consistently pushing out one cult classic after the other. Games like the Dishonored series and the recent Prey reboot are excellent examples of what immersive sims can be that others simply cannot. And Arkane is a big reason why gamers can enjoy experiences like these in the first place.

As a start of the Arkane 20 celebration, the developer is giving away the 2003 first-person action-RPG Arx Fatalis to everyone who joins the Arkane Outsiders email list gets the game for their Bethesda.net PC account.