I find my brain extremely happy when a game provides ample opportunity to make connections, like in Dwarf Fortress, where I watch an event unfold, which can stir my creativity and imagination like nothing else. Writing a story out of it is extremely smooth and easy compared to other sandbox games.
I also find myself in love with immersive sims like Desu Ex and Thief, where level design and exploration take a front seat, every map is like a big playground with verticality and branching paths, where you find secrets and lore hidden around every corner in an atmospheric world.
What is immersion to you?
So much has already been well put, except one thing that reaaaaallly help MY immersion:
Sfx & especially music. Thinking of “life is strange” or “cyberpunk 2077” or the good old witcher.
The soundtrack of Caves of Qud really does it for me, so alien and immersive, the graphics weren’t much of a problem.
Haven’t played that one but am intrigued now.
And yes, gfx are indeed the least important factor of a great game. Yet it seems like the one most money is pumped into 🤷♂️