I want to elaborate on this more in the future but
I kind of operate on the axis of “intimacy” rather than “immersion” when I’m figuring out when to put headphones on for a game
it can mean a number of different things that I will vaguely summarize as your (the player) “closeness” to the proposed videogame space via means of interface
so like dark souls was brought up as an example of a not-headphone game and it makes sense to me because the “proposed videogame space” (whatever the fuck that means) is supposed to be unwelcoming and uncomfortable, creating a distance between the player and the space (probably on purpose)
and like, contrast this with monster hunter which has a pretty similar flow in combat mechanics – the proposed space wants to be much closer to the player and wants to draw you in (you spend a Not Insignificant amount of time just gathering) so it becomes much more of a Headphone Game to me
and I think there’s a distinction to be made between this and “immersion” because a videogame can be made more immersive by creating a distance between the player and the space
I know Thumper is a good videogame because I have no idea how I want to approach that game’s space
this doesn’t make any sense