Does switching from first person to third person break your immersion?

It depends on how you want to define immersion. It's often used as either 'being completely involved in the game' or 'feeling as if you're part of the game world'. For example, you can be immersed in a 2d platformer or an RTS game, because they stimulate your brain enough so that you don't get distracted by external sounds/events or unrelated thoughts. You're fully focusing on the game.

Plus, perspective is only one of the many aspects that has a potential effect on immersion. Visuals, characters (either AI or human), sound, music, controls, narrative, mechanics; they can all contribute to a sense of immersion. These aspects influence each other and one aspect can compensate for another one's lack. The reason why you might feel more immersed in Deus Ex is that it perhaps requires you to think a little bit less straightforward and be a little more tactical. But it can also be the atmospheric and smoothly transitioning music. Or maybe the story and the characters are more interesting and affective in Deus Ex, which makes you care more about the game world and its inhabitants.

For me it does break immersion. The takedowns in Deus Ex are implemented in a very stupid way imo. Not only do they pull you out of the moment by changing perspective, they are also really excessive. There's no way a trained agent would perform those really long and bloody takedowns in a stealth scenario. They also break the pacing of stealth and are disorienting. It's still a good game though.

When it comes to vehicles I think it can be ok to switch the persepctive as that gives the player more control for example in a game like Rage. In FarCry3 you don't really need that precision so it's ok to have the FP perspective all the time.

I don't see a perspective as a way to be immersed. Being immersed is how much you find yourself sunk into the world the game portrays, how you feel for the characters, be it love or hate, pity or sadness etc. Sometimes I get so immersed in a game that I forget I'm looking at a TV and feel it's the only field of vision I have.

Although when it comes to Deus Ex I find switching to 3rd person was helpful. One of the reasons I really got into it unlike Dishonored.

i can get immersed in any type of game the setting the story is what brings me in.

i actually hate first person games, i'm the opposite i cannot stand first person shooters, i just feel your very limited to what you can do in first person and i like to see the character infront of me. but i really enjoyed deus ex.

It doesn't break the immersive feel for me.

In most games the only real difference between first and third person is the zoom. The devs don't really try to take advantage of the first person pov, as seen clearly by the fact that most devs don't even bother to render feet/torso in an FPS. How immersive can the game really be when you look down and see nothing?

There are rare exceptions like Breakdown, which could never have achieved what it did storytelling-wise from the 3rd person. This is because the devs made a point of making it feel like things are happening to the player. For example, there is this moment towards the middle of the game, where you've basically had the shit beaten out of you and are kinda slumped up against the wall. You're still in control, looking out over a body that won't move...and maybe you look right and you see your partner, also bloodied, crawling towards you with this look of helplessness, and then you see your attacker standing above you, looking off in the distance, enjoying his victory and a missile launch that will change the world. It's just really one of these indescribable moments in gaming for me that you just have to experience, and had it been done in third person or a cutscene wouldn't have been nearly as memorable.

I cant remember the terminology anymore...but immersion is (basically) all about being engrossed in whatever it is that you're watching or playing. Things that make you aware that you're watching a film or playing a game will typically weaken or break immersion.

Both first person and third person perspectives can be immersive if done well (although I do think that's easier with first person games, since it's a more natural/realistic interaction with the game world) - so it doesn't entirely matter which the developers choose. Still, consistency is super-important. If the game is jumping between perspectives every few minutes, you never get immersed in either for very long, and you become more aware that you're playing a game with every shift. So...yeah, Deus Ex: Human Revolution kind of screwed with players' immersion there.

I think people who bitch about immersion being broken are doing games wrong. And to answer TCs question, no.

I don't really care for 1st person at all. But In Fallout and Elder Scrolls games where you can switch it when you want I like it, I use 3rd person in combat and 1st person when I'm searching for stuff.

No not at all.

3rd person in Fallout and Elder Srolls is horrible. They don't really give you a choice. Not that I'd want to play it in 3rd person to be fair.