Strong bones, weak flesh.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is the kind of game where it’s a miracle that it’s as good as it is, and yet it still manages to fall a little short. Anyone attempting to make a follow-up to 1999’s Deus Ex couldn’t possibly realize what they were setting themselves up for — that’s how we got Invisible War, after all — and dominant design trends of the early-2010’s didn’t exactly set a suitable stage for immersive simulators. Contemporary stealth games had sucked ass for years, too; a stealth-y immersive simulator that could come out as anything other than hot garbage was going to be an accomplishment.

Under those expectations, then, Human Revolution is probably the best game it could have been. All media will inevitably become a product of its time, and I think Human Revolution managed to hang on a few years past what should have been a very early expiry date. There’s a weird unskippable walk-and-talk section in the opening moments of the game, most of the social commentary is delivered with the grace of a brick soaring through a windshield, clear budget issues present themselves through the mass (re)use and abuse of hubs; all of these are era-specific foibles. You can’t play Human Revolution today without immediately catching the stink of 2011’s triple-A conventions wafting off of it. That stink might also be left over from the piss filter that they wiped off the screen in the Director’s Cut version of the game. I’m not sure.

But Human Revolution mostly manages to hold up. The characters are strong — Adam Jensen has remained a breakout favorite for many, with his constant, gravelly rasping and catty attitude — the gameplay is largely fine, and the atmosphere is thick. The streets of Detroit and Hengsha can suck you into themselves like quicksand if you aren’t paying attention, filled with little crooks and crevices to explore and loot. Even paths that lead to dead ends still reward you with XP, so the act of exploring never feels like a complete waste. You’ve only got a few flavors of builds; you can go one of stealth or non-stealth, and one of lethal or non-lethal. There’s not much point to mixing and matching, and the game itself is woefully easy to get through regardless of which build path you take. At the very least, no option feels wrong.

While the earliest parts of Human Revolution are strong, the game starts to lose its footing a bit as it goes on. The second visits to Detroit and Hengsha swiftly devolve into little more than running from one end of the map to the other in a continued series of acts that feels like the game is trying to stall for time. The DLC boat chapter from The Missing Link has been forcibly rolled into the main campaign, and it’s shit. There isn’t much more to say about it than that. It’s a hyper-linear slog with twists you can see coming from a mile away, and manages to be the worst combination of "too easy to be challenging" and "too long to wrap up before it gets boring". The Missing Link now acts as a ridiculously tall speed bump in the late-middle of a game that’s already beginning to drag its feet, and whatever momentum Human Revolution had before it put you on the boat evaporates just in time for the final stretch to begin.

It’s certainly not a bad game, by any means, and the opening segments are far stronger than I remember them being. The game ends weakly, though, and that’s always going to feel worse than the inverse. This is the exact kind of project that I wish could have been made with a bit more time, a bit more money, a bit more freedom. As it stands, it’s still a competent follow-up to Deus Ex. It never could have been better than what came before it, given the climate that Human Revolution released in, but it’s an admirable attempt all the same. A few issues spoil it, but there’s nothing here that isn’t salvageable.

You can make Adam Jensen say he “never asked for this” to like four different people before the credits roll. It’s really cute seeing him make up his own catchphrase.

After the disaster that was Invisible War, Deus Ex came back better than ever with Human Revolution. While a good game, it still had its fair share of flaws. Director's Cut aims to fix those flaws and it succeeds...mostly. Despite some still remaining flaws, Human Revolution Director's Cut remains a great game for a variety of reasons.
The story told in Human Revolution is a great one. It has all the hallmarks of a deus ex tale: conspiracy, dependence on technology, the benefits of it to humanity in the long run, freedom, politics, perception shifted by the media etc, but in a more modern setting. The difference this time around is the more personal perspective of it, thanks to the new protagonist Adam Jensen. He is a lot more developed compared to protags of previous games, but still maintains a stoic sarcastic attitude (probably to mirror JC Denton). It also helps that he has a great voice, courtesy of Elias Toufexis. It helps you connect a lot more with the character as well as the story he goes through, all told through excellent writing, character interactions, cutscenes and even environmental storytelling. Right off the bat, the game makes it clear that it will acknowledge every minor decision you make from both a gameplay or "dialogue tree" perspective as early as the first mission you get after the prologue, a massive improvement over Invisible War in that regard. The tale is still fairly linear, but the acknowledgement and consequences of your choices and gameplay style does help in making you feel like it's your story. This is helped further by the addition of negotiations in the game with certain important NPCs, which are their own great gameplay addition, letting you unlock brand new choices if you are sharp enough with your negotiations skills. The sidequests are also great side stories that help flesh out both the world and Adam Jensen himself. There are some flaws in the writing that I will touch on later, but for now it's another great story in the deus ex universe.
The gameplay is finally back to where it belongs. Instead of the linear slog of Invisible War, we are back to more open levels and well-designed hub worlds filled with compelling and fun sidequests. The levels are still not as open as the first game, but i feel it hits the perfect sweet spot between the sandbox of deus ex's levels and the linearity of invisible war's levels, while not feeling like it oversteps to one side. And of course, every gameplay style is welcomed here. Thanks to the level design (and improvements from the director's cut), both the stealth and aggressive tactics have their own benefits. The shooting feels better than previous games, but the AI can provide a challenge still. I say CAN, because there are a few times where the AI was braindead to me, but those were minor cases. The augmentation system has been completely redesigned. The skill system is still gone, but the augmentation now behave more like a "skill tree", where you can acquire brand new ones and upgrade them or existing ones through the use of praxis kits, gained through different manners such as buying them in clinics, gaining exp and "levelling up". This redesign does take the game away from its rpg routes into an "action game with rpg elements" territory, but i don't mind that change. All the new augments provided are useful in their own way and the levels are designed with them being effective on the field too. My personal favourites were the hacking augmentations, cloak and the icarus landing system. Speaking of hacking, because of the new setting, it is your best friend, as it sadly replaces stuff from the other games like lockpicking or even needing to find access codes, when you can just hack away and gain exp points for that. It encourages you to hack through the whole game, making codes basically useless as you gain more benefits from hacking everything. A gift and a curse, if you will. Instead of just being a loading bar like the previous games, hacking is redesigned into its own minigame, a massive improvement in my eyes. Adam Jensen can also perform unique takedowns when close to an enemy. They are cool as shit to watch and never got tired for me. It's a great addition for those who want a more hands-on approach, but it can get repetitive since there are just so many repeated animations you can get away with. Despite the minor flaws, gameplay is still as fun and satisfying as it was before.
The presentation is still top-notch. As a result of the director's cut, the yellow filter is removed from the game. It's subjective to everyone, but I personally prefer this change, since I never liked that filter in the first place. The game looks beautiful and a massive part of that is the yellow-and-black cyberpunk focus of the setting. While it clashes with the first game canonwise (Human Revolution is a prequel after all), I really don't care, the setting looks so fucking cool and unique. The setting is complimented by great lighting, character models and cutscenes. The game is just enough stylized that it has aged really well to this day.
The music is amazing too. Like the gameplay, the music also hits a sweet spot between the bops of the original game and the more atmospheric approach of invisible war, adapting to the situations you are faced with and overall making you feel more immersed in the world.
Finally...let's talk about the other stuff. The most noticeable flaws of this game were the boss fights. They were fun bosses, but NOT deus ex bosses and you were fucked if you approached it with a non-lethal stealth playstyle. Director's cut tries to fix it by adding more options to defeat the bosses as a non-lethal stealth player, but it's not enough to compensate for a fundamental design flaw and as a result they remain as some of the worst bosses in the series. The villains behind these fights are also not fleshed out at all for you to care enough when you finally clash with them. They're just the generic "terrorist bad guys" and nothing more. There is also The Missing Link's placement. While a great dlc on its own, the placement of it smack-dab in the third act of the game in the main game is the single biggest change of the director's cut. Many have criticized and while it feels jarring to go to the dlc from a pacing perspective, i didn't mind much since the dlc was also excellent. It also has the only boss in this game that feels like a deus ex boss. My main criticism of the game has to do with the endings. They are quite literally "press a button to pick an ending" and i don't like that at all. It makes your choices feel as though they mattered fuck all. Sure, two of these endings are locked behind endgame secondary quests, but they are present in the final mission of the game, so it's basically invisible war all over again. It also leaves the endings to blend with each other from a presentation perspective, as the only thing that splits them apart is jensen's speech.
Overall, despite the flaws in the bosses and the endings, they are quite minor when you take the game as a whole and see just how much it does well. Human Revolution is a great return to form for the series, a game that you don't need much knowledge of previous games to get in, so i highly recommend it to everyone who likes these types of games.

my Steam review from Nov 13 2021

Not really what I would call a bad game, but I'm giving it a negative review because it is just boring and a bad Deus Ex sequel.

If we are to judge Human Revolution on its own merit, it's just kinda okay. The combat is fluid, the graphics are pretty (except for the vomit-inducing omnipresent yellow color), the music is great (probably my fav aspect of this game), and I really enjoyed the voice acting, especially the actor playing Adam Jensen. But in total the game fails to present anything out of ordinary. Almost every gameplay mechanic makes it feel like a generic AAA title. The story also feels only serviceable, providing nothing extraordinary within the first couple of hours, but creating a sense that it might become entertaining, if I keep playing. Which is fine, and how things are usually done in AAA games, I guess.

However, if we judge this game as a Deus Ex, it fails miserably to live up to the series' reputation. While I know Deus Ex: Invisible War is generally considered significantly inferior to the first game, I think Deus Ex: Human Revolution cannot hold the candle to either of the previous games. Gameplay-wise it's been streamlined to an extreme degree. While it tries to keep up the appearance of a Deus Ex game by allowing you to interact with objects, characters and environment, these only create an illusion of the gameplay the previous games had.

Human Revolution cannot in all honesty be called an immersive sim. In the older games almost every room contained tons of interactable objects; it felt like a playground where you could do almost anything you wanted. Particularly in the first game every mission clearly provided you with several paths of completing it, which could then branch out and intertwine. And you never felt like you was making "a choice". The gameplay always just flowed naturally, because the alternate ways were not hidden as some kinda extra content, and neither of the paths was prioritized. Every character you interacted with had at least several lines of dialogue. In DEHR the game usually has one "right" way of completing a mission, and one "special" way (plus the "wrong" way, aka going guns-blazing). You have to actually put effort into finding that "special" way, as you would do in any other stealth game, because this game doesn't have a multitude of them like the originals. The interactable objects are far and few between, and all you can usually do with them is pick them up and move them around for no reason. Every NPC, except for the key characters, has only EXACTLY TWO lines of dialogue, and they are usually completely pointless. Not to mention, all the NPCs are basically saying the exact same things in different words.

Speaking of words, 90% of written material can and should be skipped. It's just filler that adds nothing to the story or the world. Okay, so from two hours of playing it I figured out that this is 2027 and augmentations are everywhere, and for some reason everybody is upset about it. But that's pretty much all you get in every single note and email. They just keep repeating the same exact talking points, which don't really have anything to say anyway. In the original Deus Ex the written material was all fascinating to read, as it would discuss questions of freedom, authoritarianism, capitalism, social justice, economy, the impact of technologies upon society, etc. And the NPCs would relate all that to their personal stories, and present you with moral dilemmas. The second game wasn't on the same level, but it still had fleshed out characters and discussed some of those themes, as well as some other interesting sci-fi concepts. A lot of that related to our real world and what we are going through right now as a civilization. This is how you do cyberpunk. This is what cyberpunk is all about. So you always WANTED to speak to every NPC, read every book, every terminal, hack every computer, and read every email. In DEHR I want to do the opposite: skip all that filler and get to the actual missions. Because it is a chore to go through all that text. Which, again, is pretty common in video games, but in Deus Ex this is a crime against the series' integrity. DEHR have no themes aside from augmentations. And even for that the game fails to present a convincing case.

So to conclude, DE and DEIW were both cyberpunk immersive sims. DEHR is not. It is a pale imitation of what a Deus Ex game should be. But on its own, it's not that bad of a game. Pretty decent even. I would probably rate it like 7/10 on its own, and like 4/10 as a Deus Ex.

I would love to play more of this, but I don't know where my Wii U gamepad is and haven't for months. :(

Technically, I own this on PC. But I ADORE controller gimmicks, and the Wii U port of Human Revolution surprisingly delivers in that department. Granted, it's apparent that the game wasn't designed around the Wii U gamepad, and it's not necessary to play through the game. But the inclusion of your map, inventory screen, hacking interface, and so on on a second screen is something that's irresistible to me. There's also a strategy guide built-in. I don't care if you don't need it; that's fucking RAD.

But yeah, anyway, it's a pretty good game.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a fantastic and incredibly faithful addition to the first Deus Ex while still offering many new things to stand out from the shadow of the original. The story, while not quite as strong as the first, tackles many other ideas within the world like the idea of augmentations, transhumanism, and how it gets wrapped up in worldly politics. Adam Jensen is just so incredibly badass and anytime he does a brutal Arkham styled takedown I clap. The gameplay is a pretty good modernization of the free-form design from the original, still giving you multiple ways to approach enemies or missions, on top of a revamped augmentation skill system that I had fun with. The bosses are a bit all over the place in terms of quality or enjoyment, some are interesting while others feel too specific for one set playstyle that it edges on tedious.

While the Director’s Cut removed the yellow tint which seemed actually vital to the aesthetic of the game, I still enjoyed the Cyberpunk Renaissance look of it even if it's removed here. But what it changed that while playing I didn’t realize but made sense completely after was how it shoved The Missing Link DLC right in the middle of the third act which explained why the pacing took a weird hit.

Will get around to playing the sequel at one point and get depressed on this trilogy never getting an ending.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution é a melhor obra de ficção científica Cyberpunk que já experimentei. Praticamente todos aspectos técnicos e criativos são muito bem executados, considerando desde a gameplay diversa até a construção de uma atmosfera funcional de um futuro distópico e, ao mesmo tempo, verossímil dentro do que aborda. Existem alguns pormenores que podem frustrar a experiência, principalmente em torno de ferramentas que envelheceram mal, porém dá para ignorá-las na maioria das vezes (pelo menos para mim). Aprofundando um pouco mais nos aspectos do jogo, escolhi dividir em:

HISTÓRIA
Toda a narrativa é bem articulada e sua duração total também está entrelaçada ao desenvolvimento necessário da trama, sem que em nenhum momento ela pareça ser extensa, repetitiva ou desinteressante; a maioria das missões secundárias despertam um interesse para realizá-las em busca da recompensa associada, seja pelo desejo do jogador de extrair conteúdo do jogo, ou apenas a obtenção de créditos e aprimoramentos. Além disso, outro ponto marcante é a maturidade empregue na construção dos dilemas éticos e políticos presentes ao longo de toda a narrativa, permitindo que vários cenários exprimam uma credibilidade que não se limita à reação do protagonista, como também conseguem ser efetivos à moralidade do jogador — ademais, todo esse panorama é mais uma vez rememorado em um dos finais de jogo mais reflexivos que já vi.

Juntamente da trama, a construção dos personagens que a integram é bem dedicada para conferir carisma suficiente a muitos deles, enquanto outros percebe-se opiniões, respostas e uma postura um tanto genérica, como aqueles três mercenários, Zhao e às vezes a Malik. Entretanto, Sarif, Pritchard, Jensen e principalmente Darrow fazem valer sua significância na história através disso, além de outros personagens mais pontuais na narrativa.

Um pequeno parênteses sobre a DLC Missing Link, não tive nenhum problema em ser obrigado a jogá-la no meio da história principal (uma consequência do Director's Cut). Apesar de relativamente longa, a trama mantém uma correlação bem construída com a história principal, além de importante para melhor compreensão de alguns pontos dela. Esquecendo alguns problemas dela relacionados à realização de conquistas (principalmente Foxiest of the Hounds e Factory Zero), é uma boa DLC.

ASPECTOS TÉCNICOS GERAIS
Como já mencionei, a ambientação do jogo é muito bem expressa para a distopia que propõe, onde até percebi (na ambientação) algum nível de semelhança a Blade Runner (1982). As trilhas sonoras são bem inspiradas e em grande parte desempenham muito bem seu papel, onde quer que sejam inseridas. Por outro lado, como já bem conhecido nas críticas negativas, os gráficos estão relativamente datados, em especial aqueles referentes à textura facial, onde também se tem animações corporais bem toscas e bastante limitadas, assim como a variedade de NPCs e outras coisas relacionadas; eu consigo ignorar esses detalhes, mas realmente dão uma quebrada na imersão em vários momentos. Por fim, sobre o lendário filtro amarelo, eu até acho bacana, conferindo uma tonalidade/saturação enjoada que mescla relativamente bem com a realidade distópica intencionada; acabou marcando Deus Ex: HR de um jeito que até senti falta no Mankind Divided.

GAMEPLAY
A jogabilidade é relativamente simples dentro do que se espera de um jogo stealth, porém divertida e até que diversa no que diz respeito às maneiras que o jogador tem para avançar nas missões e cenários gerais: confronto direto, convencimento de NPCs, hack de torres, caminhos ocultos, e obviamente isso é ainda mais enriquecido com os vários aprimoramentos disponíveis. Por outro lado, em tese, Adam Jensen é um agente furtivo, então muitas escolhas acabam realmente sendo favoráveis a esse estilo de jogo; ou seja, é difícil compensar sua fragilidade numa troca de tiros direta com 5 inimigos. Falando neles, principalmente para a jogabilidade stealth, os inimigos têm uma IA bem básica, ruim e bastante previsível, além de pouco realista, o que torna o jogo realmente fácil em muitas situações que não deveria ser. No mais, os quatro chefes também são bem fáceis de derrotar; o minimapa poderia ser mais bem representado, visando oferecer maior utilidade de navegação; e hackear dispositivos não deveria ser TÃO recompensador, de modo que vale mais a pena hackear tudo que vê pela frente do que explorar em busca de códigos e senhas — o que acaba desmerecendo bastante a própria existência desses.

Enfim, é um título memorável e muito bom de experimentar ainda nos dias de hoje. Se você conseguir suportar os aspectos técnicos datados e em grande parte limitados, garanto que todos os outros pontos citados são mais do que capazes de imergí-lo na obra. Embora com uma jogabilidade não tão desafiadora assim (embora isso seja relativo), ainda se tem uma experiência divertida e gradativamente reflexiva dentro do enredo associado.

Mais um daqueles jogos que eu conheci anos atrás, não consegui me adaptar e acabei dropando, mas sabia que mais cedo ou mais tarde eu deveria voltar.

E cá estou eu em 2022, finalmente dei uma segunda chance para Deus Ex HR e simplesmente foi uma decisão muito acertada!

Um jogo com uma história bem interessante, sistema de habilidades que interage muito bem com a proposta immersive sim, ambientação Cyberpunk bonita e exploração recompensadora, e algumas possibilidades de escolhas, apesar de não fazer uma grande diferença pra história.

Parte ruim: Acho que o jogo se estende um pouco demais, principalmente se você quiser fazer todas as sidequests como eu, e isso faz com que essa brincadeira de stealth e quicksave fique um pouco cansativa.

É um dos melhores jogos que já joguei na minha vida! O final é bem satisfatório independente da sua decisão, todas são bem escritas.

(Difficulty: Give Me Deus Ex)
As my first Deus Ex game, it took some time for me to get into it. It just felt a bit slow and clunky, and I thought our protagonist was a bit rigid and cheesy. After spending a bit more time with Adam, that might still be the case to be fair, but it all comes together really well after I got my bearings a bit.
Stealth and take-downs are really fun. Upgrading and leveling up is well paced and is very impactful.
The cutscenes are well done and some of the villains are really awesome. The story was pretty gripping especially towards the later chapters.
So many different dialog options and ways to play the game. This is a great rpg because it does allow so many ways to approach combat, dialog, and leveling.
Worth a playthrough absolutely! I would not recommend the hardest difficulty unless you want a real challenge.

Not even close to the original, and boring as fuck as it's own game. No, i'm not some nostalgic boomer that played the OG on release, i played it for the first time at the end of 2019 and it became one of my favorite games of all time (in my top 3 in fact).
This game? It's really fucking boring. I like Invisible War more than this shit, i'm not kidding.

One of my favorite things about the original was going all around the world exploring very different hubs and areas. This game tried to copy that but we spend 99% of the time indoors in samey looking hallways. It doesn't matter where you are, Detroit, Hong Kong, the middle of nowhere, etc. Most of the game looks the same all the time.
The Hong Kong hub sucks so much ass and i hate it.

Another thing i hated was how you win exp. The original gave you exp for secrets and progress. It didn't care HOW you got there, every build got the same reward, that's perfect. Here you get exp for every little thing you do, most notably hacking, wich results in the player hacking every fucking door and PC even if they have the code just to get the exp. It's such a massive waste of time.

A lot of things were removed like melee weapons, the upgrades don't feel that fun or important to use, they got rid of the weapon/item mastery. You basically have 2 options, a stealth build or a murderhobo build, but honestly they barely feel like builds in the first place with how limited your options are.

The bosses are easily the worst part of the game, all of them suck SO much, no exceptions. Deus Ex is not a game made for boss fights, why the fuck did they add them?!?!?!

I barely remember the plot, i just know it was really stupid and bad. I didn't give a shit about the characters (except for Pritchard, i liked him)

The soundtrack is forgettable, i can't remember a single song from the entire game. The original had an amazing soundtrack filled with catchy and memorable songs, this one is just... nothing.

And the ending. Lmao.

Tl;dr: Dumbed down from the original, boring-bad characters/levels/upgrades/story/soundtrack/ending + awful bosses

Just play the original or Mankind Divided. Heck, even Invisible War is better than this.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is an enhanced version of the original game, known for its intricate narrative and cyberpunk setting. While the Director's Cut adds some improvements and downloadable content, the core experience remains enjoyable. The game shines with its rich story, offering players choices that impact the outcome. However, the Director's Cut version doesn't address all of the original game's issues, and the visuals, while decent, don't quite measure up to contemporary standards. Nonetheless, it's a solid option for fans of the series or newcomers looking to explore a dystopian future.

O jogo bônus sobre Deus Ex que tem nesse jogo de hacking é muito bom, seria legal se expandissem ele

TL;DR: Independente do que eu disser nessa review, Deus Ex Human Revolution é um bom jogo que ainda vale a pena conhecer mesmo 10 anos depois, seu mundo é um dos mais bem realizados, sua direção de arte é única o suficiente pra se destacar no gênero Cyberpunk, o jogo também trás boas questões para serem discutidas (embora não se aprofunde nelas), também é importante notar que esse é o primeiro jogo de um estúdio recém formado que tem a responsabilidade de criar um Immersive Sim digno do nome Deus Ex, e considerando tudo, a Eidos Montreal fez um ótimo trabalho, mas ao mesmo tempo, esse jogo me fez perceber o quão difícil é de se fazer um Immersive Sim, e como Human Revolution falha nesse aspecto.

O combate é o ponto alto do jogo, ele é arriscado, balas causam muito dano mas você também consegue matar quase todos os inimigos com uma única bala, por causa disso as munições são bem escassas, eles fazem questão que você nunca tenha o suficiente e que você sempre considere as suas opções antes de enfrentar um grupo de inimigos, pois você sempre pode acabar com menos munição do quando você começou, há uma variedade decente de armas, tanto letais quanto não letais, tudo pra acomodar seu estilo de jogo. Os inimigos também variam bastante para que o combate não fique repetitivo, além dos oponentes normais que tentam te tirar do cover com granadas e só avançam quando estão em vantagem numérica, existem também soldados que podem ficar invisíveis que te flanqueam e brutamontes cheios de armadura que carregam metralhadoras pesadas, há também robôs que tem seus próprios truques para serem enfrentados, eles podem ser hackeados para eliminarem inimigos e uma granada EMP é o suficiente pra acabar com qualquer máquina independente do tamanho, seja uma torreta ou um tanque militar com inteligência própria, os desenvolvedores já disseram em entrevista que o combate foi o aspecto que eles mais gastaram tempo desenvolvendo, e você pode ver isso através do jogo todo.

A história de Human Revolution é uma com um ótimo potencial, mas ao invés do jogo tentar dizer algo de verdade ou questionar o jogador, o jogo apenas arranha a superfície do tema pois parece ter medo de dizer algo de verdade, o jogo questiona o uso de melhorias mecânicas no corpo e se isso é bom ou não, se nós pudéssemos recriar um braço mecânico ou um olho pra funcionar que nem um membro de verdade isso seria muito bom certo? Porém, junto disso também existem melhorias sendo desenvolvidas para os militares, braços que podem se transformar em armas, corpos que podem te deixar invisíveis e explosivos de poder de fogo massivo, deveria ter uma regulamentação pra esse tipo de melhoria se todo mundo com dinheiro pudesse se tornar uma metralhadora ambulante certo? Bem, no jogo existe um grupo pró regulamentação porém eles são escritos pra serem idiotas que colocam todas as melhorias como ruim e uma "poluição" do corpo, independente se for uma perna mecânica que pode ajudar um veterano de guerra a andar denovo ou um arma de destruição em massa acoplado no seu braço, pra eles ambas as coisas são igualmente ruins, parece que eles deliberadamente escreveram esse grupo pra serem ridiculamente estúpidos para que você não pense de verdade sobre o assunto, no fim do jogo o vilão do jogo aperta um botão e todas as pessoas com melhorias ao redor do mundo se tornam psicóticas e o personagem principal precisa reverter a situação, ou seja ao invés de explorar de verdade o tema de melhorias físicas ou a necessidade de regulamentação eles preferem jogar tudo pela janela e fazer uma pergunta simples com uma única resposta tal como "Seria ruim se uma sociedade secreta controlasse o mundo através dos membros robóticos?".

Também é importante ressaltar que o tema de melhorias e suplementos pro corpo e mente é redundante hoje em dia (e na época que o jogo lançou) pois a humanidade já vem usando essas melhorias há muito tempo, só não da forma que o jogo retrata, por exemplo, óculos, lentes de contato, celulares, relógios, tudo isso são melhorias que nós usamos no nosso dia a dia e nem percebemos, e isso não é algo que só percebemos agora, os críticos já faziam essa observação na época, apenas veja a Review do Yahtzee, do canal Zero Punctuation.

Immersive Sims são por definição, jogos difíceis de serem feitos, um Immersive SIm precisa levar em conta todas as ações do jogador e reagir a elas de forma apropriada, é um gênero que precisa deixar o jogador resolver puzzles e obstáculos da forma que ele achar mais adequada pro seu estilo de jogo, essa liberdade também acaba sendo uma corrente pros desenvolvedores, pois dependendo de quantas opções você da ao jogador, todas elas precisam ser levadas em consideração toda vez que você cria uma nova fase, puzzle ou obstáculo, se uma habilidade deixa de funcionar em um inimigo ou em uma fase sem um motivo razoável, o jogador pode se sentir traído e pode ser desencorajado a tentar inovar ou improvisar na gameplay.

Immersive SIms são difíceis de se fazer e ainda mais difíceis de vender bem, a própria companhia que criou o primeiro Deus Ex, a Ion Storm, foi a falência 3 anos depois do lançamento do jogo, a Eidos Montreal cancelou Mankind Divided 2 pra fazer jogos mais "seguros" como Shadow of the Tomb Raider e Guardians of the Galaxy, a Arkane, desenvolvedora de Dishonored e Prey, teve que ser comprada pela Bethesda pois se manter independente era quase impossível, o fato da Square Enix ter decidido criar um estúdio pra fazer um novo Deus Ex quase 10 anos depois do original é honestamente surpreendente pra mim, e olhando em retrospecto, eu consigo entender porquê eles iam querer simplificar alguns aspectos do Deus Ex original para atrair novos fãs e para que o jogo vendesse bem, e eles conseguiram isso, Human Revolution vendeu 2x mais que o original, teve boas notas e até garantiu uma sequência, mesmo com os erros do jogo e as decisões que ele tomou, eu ainda fico feliz que esse jogo conseguiu ser feito, ainda mais em uma época onde Immersive Sims praticamente não existiam.

I loved loved loved the story, atmosphere and tone of this game. I love dystopian settings like this with the themes of transhumanism and the works. Serial Experiments Lain is one of my favourite pieces of media ever and this game gave me that same feeling witnessing the world of this game. And honestly, if this was a movie or TV show this would be one of my favorites as it tackles similar themes with finesse. But then there's the gameplay. There's the awkward cover system and gunplay, theres the weird enemy Ai and mediocre stealth mechanics and awkward controls. Level design is surprisingly great and open ended, but the controls and base mechanics didnt jive with me at all. They dragged down this game for me heavily, which is a shame. The game felt a bit too long for its own good too, by the boat area I was tapped out, it felt like it was dragging its feet. The story impressed me, it was a pleasant surprise, so I'm glad I experienced it, I love the protagonist, he's a badass and I love his voice. But man, the gameplay.