a triumph for scenario design aficionados. hour after hour of slices of the real world perfectly aligned into a playground of roving militants and hapless civilians. rarely does a game ever make its missions feel properly explorable while keeping it taut and linear at the same time, and yet deus ex routinely weaves both together. for every point A to point B underground lair with traps laid out in sequence there is a completely open venue, such as the suffocating catacombs and their dimly lit hallways giving way to the Champs-Élysées avenue of paris, with a bakery to pilfer contraband drugs from, a hostel with full bar access, and an arms dealer's loaded apartment, all off the beaten path from your main objective. military bases and science labs retain the layout you'd expect had you ever toured one, and you'll find that locker rooms, rows of cubicles, and break rooms feature just as prominently in the dungeon crawling as warehouses with guards patrolling or tightly wound mazes of laser tripwires and turrets. the authenticity and legibility of these areas comes first, and yet more often than not the designers still manage to weave in appropriate challenges without violating each location's fidelity in the process.
and really, dungeon crawling is the name of the game here, more or less. at least half of the game takes place in some sort of complex with a destination and a set of non-linear gates along the way, all of which serve as hinge points for the player to choose which resources to expend. the "immsim" label comes from just how many resources have all gotten slammed together in your control: lockpicks and "multitools" for bypassing security, ammo for many different varieties of firearms, bio-energy for utilizing your augmented abilities, and a slew of consumable items meant for tanking bullets, running past enemies undetected, or breathing under water for long periods of time. at its most taut, the game generally puts some sort of barrier up in your way and then a way around it, with the direct option being something like combat or picking a lock and the indirect option being finding a vent or waterway to circumvent the barrier. with enough of these situations back to back, the game hopes that you'll avoid sticking to one gameplay style in order to preserve your resources in that area for later when they seem more necessary; you can't crack every door with lockpicks, so you'll probably have to get your hands dirty or crawl on your belly here and there if you want to keep your picks for when the alternative is, say, running through a irradiated area. the nice part of this is that it truly does work: I explored, snuck around, and fought off enemies all in equal measure throughout the game through entirely organic response to each of the situations. the downside is by endgame the resource economy has completely turned in your favor assuming you've been rotating all of your options, making decisions on resource expenditure past a certain point much more about cleaning out your inventory rather than rationing.
when the game is firing on all cylinders, you'll get something like bunker III from the aforementioned catacombs. the area is two large rooms with a camera and turret tracking you at the back of the first room right in front of a cell full of hostages, multiple floors connected by stairs with archways for cover in the second room, and a back hallway swarming with rocket-strapped operatives where the camera/turret controls and a key to the next reside; a waterway additionally connects the front of the first room with the back of the second room. here you have actual tradeoffs to deal with: just grabbing the key and skipping the whole area by going through the waterway works, but the coverage in the back hallway can be intense depending on the AI's behavior, and your direct path to the key is blocked by strategically placed crates as soon as you leave the waterway. gunning for the security controls instead is feasible, and you can leverage the fact that hacking computers (sometimes?) pauses enemies for a bit to quickly run out, disable everything, and hop back in the waterway. you could also sneak in from the front and use an augmentation that hides you from cameras to avoid triggering the turret, and if you rescue the hostages with lockpicks instead of locating the cell key and leave the area early, you'll get the next area's key from their camp leader anyway. when the game constructs situations like these, they not only make the discrete tradeoffs impactful on the flow of a given level, they also weave it into the actual second-to-second movement, stealth, and combat as well.
at its worst it's the opposite: individual rooms with a guard or two and maybe a computer system or locked door stitched together by long hallways that inoculate each scenario from one another. in these sections the main appeal is exploration, either through finding nooks and crannies hidden from view or by reading the many "data cubes" with flavor text strewn around. it can still be exciting, especially earlier on when you don't have tools to detect enemies through walls and the suspense of moving around still persists. later in the game when one has more abilities at their disposal, breaking apart puzzles or barriers by jumping over them with enhanced height, moving large crates to use as stairs with enhanced strength, or shooting down doors with a mastered rifle ability can potentially make the monotony less apparent. some of the barriers don't fare quite as well due to a lackluster implementation: the hacking, for instance, is more or less free even with minimal upgrades, and for every camera you have to actually maneuver around there's at least four you'll disable without thinking just because the security terminals are easy to access. if the mission locations didn't adhere to the small details of real environments or didn't have cute little secrets in vents and lock-boxes, these issues would likely overcome the holistic experience and result in tedium.
the tiny details extend further than objects in the world as well. from early on when one of your augmented colleagues begins spontaneously complaining about getting the wrong can of soda from a vending machine, I had hoped that the scripting for the NPCs would stay high quality, and it absolutely persisted to the final moments of the game, when a civilian mechanic distraught by my actions pulled a gun on me behind my back. the tight pacing of the levels compared to a full open world experience allows for many of the individual NPCs to have unique dialogue, behavior, and even inventory when subdued. of these the most fascinating to me may have been a conversation with a chinese bartender in hong kong, who extolled the CCP's commitment to capitalist enterprise outside the purview of the new world order by emphasizing authoritarian nationalism against main character denton's idealized western democratic order. it's something you wouldn't see now in the xi jinping era and weirdly reflective of the game's almost non-ideological view of politics: people-facing organizations controlled by layers upon layers of shadowy organizations, each manipulating social behavior in a top-down way compared to the bottom-up class struggle and ideological superstructure of reality. not really a thought-provoking work unless you're particularly animated by vague gesturing towards "control" and "liberty," but at least you can tell the developers didn't take it too seriously either. there's roswell-style gray aliens running around for christ's sake.
and really, dungeon crawling is the name of the game here, more or less. at least half of the game takes place in some sort of complex with a destination and a set of non-linear gates along the way, all of which serve as hinge points for the player to choose which resources to expend. the "immsim" label comes from just how many resources have all gotten slammed together in your control: lockpicks and "multitools" for bypassing security, ammo for many different varieties of firearms, bio-energy for utilizing your augmented abilities, and a slew of consumable items meant for tanking bullets, running past enemies undetected, or breathing under water for long periods of time. at its most taut, the game generally puts some sort of barrier up in your way and then a way around it, with the direct option being something like combat or picking a lock and the indirect option being finding a vent or waterway to circumvent the barrier. with enough of these situations back to back, the game hopes that you'll avoid sticking to one gameplay style in order to preserve your resources in that area for later when they seem more necessary; you can't crack every door with lockpicks, so you'll probably have to get your hands dirty or crawl on your belly here and there if you want to keep your picks for when the alternative is, say, running through a irradiated area. the nice part of this is that it truly does work: I explored, snuck around, and fought off enemies all in equal measure throughout the game through entirely organic response to each of the situations. the downside is by endgame the resource economy has completely turned in your favor assuming you've been rotating all of your options, making decisions on resource expenditure past a certain point much more about cleaning out your inventory rather than rationing.
when the game is firing on all cylinders, you'll get something like bunker III from the aforementioned catacombs. the area is two large rooms with a camera and turret tracking you at the back of the first room right in front of a cell full of hostages, multiple floors connected by stairs with archways for cover in the second room, and a back hallway swarming with rocket-strapped operatives where the camera/turret controls and a key to the next reside; a waterway additionally connects the front of the first room with the back of the second room. here you have actual tradeoffs to deal with: just grabbing the key and skipping the whole area by going through the waterway works, but the coverage in the back hallway can be intense depending on the AI's behavior, and your direct path to the key is blocked by strategically placed crates as soon as you leave the waterway. gunning for the security controls instead is feasible, and you can leverage the fact that hacking computers (sometimes?) pauses enemies for a bit to quickly run out, disable everything, and hop back in the waterway. you could also sneak in from the front and use an augmentation that hides you from cameras to avoid triggering the turret, and if you rescue the hostages with lockpicks instead of locating the cell key and leave the area early, you'll get the next area's key from their camp leader anyway. when the game constructs situations like these, they not only make the discrete tradeoffs impactful on the flow of a given level, they also weave it into the actual second-to-second movement, stealth, and combat as well.
at its worst it's the opposite: individual rooms with a guard or two and maybe a computer system or locked door stitched together by long hallways that inoculate each scenario from one another. in these sections the main appeal is exploration, either through finding nooks and crannies hidden from view or by reading the many "data cubes" with flavor text strewn around. it can still be exciting, especially earlier on when you don't have tools to detect enemies through walls and the suspense of moving around still persists. later in the game when one has more abilities at their disposal, breaking apart puzzles or barriers by jumping over them with enhanced height, moving large crates to use as stairs with enhanced strength, or shooting down doors with a mastered rifle ability can potentially make the monotony less apparent. some of the barriers don't fare quite as well due to a lackluster implementation: the hacking, for instance, is more or less free even with minimal upgrades, and for every camera you have to actually maneuver around there's at least four you'll disable without thinking just because the security terminals are easy to access. if the mission locations didn't adhere to the small details of real environments or didn't have cute little secrets in vents and lock-boxes, these issues would likely overcome the holistic experience and result in tedium.
the tiny details extend further than objects in the world as well. from early on when one of your augmented colleagues begins spontaneously complaining about getting the wrong can of soda from a vending machine, I had hoped that the scripting for the NPCs would stay high quality, and it absolutely persisted to the final moments of the game, when a civilian mechanic distraught by my actions pulled a gun on me behind my back. the tight pacing of the levels compared to a full open world experience allows for many of the individual NPCs to have unique dialogue, behavior, and even inventory when subdued. of these the most fascinating to me may have been a conversation with a chinese bartender in hong kong, who extolled the CCP's commitment to capitalist enterprise outside the purview of the new world order by emphasizing authoritarian nationalism against main character denton's idealized western democratic order. it's something you wouldn't see now in the xi jinping era and weirdly reflective of the game's almost non-ideological view of politics: people-facing organizations controlled by layers upon layers of shadowy organizations, each manipulating social behavior in a top-down way compared to the bottom-up class struggle and ideological superstructure of reality. not really a thought-provoking work unless you're particularly animated by vague gesturing towards "control" and "liberty," but at least you can tell the developers didn't take it too seriously either. there's roswell-style gray aliens running around for christ's sake.
I'm so fucking tired of people claiming that Warren Spector coined the concept of Immersive Sims, when the man himself will tell you it was Doug Church, all the while these people bash the concept of such a genre even existing. Their arguments are uniformly rooted in prejudicial ignorance every single fucking time. Often making some idiotic remark about how the name is misleading because flight simulators have nothing to do with them, WHEN THE ACTUAL OG IMSIM DEVS MADE FLIGHT SIMS TOO. The entirety of the Looking Glass output were ALWAYS simulations. I'm inclined to believe that the people who were the original developers at the forefront of Simulation focused game development are right in attaching such a denomination in one form or another to their RPG and FPS outputs as well. There's a very simple litmus test you can employ to discern why the bulk of modern first person video games do not deserve to be brought up in conversation by halfwits mistakenly complaining about the genre being "meaningless" because "all games strive to be immersive" (lmao even) or what have you when that's clearly not true. The litmus is whether or not the game is implementing its mechanics via scripted interactions or SIMULATING systems to allow for a rationally comprehensible and predictable game world. Yet somehow people keep bringing up Elder Scrolls, Metroid Prime, et al, in conversation.
I suspect this is an unfortunate effect of general human neurology struggling with comprehending nuance and abstractions, all the while putting much too much emphasis on definitions. Thus the incessant roundabout arguments throughout all of history that often boil down to nothing more than fucking pedantry.
Anyway, as I see it what makes ImSims most consistently identifiable, rather than pedantic slavish insistence of finding individual shared mechanics, is observing how systemically implemented game mechanics end up informing and recontextualizing a game's Level Design.
I feel the need to point this out because I've seen far too many people think that statpoints and skill trees are of chief significance, when they're really just a tool by which developers can choose to allow players influence over their characters. Too few people have played the OG System Shock which is quite lacking in all the ARPG frills that have come to define a particular subset of this criminally misunderstood peak genre of PC gaming. A genre that arguably IS PC gaming.
Oh, yeah, the game. Deus Ex is okay. I made the mistake of playing on Hard and had to suffer through the mediocre gunplay. It was still good though and definitely a must-play. I willfully restarted the Hong Kong level a few times because I wasn't ready to move on before trying several different approaches just for the hell of it. Truly an excellent level.
For all my complaining of pedantry, I wish such widespread flagrant misunderstanding and misapplication of terminology didn't piss me off so much, but I simply can't tolerate besmirchment of PC gaming's most engrossing lineage.
BioShock is a corridor shooter.
I suspect this is an unfortunate effect of general human neurology struggling with comprehending nuance and abstractions, all the while putting much too much emphasis on definitions. Thus the incessant roundabout arguments throughout all of history that often boil down to nothing more than fucking pedantry.
Anyway, as I see it what makes ImSims most consistently identifiable, rather than pedantic slavish insistence of finding individual shared mechanics, is observing how systemically implemented game mechanics end up informing and recontextualizing a game's Level Design.
I feel the need to point this out because I've seen far too many people think that statpoints and skill trees are of chief significance, when they're really just a tool by which developers can choose to allow players influence over their characters. Too few people have played the OG System Shock which is quite lacking in all the ARPG frills that have come to define a particular subset of this criminally misunderstood peak genre of PC gaming. A genre that arguably IS PC gaming.
Oh, yeah, the game. Deus Ex is okay. I made the mistake of playing on Hard and had to suffer through the mediocre gunplay. It was still good though and definitely a must-play. I willfully restarted the Hong Kong level a few times because I wasn't ready to move on before trying several different approaches just for the hell of it. Truly an excellent level.
For all my complaining of pedantry, I wish such widespread flagrant misunderstanding and misapplication of terminology didn't piss me off so much, but I simply can't tolerate besmirchment of PC gaming's most engrossing lineage.
BioShock is a corridor shooter.
camera whirring computer beeping radio voice: Get to the bunker and get the new pancake recipe, JC. Waffle House Corporate is depending on you.
note on a computer They'll never know that Waffle House is just IHOP's puppet. The pancake recipe is actually a greek omelet recipe. The code to my penis is 3118.
note on a computer They'll never know that Waffle House is just IHOP's puppet. The pancake recipe is actually a greek omelet recipe. The code to my penis is 3118.
I glimpsed a beautiful future with no discord, and wept at what could be.
"Worst Title: Doo Zegs.... Doose..... Dooess... Doo Seh... Do Se... Do... Sex. Do Sex. Do Sex. Do Sex! Do Sex! Do Sex! Oh shit! Ho ho ho that might be the best title! Huh, change the... change the screen."
-Todd & Aaron's Game Awards 2011
Been trying to write something about this, but there's not really much I can add that every other guy who sings the praises of it can add. Also yeah, stealth is probably the best way to play this game but I won't lie, as soon as I had Regeneration, Power Recirculator, Ballistic Protection, Speed Enhancement and the Dragon's Tooth I would just sprint through every single level like a madman. Proof of real freedom of choice, since you can either play the game with strategy and planning, or like a complete nutjob.
Best part of the game is I forgot I set JC's name to my own and then seeing my real name in an email scared the shit out of me.
-Todd & Aaron's Game Awards 2011
Been trying to write something about this, but there's not really much I can add that every other guy who sings the praises of it can add. Also yeah, stealth is probably the best way to play this game but I won't lie, as soon as I had Regeneration, Power Recirculator, Ballistic Protection, Speed Enhancement and the Dragon's Tooth I would just sprint through every single level like a madman. Proof of real freedom of choice, since you can either play the game with strategy and planning, or like a complete nutjob.
Best part of the game is I forgot I set JC's name to my own and then seeing my real name in an email scared the shit out of me.
The first time that I had heard of the Deus Ex series was through the middling reviews of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided that were being written around the time that game first came out, and while I had no interest in playing that game (or most of the games in the series, for that matter), the amount of praise that went towards the very first game in the series made me curious about eventually giving it a shot. As my tastes in games began to form with age and my love for Western RPGs began to blossom, Deus Ex ended up being one of those games that I wanted to play as soon as I possibly could, and because playing video games on a Mac is an absolute nightmare, it ended up being easier for me to emulate the PS2 port of this game than it was to actually play the original release due to the former option having significantly less hoops I'd need to go through just to get the game to work. Despite me playing it on a technically worse version of the game than around 99% of the population, Deus Ex was able to blow me away in every aspect, and I knew that this deserved its status as one of the best games ever made long before I was finished with it.
One problem that a lot of WRPGs face is that the gameplay ends up being a lot less interesting than the story or characters, but that thankfully isn't the case here at all. Deus Ex is an absolute blast to play thanks to how much freedom of choice the game gives you right from the very beginning, and your options only increase as the game goes on. The sheer amount of vents to crawl through, systems to hack into, and people to talk to in each of the game's 13 missions end up making Deus Ex feel like it's constantly rewarding your curiosity, and having all of the game's interactable elements work alongside each other (i.e. helping a character out so that they can give you useful information or avoiding confrontation by climbing through some vents that you reached by building a stack of boxes) makes exploration feel natural. The dystopian cyberpunk setting was another aspect of why each level was so engaging to traverse, as seeing the grimy, moody, and hellish depictions of New York, Hong Kong, and Paris (as well as the amazing and eclectic music that they were paired with) not only made me want to see what these areas had in store for me, but also what was going on behind the scenes. Deus Ex is a stealth game at its heart (and an immensely fun one at that), but it gives you the tools to really carve out your build and play any way you want, as the limited nano-augmentations, weapon modifications, and skill points always made me careful about choosing what to upgrade and how to take advantage of my new abilities with my current roster of weapons.
From a gameplay standpoint, Deus Ex was already an absolute knockout that was designed in such a way where no two people's playthroughs are the same, but this game also features some of the most enthralling, fascinating, and thought-provoking writing I have ever experienced in a video game. Before the game even starts laying its twists and turns on you, Deus Ex gives you a sense of how bad the world's gotten through the propagandistic newspapers and terminals that are scattered around the levels, and even with the answers that the characters and various organizations give you throughout your playthrough, the atmosphere of mystery and secrecy still manages to linger all the way to the end. The game strikes an excellent balance between riveting gameplay and philosophical food for thought, and it ends up posing a lot of interesting questions regarding morality, politics, capitalism, and human nature whose answers are still being debated by fans to this day. By the time the credits of Deus Ex rolled, I had a giant smile on my face, because while I was admittedly a bit let down that I wasn't able to play the original PC version of the game, I'm still glad that I got to experience what is easily one of the very best games of all time.
One problem that a lot of WRPGs face is that the gameplay ends up being a lot less interesting than the story or characters, but that thankfully isn't the case here at all. Deus Ex is an absolute blast to play thanks to how much freedom of choice the game gives you right from the very beginning, and your options only increase as the game goes on. The sheer amount of vents to crawl through, systems to hack into, and people to talk to in each of the game's 13 missions end up making Deus Ex feel like it's constantly rewarding your curiosity, and having all of the game's interactable elements work alongside each other (i.e. helping a character out so that they can give you useful information or avoiding confrontation by climbing through some vents that you reached by building a stack of boxes) makes exploration feel natural. The dystopian cyberpunk setting was another aspect of why each level was so engaging to traverse, as seeing the grimy, moody, and hellish depictions of New York, Hong Kong, and Paris (as well as the amazing and eclectic music that they were paired with) not only made me want to see what these areas had in store for me, but also what was going on behind the scenes. Deus Ex is a stealth game at its heart (and an immensely fun one at that), but it gives you the tools to really carve out your build and play any way you want, as the limited nano-augmentations, weapon modifications, and skill points always made me careful about choosing what to upgrade and how to take advantage of my new abilities with my current roster of weapons.
From a gameplay standpoint, Deus Ex was already an absolute knockout that was designed in such a way where no two people's playthroughs are the same, but this game also features some of the most enthralling, fascinating, and thought-provoking writing I have ever experienced in a video game. Before the game even starts laying its twists and turns on you, Deus Ex gives you a sense of how bad the world's gotten through the propagandistic newspapers and terminals that are scattered around the levels, and even with the answers that the characters and various organizations give you throughout your playthrough, the atmosphere of mystery and secrecy still manages to linger all the way to the end. The game strikes an excellent balance between riveting gameplay and philosophical food for thought, and it ends up posing a lot of interesting questions regarding morality, politics, capitalism, and human nature whose answers are still being debated by fans to this day. By the time the credits of Deus Ex rolled, I had a giant smile on my face, because while I was admittedly a bit let down that I wasn't able to play the original PC version of the game, I'm still glad that I got to experience what is easily one of the very best games of all time.
The title says it all: Day of Sex
You're gonna burn, alright.
Primeiramente, quero deixar claro que minha experiência foi apenas afetada pelas minhas experiências com Immersive Sims anteriores a Deus Ex(System Shock 1/2 e Thief 1/2). Joguei os jogos da Arkane (Dishonored 1/2, Prey, Deathloop) mas faz tempo que joguei eles, e não comparei eles com esse jogo em nenhum momento, tanto por serem diferentes dentro de suas propostas, tanto por eu achar retardado julgar um jogo velho por concepções atuais. Ninguém é totalmente imune disso, obviamente não sou, mas tento evitar
Esse jogo é, pelas pala palavras do próprio Warren Spector, uma fusão de RPG, FPS e Stealth, e pagou o preço da ambição dele, porque ele não é impressionante em nenhum desses 3 aspectos, e assim, pra mim, tornando toda a experiência chata, desinteressante, com diversos picos de interesse onde você reconhece a qualidade do game design e oque eles tentaram fazer. Sim, em 2000 você contava nos dedos quantos jogos faziam metade doque esse jogo faz, mas sempre que eu vejo as pessoas falando dos aspectos que "envelheceram mal" eu sempre vejo elas falando de coisas como controles e gráfico(que sinceramente, é a pior crítica que eu consigo imaginar) e não o jeito que o jogo funciona em si, oque me deixa com uma pulga atrás da orelha achando que eu não entendi algo, eu acharia isso jogando na época ou não? Provavelmente não, mas lembra que eu falei que ninguém é imune a julgar o jogo por concepções atuais? Então, é de se evitar, mas as vezes não dá.
A história desse jogo é outra coisa que não entendi porque falam tanto. Sobre a história, é realmente algo que é realmente muito foda na época dele, e isso eu respeito, mesmo que hoje em dia ela não seja tão foda. A história desse jogo é um enredo até que intrigante sobre todo tipo de teoria da conspiração, que é algo que tava muito em alta na época, então é certo falar que sim: A história desse jogo é massa, mas pra quem fala hj em dia que a história é uma masterpiece, vou assumir que metade jogou na época, 25% teve esse meu discernimento e o restante só não jogou o jogo.
Bom, gostaria muito de gostar mais desse, mas não teve a mesma mágica em mim que teve em outras pessoas. No fim, acho que os jogos da Looking Glass valem mais a pena, por serem mais focados e serem magistrais no que se propõem (não que Deus Ex não valha a pena)
Mas afinal, eu acharia tudo isso se eu tivesse jogado na época? Afinal, System Shock e Thief já existiam, e hoje em dia ainda não vi alguém com uma opinião semelhante a minha acerca dos elementos desse jogo, oque me dá a impressão que eu deixei algo passar. Vou ver se conforme esse jogo vai envelhecendo na minha memória, eu ache a resposta
Nota posterior: Tem umas coisas q eu lembro e penso "Era bem foda" não vou morrer de amores por esse jogo mas felizmente tá envelhecendo melhor na memória
Esse jogo é, pelas pala palavras do próprio Warren Spector, uma fusão de RPG, FPS e Stealth, e pagou o preço da ambição dele, porque ele não é impressionante em nenhum desses 3 aspectos, e assim, pra mim, tornando toda a experiência chata, desinteressante, com diversos picos de interesse onde você reconhece a qualidade do game design e oque eles tentaram fazer. Sim, em 2000 você contava nos dedos quantos jogos faziam metade doque esse jogo faz, mas sempre que eu vejo as pessoas falando dos aspectos que "envelheceram mal" eu sempre vejo elas falando de coisas como controles e gráfico(que sinceramente, é a pior crítica que eu consigo imaginar) e não o jeito que o jogo funciona em si, oque me deixa com uma pulga atrás da orelha achando que eu não entendi algo, eu acharia isso jogando na época ou não? Provavelmente não, mas lembra que eu falei que ninguém é imune a julgar o jogo por concepções atuais? Então, é de se evitar, mas as vezes não dá.
A história desse jogo é outra coisa que não entendi porque falam tanto. Sobre a história, é realmente algo que é realmente muito foda na época dele, e isso eu respeito, mesmo que hoje em dia ela não seja tão foda. A história desse jogo é um enredo até que intrigante sobre todo tipo de teoria da conspiração, que é algo que tava muito em alta na época, então é certo falar que sim: A história desse jogo é massa, mas pra quem fala hj em dia que a história é uma masterpiece, vou assumir que metade jogou na época, 25% teve esse meu discernimento e o restante só não jogou o jogo.
Bom, gostaria muito de gostar mais desse, mas não teve a mesma mágica em mim que teve em outras pessoas. No fim, acho que os jogos da Looking Glass valem mais a pena, por serem mais focados e serem magistrais no que se propõem (não que Deus Ex não valha a pena)
Mas afinal, eu acharia tudo isso se eu tivesse jogado na época? Afinal, System Shock e Thief já existiam, e hoje em dia ainda não vi alguém com uma opinião semelhante a minha acerca dos elementos desse jogo, oque me dá a impressão que eu deixei algo passar. Vou ver se conforme esse jogo vai envelhecendo na minha memória, eu ache a resposta
Nota posterior: Tem umas coisas q eu lembro e penso "Era bem foda" não vou morrer de amores por esse jogo mas felizmente tá envelhecendo melhor na memória
Eu falei que System Shock 2 é um dos melhores jogos de PC da época, mas não o melhor, justamente porque esse trono vai para Deus Ex, um dos melhores jogos de todos os tempos, sem brincadeira.
A gameplay de início pode ser meio difícil de pegar o jeito, e admito que na primeira vez eu não entendia o hype por trás desse jogo, mas depois de finalmente pegar o jeito (e inúmeros rebinds de teclas), o jogo finalmente clicou e descobri um dos melhores jogos que já joguei, simplesmente uma combinação dos melhores jogos de PC da época em um, o jogo no início pode parecer um jogo de FPS comum, mas na verdade ele é um jogo de stealth a la Thief (faz sentido vendo que Thief (os dois primeiros) foram desenvolvidos pela Looking Glass Studios), só que se já não bastasse, ele expande mais nas idéias vistas em Thief com mecânicas de RPG e inúmeras maneiras de customizar seu personagem, no início tinha achado isso uma idéia terrível de combinar stealth com RPG, mas a verdade é que as mecânicas de RPG elevam esse jogo, você pode virar o Garrett cyberpunk focando seus Skill Points (obtidos ao completar quests e até mesmo EXPLORAR O MAPA) em Electronics e Lockpicking, ou virar o mestre do terrorismo (irônico vendo a premissa inicial da história) e upar tudo em armas, ou mesmo virar um psicopata e focar em upar SWIMMING (HABILIDADE DE NADAR), e isso que nem tinha entrado os Augments na conversa ainda, alguns Augments são genuinamente extremamente divertidos de usar tipo o Speed Enhancement que no level máximo tu vira o Tarzan saindo pulando pelo mapa, ou mesmo o Regeneration com Power Circulation ambos level max que viram uma fonte de cura tão boa que deixa os medkits completamente inúteis de tão absurdo, esse sistema de customização de personagem deixa até System Shock 2 parecendo um jogo de FPS da primeira metade dos anos 90, ainda mais quando você combina com um level design sensacional que incentiva ao máximo a exploração e o uso das habilidades adquiridas ao longo do jogo, lhe permitindo passar pela fase de múltiplas maneiras, de novo, digamos que tenha uma porta com Keypad e durabilidade da porta, quer explodir ela? Você pode! Quer procurar a senha, ou até mesmo usar os Multitool para ultrapassar ela totalmente? Você pode! Além disso ainda existem várias maneiras de atravessar outros obstáculos do jogo dependendo de seu personagem, por exemplo, digamos que tem robôs pelo mapa, robôs imunes a tiros normais de rifles, tem um nível Heavy (armas pesadas) alto e um lança foguetes? BUM, explosão, não tem isso mas tem munição explosiva de Assault Rifle e nível Rifles alto? BUM, não tem nem um nem outro? Vai no stealth! Enfim não vou ficar me repetindo o que já falei antes em Dishonored e Cruelty Squad, mas dá pra ver que explorar as várias maneiras de passar pela fase é muito divertido, e também muito recompensador, você ganha de Skill Points até mesmo armas e AUGMENTS (caso você já não tenha pego antes), e além disso ele ainda depende quase totalmente do audiovisual para saber onde está os inimigos assim como Thief, pra mim algumas das melhores fases do jogo são a base da UNATCO em Hell's Kitchen e a Catedral de Paris, não vou falar com são pois (SPOILER), mas no geral, tudo isso que falei pode parecer que tem um sacríficio ou outro, mas surpreendentemente ele não sacrifica nenhum aspecto do jogo por outro, ele tem uma gameplay de stealth muito boa sem sacrificar a capacidade de matar gente igual Thief, ele tem uma customização de personagem bastante complexa sem ter um tiroteio piorado igual System Shock 2, e tem uma história muito boa sem sacrificar a gameplay no geral igual o Planescape Torment.
Ah sim, a história! Ela é uma das melhores de qualquer jogo de RPG, ou até de qualquer jogo, ainda mais para um jogo de RPG que não é isométrico ou um JRPG, e nem tem 40 horas de duração, no início parece uma simples história de "Grupo anti-terrorista, AKA UNATCO, contra um grupo terrorista, AKA NSF", mas depois de um tempo a história toma um rumo bem diferente e fica mais interessante, não posso contar pois (SPOILER), mas o jogo vira basicamente uma batalha de ideologias muito daora e também é muito interessante ouvir sobre cada um dos lados lá para o fim do jogo, onde não existe lado bom ou ruim, todos podem ser beneficiais e perigosos ao mesmo tempo. O jogo curiosamente também tem uma boa quantidade de escolhas que afetam o rumo daquele personagem ou evento, claro eles podem até não afetar o final da história, mas é bem interessante e alguns até afetam gameplay como por exemplo a citada escolha do arsenal inicial, e é incrível como alguns dos eventos do jogo refletem em muita coisa que aconteceu anos depois do lançamento desse jogo, tipo a invasão da Área 51 (mesmo que tenha sido por meme) e a COVID-19, o que é simplesmente surreal para um jogo de 2000 que parcialmente previu o que aconteceu 20 anos depois.
Visualmente o jogo pode não ter envelhecido dos melhores (apesar de ainda ter envelhecido melhor do que System Shock 2), mas ainda assim por causa da "datadice" da parada toda, alguns personagens tem visuais bem mais memoráveis do que eles já seriam por causa disso, além disso algumas fases tem um visual muito legal tipo a citada fase da Catedral de Paris que podia ser facilmente uma fase em algum jogo de Thief, até o corredor antes de chegar na Catedral em si lembra uma fase de Thief. A trilha sonora por outro lado é sensacional, e é mais maneiro ainda o balanceamento de tom, algumas músicas dão vontade de chorar de tão lindas, algumas passam uma vibe de filme de ação e entre outras coisas, mas as músicas ainda assim são genuinamente sensacionais, tipo a música da Mansão de Beth e a da fase do Ocean Lab, apesar de que no início a trilha sonora pode não ser incrível, mas da Hell's Kitchen em diante a trilha sonora vai ficando cada vez mais incrível.
Agora sim, esse jogo é simplesmente algo especial para os jogos de PC da época, ele é um dos melhores jogos de todos os tempos por vários motivos, pra mim um dos motivos principais é como ele combina vários elementos de alguns dos melhores jogos da plataforma em uma combinação surrealmente fenomenal, ele tem a história complexa de um Planescape Torment, ele tem a customização de personagem complexa de System Shock 2 e a incrível gameplay e level design de um Thief, tudo em um, e mesmo que tenha algumas coisas meio datadas nele, essas coisas meio "datadas" são fichinha perto do quão sensacional todo o resto do jogo é, não é atoa que é considerado um dos melhores Immersive Sims de todos os tempos, pra mim é um dos melhores Immersive Sims, e também um dos melhores jogos de todos os tempos!
10/10!
A gameplay de início pode ser meio difícil de pegar o jeito, e admito que na primeira vez eu não entendia o hype por trás desse jogo, mas depois de finalmente pegar o jeito (e inúmeros rebinds de teclas), o jogo finalmente clicou e descobri um dos melhores jogos que já joguei, simplesmente uma combinação dos melhores jogos de PC da época em um, o jogo no início pode parecer um jogo de FPS comum, mas na verdade ele é um jogo de stealth a la Thief (faz sentido vendo que Thief (os dois primeiros) foram desenvolvidos pela Looking Glass Studios), só que se já não bastasse, ele expande mais nas idéias vistas em Thief com mecânicas de RPG e inúmeras maneiras de customizar seu personagem, no início tinha achado isso uma idéia terrível de combinar stealth com RPG, mas a verdade é que as mecânicas de RPG elevam esse jogo, você pode virar o Garrett cyberpunk focando seus Skill Points (obtidos ao completar quests e até mesmo EXPLORAR O MAPA) em Electronics e Lockpicking, ou virar o mestre do terrorismo (irônico vendo a premissa inicial da história) e upar tudo em armas, ou mesmo virar um psicopata e focar em upar SWIMMING (HABILIDADE DE NADAR), e isso que nem tinha entrado os Augments na conversa ainda, alguns Augments são genuinamente extremamente divertidos de usar tipo o Speed Enhancement que no level máximo tu vira o Tarzan saindo pulando pelo mapa, ou mesmo o Regeneration com Power Circulation ambos level max que viram uma fonte de cura tão boa que deixa os medkits completamente inúteis de tão absurdo, esse sistema de customização de personagem deixa até System Shock 2 parecendo um jogo de FPS da primeira metade dos anos 90, ainda mais quando você combina com um level design sensacional que incentiva ao máximo a exploração e o uso das habilidades adquiridas ao longo do jogo, lhe permitindo passar pela fase de múltiplas maneiras, de novo, digamos que tenha uma porta com Keypad e durabilidade da porta, quer explodir ela? Você pode! Quer procurar a senha, ou até mesmo usar os Multitool para ultrapassar ela totalmente? Você pode! Além disso ainda existem várias maneiras de atravessar outros obstáculos do jogo dependendo de seu personagem, por exemplo, digamos que tem robôs pelo mapa, robôs imunes a tiros normais de rifles, tem um nível Heavy (armas pesadas) alto e um lança foguetes? BUM, explosão, não tem isso mas tem munição explosiva de Assault Rifle e nível Rifles alto? BUM, não tem nem um nem outro? Vai no stealth! Enfim não vou ficar me repetindo o que já falei antes em Dishonored e Cruelty Squad, mas dá pra ver que explorar as várias maneiras de passar pela fase é muito divertido, e também muito recompensador, você ganha de Skill Points até mesmo armas e AUGMENTS (caso você já não tenha pego antes), e além disso ele ainda depende quase totalmente do audiovisual para saber onde está os inimigos assim como Thief, pra mim algumas das melhores fases do jogo são a base da UNATCO em Hell's Kitchen e a Catedral de Paris, não vou falar com são pois (SPOILER), mas no geral, tudo isso que falei pode parecer que tem um sacríficio ou outro, mas surpreendentemente ele não sacrifica nenhum aspecto do jogo por outro, ele tem uma gameplay de stealth muito boa sem sacrificar a capacidade de matar gente igual Thief, ele tem uma customização de personagem bastante complexa sem ter um tiroteio piorado igual System Shock 2, e tem uma história muito boa sem sacrificar a gameplay no geral igual o Planescape Torment.
Ah sim, a história! Ela é uma das melhores de qualquer jogo de RPG, ou até de qualquer jogo, ainda mais para um jogo de RPG que não é isométrico ou um JRPG, e nem tem 40 horas de duração, no início parece uma simples história de "Grupo anti-terrorista, AKA UNATCO, contra um grupo terrorista, AKA NSF", mas depois de um tempo a história toma um rumo bem diferente e fica mais interessante, não posso contar pois (SPOILER), mas o jogo vira basicamente uma batalha de ideologias muito daora e também é muito interessante ouvir sobre cada um dos lados lá para o fim do jogo, onde não existe lado bom ou ruim, todos podem ser beneficiais e perigosos ao mesmo tempo. O jogo curiosamente também tem uma boa quantidade de escolhas que afetam o rumo daquele personagem ou evento, claro eles podem até não afetar o final da história, mas é bem interessante e alguns até afetam gameplay como por exemplo a citada escolha do arsenal inicial, e é incrível como alguns dos eventos do jogo refletem em muita coisa que aconteceu anos depois do lançamento desse jogo, tipo a invasão da Área 51 (mesmo que tenha sido por meme) e a COVID-19, o que é simplesmente surreal para um jogo de 2000 que parcialmente previu o que aconteceu 20 anos depois.
Visualmente o jogo pode não ter envelhecido dos melhores (apesar de ainda ter envelhecido melhor do que System Shock 2), mas ainda assim por causa da "datadice" da parada toda, alguns personagens tem visuais bem mais memoráveis do que eles já seriam por causa disso, além disso algumas fases tem um visual muito legal tipo a citada fase da Catedral de Paris que podia ser facilmente uma fase em algum jogo de Thief, até o corredor antes de chegar na Catedral em si lembra uma fase de Thief. A trilha sonora por outro lado é sensacional, e é mais maneiro ainda o balanceamento de tom, algumas músicas dão vontade de chorar de tão lindas, algumas passam uma vibe de filme de ação e entre outras coisas, mas as músicas ainda assim são genuinamente sensacionais, tipo a música da Mansão de Beth e a da fase do Ocean Lab, apesar de que no início a trilha sonora pode não ser incrível, mas da Hell's Kitchen em diante a trilha sonora vai ficando cada vez mais incrível.
Agora sim, esse jogo é simplesmente algo especial para os jogos de PC da época, ele é um dos melhores jogos de todos os tempos por vários motivos, pra mim um dos motivos principais é como ele combina vários elementos de alguns dos melhores jogos da plataforma em uma combinação surrealmente fenomenal, ele tem a história complexa de um Planescape Torment, ele tem a customização de personagem complexa de System Shock 2 e a incrível gameplay e level design de um Thief, tudo em um, e mesmo que tenha algumas coisas meio datadas nele, essas coisas meio "datadas" são fichinha perto do quão sensacional todo o resto do jogo é, não é atoa que é considerado um dos melhores Immersive Sims de todos os tempos, pra mim é um dos melhores Immersive Sims, e também um dos melhores jogos de todos os tempos!
10/10!
JC Denton is the greatest autistic character in fiction
The Most Important game ever made, there will never be another one like it.
Still extremely playable today in its unchanged form (not revival, not any fan mods - just the intended experience with a few technical fixes like increased FOV and running on OpenGL), and would probably be a joy to play for any imsim fan. Almost 25 years later, it's still one of the most open-ended ones even in the genre already emphasizing player agency and freedom to choose your own approach to solving problems.
The level design is definitely the undisputed highlight. Almost any given objective can be reached in a number of ways depending on your character build and playstyle, to the point where the few instances where the game forcibly funnels you into a specific approach (e.g. a door that can't be lockpicked or bypassed electronically so you HAVE to find the code) immediately jump out. Lockpicking, hacking, crawling through vents (usually still accompanied with at least some more skill checks), or bashing in doors are all perfectly valid approaches, and while the game still makes sure that any character is able to actually progress the main objective, it does feel a lot less obvious than in most modern imsims - getting a code or finding an alternative route will generally take a lot more effort than just picking the door if your character is equipped to deal with the lock.
If you're like me in being addicted to hoarding "optional" resources since you're used to game just handing over the solution as you progress anyway, the most important piece of advice for Deus Ex would be: don't. The game is genuinely so much more enjoyable if you let yourself play the character and use the infiltration routes available to you; unlike in, say, Prey, the maps here are definitely not designed for the player to see every corner and vacuum up every single object; instead, they are large and complicated to facilitate the freedom to choose a route and stick to it. Sure, most doors have codes or keys, but they are very missable, presumably exactly to insentivize using all the other tools in your arsenal, and if you let the game lead you instead of resisting this guidance, the quality of your experience is likely to improve tenfold.
From the gameplay perspective, the signs of aging are a lot more apparent than in the level design. Early on, I don't see Deus Ex being playable in an action-y style thanks to its famous aiming system (where the reticule takes up half the screen and slowly decreases to a point as long as you don't make any sudden moves); however, as your character progresses in skill level and gets more augmentations, the run-and-gun tactics become a lot more viable: by the end, you will be able to jump around at supersonic speeds headshotting bozos in mid-air, or tank an entire arsenal worth of bullets to the skull, should you be so inclined. Despite the slow start, once the augmentations really start rolling in, the power progression really becomes extremely noticeable and gratifying.
The shooting itself is fine, with the exception of enemies routinely taking several shots to the head to kill - seems like there are some hit detection shenanigans that make certain headshots count towards the torso instead. Speaking of - the complex locational damage system is pretty impressive, with body parts being targetable for both the player and all (humanoid) enemies; this isn't really used for anything interesting other than headshots as far as I could tell, but still surprising to think this was made in 2000. The game even supports non-lethal takedowns - and comments on it if this is your preferred playstyle. This doesn't have much of an impact on anything but I definitely appreciate the option being available.
The augmentation system is also neat in concept - having to choose between 2 mutually exclusive upgrades for every slot is interesting, and augments do genuinely have the power to completely upturn the way you play - the only obstacle to this is the default key bindings. Do yourself a favour and rebind the most used ones to something more ergonomic than the F- keys, and once you do, managing enabled abilities, toggling them on and off, becomes a fun element of extra challenge rather than an annoying drain on your finite bioenergy resource.
Story and voice acting - the absolute crackpot mash of a bunch of conspiracies is really amusing at the start, but surprisingly actually becomes pretty engaging as it goes on, the general tone shifting from a story about a cool gigacop with augmented vision to an illuminatipilled global conspiracy-driven paranoic mess is cool to witness, and the few reactive story elements are always fun to come by, especially the ones you aren't expecting. Honestly didn't expect to get invested, knowing what I did about the plot before going in, but did end up thoroughly entertained.
For the more negative aspect - the latter levels are falling into the same trap as a lot of other games of the era by ramping up the "difficulty" through throwing a bigger amount of more annoying enemies at you (ones that explode on death, or take little damage from bullets, etc.) but in an unprecedented move for imsims, the game actually sticks the landing with a good final boss fight, highlighting the freedom that defined most of the game up to that point instead of forcing combat that some builds may be unequipped for, or resorting to some awful gimmick.
Overall, Deus Ex is still a great game, still managing to hold its own against the present-day immersive sims thanks to its outstanding level design and breadth of possibility when it comes to problem-solving, with a lot of its DNA being easily trackable to much more modern games. Easy recommendation for anyone interested in the genre and not afraid of a little jank.
The level design is definitely the undisputed highlight. Almost any given objective can be reached in a number of ways depending on your character build and playstyle, to the point where the few instances where the game forcibly funnels you into a specific approach (e.g. a door that can't be lockpicked or bypassed electronically so you HAVE to find the code) immediately jump out. Lockpicking, hacking, crawling through vents (usually still accompanied with at least some more skill checks), or bashing in doors are all perfectly valid approaches, and while the game still makes sure that any character is able to actually progress the main objective, it does feel a lot less obvious than in most modern imsims - getting a code or finding an alternative route will generally take a lot more effort than just picking the door if your character is equipped to deal with the lock.
If you're like me in being addicted to hoarding "optional" resources since you're used to game just handing over the solution as you progress anyway, the most important piece of advice for Deus Ex would be: don't. The game is genuinely so much more enjoyable if you let yourself play the character and use the infiltration routes available to you; unlike in, say, Prey, the maps here are definitely not designed for the player to see every corner and vacuum up every single object; instead, they are large and complicated to facilitate the freedom to choose a route and stick to it. Sure, most doors have codes or keys, but they are very missable, presumably exactly to insentivize using all the other tools in your arsenal, and if you let the game lead you instead of resisting this guidance, the quality of your experience is likely to improve tenfold.
From the gameplay perspective, the signs of aging are a lot more apparent than in the level design. Early on, I don't see Deus Ex being playable in an action-y style thanks to its famous aiming system (where the reticule takes up half the screen and slowly decreases to a point as long as you don't make any sudden moves); however, as your character progresses in skill level and gets more augmentations, the run-and-gun tactics become a lot more viable: by the end, you will be able to jump around at supersonic speeds headshotting bozos in mid-air, or tank an entire arsenal worth of bullets to the skull, should you be so inclined. Despite the slow start, once the augmentations really start rolling in, the power progression really becomes extremely noticeable and gratifying.
The shooting itself is fine, with the exception of enemies routinely taking several shots to the head to kill - seems like there are some hit detection shenanigans that make certain headshots count towards the torso instead. Speaking of - the complex locational damage system is pretty impressive, with body parts being targetable for both the player and all (humanoid) enemies; this isn't really used for anything interesting other than headshots as far as I could tell, but still surprising to think this was made in 2000. The game even supports non-lethal takedowns - and comments on it if this is your preferred playstyle. This doesn't have much of an impact on anything but I definitely appreciate the option being available.
The augmentation system is also neat in concept - having to choose between 2 mutually exclusive upgrades for every slot is interesting, and augments do genuinely have the power to completely upturn the way you play - the only obstacle to this is the default key bindings. Do yourself a favour and rebind the most used ones to something more ergonomic than the F- keys, and once you do, managing enabled abilities, toggling them on and off, becomes a fun element of extra challenge rather than an annoying drain on your finite bioenergy resource.
Story and voice acting - the absolute crackpot mash of a bunch of conspiracies is really amusing at the start, but surprisingly actually becomes pretty engaging as it goes on, the general tone shifting from a story about a cool gigacop with augmented vision to an illuminatipilled global conspiracy-driven paranoic mess is cool to witness, and the few reactive story elements are always fun to come by, especially the ones you aren't expecting. Honestly didn't expect to get invested, knowing what I did about the plot before going in, but did end up thoroughly entertained.
For the more negative aspect - the latter levels are falling into the same trap as a lot of other games of the era by ramping up the "difficulty" through throwing a bigger amount of more annoying enemies at you (ones that explode on death, or take little damage from bullets, etc.) but in an unprecedented move for imsims, the game actually sticks the landing with a good final boss fight, highlighting the freedom that defined most of the game up to that point instead of forcing combat that some builds may be unequipped for, or resorting to some awful gimmick.
Overall, Deus Ex is still a great game, still managing to hold its own against the present-day immersive sims thanks to its outstanding level design and breadth of possibility when it comes to problem-solving, with a lot of its DNA being easily trackable to much more modern games. Easy recommendation for anyone interested in the genre and not afraid of a little jank.
Although this game had some really REALLY REALLY frustrating parts to it, it was an incredible experiences and my good time with it far outshined the bad. A fucking plus. A classic with reason. Great themes to it as well.
Deus Ex is truly a product of its time. I know that term gets thrown around a lot these days but this time it’s actually the case. A game like this couldn’t be made today, it just isn’t possible.
To be blunt, Deus Ex’s storyline is essentially a cyberpunk hellscape where every single conspiracy theory about higher powers and government overreach on an unprecedented scale are actually true and actively happening. The game’s story goes through many twists and turns as more of the conspiracy is unraveled before you.
While I think this is objectively one of the best games ever made, I do think that really comes down to the dialogue and writing, along with the art design. As much as I love Deus Ex, I can see that it’s gameplay is a little outdated.
Let’s get that out of the way now. Most of the game is about walking around open hubs and talking to people. There are main objectives and small things you can do on the side for bonus equipment or money. This is the best part of the gameplay, as the world is detailed, fun to explore, and filled with tons of NPCs that either give you interesting information that helps flesh out the world, or say the most ridiculous, batshit stuff possible to keep you entertained.
Now it’s time to discuss combat and stealth, these are the aspects that I believe are the weakest. Deus Ex lacks a lot of modern tools that make stealth combat more satisfying and fun, this mostly comes down to responsiveness and a general lack of understanding as to how stealth even works. It’s hard to tell if you’re ever truly concealed sometimes, and enemies will just immediately agro if you are noticed. With practice the mechanics can be learned and understood but this takes time, and a gameplay style shouldn’t be this difficult to grasp.
Next is combat. Deus Ex has a massive array of weapons, both lethal and nonlethal. What I really love is that a lot of weapons are tools, not just for killing. The GEP gun for example is a rocket launcher that is honestly way more useful for things like opening doors over any actual combat. Combat itself is very simple, you aim your implements of destruction at the target and click until they die. Weapons work differently and have their own funny quirks to them, like the sniper rifle being completely accurate while noscoping, or being able to use LAMs to climb walls. Enemy variety is.. honestly pretty bad. The AI isn’t very good either, they will mostly just circle around you and fire until they die. There are a couple combat robots in the game as well, though they are ridiculously annoying to deal with, and also incredibly easy to disable so there’s really no reason to engage with them. My biggest issue with the combat is how stale it gets. Most enemies will die from a single headshot as long as you’re leveling skills. Many weapons also seem fairly redundant or awfully balanced, never pick up a shotgun in this game. A lot of the tool tips and in game descriptions are just flat out incorrect too, listing incorrect damage numbers or mechanics that literally do not actually work.
Deus Ex is very open ended, and characters will say different things to you depending on how you play. Most tasks can be completely stealthily or loudly, and never require you to actually kill anyone if you don’t want to. This makes the game very replayable, and a good player that knows what to do can really speed through the game.
Lastly let’s talk about the upgrade system. There are skills and augments. Skills can be upgraded with skill points you acquire by completing objectives, finding secrets, and generally exploring. They improve your ability to use objects and generally interact with the world. Some of these skills are useless, and I think the game drip feeds you skill points too much instead of giving the player more to work with. Skill levels can really decide your build and what items you choose to use, so I wish the game gave the points more constantly and in a higher amount. Things like Swimming and Environmental skills are absolutely useless while weapon skills and things that let you get more value out hacking devices are incredibly useful.
Now, augments. These are found in the world or given as rewards for completing certain objectives. They are not made equal and some are just outright complete garbage because of how situational they are. Augments have a feature where you can only have one assigned to an F key and every key has two augments to choose from. I get the idea behind this, it’s supposed to give the player the choice to build the character however they want. In reality this just makes it way more annoying because you will often see two good augments or two trash augments since they will usually be similar to each other, and picking one just locks you out of the other. This feature would be perfect if you could simply select augments and equip them to the F key of your choice, because some of the keys are pretty annoying press while you’re trying to move or shoot.
Lastly lastly this game starts to REALLY fall off near the end. It devolves into constant combat and little to no character exchanges. The hub worlds are much more linear and are moreso combat gauntlets with occasional puzzles or secrets. The storyline will keep you going, but it’s really a slog near the end.
Despite my complaints about the gameplay I really do love Deus Ex, the storyline is interesting, fun, and keeps a good pace. Gameplay can feel a tad stale especially near the end, but there are always fun mechanics thrown in you can abuse to make things a bit more interesting. The game is an absolute meme, and an absolute masterpiece.
To be blunt, Deus Ex’s storyline is essentially a cyberpunk hellscape where every single conspiracy theory about higher powers and government overreach on an unprecedented scale are actually true and actively happening. The game’s story goes through many twists and turns as more of the conspiracy is unraveled before you.
While I think this is objectively one of the best games ever made, I do think that really comes down to the dialogue and writing, along with the art design. As much as I love Deus Ex, I can see that it’s gameplay is a little outdated.
Let’s get that out of the way now. Most of the game is about walking around open hubs and talking to people. There are main objectives and small things you can do on the side for bonus equipment or money. This is the best part of the gameplay, as the world is detailed, fun to explore, and filled with tons of NPCs that either give you interesting information that helps flesh out the world, or say the most ridiculous, batshit stuff possible to keep you entertained.
Now it’s time to discuss combat and stealth, these are the aspects that I believe are the weakest. Deus Ex lacks a lot of modern tools that make stealth combat more satisfying and fun, this mostly comes down to responsiveness and a general lack of understanding as to how stealth even works. It’s hard to tell if you’re ever truly concealed sometimes, and enemies will just immediately agro if you are noticed. With practice the mechanics can be learned and understood but this takes time, and a gameplay style shouldn’t be this difficult to grasp.
Next is combat. Deus Ex has a massive array of weapons, both lethal and nonlethal. What I really love is that a lot of weapons are tools, not just for killing. The GEP gun for example is a rocket launcher that is honestly way more useful for things like opening doors over any actual combat. Combat itself is very simple, you aim your implements of destruction at the target and click until they die. Weapons work differently and have their own funny quirks to them, like the sniper rifle being completely accurate while noscoping, or being able to use LAMs to climb walls. Enemy variety is.. honestly pretty bad. The AI isn’t very good either, they will mostly just circle around you and fire until they die. There are a couple combat robots in the game as well, though they are ridiculously annoying to deal with, and also incredibly easy to disable so there’s really no reason to engage with them. My biggest issue with the combat is how stale it gets. Most enemies will die from a single headshot as long as you’re leveling skills. Many weapons also seem fairly redundant or awfully balanced, never pick up a shotgun in this game. A lot of the tool tips and in game descriptions are just flat out incorrect too, listing incorrect damage numbers or mechanics that literally do not actually work.
Deus Ex is very open ended, and characters will say different things to you depending on how you play. Most tasks can be completely stealthily or loudly, and never require you to actually kill anyone if you don’t want to. This makes the game very replayable, and a good player that knows what to do can really speed through the game.
Lastly let’s talk about the upgrade system. There are skills and augments. Skills can be upgraded with skill points you acquire by completing objectives, finding secrets, and generally exploring. They improve your ability to use objects and generally interact with the world. Some of these skills are useless, and I think the game drip feeds you skill points too much instead of giving the player more to work with. Skill levels can really decide your build and what items you choose to use, so I wish the game gave the points more constantly and in a higher amount. Things like Swimming and Environmental skills are absolutely useless while weapon skills and things that let you get more value out hacking devices are incredibly useful.
Now, augments. These are found in the world or given as rewards for completing certain objectives. They are not made equal and some are just outright complete garbage because of how situational they are. Augments have a feature where you can only have one assigned to an F key and every key has two augments to choose from. I get the idea behind this, it’s supposed to give the player the choice to build the character however they want. In reality this just makes it way more annoying because you will often see two good augments or two trash augments since they will usually be similar to each other, and picking one just locks you out of the other. This feature would be perfect if you could simply select augments and equip them to the F key of your choice, because some of the keys are pretty annoying press while you’re trying to move or shoot.
Lastly lastly this game starts to REALLY fall off near the end. It devolves into constant combat and little to no character exchanges. The hub worlds are much more linear and are moreso combat gauntlets with occasional puzzles or secrets. The storyline will keep you going, but it’s really a slog near the end.
Despite my complaints about the gameplay I really do love Deus Ex, the storyline is interesting, fun, and keeps a good pace. Gameplay can feel a tad stale especially near the end, but there are always fun mechanics thrown in you can abuse to make things a bit more interesting. The game is an absolute meme, and an absolute masterpiece.
Finished my replay of this game on hard mode. There wasn't much of a difference with normal except that obviously you take fewer hits before you go down. Perhaps one day I'll play on realistic but something tells me that will cross the line into being annoying for my playstyle.
If you've followed me for a while or even if you've been in the same room as me for more than 15 minutes you might now that I despise stealth games. I've tried, but I genuinely hate them all. MGS, Thief, Dishonored, even stealth sections in games I like (shenmue, max payne, disaster report 4). I've had bad luck with so called Immersive Sims because of it, as most of them are essentially stealth arpg hybrids like Deus Ex, but so far its basically only the OG (and consortium by virtue of not having stealth) that I mess with. Its not exactly a mystery why, and consider this a plea for other games to follow suit : let me murder everyone. Give me an actual choice between stealth and combat and not just stealth and "you fucked up the stealth you idiot! you might as well reload a save"
Importantly, Deus Ex's combat is deceptively fun to get to grips with. Its so simple but really effective the way that you start out as someone who takes 2 business days to line up a pistol shot to being able to run around with the gep gun blowing people up like nothing. I'm surprised no one else has tried emulating the system, with your RPG esque weapon stats determining how fast your crosshair takes to narrow and become fully accurate, presumably imitating how it takes someone to aim down the sights and prepare to fire a shot.
Now, obviously for this kind of game there has to be push back, and even with a combat build your ass is not going to last if you're trying to play the game like half life, which is precisely why its satisfying to completely forgo stealth and murder everyone through traps, ambushes etc. This playthrough I discovered how useful the non lethal gas grenades are for murder runs (ironically) cause it makes enemies freeze up to rub their eyes, lining up to get headshot with the pistol for maximum murder efficiency.
The playthrough did however highlight Deus Ex's biggest flaw : the save system. Its one of those systems which is simultaneously too annoying and too forgiving. Its annoying because I am forgetful, and losing 15 mins of progress because I forgot to save is just... frustrating. On the other hand, there is basically nothing stopping you from hardcore save scumming every 5 seconds. Ironically, there is nothing more appropriately "mean" for a choice based rpg than an aggressive auto save, as it is, you can basically game most of the big decisions and encounters. Maybe even a save room system like RE4 might be appropriate? Could even lock them behind doors with an interesting weighing up of resources if its worth risking a loss of progress for a lockpick or multitool? Idk now Im playing armchair designer but either way.
Area 51 is still kinda annoying, I didnt use console commands to noclip through it this time but I still fused with Helios because it was the fastest way to complete the level, the later bits of the game are kind of a downgrade from the initial half of the game.
If you've followed me for a while or even if you've been in the same room as me for more than 15 minutes you might now that I despise stealth games. I've tried, but I genuinely hate them all. MGS, Thief, Dishonored, even stealth sections in games I like (shenmue, max payne, disaster report 4). I've had bad luck with so called Immersive Sims because of it, as most of them are essentially stealth arpg hybrids like Deus Ex, but so far its basically only the OG (and consortium by virtue of not having stealth) that I mess with. Its not exactly a mystery why, and consider this a plea for other games to follow suit : let me murder everyone. Give me an actual choice between stealth and combat and not just stealth and "you fucked up the stealth you idiot! you might as well reload a save"
Importantly, Deus Ex's combat is deceptively fun to get to grips with. Its so simple but really effective the way that you start out as someone who takes 2 business days to line up a pistol shot to being able to run around with the gep gun blowing people up like nothing. I'm surprised no one else has tried emulating the system, with your RPG esque weapon stats determining how fast your crosshair takes to narrow and become fully accurate, presumably imitating how it takes someone to aim down the sights and prepare to fire a shot.
Now, obviously for this kind of game there has to be push back, and even with a combat build your ass is not going to last if you're trying to play the game like half life, which is precisely why its satisfying to completely forgo stealth and murder everyone through traps, ambushes etc. This playthrough I discovered how useful the non lethal gas grenades are for murder runs (ironically) cause it makes enemies freeze up to rub their eyes, lining up to get headshot with the pistol for maximum murder efficiency.
The playthrough did however highlight Deus Ex's biggest flaw : the save system. Its one of those systems which is simultaneously too annoying and too forgiving. Its annoying because I am forgetful, and losing 15 mins of progress because I forgot to save is just... frustrating. On the other hand, there is basically nothing stopping you from hardcore save scumming every 5 seconds. Ironically, there is nothing more appropriately "mean" for a choice based rpg than an aggressive auto save, as it is, you can basically game most of the big decisions and encounters. Maybe even a save room system like RE4 might be appropriate? Could even lock them behind doors with an interesting weighing up of resources if its worth risking a loss of progress for a lockpick or multitool? Idk now Im playing armchair designer but either way.
Area 51 is still kinda annoying, I didnt use console commands to noclip through it this time but I still fused with Helios because it was the fastest way to complete the level, the later bits of the game are kind of a downgrade from the initial half of the game.
That's right guys it really is that good and no one was overhyping it even after 23 full and eventful years of people playing.
Bravo to Jesus Christ Denton and his Day Of Sex.
Bravo to Jesus Christ Denton and his Day Of Sex.
Ion Storm is an infamous development studio, but you can't attribute said infamy to a lack of trying. With some of the industry's best talent at the time, the auter-based studio's output was mixed, to say the least. From vehemently disregarded like John Romero's time-skipping FPS, Daikatana, to the positive-but-ignored reception of Tom Hall's ambitious-Final-Fantasy-like Anachronox, and of course the duology of console-constrained sequels Deus Ex: Invisible War and Thief: Deadly Shadows, only one of Ion Storm's games would manage to be both critically and commercially successful: Deus Ex. Very few games claim to have the influence and popularity that Deus Ex enjoys, much less maintaining that reputation for over two decades. Often hailed as a prophetic harbinger of things to come narratively while celebrated for gameplay that would come to redefine the medium, the game is a mixture of many different elements that come together nearly perfectly. I've played very few games that, despite whatever flaws they may have, feel perfect in the way that Deus Ex does, nor come together so cohesively.
Part of this Ion Storm's approach to level design, one which they'd abandon for future games due to the technical limitations of consoles. Calling Deus Ex an open world game would be stretching the truth, but the game presents you with multiple extensive hub worlds (to the degree that the fanbase struggles exactly to define when a level begins or ends) that are dense in objectives both mandatory and optional. There are no waypoints, no handholding, just mission objectives and clues you can find by exploring the maps. Exploring these maps is fun particularly because of how open ended the mission objectives are. The first level, Liberty Island, is perhaps the pinnacle of open-ended game design. Do you want to storm the front gates, or scale the back of the building and break in? You could always take the route to Harley Filben to get the key, but that route is more dangerous. Once you're inside, do you try to save Gunther, and if you do, do you give him your weapon? These sorts of choices, both mechanically and narratively, allow for the player to tailor their playstyle however they want, because the level design allows for it. Every level contains multiple secret nooks and crannies, sometimes featuring useful goodies, sometimes showing entire secret areas crucial to accomplishing side objectives. The open-ended nature of Deus Ex, something even a lot of modern games struggle with, is part of why the game remains so impressive today. Each playstyle, whether it be lethal, non-lethal, or entirely stealth based is largely equally viable, with multiple augmentations that stem towards benefiting. Sure, it's probably easier to cut down enemies with the one-hit Dragon's Tooth laser sword, but self imposed challenges are encouraged, as the game keeps track of how you play and characters will comment on how violent or stealthy you are. The gameplay mechanics do feel slightly simplistic compared to later immersive sims or even later Deus Ex games, but they're still surprisingly intuitive, fun, and challenging (though the game is really not that hard, even on hard mode). I really like how the early game encourages you to play like a cybernetic Jason Voorhees, lurking in the shadows before leaping out at an unsuspecting foe. You're able to fully customize your ablities from augmentations, to skill point division, to weapon choice, weapon mods, etc. Needless to say, Deus Ex is a game where player freedom matters to an extreme degree, more so than most games, from level design to game mechanics.
While these problems feel minuscule at most, I will say that even on hard mode, the game feels like it gives you too many passes. You can hack the computers of important NPCs in positions of power from the very first time you find one with the appropriate skills, aside from some annoyed remarks, no one ever tries to stop you. You can just do obviously concerning things in front of NPCs who would, in future Deus Ex games, become aggro'ed instead of just standing there. This isn't a serious flaw by any means, but it's one of the few moments where player freedom seemingly means lack of player consequences, and I think the game would be more challenging in a beneficial way had that been implemented. I also find the shipyards level pitifully boring and somewhat frustrating to navigate due to the level design taking a sharp drop off, but it's mediocre at worst and ultimately not a long section of the game. Area 51 has some interesting ideas but feels like a similar drop.
Although Deus Ex's gameplay was praised and is highly influential to this day, it's the narrative that people usually connect with the most in the modern day. Deus Ex has a reputation for being near prophetic; an early 2000s prediction into the plights we currently face as a society. Deus Ex is not exactly unique in this regard - many writers from this era made many similar predictions - but it is one of the few video games of this era, even nowadays, to be so thoroughly well-researched with care and effort to make sure the very real facts that line its fictional plot have some basis in reality. The game's scenario writing is intricately plotted, somehow making the ridiculous high concept of "what if a ton of conspiracy theories were entirely true" able to be taken entirely seriously, and even when it's corny it doesn't remotely detract from the experience. While most of the characters aren't particularly deep, they feel very realistic within Deus Ex's world setting, and my allies and enemies alike are burnt into my mind as some of gaming's most iconic. Speaking of the world setting, it's so ridiculously well-defined and written that it feels hyperreal at points. The Unatco bulletin boards feel exactly like something I'd see on the news or any government entity's social media page. It's fleshed out to the point where the writers wrote fake excerpts of in-universe novels that convey much of the game's themes (and even included excerpts of real-life books too, which is beyond cool). The game is also highly politically intelligent, and while I don't always agree with all of Spector's sentiments here, I can't argue that the majority of Deus Ex's political theories aren't well-reasoned or thought out. Every character has their own ideologies and, if the player chooses, they can ask them more and even engage in debates with a few characters, which can lead to interesting revelations. On top of all of this, the game manages to be a globe-trotting adventure with a narrative filled with tension and intrigue, and I was hooked from beginning to end. The endings are a bit polarizing among fans but I like how all of them are unquestionably negative and there's not really a "good choice" among them. I do think they're a bit abrupt and end pretty inconclusively - I would have liked to see the results of your actions. Favorite quote: "God was the dream of a good government".
Although Deus Ex fits pretty squarely into the cyberpunk genre, aesthetically it's a fairly grounded representation. Outside of patrol bots scouting the streets, the majority of the time it looks like something you'd be able to go outside and see for yourself. Focusing largely on downtrodden, poor areas, the most extravagant you'll ever see is Hong Kong, which even so is only livelier due to the different style of lighting. Deus Ex is a game plunged into eternal nocturne, with well-lit areas exclusively reserved for indoor areas and this does a great job of making the player feel small, lost in the game's nighttime atmosphere. The disregarding of past technology (conveyed thematically in Gunther and Navarre, whose mechanical augmentations are outclassed by JC's nanoaugs) as tech gets both more efficient and inaccessible leads to a future that seemingly has regressed in many ways. The character designs are quintessentially early 2000s, with JC heavily resembling Blade and characters such as Navarre looking straight out of the leather-clad Matrix. It's easy to look back on designs with a condescending "its of its time" tone, but I do genuinely think they look distinctive and cool. Graphically speaking, Deus Ex isn't exactly a stunner even for 2000, with its large environments being blocky and sparsely detailed, which I find excusable due to the difficulties of rendering large outdoor environments on PCs where the recommended amount of RAM was 128 megabytes. Animations are somewhat stiff (especially player animations, which to be fair, are rarely seen) and character models aren't exactly extremely detailed, but the game manages to convey its aesthetic through this anyways. That's not saying the game looks bad by any means, overall it still looks quite solid by the standards of the time, and areas like Hong Kong really showcase how beautiful the game can look at points with its bright colors and greater detail due to a more condensed environment. I also think the game has a fairly unique approach to facial animations which do look a lot more realistic than the puppet-flaps of Half-Life or the complete absence of System Shock 2. Ultimately, I do not think the low-key aesthetic exactly demands an extravagant visual presentation, but what they managed to accomplish on Unreal was quite solid, if slightly behind its peers in ways that are often excusable.
Full transparency, I've been obsessively listening to Deus Ex's score for weeks now since beating the game. Lead primarily by composers Alexander Brandon and Michiel van den Bos and building off of their similarly excellent work on Unreal, I feel the need to compare the game's soundtrack to Ennio Morricone's score to The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, not because it sounds similar even in the slightest but rather because it has a similar feeling of transcendence. A lot of games go for a more low-key ambient style when trying to approach atmosphere and while there's nothing wrong with that, Deus Ex's emphasis on melody over soundscape distinguishes it and feels very distinctive in comparison. The amount of effort put into making sure each area has a dedicated theme (as well as sub themes for conversations, combat, special rooms, etc.) begins to get a little absurd and there's a ton of variety in not only tracks but musical style. From the angelic vocals in New York City to the Asian themed composition and rhythmic bass in Hong Kong to the screaming alarms of Paris' combat theme to the utter emptiness of the Hong Kong canals, there's something new every time while still tying together into a unified sound and cohesive tone. I can't say I'm a huge fan of the game's club/bar music but that's fine, because they still fit exactly what I'd expect in a club or bar, so I consider it effective nonetheless. Deus Ex's soundtrack is also somewhat dynamic, as the aforementioned tracks do switch up depending on whether you're in combat or talking to NPCs, but its not nearly as in-depth as something like System Shock. Still, the variety is much appreciated. It's a near perfect soundtrack that I struggle to find a single poor aspect of. It melds with the game's presentation perfectly and the fact that it's homaged by future games in the series proves that the music is part of what has stayed with people over the following decades.
Deus Ex is not a perfect game, it's somewhat too easy and there are one or two somewhat questionable levels, but it's one of those games where each of its core elements come together so cohesively that it's hard to find serious fault. It's open-ended level design, emphasis on real and genuine player choice mechanically and narratively, nuanced and complicated storytelling, well-researched political themes, low-key aesthetic and transcendent soundtrack make it an absolutely magical game that feels like no other. I don't care if its "dated" or that it can be somewhat of a pain to get working on modern PCs, it's a game that regularly goes on sale for less than a dollar and should be at the very top of anyone's to play list.
Part of this Ion Storm's approach to level design, one which they'd abandon for future games due to the technical limitations of consoles. Calling Deus Ex an open world game would be stretching the truth, but the game presents you with multiple extensive hub worlds (to the degree that the fanbase struggles exactly to define when a level begins or ends) that are dense in objectives both mandatory and optional. There are no waypoints, no handholding, just mission objectives and clues you can find by exploring the maps. Exploring these maps is fun particularly because of how open ended the mission objectives are. The first level, Liberty Island, is perhaps the pinnacle of open-ended game design. Do you want to storm the front gates, or scale the back of the building and break in? You could always take the route to Harley Filben to get the key, but that route is more dangerous. Once you're inside, do you try to save Gunther, and if you do, do you give him your weapon? These sorts of choices, both mechanically and narratively, allow for the player to tailor their playstyle however they want, because the level design allows for it. Every level contains multiple secret nooks and crannies, sometimes featuring useful goodies, sometimes showing entire secret areas crucial to accomplishing side objectives. The open-ended nature of Deus Ex, something even a lot of modern games struggle with, is part of why the game remains so impressive today. Each playstyle, whether it be lethal, non-lethal, or entirely stealth based is largely equally viable, with multiple augmentations that stem towards benefiting. Sure, it's probably easier to cut down enemies with the one-hit Dragon's Tooth laser sword, but self imposed challenges are encouraged, as the game keeps track of how you play and characters will comment on how violent or stealthy you are. The gameplay mechanics do feel slightly simplistic compared to later immersive sims or even later Deus Ex games, but they're still surprisingly intuitive, fun, and challenging (though the game is really not that hard, even on hard mode). I really like how the early game encourages you to play like a cybernetic Jason Voorhees, lurking in the shadows before leaping out at an unsuspecting foe. You're able to fully customize your ablities from augmentations, to skill point division, to weapon choice, weapon mods, etc. Needless to say, Deus Ex is a game where player freedom matters to an extreme degree, more so than most games, from level design to game mechanics.
While these problems feel minuscule at most, I will say that even on hard mode, the game feels like it gives you too many passes. You can hack the computers of important NPCs in positions of power from the very first time you find one with the appropriate skills, aside from some annoyed remarks, no one ever tries to stop you. You can just do obviously concerning things in front of NPCs who would, in future Deus Ex games, become aggro'ed instead of just standing there. This isn't a serious flaw by any means, but it's one of the few moments where player freedom seemingly means lack of player consequences, and I think the game would be more challenging in a beneficial way had that been implemented. I also find the shipyards level pitifully boring and somewhat frustrating to navigate due to the level design taking a sharp drop off, but it's mediocre at worst and ultimately not a long section of the game. Area 51 has some interesting ideas but feels like a similar drop.
Although Deus Ex's gameplay was praised and is highly influential to this day, it's the narrative that people usually connect with the most in the modern day. Deus Ex has a reputation for being near prophetic; an early 2000s prediction into the plights we currently face as a society. Deus Ex is not exactly unique in this regard - many writers from this era made many similar predictions - but it is one of the few video games of this era, even nowadays, to be so thoroughly well-researched with care and effort to make sure the very real facts that line its fictional plot have some basis in reality. The game's scenario writing is intricately plotted, somehow making the ridiculous high concept of "what if a ton of conspiracy theories were entirely true" able to be taken entirely seriously, and even when it's corny it doesn't remotely detract from the experience. While most of the characters aren't particularly deep, they feel very realistic within Deus Ex's world setting, and my allies and enemies alike are burnt into my mind as some of gaming's most iconic. Speaking of the world setting, it's so ridiculously well-defined and written that it feels hyperreal at points. The Unatco bulletin boards feel exactly like something I'd see on the news or any government entity's social media page. It's fleshed out to the point where the writers wrote fake excerpts of in-universe novels that convey much of the game's themes (and even included excerpts of real-life books too, which is beyond cool). The game is also highly politically intelligent, and while I don't always agree with all of Spector's sentiments here, I can't argue that the majority of Deus Ex's political theories aren't well-reasoned or thought out. Every character has their own ideologies and, if the player chooses, they can ask them more and even engage in debates with a few characters, which can lead to interesting revelations. On top of all of this, the game manages to be a globe-trotting adventure with a narrative filled with tension and intrigue, and I was hooked from beginning to end. The endings are a bit polarizing among fans but I like how all of them are unquestionably negative and there's not really a "good choice" among them. I do think they're a bit abrupt and end pretty inconclusively - I would have liked to see the results of your actions. Favorite quote: "God was the dream of a good government".
Although Deus Ex fits pretty squarely into the cyberpunk genre, aesthetically it's a fairly grounded representation. Outside of patrol bots scouting the streets, the majority of the time it looks like something you'd be able to go outside and see for yourself. Focusing largely on downtrodden, poor areas, the most extravagant you'll ever see is Hong Kong, which even so is only livelier due to the different style of lighting. Deus Ex is a game plunged into eternal nocturne, with well-lit areas exclusively reserved for indoor areas and this does a great job of making the player feel small, lost in the game's nighttime atmosphere. The disregarding of past technology (conveyed thematically in Gunther and Navarre, whose mechanical augmentations are outclassed by JC's nanoaugs) as tech gets both more efficient and inaccessible leads to a future that seemingly has regressed in many ways. The character designs are quintessentially early 2000s, with JC heavily resembling Blade and characters such as Navarre looking straight out of the leather-clad Matrix. It's easy to look back on designs with a condescending "its of its time" tone, but I do genuinely think they look distinctive and cool. Graphically speaking, Deus Ex isn't exactly a stunner even for 2000, with its large environments being blocky and sparsely detailed, which I find excusable due to the difficulties of rendering large outdoor environments on PCs where the recommended amount of RAM was 128 megabytes. Animations are somewhat stiff (especially player animations, which to be fair, are rarely seen) and character models aren't exactly extremely detailed, but the game manages to convey its aesthetic through this anyways. That's not saying the game looks bad by any means, overall it still looks quite solid by the standards of the time, and areas like Hong Kong really showcase how beautiful the game can look at points with its bright colors and greater detail due to a more condensed environment. I also think the game has a fairly unique approach to facial animations which do look a lot more realistic than the puppet-flaps of Half-Life or the complete absence of System Shock 2. Ultimately, I do not think the low-key aesthetic exactly demands an extravagant visual presentation, but what they managed to accomplish on Unreal was quite solid, if slightly behind its peers in ways that are often excusable.
Full transparency, I've been obsessively listening to Deus Ex's score for weeks now since beating the game. Lead primarily by composers Alexander Brandon and Michiel van den Bos and building off of their similarly excellent work on Unreal, I feel the need to compare the game's soundtrack to Ennio Morricone's score to The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, not because it sounds similar even in the slightest but rather because it has a similar feeling of transcendence. A lot of games go for a more low-key ambient style when trying to approach atmosphere and while there's nothing wrong with that, Deus Ex's emphasis on melody over soundscape distinguishes it and feels very distinctive in comparison. The amount of effort put into making sure each area has a dedicated theme (as well as sub themes for conversations, combat, special rooms, etc.) begins to get a little absurd and there's a ton of variety in not only tracks but musical style. From the angelic vocals in New York City to the Asian themed composition and rhythmic bass in Hong Kong to the screaming alarms of Paris' combat theme to the utter emptiness of the Hong Kong canals, there's something new every time while still tying together into a unified sound and cohesive tone. I can't say I'm a huge fan of the game's club/bar music but that's fine, because they still fit exactly what I'd expect in a club or bar, so I consider it effective nonetheless. Deus Ex's soundtrack is also somewhat dynamic, as the aforementioned tracks do switch up depending on whether you're in combat or talking to NPCs, but its not nearly as in-depth as something like System Shock. Still, the variety is much appreciated. It's a near perfect soundtrack that I struggle to find a single poor aspect of. It melds with the game's presentation perfectly and the fact that it's homaged by future games in the series proves that the music is part of what has stayed with people over the following decades.
Deus Ex is not a perfect game, it's somewhat too easy and there are one or two somewhat questionable levels, but it's one of those games where each of its core elements come together so cohesively that it's hard to find serious fault. It's open-ended level design, emphasis on real and genuine player choice mechanically and narratively, nuanced and complicated storytelling, well-researched political themes, low-key aesthetic and transcendent soundtrack make it an absolutely magical game that feels like no other. I don't care if its "dated" or that it can be somewhat of a pain to get working on modern PCs, it's a game that regularly goes on sale for less than a dollar and should be at the very top of anyone's to play list.
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I bounced off Deus Ex hard initially. But I have never been more glad that I didn't immediately give up on a game. The beginning was rough but as I started to develop my stats and arsenal, I began to see the game's greatness and I fell deeply in love with Deus Ex.
The biggest barrier for new players is that frankly it doesn't feel very good to play, even for a game from 2000. The weapons lack a feeling of impact and are inaccurate until you level up your abilities, and the stealth is crap compared to Thief 2 from the same year. But the fun is in problem solving with the endless arsenal of tools you can use, the ways you can use the environment to your advantage, and the myriad of routes to progress through the levels. Each level is extraordinarily non-linear. The sheer amount of choice you have in how you complete each level, along with the choices you make in the story and in building your character, mean that each player can have a vastly different playthrough.
Though the game is notorious for being cheesy and has produced many memes over the years, there is a captivating story and eerily prescient social commentary amongst the cheese; something its sequels failed to recapture. The dystopian atmosphere is still gripping despite the old graphics, and the soundtrack goes hard to this day.
Besides some awkward gameplay, the only other issue is that some levels are too big and become very tedious to traverse, and easy to get lost in. But this only becomes noticeable in a handful of levels.
Deus Ex will forever be a classic. If you have a reasonable tolerance for jank it's unmissable.
The biggest barrier for new players is that frankly it doesn't feel very good to play, even for a game from 2000. The weapons lack a feeling of impact and are inaccurate until you level up your abilities, and the stealth is crap compared to Thief 2 from the same year. But the fun is in problem solving with the endless arsenal of tools you can use, the ways you can use the environment to your advantage, and the myriad of routes to progress through the levels. Each level is extraordinarily non-linear. The sheer amount of choice you have in how you complete each level, along with the choices you make in the story and in building your character, mean that each player can have a vastly different playthrough.
Though the game is notorious for being cheesy and has produced many memes over the years, there is a captivating story and eerily prescient social commentary amongst the cheese; something its sequels failed to recapture. The dystopian atmosphere is still gripping despite the old graphics, and the soundtrack goes hard to this day.
Besides some awkward gameplay, the only other issue is that some levels are too big and become very tedious to traverse, and easy to get lost in. But this only becomes noticeable in a handful of levels.
Deus Ex will forever be a classic. If you have a reasonable tolerance for jank it's unmissable.
You Can Kill Children
This was a surprising game in many ways, while outdated in graphics and controls (fuck the ladders in this game), the way it allows you to approach any situation in a multitude of ways and it's story are ahead of it's time. While it's depiction of Asian people, Hong Kong and Chinese culture along with it's voice acting are definitely not the best, the rest of what the game has to offer is damn near perfection.
This game is philosophically stimulating and I wonder if I made the right choice with my ending. Given that it's cyberpunk, perhaps there are no right choices but just ones that you can justify more. I like how it takes the conspiracy theories of its time (and even now) and turns them into tangible and well thought out levels, factions, and ideas. Just the levels in general are amazingly crafted, they really account for all play styles, it's awe inspiring.
I'm just in awe at how many ways this game could progress, there's so many "turning points" that it would take you about a dozen playthroughs to see everything and even then I'm sure there's more hiding in the shadows. I know the series is pretty mixed after this debut entry which is a testament to how revolutionary and sadly unique this game truly is.
I tried to model this JC Denton after me, usually in these types of games I'll try to be the most compassionate I can be and go as non-lethal as possible. At a certain point in the game I just let a lot of that go and decided to become a murderous ninja so couple that with the ending I got I wonder how the world would look like based on the choices I've made. Such a fascinating game and one I'll come back to explore intimately. If you can look past some of it's outdated visuals and controls (seriously, fuck the ladders), Hollywood levels of poor taste Asian stereotypes and bad voice acting then you'll be in for one of the best games of all time.
This game is philosophically stimulating and I wonder if I made the right choice with my ending. Given that it's cyberpunk, perhaps there are no right choices but just ones that you can justify more. I like how it takes the conspiracy theories of its time (and even now) and turns them into tangible and well thought out levels, factions, and ideas. Just the levels in general are amazingly crafted, they really account for all play styles, it's awe inspiring.
I'm just in awe at how many ways this game could progress, there's so many "turning points" that it would take you about a dozen playthroughs to see everything and even then I'm sure there's more hiding in the shadows. I know the series is pretty mixed after this debut entry which is a testament to how revolutionary and sadly unique this game truly is.
I tried to model this JC Denton after me, usually in these types of games I'll try to be the most compassionate I can be and go as non-lethal as possible. At a certain point in the game I just let a lot of that go and decided to become a murderous ninja so couple that with the ending I got I wonder how the world would look like based on the choices I've made. Such a fascinating game and one I'll come back to explore intimately. If you can look past some of it's outdated visuals and controls (seriously, fuck the ladders), Hollywood levels of poor taste Asian stereotypes and bad voice acting then you'll be in for one of the best games of all time.
This game never gets old to me. No matter how many times I replay it, I discover something new. Something I've never noticed before.
Deus Ex revolutionized what an immersive sim was. Never have I played a game this open ended that even something as tiny as the health system is immersive. The upgrade system and augmentation systems are also very open ended in a similar way.
The story of Deus Ex is campy in a cute way, while simultaneously being really grounded in reality. The conspiracy theory aspects are entertaining whereas everything else hits really damn hard.
Though in terms of the conspiracy bits, there is never gonna be a time where I don't feel some kind of surprise when I realize what a plot element is. The first time I played this game, and I got to a certain moment, it was like a bomb had just been dropped. I was sitting there in awe for like a straight 5 minutes. It's so good.
I can't stress enough how good this game is.
Deus Ex revolutionized what an immersive sim was. Never have I played a game this open ended that even something as tiny as the health system is immersive. The upgrade system and augmentation systems are also very open ended in a similar way.
The story of Deus Ex is campy in a cute way, while simultaneously being really grounded in reality. The conspiracy theory aspects are entertaining whereas everything else hits really damn hard.
Though in terms of the conspiracy bits, there is never gonna be a time where I don't feel some kind of surprise when I realize what a plot element is. The first time I played this game, and I got to a certain moment, it was like a bomb had just been dropped. I was sitting there in awe for like a straight 5 minutes. It's so good.
I can't stress enough how good this game is.
I always thought people saying things like "This changed the way I think about video games (movies, music, etc.)" was kind of corny, but when a game makes checking your email as engaging as stopping world domination I have to agree.
dude it wouldve been crazy to be stoned out of your mind in the year 2000 playing this game after school
This game is nothing short of Spectacular. Even for this games shortcomings like the combat which doesn't pickup until maybe half way through the game. This immediately gets offset by the world's haunting and beautiful atmosphere while also being backed by the excellent soundtrack made by Alexander Brendon, Michiel van de Bos (Unreal Composer) and Dan Gardopee.
This is a masterclass example of developing a grounded and believable world.
This is a masterclass example of developing a grounded and believable world.
absolutely insane game
Imagine a world where a handful of plutocrats control the heading of mankind from behind a curtain of political, financial and social power. Wouldn't that just be quackin' crazy?
Also 10/10 game, if you can rub two braincells together and rebind a few keys for the controls it even holds up pretty damn well. Don't spec Swimming though.
The game is full of infamous moments that have long since entered the internet lexicon but video game writing kind of peaked at the Morpheus monologue in this game and it's a missable section.
Also 10/10 game, if you can rub two braincells together and rebind a few keys for the controls it even holds up pretty damn well. Don't spec Swimming though.
The game is full of infamous moments that have long since entered the internet lexicon but video game writing kind of peaked at the Morpheus monologue in this game and it's a missable section.
A masterpiece that offers so much choice to the player, it has yet to have been topped. Mandatory game to play.