I love this game dearly. I love the atmosphere, the stealth, the intrigue of the story, and the brilliant soundtrack. In short, it vibes.
It's great fun to play stealthily and find hidden routes, and to get creative with the many tools you're given. It always struck me as odd, however, to make stealth takedowns a mini cutscene instead of making them part of normal gameplay like every other stealth game. They look really jarring and awkward.
While I did enjoy the story, it doesn't have much in common with the original Deus Ex and at times even feels like a different universe. The story focuses almost exclusively on the singular issue of human augmentation and it happens to be the only issue characters will comment on and debate throughout the game. The original Deus Ex explored a number of issues and most of them are a lot more thoughtful and relevant, even after 23 years, than the conflicts of Human Revolution. While some aspects of gameplay like stealth and shooting are vastly improved from the original game, a lot of interactivity with objects and the environment has fallen by the wayside.
In summary, as a successor to the original Deus Ex it feels somewhat dissonant for a story that's supposed to be in the same universe, but as a stealth-action game it's immensely fun and the atmosphere and soundtrack are excellent. I give it such a high rating because I love it so much in spite of its flaws.
Unfortunately the Director's Cut (which is the only version you can buy on PC) has a terrible implementation of mediocre DLC in the middle of the campaign which is a black mark on an otherwise great game.
It's great fun to play stealthily and find hidden routes, and to get creative with the many tools you're given. It always struck me as odd, however, to make stealth takedowns a mini cutscene instead of making them part of normal gameplay like every other stealth game. They look really jarring and awkward.
While I did enjoy the story, it doesn't have much in common with the original Deus Ex and at times even feels like a different universe. The story focuses almost exclusively on the singular issue of human augmentation and it happens to be the only issue characters will comment on and debate throughout the game. The original Deus Ex explored a number of issues and most of them are a lot more thoughtful and relevant, even after 23 years, than the conflicts of Human Revolution. While some aspects of gameplay like stealth and shooting are vastly improved from the original game, a lot of interactivity with objects and the environment has fallen by the wayside.
In summary, as a successor to the original Deus Ex it feels somewhat dissonant for a story that's supposed to be in the same universe, but as a stealth-action game it's immensely fun and the atmosphere and soundtrack are excellent. I give it such a high rating because I love it so much in spite of its flaws.
Unfortunately the Director's Cut (which is the only version you can buy on PC) has a terrible implementation of mediocre DLC in the middle of the campaign which is a black mark on an otherwise great game.