A Look Back at Deus Ex's Enduring Legacy

12 years of cyberpunk roleplaying. 

It takes some game franchises a while to truly find their footing, but Deus Ex managed to make its mark right from the start.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director's Cut is a terrific sci-fi RPG shooter, thanks in part to the rock-solid original blueprint of the original Deus Ex to improve on. To see how the series got to where it is, we're taking a quick look back at where it's been, and the lessons that have been learned along the way.

Deus Ex - Ion Storm, 2000

Deus Ex managed to pull off something 13 years ago that many games still fail to do today: offer up true player freedom.
Crafting a game that lets someone play exactly how they want is no small task. Offering a ton of different skills means little, for example, when the enemies and level design don’t accommodate your personal choices. Deus Ex made all forms of combat and espionage viable, and it’s still heralded as one of the best examples of player agency done right.

Deus Ex told the story of JC Denton, a UNATCO (that’s United Nations Anti-Terrorist Coalition, of course) agent with nanotechnology augmentations. He can run silently, turn invisible, and breathe underwater, but he isn’t all-powerful. The limited skill points you allocated restricted Denton’s range of abilities. How you spent those points dictated whether you were a rocket launching war machine, a sniper wielding computer whiz, or something in between.
The story explored a terrible, global virus called “Gray Death,” which was treatable only with a rare vaccine, descending deep into alphabet soup and conspiracies on top of conspiracies, all while remaining engaging.

IGN gave Deus Ex a 9.4, praising the story, gameplay, and especially the level design.
“There’s usually something in every level that caters to the various skills, even swimming," reads the review. "From air ducts to underground pipes to super-secure secret entrances, the designers really thought of a number of ways to traverse and interact with each environment so you never feel like you’re locked into one route. And the great thing is that no specific way is necessarily the ‘best’ way to go.”

Deus Ex: Invisible War - Ion Storm, 2003

Invisible War is regarded as the weak link in the Deus Ex series, and for good reason. Following up one of the best games ever with anything less than gold is unacceptable to fans, and, to many, Ion Storm only brought its bronze game.
Players and critics alike were disappointed with Invisible War’s technical issues, including long load times and buggy AI. The levels felt smaller and less open to experimentation, which was arguably Deus Ex’s biggest hook. The overall aesthetic also saw a shift from the semi-futuristic style of Deus Ex into a full-blown science fiction atmosphere – a move that expelled some of the series’ unique flavor.

Harvey Smith, who worked on both Deus Ex and Invisible War, and more recently, Dishonored, discussed some of Invisible War’s failings at the University of Texas with fellow Deus Ex designer Warren Spector.
“I feel like we f----- up the technology management of it,” Smith said. “We had bad team chemistry. We wrote the wrong renderer. We wrote the wrong kind of AI. And then we shipped too early. The story was even bad. Like, it wasn’t a bad story story. It was more like we moved into the future, which – we didn’t realize at the time – undermined a lot of what made Deus Ex great.”

Despite what sounds like a lot of doom and gloom, Deus Ex: Invisible War still holds a respectable score of 80 on Metacritic. IGN awarded the game a 9, praising its non-linear, player-dependent story.
“Sure, some people will say that the game’s made too many concessions to convenience – no more skills and one kind of ammo spring to mind – but all this means is that you have fewer concerns distracting you from the main point of the game, your experience making decisions within the game’s story," said IGN's reviewer. That’s the real draw here – the sense that you’re playing an active role in shaping the destiny of the world.”
Ion Storm released one more game – Thief: Deadly Shadows – before closing the doors of its Austin, TX office in 2005. The next Deus Ex game wouldn’t release until 2011 under the name of a new developer.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Eidos Montreal, 2011

Human Revolution by Eidos Montreal returned Deus Ex to its roots with a strong focus on everything that made the original Deus Ex so powerful. Combat, stealth, hacking, and manipulation were equally viable tactics in most scenarios. The story explored questions of humanity, as well as the deep diving corporate conspiracies the series is known for.
Players took control of Adam Jensen, a security officer of a biotechnology company. An attack on his employer left him unable to survive without mechanical augmentations, which he definitely didn’t ask for.

Though Human Revolution was positively received by critics – even matching Deus Ex’s metascore of 90 – it was still criticized for its uncharacteristically poor boss battles. Unlike in past games, the fights were forced. And more importantly, there weren’t a lot of options for taking them down. Brute force was usually the best option, which defied the feel of the rest of the experience.
It was later revealed that the fights had been outsourced to an external studio. Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Director’s Cut reworked the battles in a way that makes them feel more congruent with the rest of the game.

Human Revolution received a 9 from IGN, earning praise for its smart gameplay and for the questions it raises about what it means to be a human.
“While Deus Ex: Human Revolution can’t be the revelation that Deus Ex was in 2000, it’s an achievement nonetheless," reads the review. "It’s a visionary, considered piece of work, and while my thoughts drift to the things that could have been and the compromises made due to the possibilities of video games in 2011, they’re just as quick to consider playing through it again. Human Revolution is a smart, rewarding piece of transhumanist noir that does justice not just to Deus Ex, but to the fiction that inspired it.”

Deus Ex: The Fall - Eidos Montreal and N-Fusion, 2013

The Fall represents a new path for Deus Ex.
For starters, it's a mobile game - the first in the series. It's also a direct sequel to the novel Deus Ex: Icarus Effect, which itself is a tie-in for 2011's Human Revolution. We've seen these kinds of cross media connections in Halo, Gears of War, and other similarly huge franchises, and they're becoming more and more common.
The Fall borrows its gameplay and black-and-gold motif from Human Revolution. You take control of Ben Saxon, an augmented former British SAS operative. Many critics praised The Fall's technical accomplishments and convincing atmosphere, but felt the first-person shooting wasn't responsive enough to make straight combat a viable choice. Buyers were also disappointed to learn they couldn't fire their weapons when playing on a jailbroken device. A patch has since been made available to reverse the block.

IGN gave Deus Ex: The Fall an 8.2, praising its story and world.
"Frustrating combat aside, it’s almost astounding how successful The Fall is at distilling the core Deus Ex experience onto a mobile device," says the review. "The mysterious and well-told story, steady stream of powerful new augments, and impressive game world all combined to create a mobile experience I didn’t want to put down after I started."

Just the Beginning

Eidos Montreal has reveal ambitious next-gen plans for Deus Ex. An entire interconnected universe of Deus Ex games, books, and other multimedia products are in the works across virtually every platform.
"It’s a commitment on our part to deliver meaningful content that expands the franchise on a regular basis and to deliver a deep conspiracy that will span several connected Deus Ex games, creating a more immersive and richer experience than ever before," Studio head David Anfossi announced in a blog post.