Deus Ex: Human Revolution (2011)

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a compelling cyberpunk RPG that blends stealth, action, and narrative choice with style. Set in a gritty near-future world obsessed with human augmentation, the MC is called Adam Jensen, a brooding ex-cop turned security specialist. The game excels in atmosphere, world-building, and giving players freedom in how they approach objectives, sneak, hack, talk, or go in guns blazing. While the story can be a bit dense and the boss fights are notoriously out of place (even being able to soft-lock you because of some bad designs), the experience as a whole is immersive and rewarding.

Although sometimes it feels like an immersive sim of some sorts, this is really more of a RPG title, you can really build your own version of the perfect augmented agent, with your own unique gameplay traits. This was the first Deus Ex title that I've ever played, and I intend to play other ones too since I'm a big fan of both immersive sims and RPGs in general. This is definitely a standout for fans of thoughtful, choice-driven gameplay, and as already said, RPGs in general, especially if you are a cyberpunk fan like myself.

As for its visuals, it stands out thanks to its distinctive gold-and-black art direction, which gives the game a stylized, almost surreal take on cyberpunk rather than a purely neon-soaked one. The environments, from the cramped streets of Detroit to the sleek corporate hubs, are packed with detail and optional lore that reward exploration. This visual originality is one of the best aspects of the game, since most titles with similar elements tend to look the same, this is a big standout. The OST complements this perfectly, blending ambient electronic tones with subtle melodies that reinforce the its tense, melancholic mood without ever becoming intrusive.

Where the game truly shines, though, is in the way it handles your choices and consequences. Conversations, augmentations, and mission approaches often ripple outward in ways that aren’t immediately obvious, encouraging careful thought rather than brute force. Even when its systems show their age or stumble in execution, this title remains a confident and ambitious experience that respects your intelligence. It’s a game that invites reflection not just on how you play, but on the ethical implications of progress, control, and what it truly means to be human.

Con Deus Ex el sigilo renació, así como la importancia de la trama y la exploración en un shooter.

Si juegas a Deus Ex, hazlo en su máxima dificultad, siente que el sigilo es vital y los tiroteos seguramente acaben en muerte, ve desde un pobre hombre apenas desarmado a una autentica maquina de matar con un arsenal de aumentos que te dan gran versatilidad. Enfócalo como quieras, se un ratón que pasa sin hacer ruido, o arrasa con todos los que se te interpongan de manera letal o no letal. Tuya es la libertad de elegir.

El trasfondo es increíble, si prestas atención a cada detalle veras una sociedad que entra en conflicto interno con su propio avance, que está dividida y que es manipulada desde la sombra por los poderosos. Si hackeas los ordenadores, lees las agendas, escuchas las conversaciones etc podrás ver por ti mismo lo real que resulta su mundo, los debates a pie de calle, coquetéos en los emails...

La trama es interesante, quizás el problema sea que su interés no radica en lo que nos cuentan, que conforme se revela parece muy típico y no parece dar satisfacción a tanto esfuerzo por llegar al final. Pero el juego es muy único en ese sentido, es consciente de una trama manida y lo que busca es incitar a la reflexión . ¿Los implantes deberían estar controlados? Cuándo se plantea esta pregunta debes mirar a todos los eventos que has vivido en el juego, la tremenda violencia que llegan a desatar los aumentados, nadie debería tener ese poder, pero claro, regularlos significa que el gobierno decide quien puede, y quien no, teniendo un claro factor de opresión contra su pueblo.

En pocas palabras, este reboot de Deus ex cumple las expectativas y no deja a nadie insatisfecho, pero en algunos aspectos se queda corto como si buscas siempre el combate directo, el juego parecerá algo soso, y si matas a todo el mundo por las calles el juego no muestra ninguna repercusión para el jugador, parece que vaciar todo Detroit de gente no es relevante. Pero fuera de esos pequeños detalles, tenemos un gran juego, que por fin busca diversidad y profundidad jugable, con una fuerte trama argumental.

Deux Ex Human Revolution, for PC

Rating: 9.2/10; Masterpiece

Played 2019

This exceptional game should be experienced by everyone, even if you are not interested in first person shooters or stealth. The story and world building alone make it worth it. The Director’s cut is the superior version though.

Deux Ex 3 is an immersive story driven first person shooter/rpg with considerable stealth mechanics. It is very much the same type of game as the previous Deus Ex games but updated with modern gameplay, graphics and overall production value. The Deus Ex series is about player choice, particularly in how exactly to proceed through the world to complete objectives, and this game delivers magnificently. You have the option of using a variety of guns and explosives to solve problems with brute force or you can use a stealth based approach. From non lethal takedowns and tranquilizer darts to hacking to bypass defenses or turn them on your enemies, to knocking down walls to make new routes. You are given the freedom to proceed however you wish, kill who you want, loot what you want, fully explore everything or bypass hostiles.

Your options early in the game are limited however because most alternate routes are unlocked by specific abilities in the augmentation tree. A couple abilities are given for free, such as the basic HUD vision and health regen, while the rest have to be purchased with praxis points, which are granted from level ups and a fixed few from other methods. The augmentation options are quite extensive and in some ways they are better and more powerful than the ones in the previous games. The best thing about them is that each ability clearly states what benefits you will get and what requirements are needed, so you can fully plan your build. I truly felt like a kid in a candy store when trying to decide which cool augment to get next.

However there is one serious flaw with the entire xp system that undermines the player choice aspect of the game. The previous games awarded fixed xp amounts for story progression and reaching specific areas. This game does that but also rewards xp for every enemy defeated and hack performed. There are xp awards at the end of story missions for never being spotted (if a guy turns around at the last second just before you punch or eviscerate him that counts as bring spotted) and for never raising an alarm. But there are no rewards for leaving enemies standing that never knew you were there. So this means the optimal way to play for maximum reward is to stealth take out or kill every enemy and hack every single thing even if you know the password. Though of course nothing is forcing you to play that way I did feel compelled to try to maximize my rewards and choose augments (such as hacking) that yield the greatest xp rewards over time. I feel the game would have been better if enemies and hack devices were simply obstacles to progression rather than a source of rewards to farm.

Hacking further exacerbates this issue by granting additional money and xp rewards for completing optional objectives in the hacking mini game, I guess in an attempt to be like the ATMs from the previous games. It makes absolutely no sense to encourage the player to hack instead of using the known password because of rewards. The mini game itself is fairly fun though. Set up as a network of nodes with 1 and 2 way branches between them, the goal is to make a path from your starting position to either a goal node or the enemy start. The game did not tell me and I only figured it out much later, but you can interact with every node that is connected to your tree simultaneously with the only limiting factor being how quickly you can click and operate the menus. At the start the enemy does not know you are there and you have infinite time to plan what to do (as long as a patrolling enemy does not notice you with your face buried in a terminal). Capturing an enemy node comes with a % chance of alerting the enemy, which causes the enemy to play the same game as you. It will branch out from its start until it captures your start and then you lose. The AI is also not subject to the player's limitations of using a mouse and menus so you are at a huge disadvantage and it can be quite nerve wracking when you are detected and start frantically clicking to beat the clock. In addition to simply capturing nodes, you can fortify them to make it take longer for the AI to capture them. This comes with a risk of detection also so you have to be very careful. There are also consumables items to help. It is a fun and well made mini game but it would have been better if you had a fixed number of moves instead of the % chance before enemy detection. To illustrate why imagine the first node to capture has a 50% detection chance. Then you should back out and start the hack over (or load quicksave which is faster) until you beat the odds. There is simply too much RNJesus involved.

The basic gameplay is a first person shooter with a 3rd person cover system. Cover grants better stealth capability than not being in cover, even if your head pokes over a bit. This is important to keep in mind because at one point I tried to sneak without cover and kept being seen by someone who had no right to see me. Once I went into cover against the wall I was good. Shooting from cover uses a crosshair and allows aiming before popping out. However on Hard difficultly I found the delay between popping out and shooting when the enemies were alerted almost always got me shot and I was better off being in first person mode and camping in wait while aiming down the sight. Gunplay is very tactical with significant recoil, limited sight options, headshots usually being one shot kills without armor and your ability to take hits is very low. Overall the combat plays like old school Rainbow 6 and Ghost Recon only with regenerating health.

Due to your fragile health and relatively low ammo carry capacity, stealth is very important. Cover allows you to look around without being spotted while crouching allows you to move silently. As long as you keep an eye on patrolling enemies to not be spotted it is fairly simple to sneak around. Melee attacks are contextual and allow you to knock out enemies silently with a button press, or hold it longer for a flashy and loud lethal cut. The only advantage of the lethal is that knocked out enemies can be woken up by other enemies (which also applies to the tranq gun), but if you want to kill someone in a way that will alert nearby enemies you might as well use a gun. There is an interesting tactical aspect to knocking out enemies and hiding the bodies so they cannot be woken up but there is literally no reason to use the lethal melee, especially when non lethal grants more xp. Where is the trade off? On top of this each melee takedown costs 1 full bar of energy and there are no melee attacks outside of this. This energy is also used by augments (such as cloak and see through walls) however any bar that is not fully depleted will regen over time and the first bar always regens. The result is that melee takedowns are often tactical choices based on available energy restoring items, otherwise you will be spending a lot of time waiting for energy to get back up. The entire melee system feels off and unnecessarily restrictive, not to mention unrealistic.

Like the other games there are a variety of human and robotic enemies, as well as turrets, laser grids and other defenses. The enemies have fairly good AI for the most part. They will take cover and flank and can be very difficult to deal with if you get yourself detected. In one of my first battles I was taking cover as enemies approached me from both sides simultaneously. This can be negated by using stealth, range and fighting from strong positions. Enemies will go to your last known position and will go to the position of loud noise. There is also the trick of letting them see a body to lure them towards it, among other types of luring. Despite all of this the enemy can be easy to cheese. Even if you are tossing explosives and leaving piles of corpses, they will mill around aimlessly instead of searching for you. There were times where the enemies refused to chase me too far back through the level. I kept thinking what tactics I would use to counter myself and the enemies were not even trying to win. No splitting up to search with guns trained on entrances, no booby traps or ambushes and no aggressive pursuit when I backtracked out of their area. Probably the silliest situation was when I disabled the alarms and the enemies would run to that panel and just stand there doing nothing... "duhhh why isn't the alarm working?" while I created a pile of corpses right under the panel. One time there was even a queue of 3 or 4 all lined up to use the panel. I mowed them down.

There are major boss fights throughout the game which feature arena style combat against a single very powerful opponent. Don't expect to get much use out of stealth or cover and do expect to be easily killed while they withstand entire clips of bullets. They come with special powers/gimmicks that make the fights even harder and victory relies on skilful run and gunning and some luck. There are no alternative stealth, dialogue, exploration or sabotage options to creatively deal with them, making the fights seem out of place compared to the rest of the game.

Despite all of its gameplay flaws the overall game remains fun. The star of the game though is the story, including the settings, world building and characters. There is so much attention to detail, from the TV playing in some locations, ambient npc dialogue, reading material, well written dialogue, superb voice acting and all kinds of little nuances associated with each location and main characters. The result is a fascinating world that is both fantastical and a chilling look at what our future might be like, relevant commentary of real world issues, with believable characters that you will grow to care for (or hate) and how they change over time. Whether or not you like the gameplay, the story and world building are master crafts that should be experienced by everyone.

The Missing Link Dlc

Rating: 8.5/10

In the Developers cut this mission is incorporated into the campaign. Otherwise it is a stand alone mission that takes place between 2 missions of the main game. This is a very odd choice and I think the very concept is flawed, especially when the base game + dlc was not updated to make it part of the campaign too. Despite this the mission is built with the same quality and gameplay as the base game. There are no developments for characters from the base game, other than Adam himself, and only a bit of lore that ties to the main story. Instead you get a bunch of new characters, who are not bad but do not stay around long enough to get to know that much, though there are plenty of similar characters from the main game that are only present for 1 chapter. The only glaring flaw with the dlc itself is that the boss fight uses the same mechanics as regular gameplay instead of the one on one arena fights of the main game. The dlc builds him up as a badass antagonist who is augmented (and thus should prove a difficult fight) but he is just like a regular enemy placed in the level among other regular enemies. He went down like a regular enemy to the point where I did not even realize I killed him and was still anticipating a verbal showdown followed by an epic battle.....oh.

Pro

• Exceptional story, setting, dialogue and characters
• Warnings for points of no return
• Can freely backtrack within levels
• Augment effects in the progression tree are clearly described before spending praxis points
• Fluid cover system
• Good stealth and enemy AI (for the most part)
• Significant choice regarding how to approach objectives. Usually multiple alternate routes and secrets
• Dialogue choices can greatly alter the story and gameplay (especially for the few times you do the persuasion mini game)
• Npcs can comment on things you have done, such as killing vs non-lethal
• Fun hacking mini game
• Good variety of weapons, attachments and upgrades, and consumable items
• Alcohol and healing items boost your hp above maximum instead of being useless with regenerative health

Con

• Mouse acceleration on by default and requires registry edit to fix
• Rewards stay on screen after hacking, often partially blocking emails
• Multiple dialogues and background conversation happen at the same time, which can make it hard to understand what is being said
• Sniper rifle bullet can hit an obstruction despite the target being clearly visible in the scope
• Cannot pick up ammo from weapons unless you have that weapon (there are 2 entirely separate types of sniper rifle that use the same ammo)
• Picking up a gun when you already have it only gives you ammo. If you first drop your gun you can get everything. Can lead to tedious running back and forth selling 1 gun at a time
• One side quest broke by spawning an npc that needed to be killed way up in the sky
• Xp and loot rewards for defeating enemies and hacking undermine freedom of choice and realism
• Lack of balance between lethal and non-lethal melee takedowns to the point where there is literally no point to use lethal
• Other than the final boss, the boss fights are entirely too combat focused
• Does not contain the improvements in the Director’s cut version
• Shotguns have so much spread and so little range that they are useless

Beat on Hard "Give me Deux Ex". I had a bit of trouble at first as I was getting used to the mechanics and had to do a registry edit to turn off mouse acceleration. I had to install a noclip mod (which also required setting up an xbox 360 controller on my PC) to fix a side quest early on where a guy I had to take out spawned up in the sky. I wasted way too much time hoarding loot and running guns 1 at a time to the store to make money, which I in no way needed. I made sure to go everywhere, loot everything, hack everything (plus get as many data caches as possible), and take out every threat; all to maximize my gain of xp and loot. This in turn was the part about the game that I disliked the most; breaking sensible play in favor of game mechanic rewards.

I tend not to like cover based shooting, so I more often than not went around in free aim. Often I would go into cover just to see where the enemies were, then exit cover and pop up (or out) to shoot from first person view. I found the 10mm pistol to be the best weapon. It was easy to aim in first person view and the armor penetration mod made it the weapon of choice for armored enemies and bosses. The combat rifle was my 2nd most used weapon, and I focused my upgrades on it. Good for taking out unaware enemies with headshots, though I found the iron sights to be somewhat awkward. Really disappointed that there was no scope upgrade, though the laser sight helps a little bit. I started off with a double barrel shotgun and silenced sniper rifle. The shotgun was garbage and I literally had to save scum to get any kills with it; the regular shotgun is not much better. I used the sniper rifle as a crutch in the first mission to thin out the enemies, though I rarely used it afterwards. It was good for taking out snipers but I found it unreliable for taking out armored enemies in a single shot; I think I prefer the loud sniper rifle. My most used weapons though were the tranq gun and melee. I went non-lethal for most of the game simply because it was easier and more effective. I did enjoy the tactical aspect of hiding the unconscious so their buddies would not wake them. There were only 2 times where I deliberately avoided (read save scummed) killing anyone, and that was the police station (for obvious reasons), and some body guards that I could entirely sneak past (I just took them out for xp). I felt slightly guilty for killing most of the enemies in the last level, but I wanted to because it was fun.

I focused my augmentations on carrying capacity and hacking (just the ability to hack all levels), to maximize xp and loot gain. Then I got see through walls, though it was not quite as useful as the previous games due to the radar. Next I went for damage reduction, gas immunity and jumping. After a number of fall related deaths, I got fall protection. Then I went for turret hacking, strength, punch through walls, recoil reduction and multi target melee. Eventually I just started getting minor upgrades because I had so much xp that I did not know what to do with it. I never bothered to use the typhoon or stealth features. Turret hacking + str to carry around the turret was an awesome combo; I was even able to get a turret into a boss fight and you better believe I abused the hell out of that.

At the end I chose the purity ending because it was the truth, though both strict regulation and unhindered progress have positive aspects to them. My overall opinion on augmentation is that improvement should be pursued but the actual improvements used should be strictly regulated so as not to create class struggle between those who have augments and those who do not, so maybe I chose the wrong ending.

Next I played The Missing Link dlc and found it to have the same high quality as the base game. Disappointed by the end fight though because it was not a structured one on one boss fight. The "boss" ending up getting killed by his own robot after I snuck past it, melee tookdown the snipers, hacked the robot then fired an unsilenced shot to attract the enemies close enough to the robot.

One of the best games I have ever played, despite some bugs and design flaws. Loved the story, characters and immersive detailed world building. The game mechanics and progression system lend well to player made maps, so I will have to check that out at some point.

I first encountered Deus Ex: Human Revolution when it came out in 2011 and I saw a friend playing it. He wasn’t doing anything flashy, just walking around a building. But what struck me was that, due to the augmentations in Jensen’s eyes, he could see the infrared light that security cameras were emitting and could therefore avoid their line of sight. He opened the augmentation menu and scrolled through the various upgrades that he could eventually access, and I vividly remember how the camera highlighted each part of Jensen’s body and showed how the upgrade would affect his physiology. I was excited to learn I could avoid the stealth and just go straight up combat, so I bought the game and set it on my shelf.

Seven years later I finally played it, and I have to say it’s aged delightfully. I’m not normally one for stealth games – I’d much rather kill anything resembling an enemy and then explore the world in my own sweet time rather than hiding and being hunted. Thus it was with some bitterness that I learned the promised “action route” was heavily disadvantaged – any time I had to fight more than two people at a time I would be gunned down almost immediately. This changed as Jensen got access to better weapons and armour, but those early levels were brutally hard, and it was out of reluctant necessity that I started avoiding combat and started considering stealth. It was several hours before I came to enjoy the process of creeping past guards, avoiding line of sight, crawling through air vents and discovering which actions would draw attention and which would not. It was halfway through the game before I finally began to feel comfortable in a room full of NPC’s without worrying I’d accidentally agro them and suddenly find myself surrounded by enemies.

In fact, I became so competent that I didn’t use most of the tools the game offered me. I frequently chose harder paths because I wanted more opportunities to test my skills rather than take the easiest route. To this end I didn’t employ most of the augmentations I unlocked (and by the end of the game I had accessed almost all of them), nor used most of the weapons. Nevertheless, there was a compelling sense of progression that made me feel that Jensen was getting better and better at moving through the world, either aggressively or invisibly.

In one memorable section, I emerged on a rooftop and stumbled into a guard who I didn’t realise was there. Suddenly he was calling for backup and there were a dozen hostiles on the roofs and in the streets all trying to get a lock on me. I set up ambush, manoeuvring behind some boxes in a bottle-necked corridor and knocking out out anyone walked through the door. I moved their bodies so that they were just barely in sight, attracting the attention of more guards until one by one I had taken them all out. To deal with the guards on the street who were still looking for me, I leaned over the balcony and used my long-range tranquilliser rifle to knock out most of the others, adjusting the height to anticipate the arc of the darts. Finally there was only one guard left, standing in a sheltered area that was out of reach of my rifle. Using the upgrade I’d just purchased, I leapt off the rooftop, cloak billowing as I landed heavily (but unhurt) behind him. He had just enough time to turn and raise his gun before I knocked him unconscious. Apart from a few startled civilians, I was now free to explore the area and looted the hell out of it.

And there was so much loot. I probably spent hours in total, running back and forth from the unconscious bodies of my foes to my arms dealer in order to sell them to him one at a time. The whole endeavour was satisfying but ultimately pointless – I finished the game with two or three times more money than I could have actually spent in the course of the story. The real loot of the game were the stories: the emails, the notes, the secrets hidden in drawers and under beds. They brought life to the one-dimensional NPC’s who had, until that point, merely existed as obstacles or enemies as Jensen forged a path right through their world. By taking the time to find and read the exchanges, to listen to the idle conversations of civilians, it gave the sense that everyone had their own story even if they barely intersected with my own.

But my favourite characters by far were named Hengsha and Detroit. You see, it’s the cities that are the main characters in the game: dark, mysterious, and a little dangerous. From the pulsing night clubs to the seedy underworld, there is a heartbeat to the landscape, and the streets and back alleys are its veins. The futuristic world of 2027 was full of neon lights, hidden depths, and secrets in plain sight if you just thought to look for them. I couldn’t help but feel insignificant when I walked through those awesome cities, who were bigger and greater than the sum of their inhabitants.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is not the sort of game I would have expected to enjoy. However once I got adequately skilled at the stealth mechanics and could make informed choices about how I wanted to play, the game had its own exhilarating pleasure. Not just the thrill of a perfectly planned take-down or a cleverly executed slip, but the wonder of discovery as each turn revealed new secrets and new stories to uncover. The game is far from perfect, and yet for all its flaws I can’t help but love it. I hope the next game, Mankind Divided, is just as good! I certainly won’t be waiting another seven years before trying it.