We usually don’t share such news, but this is Deus Ex we’re talking about. ION Storm’s classic RPG/shooter hybrid has turned 15 years old today. Deus Ex is a classic PC game, that brought a lot of interesting things to the table. Powered by the Unreal Engine and being as unoptimized as possible, Deus Ex proved that sometimes a title’s tight gameplay mechanics, interesting level design, and captivating story are more important than its technical problems and underwhelming visuals.
After the release of Deus Ex, we all pretty much know what happened. A sequel, called Deus Ex: Invisible War, was released and did not appeal to anyone as it was dumbed down due to Xbox’s inferior hardware. The word ‘consolized’ started appearing during that time, and is now used to describe games that cannot achieve their visions due to being developed with consoles in mind.
Truth be told, the first Deus Ex was released on PS2. However, that console version was developed after the release of the PC version, and was based on it. So don’t misunderstand PC gamers dear console gamers; it’s not like they don’t want their games to appear on Microsoft’s and Sony’s consoles. No no no, far from it. It’s just that – like it or not – the inferior hardware of consoles had/has/will have an impact on the game’s mechanics, level design, AI, etc. And that’s sadly something that has been proven not once (Deus Ex) but several times (Crysis anyone?).
It took the series several years to return. After that awful sequel, EIDOS Montreal decided to show people that a proper Deus Ex game could be made. Thus, Human Revolution came to fruition. And while the game was not as deep as the first Deus Ex and had its issues, it was a “Deus Ex” game.
EIDOS Montreal’s Human Revolution met critical acclaim, and the team is currently working on Mankind Divided. And from the looks of it, this new Deus Ex game will be even better than its prequel. And that’s good news to everyone.
So happy birthday Deus Ex (do note that the final 25-minute gameplay video from Mankind Divided contains spoilers from 18:25 to 22:20)!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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