Happy Anniversary To The Iconic Deus Ex
Deus Ex was released on June 23rd, 2000. Just those words alone should be enough to spark reactions like “Ohhh!” or “Whoa!”, but we know very well that many gamers today might not even know where much more recent iconic games like Deus Ex: Human Revolution or Deus Ex: Mankind Divided actually came from. The father of them all, the now legendary original Deus Ex, celebrated its 25th anniversary yesterday since its launch, and was developed by Ion Storm and published by Eidos Interactive. The title was directed by the well-known and beloved Warren Spector, and it laid the groundwork for many games that followed in the decades after, marking a clear before and after in the world of video games.
It’s easy to forget how revolutionary Deus Ex was back in the day. If a young gamer today hears that they could hack, persuade or outright eliminate an enemy depending on their personal playstyle… they’d probably picture a game from 2020, not from the year 2000. From my personal point of view, I think that was perhaps one of the strongest aspects of that groundbreaking title: the freedom of choice. In every situation there were not two, not three, but several ways to complete each mission objective, whether through stealth, brute force, hacking or by convincing others to do something specific at just the right moment. Deus Ex didn’t limit how we could solve something, it gave us the freedom to literally do whatever we wanted, with no action being inherently wrong just because it wasn’t the most obvious one.
The Story Behind the Revolutionary First Deus Ex
In this first-person action RPG from the year 2000, players would take on the role of JC Denton, a nano-augmented security agent working for the United Nations Anti-Terrorist Coalition (UNATCO). The setting was a dystopian future, or at least it was back then, since nowadays a lot of what we saw in the films and games from that era feels just around the corner. In that future, the story took us very freely on a complex journey full of conspiracies, secret societies and ethical dilemmas, in which of course the story was changing drastically based on our own decisions.
In Deus Ex, politics and morality intertwined with the main character’s own family drama, as he discovered his own brother was involved in shady situations, and eventually, everything that seemed one way could radically turn out to be the opposite. Military, social and political tension, and those moral dilemmas where, even after picking the most obvious option, we were left with the doubt of whether we had chosen the right one. And as mentioned before, one of its core traits was undoubtedly the non-linear gameplay through which each situation could be approached. Even the cybernetic augmentations pushed us to pick a playstyle, shaping the protagonist and how he faced the challenges ahead.
In terms of the technical side, although graphically it hasn’t aged all that well, it has received the odd remaster here and there over the years, and it’s worth saying that even in its original form, Deus Ex was considered highly immersive, thanks to its first-person gameplay and its character progression, which we could easily compare today to something like Skyrim or similar titles. And the music wasn’t far behind either! Both its main theme and overall soundtrack added tension and dynamism to the game’s atmosphere, also using realistic sound effects, echoes, footsteps, etc. I even remember it was one of the first games where I was amazed to hear the sound of bullet casings hitting the ground, or how the sound of your footsteps would change depending on the surface you were walking on!
The Legacy of a Giant
Many gamers today might not even know this legendary icon from the past ever existed, but the truth is that Deus Ex laid the groundwork for several games or even entire genre mechanics, establishing a legacy that, while it hasn’t always stayed at the top, has definitely given us multiple gems we’re still thankful for to this day. Its commercial success led to several titles set in the same universe, starting with Deus Ex: Invisible War in 2003. Almost a decade later, we saw the franchise’s return with the acclaimed Deus Ex: Human Revolution in 2011 by Eidos Montreal, and its sequel Deus Ex: Mankind Divided that came out in 2016.
Of course, in this already-established universe, smaller titles weren’t missing either, such as Deus Ex Go and Deus Ex: Breach, as well as novels and comics, and there was even at least one attempt to bring the franchise to the big screen! Recently, just last year to be specific, it was made public that Embracer Group had canceled a new Deus Ex game they had been working on for over two years, as part of their restructuring and project review, which, to the sadness of many, has left the saga completely on pause for now. At the time, Eidos Montreal didn’t openly confirm the cancellation of the Deus Ex title in development, but they did confirm the layoff of 97 members from their development, admin and support teams.
So…
Whether we say it one way or another, the truth is Deus Ex made history, even winning multiple awards and nominations over the years. Maybe I do feel a bit like Grandpa Abe Simpson here, talking to a group of distracted young people, bear with me, I’m old-school, but this iconic game was one of the first that dared to let players loose in a semi-open world with no glowing markers or straight paths to the action, giving them endless possibilities to complete their mission. I still remember its epic intro music, which to me has always felt reminiscent of the soundtrack from the first RoboCop movie, the one from 1987, ironically also tied to cybernetic augmentations and very powerful cyborgs.
If you feel like reliving old times, or even discovering this title for the first time, or diving into its universe if by chance you’ve never tried it before, right below you’ll find the link to the Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition page on Steam, for a price that, as you’d expect, won’t break the bank in the slightest. And if you want to go a step further, you can also access the Deus Ex Collection right there, which, in addition to the original game, also includes Invisible War, The Fall, Human Revolution Director’s Cut and Mankind Divided with its Season Pass. Simply unmissable!
That’s all from us for now, but not before inviting you to drop by the comments and share your best memories of that legendary first entry in the franchise, or your experiences with the later games! You know gamer, we’ll be reading you! 🙂
Images Source: Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition on Steam, X
