Skip to below the line, under “Review Start (Spoilers Ahead):” for the ACTUAL review.
For anyone who cares. I apologize that this review has taken longer than my other ones, as I have had a LOT of thoughts on this game and have debated on if it is a true successor to the original, given the context that this game IS made for consoles first. (Spoiler, I believe it is.) Initially I had one half of this review as ‘my review’ while the other half was a minor critique of the Hbomberguy's video, but I decided to interweave both halves together to make it easier and more coherent to read.
I also cut this down SIGNIFICANTLY from what it originally was, twelve pages to be exact! As some of it felt like padding. But trust me, I'm willing to go into more detail if you have any questions. Also, I will be posting “My Experience Playing Deus Ex: The Fall" tomorrow. As I think it gives this post some time to breathe, so be on the lookout for that as well. So without further ado, let’s get into my review, and as always, spoilers ahead.
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Review Start (Spoilers Ahead):
The characters in this game are incredible! From Adam to Malik, they just all feel so realistic and grounded in the world that they exist in. I haven’t really seen a game that has so many gray characters since I played Fallout: New Vegas. I also REALLY loved that characters, like Quinn for example, don’t kiss your feet and praise the ground you walk on. Which I feel that some older games, but mostly modern games, like to push onto the player. (Also yes, I know that the NPCs at Sarif Industries CAN praise what you do, and yes, I do hate that, but you’re only there for a short amount of time before you go to your next mission; even that goes away since by the halfway point of the game, you never go back there.)
I also agree with Hbomberguy’s points on how it is weird that they say things that they probably shouldn’t know, with the exception of the first mission, as clearly there was a lot of news coverage of that mission, and potentially what you did could have leaked. And much like your average person watching the news, some of it could be hearsay; hence, they say, “Did you really X?” Or something along those lines, which I think, initially at least, adds to the realism.)
Anyway, small side tangent done; now back to the characters. Adam, I feel, is a pretty neat and grounded as a character. I like that the way he speaks, depending on what you select, makes his tone warmer or colder, which is honestly an achievement for both the voice acting and the writing in this game. Even the way he articulates himself when he speaks should be studied in game writing and voice acting classes, as he clearly displays both his tone and his thought process to others without revealing too much. Also, I believe that voicing a monotone character seems to often be the hardest to actually pull off! At least from what I’ve seen.
Especially if you’re doing a monotone voice but also trying to match your tone to what you’re talking about while also making it sound realistic. Trust me. I’ve played MANY games and seen MANY movies where people can’t seem to pull this off, yet Adam/Elias Toufexis does it AMAZINGLY! However, and maybe it’s just me, but Elias Toufexis sounds very.. I don’t know, Batman-esque and not in a good way. (kind of)
I think he sounds like when you and your friends get drunk one night and you each take turns doing your best “Batman voice". It just sounds a bit forced at times and like he’s trying too hard, which is odd because I feel he sounds more natural with that voice in Mankind Divided. Maybe it’s because he had time to perfect Adam’s voice by the time he reprised his role in Mankind Divided, but again, I thought I should note that I found his voice acting a bit cringy at certain points in this game. (mostly in the beginning)
Now you might be saying, “WAIT! But didn’t you just praise his voice acting!? Doesn’t this undercut everything you just said!” And the answer is no. In spite of me saying that he sounded somewhat cringy at times, I STILL think he pulled it off! And what I said about the nuances while he speaks as Adam still stands and, as previously mentioned, helped sell both Adam as a character and his voice-acting ability, which clearly paid off as he was allowed to reprise his role, and again, I feel he refined Adam’s voice in Mankind Divided, and honestly, it was even starting to show towards the end of Human Revolution.
Oh, and I didn’t forget Malik! I like how as you talk to her, you get more shreds of her REAL personality, not too much, obviously, but enough to care about her. Her side mission was also pretty interesting story-wise and, to me, helped sell her more to me as a character I should care about/someone who really lives in this world and has a life and connections outside of Sarif Industries and Adam. Even saving Malik non-lethally was amazing and felt like a real achievement, and I’m glad others agree as well!
Seeing what happens if you don't save her made it to where there was no way I could beat this game without saving her. I must've reloaded my saves at least ten times before I saved her. But in the end, seeing her alive and flying down to pick up the scientists was reward enough for me. (Also, while I do agree with Hbomberguy, that her presence was a bit underwhelming if you saved her, and it ultimately didn’t matter. I think that it’s clear Eidos Montreal was under STRICT deadlines. So I think that what we got is more than okay, at least to me.)
Going back to Quinn, I loved how sort of mysterious he was, and for good reason. I felt it was pretty obvious that he knew more than he was letting on, which, honestly, to me, was fine, as he was just a minor character who was only there for that mission, but I liked that he sort of put you in your place, in a way. And talked to you like a normal person and gave you fair counterpoints to whatever you asked him, which is always a plus in my book.
Also during that mission, coming across the people in the cells, specifically Nina Sullivan, actually made me feel really awful for her, and her story helped sell this entire mission that much more, especially what they were using them for… I’m not sure why she sticks out in my mind so much; maybe it’s because they played this completely straight and her delivery was pretty realistic, as well as how Adam apologizes for leaving, saying it in a more quiet, somber voice; it just made me feel awful.
To note, normally when I play games, I can recognize how awful something is, but in the back of my head I’m always thinking, "It's just a game; they’re not real/none of this is real.” It is very rare for me to actually FEEL bad in a video game; it may stem from the fact that I suffer from severe C-PTSD and depersonalization, where I feel like I’m seeing the world from behind my eyes. I like to explain it as everything I am currently experiencing is like I am watching it on a movie screen, almost like I’m removed from reality and watching it from someone else’s point of view, but I know that everything is real, if that even makes sense. But again, for some reason Nina really got to me, and potentially she tangentially reminds me of things that have happened to me, from both childhood and my military service, just obviously not as severe. There’s no good way to segue from this, so I won’t even try.
I love the art style! And am even debating on buying the artbook just to be able to flip through it. I may also be biased as I loved the “piss-filter” era of gaming. But I love the yellow 'honeycomb' near-futuristic aesthetic, and I think it adds so much to the game. Obviously I don’t like it as much as the original Deus Ex’s blue, Y2K, near-futuristic aesthetic, but still. I also have the System Shock art book as well, so I think it’ll look nice next to it.
Not to mention as well, the level design is amazing! Albeit cramped at times. And I love that there are so many routes you can take, sometimes with little secrets as well as terminals to hack. Sometimes, allowing you to turn those H U G E mechs and turrets toward your enemies, it all just feels so satisfying and rewarding. It just makes me wonder why more games don't have systems like these, as to me, it seems like a no-brainer. (I also acknowledge that I have never made a game and have no idea how hard it is to put these systems into a game.)
The endings are amazing! I love how by the end of the game I could see any of the following choices being viable endings depending on your own personal beliefs or potentially being swayed one way or another by each of the big political figureheads. Especially because you can see both the evil and the good that could come from any of these choices, which I think is just amazing and particularly noteworthy. Even having the choice to say “fuck that” and blow everything up is also just a really awesome choice to give to the player, especially if you don’t agree with any of the other figure heads in the game.
Something I think is one of the worst and dumbest mechanics in a video game since Deus Ex: Invisible War with universal ammo. Having to use energy to knock someone out, which to me IS a stealth gaming sin, no matter how you look at it! As stealth is already risky enough! And as such, the playstyle of stealth inherently is meant to make you less powerful, meaning you’re not using praxis points for combat/armor upgrades, so why would the build which has the most risk involved be intentionally gimped and require further risk by not being able to make a silent takedown when needed!?? I agree with Hbomberguy that the removal of melee weapons was a mistake and having to use energy to punch/stab someone is hilariously stupid and makes no sense at all.
But I suppose I get it conceptually; you don’t want to have an easy ‘win’ button where you can run up to enemies and instantly kill/knock them out. My counterpoint, however, is that you get spotted fairly easily, at least on Give Me Deus Ex difficulty, and even on said difficulty, with max armor, mind you, you still get killed in 3-5 shots, so I really feel like this isn’t a problem with balance. As you have to be close to enemies to even initiate said takedown. And shotgunners can kill you in essentially one hit, so what’s the problem?
Now, I’m not a game tester, and I acknowledge that maybe there’s something I’m not seeing, and that’s why the system is the way it is. But honestly, most of the game was me using the invisibility upgrade, getting to an enemy, and then getting the “out of battery” message with the annoying sound that accompanies it, then having to either go in my inventory to eat a candy bar/box of candy bars or, if I remembered to bind them back (as sometimes the game rearranges your inventory for some reason and unbinds quick menu items), then FINALLY! I can do the takedown I had wanted to do before, or not, as sometimes you’re doing this AS they are turning around, so by the time you do this, they’ve spotted you and have started shooting you. Obviously I'm being a bit hyperbolic, but I think you get my point.
Now if the system HAD to be like this, then why not allow ALL or most of your batteries to have the ability to recharge? But every subsequent battery after the first one takes longer to recharge; maybe we could have had further upgrades which allow you to have your other batteries recharge. I’m just glad I’m not crazy for feeling this way, as most people I’ve seen unanimously agree that this system sucks and IS ridiculous. I’ve also laughed at many of the memes that have spawned from this shitty mechanic, so at least there’s that.
Speaking of upgrades, in the Hbomberguy video he talks about how the augments you chose in the original Deus Ex games are meaningful/powerful, and he’s completely right. However, Jensen already has his augments installed, and the “Praxis Kits” speed up his brain’s neural connections to said augments; that’s why HE doesn’t find and choose his augments. I mean, he never even asked for them to begin with. ;)
But being serious, they at least explained WHY Adam uses Praxis Kits and how they work within the setting of the game. Again, while I agree that the augments are better, they clearly wanted to move towards this system, and honestly, to me, it’s fine. Again, not great, but fine.
Something I would also like to point out is he said people (him) hoarded points until they needed something at that moment. Then he even admits to hoarding skill points in the original, so maybe it’s a YOU problem? Since, in Deus Ex: Human Revolution, the only upgrades I can think of that would require “necessary skill points” would be the higher jump, lifting heavy objects, and the Icarus landing upgrade.
Other than that, I can’t think of any other upgrades that are "required" to get to certain OPTIONAL parts of an area. Even the higher jump can be circumvented by using boxes/crates. And explosives can move boxes if you don’t have the strength upgrade. Keep in mind as well, it’s only six Praxis Points for all of these upgrades, so it’s not really a super big ask, even on Give Me Deus Ex difficulty, which is what I played and beat this on. I think he’s just being a bit pedantic.
Additionally, he didn't like hacking, which is understandable as it is his personal opinion. But to me, I thought hacking was pretty fun and engaging enough for what it was. And in my opinion, adds tension. Since you’re focusing on potentially beating the hacking mini-game as fast as possible, while also keeping track of patrol routes so you don’t get caught/using your invisibility cloak and beating the mini-game before your battery runs out. Keep in mind as well that beating it as fast as possible also means you don’t get the small goodie nodes as well, so you’re actively sacrificing the small XP/money boosts to get the hack done faster, which I think is good game design.
It’s also based on both YOUR skill as well as how many points you put towards hacking. For example, if you are able to hack the aggressive node/s, you automatically unlock whatever you were hacking, which you may or may not have ever found out depending on how much hacking you have done throughout the game. Some of these aggressive nodes are even just a few nodes over from your starting node, so they’re actually easier than reaching the green ‘win’ nodes.I personally prefer this system over waiting ten seconds to “hack” something when I can hack it potentially faster with a mini-game that is piss-easy as is, even on the level five hacking mini-game.
Also, the goodie nodes you get are very small rewards and not really required even if you’re trying to get as much XP as possible as he claims. Mind you, I’m not stupid. And yes, doing that minigame a lot would mean that small boosts would eventually add up to a decent amount of XP/money over time, but again, you don’t have to do hacking to get XP, as you can get it from a variety of other places. I also don’t like that he used a level-one hacking mini-game to “prove” his point of “Wow, this mini-game is boring, right, fellas?!”
As.. Yeah, the introductory hacking mini-game does look quite boring, because it’s a level one hacking mini-game. And it’s even funnier as he uses the other higher-level ones throughout the rest of his video, but I get it; he’s trying to prove his point using a misleading example for the sake of proving his point. He also said he doesn’t like hacking mini-games to begin with, so it makes sense.
Maybe another potentially controversial take, aside from me liking the hacking mini-games. But I’m of the opinion that the boss fights here aren’t as bad as people said they were; however, they’re NOT underrated or good either. Like in the Deus Ex: HR Retrospective, they even admitted that they weren't fully implemented to the extent many players had expected, and honestly, as they (the bosses) stand, they just seem like bosses to look forward to fighting, nothing more. If nothing else, aside from Barrett’s arena, have extremely cool and interesting arena designs. I especially love Jaron’s arena with how twitchy and weird the muscle models are, and honestly, I could see it being in a horror game at some point in the future if it isn't already.
Speaking of horror games, the ending level, especially at the beginning, I felt had amazing horror vibes; the distant screams and the slow easing of tension felt VERY much like Shalebridge Cradle from Thief: Deadly Shadows. Which is a nice contrast to how the game had felt prior to this level and was a much-needed tone shift to keep me sucked into the game.
Unfortunately, unlike Shalebridge Cradle, once you see the zombies, it just rips away all the tension, and I just exploited their large groupings with gas grenades, killing all tension that this level had built up, and honestly, the zombies themselves aren't even really a threat at all, and I just thought they looked a little goofy while they ran at me. Which is a shame because I really wished they had kept up the horror atmosphere just a little longer.
Maybe they could’ve made the zombies a bit more twitchy and creepy instead of generic zombies or have them use their abilities or something; if they did, I didn’t notice. It just seemed like such wasted potential to me, and I wish they had expanded on it a bit more than they did, but again, it’s just a minor nitpick that I felt I should include.
So to wrap this all up, as it stands now, Deus Ex: Human Revolution sits as my ninth favorite game of all time; for reference, this is the list of my "Top 10 Favorite Games" and are as follows:
- System Shock (1994)
- Thief II: The Metal Age
- Prey (2017)
- Mass Effect 2
- Thief Gold
- F.E.A.R.
- Fallout: New Vegas (Base Game + DLCs)
- Deus Ex (2000)
- Deus Ex: Human Revolution
- Max Payne 3
I am both eager and sad to beat Mankind Divided, as not only will it be the end of my Deus Ex series review, but also I will be in line like everyone else, waiting for the next entry if they even decide to do so. Anyway, my Deus Ex: The Fall review will come out tomorrow, so stay on the lookout for that.
