Deus Ex

klaussilveira

If anyone wants to play it again, dont forget the amazing mods available: https://www.moddb.com/games/deus-ex/mods New renderers, new engines, The Purist Mod, GMDX, The Nameless Mod...

falsemyrmidon

The background behind the text makes it hard to read. Getting a bunch of horizontal lines that intersect whole lines of text

dead_hn_theory

Do you have a single fact to back that up?

Arainach

Deus Ex was an amazing game. My only regret is that the more we see the real world impacts of late stage capitalism and technology enthusiasm, I've spent more time wondering if the Tracer Tong ending was the better choice for the world

elephanlemon

Finally sat down and played this a few years ago. I didn’t think I’d be able to get into such an old game but it was one of the best gaming experiences I’ve ever had.

gosen

what a great game! *nostalgic tears dropped*

glenstein

I had a subscription to PC Gamer and saw it was named Game of the Year. I got it from Wal Mart, a beautiful shiny box, and inside was a fake newsletter about events in the game world, I think the paper that Joe Greene, an in-game character, wrote for. I had no idea what I was in for, and as a 15 year old, I felt twists and surprises, and organic game reactions to things I did that blow my mind even today, and imo still haven't been matched. And leveling and skills truly mattered and were tied into the game. Inventory management and ammo was interesting, the interface was perfect. It also had a kind of intellectual curiosity (characters talking competently about surveillance state and capitalism!) in the dialog that I only ever felt in, say, Alpha Centauri and later, Disco Elysium. It's still the best PC game ever imo. Edit: I think the most important thing about its legacy now, is that it engaged with conspiracies in a fundamentally different way, more like 90s X-Files style fascination and curiosity than anti-intellectualism of Alex Jones-style rabid misinformation. A critical nuance that gets lost when conspiracy cranks try to claim Deus Ex as theirs. Edit 2: Respectfully, contra the article, if anything I think there's not enough hagiography surrounding Deus Ex. It's either beloved or not known, and the latter is the crime that needs rebalancing as it represents an example of what's possible in passion project game design that I think is just as important as it ever was. That matters infinitely more to me than sidecar questions of how more or less "living" it's game world was relative to its predecessor System Shock. I also think the analysis is a little bit off to criticize DX's three-choice ending as being too on-rails relative to System Shock, which is a one-stop boss battle that lasts like 15 seconds.

jamesu

One thing that bugs me is the article explains the twin towers missing from the skyline as "rendering engine couldn’t handle any more polygons", but it turns out... it's way more complicated than that https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpi5xUXPqok .

rydgel

I'm working to make open-source the webgl port in a few days! I love this game.

anthk

First, GMDX it's amazing. Second, there's Open Deus EX (I think not GMDX compatible yet) and DX-Rust, which it is. I still play to that game, and it's my favourite among Slashem and some few interactive fiction ones. OpenDE: Fast, vanilla https://github.com/jarmitage99/OpenDE DX-Rust: Slow, AI slop, but it can be improved. It supports GMDX https://github.com/Grissyelda/dx-rust If you use Recomp Launcher you can install these with ease, even on Steam Decks.

Lerc

My favourite ever games journalism quote: "There's a tendency among the press to attribute the creation of a game to a single person," says Warren Spector, creator of Thief and Deus Ex.

stego-tech

Remains one of my favorite games ever, even as current events make it difficult to return to at present (it used to be a yearly replay over my winter holidays). One thing strikes me however, as perhaps revealing my own naïveté: > Lurking in the accusations against “wealthy bankers” is the oldest, ugliest conspiratorial trope of all, the idea — stemming from the 1903 forgery “The Protocol of the Elders of Zion” — that a cabal of Jews secretly run the world. I never made that connection until literally reading this piece. Bankers weren’t all Jews, and not all Jews were Bankers. I had heard the stereotype, sure, but I never read said stereotype into such conspiracies or narratives. It just made logical sense that a newly-emerged global society formed around currency and trade would be manipulated by those people who specialize in said sectors, i.e. bankers and financiers. The fact said individuals continue having outsized import on daily news and current events almost cements the plot point as real prophecy instead of antisemitic nonsense, but I can also see how bad actors would tie hate speech to current events to boost their own platforms. Just an odd bit of reflecting, is all.

morsch

There's a lot to cover with the game, so I'm not surprised he doesn't cover the music. But the soundtrack is great! I still listen to it regularly. I like the UNATCO music best. Each track has a regular theme, and switches to variations on the theme for combat and other situations. Pretty unusual in 2000 and even today.

giobox

As always, someone has built a browser playable version: > https://jarmitage99.itch.io/opende

pmkary

I really really really really missed seeing blogs like this! These blogs always felt like home, like a traveler's notebook, like a cozy warm personal place. And all we are left with is these boring corporate flat garbage.

stevenwoo

If I am remembering correctly, I felt terrible after completing the first mission but that may have been the point - make you think about what you are doing. It was presented to the player as authentic threat, then when you get to end you are told it was a test but in my playthrough I killed all the “bad guys” on the way, and could have spared their virtual lives by sneaking around and knocking them out.

erhangundogan

If I am not mistaken Deus Ex was one of the first game with non-linear gameplay having different story entries and exits. That feature itself was very interesting and unique. Apart from that cyberpunk rpg design was attractive. All in all it was an epic game and It is a game which is memorable for lifetime. Thanks to Ion Storm one more time.

LarsDu88

Still my favorite game of all time. The difficulty scaling was absolutely ridiculous though. In the first level, you're supposed to be a cyber augmented super soldier, but in the first level, they give you like 2 magazines for your pistol, and if you don't max our your small weapon skill, you have worse aim than a toddler with a nerf gun. The gameplay and graphics don't hold up but the story was absolutely prescient around AI, billionaire oligarchs, and mass surveillance.

djsavvy

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is one of my favorite games of all time (and the game that got me into games). I enjoyed mankind divided a lot as well, though it felt different. I've started the original Deus Ex a few times but never really got into it; maybe I need to give it another shot.

whywhywhywhy

Metal Gear Solid 2 should get a mention if we're talking about prophetic games