E3 10: Deus Ex: Human Revolution Impressions

The third installment of Deus Ex is actually a prequel to the first game, set 25 years before the events of the original Deus Ex. It is being developed by Eidos Montreal and Square Enix. After the somewhat disappointing sequel that was Deus Ex: Invisible War, Human Revolution comes as a big surprise. It looks like the third game will be as amazing as the original one.

Deus Ex has always been a first-person action RPG, and that hasn’t changed. Although this game will also use the third-person viewpoint in some situations, for example when using the new cover system, the game is still primarily a first-person RPG. The key elements are the same, the main character Adam Jensen will be able to approach situations the way the player sees fit. You can be an expert in sneaking, a hacker, a charmer who can persuade people to do anything for them or even just a combat-loving killing machine. Every problem in the game can be solved in different ways depending on how you build Adam’s abilities. According to the developers this won’t be easy however, as players will not be able to do anything they want, they will need to rely on the necessary skills. In other words, sneaking won’t be a reliable option for you, if you can’t use it properly.

Speaking of machines, we saw that this game has robotics in it as augmentations. As a prequel to Deus Ex, this game features mechanical augmentations instead of the nanotech augments of the first two games. These will be divied into four types (combat, stealth, technology and social) which allow you to customize your character. As always, the Adam’s in game decisions will be decided by the player. In particular, we found the social aspect to be very interesting, the characters’ emotions and personalities were spot-on in the demo. Also we saw some very creative ideas, such as hacking a security camera to access a remote computer and cause disarray.

The game has a nice sci-fi atmosphere to it reminiscent of Blade Runner and some very good character designs. The robotics look very “realistic” so to speak, it made me believe that this is how robotic weapons would look like in real life. This is partly thanks to Square Enix who are in charge of the cinematics in the game and responsible for the very nice trailer we saw at E3.

Though the developers have said in interviews that they wanted to make the game feel as Deus Ex as much as possible, they did try to add a handful of new things. There are now stealth kills, which are not scripted and can be used at anytime, a cover system, upgradeable weapons, the ability to see through walls and invisibility for your character, and enemy squads’ having leaders, who can be killed to cause confusion among the enemy.

The biggest change is that this game uses the health regeneration that is commonplace in FPS games nowadays. The developers have stated that this won’t make the game too easy and that the game will still require strategy. However, seeing that your health regenerates and that the developers tried to make the game in a way that even those who want just want to kill everyone can play through it, it is a little worrying that perhaps this combination will mean that there won’t be a reason to play as anything else but a fighter. Only time will tell, but for now, Deus Ex: Human Revolution has the potential to be one of the best FPS-RPG games that we’ve seen in a while. Keep an eye out for it as it hits store shelves in Spring 2011 for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.