Deus Ex GO Review

Deus Ex GO follows in the footsteps of Square Enix’s surprise in their GO series, with even greater success than its predecessors.

Deus Ex GO
Developer: Square Enix Montréal
Price: $4.99
Platform: iOS & Android
MonsterVine was provided an iOS code for review.

Like Hitman and Lara Croft GO, Deus Ex GO condenses the world of Deus Ex into a turn-based puzzle game with elements of the Deus Ex universe. As in the proper series, you take on the role of Adam Jensen, a technologically enhanced agent.

Throughout the light story you’ll explore some themes that may be recognizable if you’re familiar with the main series. Corporate corruption, terrorism, progressive issues and transhumanism all make appearances here, albeit in a diluted sense. Despite this, the narrative is both unobtrusive and compelling, even to those completely new to the series. The missions are quite varied and have enough of a story making the couple of hours it takes to beat the game worth it.

In the opening moments of the game it’s clear that puzzle-solving takes the forefront here. There’s no tutorial or help-screen to be found, allowing an old-school sense of learning. Deus Ex GO is an intuitive, turn-based game. The game does a solid job at teaching players what to do without actually telling, usually by killing the player or having an enemy run around for a moment.

Like in Deus Ex there are a few cyberpunk tools at your disposal. Each puzzle map is different in layout and solution, but most have an invisibility pickup and a hacking node on the map. The invisibility pickup can be used at any point, and allows the player to move one space unhindered, either to avoid enemy detection or to take one out. The hacking node is used to take over turrets or open up areas of the map.

The concepts were easy enough to grasp but the combination of all of these elements made for some incredibly mentally stimulating levels that brought out intense bouts of frustration as well as feelings of accomplishment. There were a few levels that required some bouncing around from node to node just to pass a few turns, but overall this wasn’t too annoying. The game’s levels are challenging enough that you have to use all of your mental capacities, but not so infuriating that I feel inclined to use the built-in solution system or look up the levels online. Solving any of Deus Ex GO’s puzzles in the least moves possible will reward you with a gold completion, further encouraging replayability.

Visually Deus Ex GO is quite a bit different from Hitman GO. While Hitman GO was stylized almost as a board game, Deus Ex GO is represented more similarly to the prime Deus Ex titles. Everything has that sleek cyberpunk look and all characters and robots are fully animated and move in real-time. The originality of the visuals in Hitman GO may be lost, but the graphics of Deus Ex GO simply felt more engaging and immersive for me. Enemies, even when moving in slow-motion or at a standstill between turns felt like mobile entities as opposed to chess pieces.

The Final Word
Deus Ex GO is one of the few mobile games to be worth the $4.99 pricetag. The levels are varied and challenging, the experience is tight-knitted,polished and will entertain for multiple hours. As far as mobile games go, Deus Ex GO is one of the best I’ve played and is absolutely worth your time.

-MonsterVine Review Score: 4.5 out of 5 – Great