Deus Ex Panel at PAX East: Reasons to Rejoice, Despair

In a short 16 years, Eidos Montreal has predicted vast changes to civilization in their upcoming cyberpunk title Deus Ex: Human Revolution. At Penny Arcade’s East Coast Exposition, lead designers at Eidos showed off some gameplay and answered questions concerning the direction of the cherished Deus Ex series. Concern about whether the new title was up to snuff with its predecessors has been rampant among fans, many of whom turned up their noses at the 2003 sequel Deus Ex: Invisible War for over-simplifying gameplay elements like health management and level navigation. The developers at the panel were clear that they had taken these complaints to heart, but the question remains whether or not their dedication to the original Deus Ex will be enough.

The panel opened with the extended cinematic trailer, introducing the world of 2027 and providing a little backstory for the player character Adam Jensen, a gruff anti-hero, navigating a complicated and corrupt society dominated by corporations and conspiracies. Hosted by Eidos Community Manager Kyle Stallock, the panel included Game Director Jean-Francois Dugas and Art Director Jonathan Jacques-Belletete. The panel pointed out some of the important themes from the trailer, including the Renaissance and cyberpunk art direction. The two eras demonstrate a time of exploration into the human condition, the Renaissance marking the first inquiries into anatomy and codified medicine, while emerging sciences like neurology, genetics, and microbiology stand to move our understanding of humanity forward in similar ways.

Aside from the renaissance theme, the panel emphasized the influence of the modern transhumanist and singularitarian movements, sourcing the works of “futurologists” like Ray Kurzweil. Jacques-Belletete explained that many such thinkers were consulted in the development of the game, adhering to expectations of future technological advancements and what sort of changes they might instill on society. This clash between technology and society is embodied in Adam Jensen, whose arms are replaced with advanced prosthetics after an as-of-yet unclear personal tragedy involving an attack by augmented terrorists or mercenaries. Jensen seems to be caught in a six-million-dollar-man debacle, having been given these augmentations without his consent and forced to deal with being partly machine.

The gameplay demo follows Jensen’s first mission after his cyberization, working as a security director for Sarif Industries, a biotechnology company. The gist of the gameplay demo can be seen in the trailer below. You are tasked with recovering company secrets from a facility under control of a luddite group fighting against the advancement of human modification. The police have stalled until your arrival, unable to move until Sarif gives the go ahead, demonstrating the power of corporations over government. From the beginning of the demo until the end, the three panelists reiterated their commitment to the original Deus Ex, pointing out at every juncture the differing routes through the level. In the first playthrough, they showed stealth gameplay, using a potent but slow-firing dart gun and non-lethal takedowns. The non-lethal weapons incapacitate enemies in a quieter fashion, and their inclusion as a viable path through the level should bring some joy to fans.

The developers pointed out places where paths through the level may have diverged, such as the developer-beloved ventilation shafts, or doors that might be used by more combat-oriented versions of Jensen. The four pillars of gameplay mentioned by Dugas were combat, stealth, hacking, and social (dialogue); the first three of which were shown in the demo. The hacking minigame was shown off about halfway through the level, which involves an interesting real-time “node” capturing gameplay. The player has a set amount of time to take over systems from a security console before the AI catches on and begins to fight back. Each system you hack into will have multiple objectives, allowing you to go after defense systems, servers, and files. In the demo they take control of a turret and switch its IFF to attack your enemies.

The hacking minigame segues nicely into a discussion of the augmentation system. Unlike the first two games, which had the player add modules that give the player a new ability (or upgrade such an ability) Human Revolution deals with Jensen’s augmentations by having all of his potential upgrades already available to him. It is up to the player to decide which areas to excel at. One sharp-eyed conventioneer noticed that physical takedowns seemed to deplete Jensen’s energy meter, which the panel admitted during the Q&A was part of the augmentation system. Pretty much every action that involves Jensen’s augmentations will require energy, which as the panel explained, prevented a break in immersion in previous builds where one could run around and do a physical takedown while under gunfire. Certain actions like cloaking can have their energy consumption reduced by investing in that skill, however.

Some sour notes during the panel included the revelation that neither the dragon sword nor the health bars for each body part will be making a comeback, to the disappointed sigh of the crowd. Another groan-inducing point during the demo was when a guard that had become aware of Jensen’s presence, came within inches of him and just paused there, apparently unable to sense Jensen outside of his very narrow cone of vision. The guard turned around and continued on his merry way, oblivious of how close to his quarry he had gotten. Stallock broke the tension with a quick “Who shot out that light?” bringing laughter to the crowd. Hopefully they’ll take another look at that.

The demo ended with a quick load to a save file that had Jensen more oriented for combat, at a slightly later part of the level. Jensen took advantage of x-ray vision and cover mechanics, using flash-bangs to stun his foes before killing them. The panel also demonstrated the satisfyingly brutal lethal takedowns, physical contact with foes seeming to take a page out of Splinter Cell’s book. The demo ended with death after a rather poor display of FPS skill.

As a gamer who is interested in narrative and societal themes, I am already sold on the game (provided no fatal flaws are discovered). Eidos and Square Enix have so far done a good job of providing an intriguing scenario to explore, freshening it up with new ideas and connections. But that may not be what is required to satisfy many who consider the first Deus Ex as one of the greatest PC games in history. I suspect fans will continue to worry up until the August 23^rd North American release date.