Adam Jensen
Adam Jensen is a character from Deus Ex, a series of stealth action role-playing video games. He is the main protagonist and playable character of Deus Ex: Human Revolution and its sequel Mankind Divided, developed by Eidos-Montréal. He also features as a character in associated media. As security chief for leading tech corporation Sarif Industries, he is crippled by a mercenary attack, prompting Sarif Industries to extensively implant him with advanced artificial organ "augmentations" without his consent. Human Revolution follows his investigation into the attack, leading him into conflict with the Illuminati secret society. In Mankind Divided, he works with the anti-terrorism group TF29 while acting as an agent for a hacktivist group opposing the Illuminati.
Jensen was created by Human Revolution lead writer Mary DeMarle as a protagonist with a defined personality, needing to balance this with the game's choice-based narrative. His design by artist Jim Murray acted as a homage to classic cyberpunk protagonists. For Mankind Divided, his appearance and personality were modified to reflect the game's themes and tone. His coat was co-designed by German fashion designer Errolson Hugh. Across all his appearances, he is voiced by Elias Toufexis, who also provided full performance capture for Mankind Divided. The character has seen minimal commentary, with journalists commonly noting his lack of distinct personality. Academic commentary has focused on dealing with his forced augmentation.
Appearances
''Deus Ex''
;Human RevolutionAdam Jensen is introduced in Deus Ex: Human Revolution −set in the year 2027−as the Chief of Security for Detroit-based Sarif Industries, a corporation leading development on controversial artificial organs dubbed "augmentations". A former SWAT team member, Adam resigned after disobeying an order to kill a young augmented boy classified as a threat and being subsequently used as a scapegoat after the ensuing riots. During an attack on Sarif Industries by an augmented mercenary group, researcher and ex-girlfriend Megan Reed is apparently killed and he is left crippled. CEO David Sarif saves Adam's life and equips him with advanced full-body augmentations without his consent. Optional backstory elements reveal Adam to be the only surviving subject of genetic experiments by a secret group dubbing themselves the Illuminati, having been spirited away by sympathetic scientists as a child. Due to his unique genetics, he can use augmentations without requiring Neuropozyne, a scarce and expensive immunosuppressive drug.
Investigating the attack on Sarif Industries, Adam learns that the Illuminati have been orchestrating events to influence the currently-unstable world climate, controlling augmented people through both Neuropozyne and a control chip that can shut down their augmentations. Reed was working on a solution based on his DNA that would negate Neuropozyne usage, which prompted the attack. Reed is also revealed to be alive, and when Adam finds her he learns the truth about her research. Rogue Illuminati ally Hugh Darrow, the creator of augmentations, modifies the biochip to trigger mass violence and hysteria in augmented people, hoping to drive humanity away from his creation. At Darrow's polar base Panchaea, Adam shuts down the signal and is left with a choice of what truth to broadcast to the world from suggestions by different characters, or to destroy Panchaea without revealing anything. In the Human Revolution downloadable content expansion The Missing Link, Adam is captured by private military company Belltower en route to finding Megan, ending up investigating a project related to the game's later events.
;Mankind Divided
In Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Darrow's actions−now dubbed the Aug Incident−have led to worldwide discrimination against augmented people by the year 2029. Adam is presumed dead, but was rescued from the collapsing Panchaea and implanted with new advanced augmentations. By 2029, Adam works for TF29, an Interpol anti-terrorism task force based in Prague. In secret, he also works with the hactivist group Juggernaut Collective and their leader Janus against the Illuminati. While investigating a train bombing, Adam uncovers an Illuminati plot to force through the Human Restoration Act, aimed at deporting augmented people in an isolated complex and mitigating the Aug Incident's effects on society so the Illuminati can maintain control. Whether the plan is successful depends on Adam's actions. The post-credits scene reveals that TF29 psychiatrist Delara Auzenne and Illuminati leader Lucius DeBeers are using Adam to find Janus. Further adventures are detailed in the Mankind Divided DLC series "Jensen's Stories"; Adam delves into the bombing in Desperate Measures, becomes involved in a bank heist in System Rift, and tells Auzenne about his first TF29 assignment undercover in an augmented prison in A Criminal Past.
;Related media
Adam is the lead in a 2011 limited comic series released prior to Human Revolution, showing his investigation into the kidnapping of Sarif's niece and the criminals' ties to his former SWAT commander. He features in two tie-ins for Mankind Divided; the comic series Children's Crusade depicting a TF29 mission against a pro-augmentation group, and the novel Black Light showing the events after he is rescued from Panchaea. Adam is also the player character in the spin-off game Deus Ex Go, following him on an infiltration mission prior to Mankind Divided.
Other appearances
, publisher of Human Revolution, created a figure of Adam for their Play Arts Kai figurine line in Japan. Clothing sets inspired by Adam's appearance in Human Revolution was released as DLC for the 2012 video games Hitman: Absolution and Sleeping Dogs, both published by Square Enix. He was included as an announcer for Dota 2 as part of a pre-order cross-promotion for Mankind Divided. Adam, along with other characters from Mankind Divided, was featured in a limited time crossover with Final Fantasy Brave Exvius in 2018.Creation and design
Adam Jensen was created as the lead protagonist of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, developed by Eidos-Montréal as their debut project. Human Revolution acted as both a prequel to the original Deus Ex and a new entry point for players. Adam was created by Mary DeMarle, lead writer for Human Revolution. DeMarle described him as a medium for the game's theme of transhumanism, being forced to confront the issue through his unwilling augmentation. He was also made a security chief for Sarif Industries to show the outsized power of corporations in the game's world and offer an easy view into the augmentation issue, contrasting him against Deus Ex protagonist JC Denton who works for a military group. While much of the game's narrative was choice-driven and player-directed, Adam had a defined personality which needed to be maintained and balanced with the gameplay design. The writing team used in-game elements, including character dialogue and in-game news, to reflect the approach players took during missions. DeMarle's early script drafts ended with Adam's death, which prompted protests from staff. Explaining this initial plan, DeMarle noted there were no plans for a sequel, and she felt "tragic heroes are always the best." She reconsidered and ended the storyline on a key choice due to positive feedback on his character.Adam 's character design was a collaborative effort across the game's art team, taking two years to finalize. The team looked at multiple protagonist from cyberpunk fiction for inspiration, from Blade Runner to the original Deus Ex. Their main wishes were to incorporate sunglasses and a trench coat. Developers wanted his design to reflect the transhumanist themes, showing both "the physical and aesthetic results" of his heavy body augmentation. A notable contributing artist to Adam 's design was Jim Murray. His face was unintentionally modelled on art director Jonathan Jacques-Belletete. Needing a model for a piece of art, Murray asked Jacques-Belletete to pose, with Murray incorporating elements of Jacques-Belletete's features into Adam's design. Adam's character model, with a thin face and goatee-styled facial hair, were inspired by the lead character of Don Quixote and acted as a reference to the game's Renaissance aesthetic influence. He was given a slimmer build to avoid being a "big brutish dude" in the vein of characters like Gears of War protagonist Marcus Fenix.
The initial wish to have a single design for the character caused problems, with many of the early designs being described as "extremely bad" by Jacques-Belletete. Among the early designs were a combat-focused one dubbed "douchebag Adam", and a version with flesh-colored arms codenamed "Pinocchio Adam". The initial wish was for his mechanical arms to be exposed, with the amount of visible augmentations varying during the design process. The team ultimately settled on a design that combined cyberpunk elements with the game's Renaissance aesthetics. In the final game, Jensen has two looks: his civilian trench coat, used for "urban exploration" and "social missions", and a commando suit used for infiltration missions. Having two designs was a late decision, both impacting production and solving a number of aesthetic issues with the character. While a short coat was suggested so as to avoid cliches of the cyberpunk genre, a long coat was chosen after a studio-wide vote.
For the sequel Mankind Divided, the staff wanted Adam to return, with producer Olivier Proulx attributing the popularity to the character's "badass" persona. Contrasting against his reactive actions in Human Revolution, DeMarle wanted Jensen to be proactive, though the team needed to work around the character's role as a TF29 agent and the game's mission-based structure. Adam's casual design used the version in Human Revolution as a starting point. After initial in-house drafts, the team decided to collaborate with an external designer. The coat was created in collaboration with Errolson Hugh of German design house Acronym. The coat was intended to be "complex, yet functional" while retaining a distinct aesthetic. Acronym were given design material from Human Revolution to inform their designs, with a real-world model being created to test the coat's real-world functionality, and a Renaissance-style pattern put in the lining to reference the first game's designs. Adam's combat suit was also adjusted while retaining the same basic design. It was intended to have a more military style, reflecting his current profession. Both games contained references to the myth of Icarus, with Adam taking on parts of that symbolism.
Jensen was intended to return in a third Deus Ex title. According to writer Mark Cecere, as the Illuminati would persist by necessity until the original Deus Ex, the team wanted to answer the question of what Jensen could have done in the face of that. There was a planned Illuminati member about whom Jensen could have "done something", but his actions would have led to the events of Deus Ex and tied into the actions of original antagonist Bob Page. Cecere ultimately described Jensen's intended role as a tragic one. A third game was in development, but did not involve Jensen or the original creative staff, and was quietly cancelled in 2024.