Deus Ex (video game)
Deus Ex is a 2000 action role-playing game developed by Ion Storm and published by Eidos Interactive. Originally released for Microsoft Windows, it was released for Mac OS the same year, and for PlayStation 2 in 2002. A remaster for modern platforms was originally scheduled for release in February 2026, but was later delayed to an unspecified date. The gameplay—combining first-person shooter, stealth, and role-playing elements—features exploration and combat in environments connected to multiple city-based levels, with quests that can be completed in a number of ways and character customization based around cybernetic enhancements. Conversations between characters feature a variety of responses, with choices at key story points affecting how some events play out. A post-release patch incorporated deathmatch-style multiplayer.
Deus Ex is set in 2052, in a dystopian cyberpunk future beset by terrorist acts, economic inequality, and a plague dubbed the Gray Death. The player character, the cybernetically enhanced JC Denton, is an anti-terrorism agent who is deployed when a terrorist group interrupts supplies of a rare Gray Death vaccine. Investigating the incident, Denton ends up involved in a struggle between multiple factions for control of the world. The story is inspired by popular conspiracy theory motifs, incorporating groups including the Illuminati and Majestic 12.
The game was created by Warren Spector, who acted as director and producer, and put together a design concept during the early 1990s under the title "Troubleshooter". After being approached by Ion Storm about creating a project with complete creative freedom, Spector began pre-production in 1997. Staff included lead designer Harvey Smith, lead writer Sheldon Pacotti, and lead composer Alexander Brandon. The game was built using the Unreal Engine, which led to issues with coding and non-playable character behavior. Due to technical and time limitations, some planned features and areas had to be downscaled or cut entirely.
Upon release, Deus Ex was a commercial success, selling one million copies worldwide. It saw critical acclaim from game journalists for its design and freedom of player choice. Its graphics saw more mixed reactions, and the voice acting was faulted. The PlayStation 2 port saw mixed reactions, but many praised its adaptation of the game's mechanics to console. It won multiple gaming awards, has been ranked among the best video games of all time, and fostered an active fan community. It has also been cited as a prominent example of the "immersive sim" genre. Deus Ex was expanded into a series of the same name, with a sequel, Deus Ex: Invisible War, releasing in 2003.
Gameplay
Deus Ex is an action role-playing game with incorporated first-person shooter and stealth mechanics. Players take on the role of JC Denton, a man equipped with nanotechnology-based cybernetic enhancements called augmentations. At the game's opening the player chooses a combat difficulty−"Easy", "Medium", "Hard", or "Realistic"−and customize Denton's real name, visual appearance, and starting skills. The player moves around the environment, being able to climb ladders and jump onto crates, swim through bodies of water, and crouch to negotiate narrow spaces. The environment also has interactable objects such as computers and keypads, and certain objects in the game can be carried or thrown, from small items like boxes to human bodies.Each hub area of the game has a variety of missions given to the player by non-playable characters, which the player can choose to accept or ignore; these missions include quests linked to the main story and side quests unique to each hub area. These objectives can be completed in a variety of ways; these include using stealth to infiltrate an area, opening access points using hacking, launching an armed assault, or a combination of different tactics. When talking with NPCs, the player has access to multiple dialogue options, with the option chosen influencing the course of the conversation. Short messages are also given which direct the player towards different objectives.
There are a variety of melee and ranged weapons in the game, both lethal and non-lethal; ranged weapons can be upgraded using kits found during gameplay. Items, weapons, ammunition, and equipment can be purchased with credits, the in-game currency either gathered in the environment or earned through quests, or found during exploration. Items that can be picked up include weapon ammunition, health restoratives, and tools for bypassing barriers; lockpicks for mechanical locks, and multitools for electronic devices. The player's health is divided between multiple body parts, each requiring healing with items or at healing stations. Inventory space is limited, with items and weapons taking up varying amounts of space.
Denton's abilities can be enhanced over the course of the game. Skill points earned by completing quests can be spent on the eleven skill types; computers, electronics, the environment, lockpicking, medicine, swimming and five weapon proficiencies. For instance, raising environment proficiency allows for higher jumps and more resistance to hostile environmental effects. During character creation skill points can be reassigned from one skill to another, but after this point skill increases are permanent. Additionally, augmentation canisters can be found or bought throughout the game. Denton starts with three augmentations; the story-based infolink communicator, a light, and a tool for identifying hostiles. Other augmentations, such as increased movement speed, can be unlocked and upgraded using canisters a maximum of four times. One body area can only have one augmentation installed, and they are permanent. Using an augmentation costs energy, which is restored using consumable biocells.
A post-release patch added a multiplayer option. Set across different large levels pulled from different areas of the game, multiplayer was limited to "deathmatch" and "team deathmatch" modes, where players fought to the death either individually or as allied groups. Spawn points provided players with tools and equipment to navigate the level and fight other players, although there were a stricter inventory limit. Unless specified by the match host, players only receive augmentation canisters based on their kills, and must still between different upgrades. The multiplayer mode's servers shut down in April 2014.
Synopsis
Setting and characters
Deus Ex takes place in the year 2052 in a dystopian cyberpunk future on the brink of social and economic collapse, where multiple conspiracy theories and organizations are real. The two main factions in-game are the Illuminati, portrayed as an ancient secret society controlling civilization from the shadows, and Majestic 12, once subordinate to the Illuminati and now a splinter group. During the events of Deus Ex, the world is being ravaged by a plague dubbed the Gray Death, with supplies of its Ambrosia vaccine limited. The game takes place across multiple locations including multiple parts of the United States, Hong Kong, and Paris. A recurring location is Liberty Island, which houses an operating base for the United Nations Anti-Terrorist Coalition. UNATCO's main conflict is with the National Secessionist Force, a terrorist group targeting Ambrosia shipments. Another feature of the world is "augmentations", artificial enhancements using mechanics and nanotechnology.The main protagonist is JC Denton, an agent for UNATCO who has received advanced nanotechnology; he works at UNATCO with his brother Paul Denton, who shares the same nanotech augmentations, under the command of Joseph Manderley. Other important characters are Tracer Tong, a hacker allied with the Triads of Hong Kong; Morgan Everett, a high-ranking Illuminati member; Daedelus, an artificial intelligence construct and its successor Icarus; Walton Simons, newly appointed Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency ; and Bob Page, a corporate CEO and current leader of Majestic 12.
Plot
Note: While the general plot of Deus Ex follows a distinct path, many elements are subject to the player's decisions. The game also offers subplots that the player may or may not encounter, depending on their actions within the game. This synopsis concentrates on the main, unavoidable plot thread of the game.JC Denton is brought straight from training when the NSF attack Liberty Island. While he defeats them, a shipment of Ambrosia is stolen and taken to New York. JC takes on multiple missions tracking the NSF and the Ambrosia shipment, eventually finding out that Paul has defected to the NSF, acting as a mole within UNATCO after learning the Gray Death was a man-made disease used for power and population control. As punishment for his defection, Simons takes control and activates a kill switch, giving Paul just 24 hours left alive. Ordered by Manderly to eliminate Tracer Tong in Hong Kong, JC instead finds Paul's hideout in New York, learning more details about UNATCO's operations but prompting his employers to attack him. JC's kill switch is also activated, and Paul can either escape or be killed by Simons' agents.
JC is taken to a Majestic 12 prison beneath UNATCO, but escapes with help from "Daedalus", initially assumed to be a hacker. JC travels to Hong Kong and finds Tong, getting help removing the kill switch in exchange for resolving a war between the Triads. Tong identifies the virus as created by VersaLife, Page's company and a former Illuminati asset. Destroying the universal constructor creating the virus and stealing the Ambrosia plans, JC is then sent by Tong to the Illuminati's remaining base in Paris. JC finds Morgan Everett, who explains the Gray Death was intended as an aid to augmentation, but was stolen and repurposed by Page and Simons. To stop Page from producing more Gray Death, JC agrees to defend against Simons's assault on Vandenberg Air Force Base, where a group of Majestic 12 defectors are hiding with a second universal constructor.
JC learns from the Vandenberg scientists that Daedalus is an AI currently allied with Everett. When Everett attempts to defeat Majestic 12 using Daedalus, Page counters with his successor AI Icarus. The process causes Daedalus and Icarus to merge into a new entity "Helios", which seizes control of worldwide communication. JC must then travel to Area 51, where Page is in the process of merging with Helios to gain global power. JC is then given three options for defeating Page and resolving the situation. Tong wants the base destroyed, bringing down the world's communication network and triggering a "Dark Age" of free city states, Everett wants to preserve the technology and re-establish the Illuminati as the world's controllers, and Helios seeks to merge with JC and become a benevolent dictator.