Must agree. It’s not so that much even that it was bad, except that there was nothing whatsoever good about it. From the insipid conversations to the mediocre stages, it was as if they took Deus Ex and systematically removed everything that made it good. Everything in the game felt like a mishmash.
I particularly “liked” the mostly pointless “endings.”
I’m cautious about it. Early leaked footage showed plot-relevant items highlighted in a gold color. That’s the sort of thing the original game didn’t do - you could explore and figure stuff out on your own. Modern games lead you by the nose - go here, ok, press this button, ok, take this item. LOOK! SHINY! IMPORTANT! THIS IS THE NEXT STEP!
Apparently after that video came out there was a big backlash and they added an option to disable the glow. But just the idea that they were designing the game like that in the first place makes me think it’s just going to be a dumbed down hold you by the hand modern game, which limits the interesting possibilities of a game like Deus Ex.
I agree with you, now games look amazing, but there is little depth to them; you just follow glowing plot point to glowing plot point. It’s like you’re filling out a form and checking off boxes.
Well from playing the demo with the glow on i can tell you it is not like that. EVERYTHING you can interact with glows, from extra ammo to random boxes you can pick up for no good reason. It’s most definitely not a cheat mode at all, there is just a lot of stuff you can interact with and the important stuff is cleverly hidden. We are beyond the era when people will put up with the “wave the mouse around until you find the important sprite” type of gameplay.
Where could somebody find the demo, if they were so inclined?
Pirate bay.
I never played the first one; it came out in the middle of my EverCrack years and there was no time for anything else.
It’s $10 on Steam, is it worth playing? Or is it horribly dated?
The graphics are the only thing that is dated (well, the bad voice acting as well). The game itself is still worth playing.
I have to agree with the “Graphics aren’t the major attraction” folks… I’m looking forward to the game (so much so I’ve pre-ordered it, in fact) but I honestly don’t care that I won’t be able to run the game with all the settings on “Max”. The story in Deus Ex is one of the best I’ve seen/experienced in a PC Game (rivalled only by the Fallout games) and the buzz on this one has convinced me it’s going to be more like the original than the less regarded sequel.
I guess we’ll see how true that is in a fortnight or so…
Ahem, the Nameless One would like to have a word with you.
Obviously a reference to something I haven’t played/read/seen, but if you’re disagreeing with my view the story was great, I’d be interested to know why.
No doubt Finn can clarify but I’m sure he’s just referencing the fact that Planescape: Torment is considered one of the best stories in gaming.
It’s a shame that’s always a game I MEAN to love and get into but I can’t even make it out of the first level before giving up. It’s like there’s this ocean of richness I constantly hear about but I can never more than look at the surface and pass it by.
Zactly.
Deus Ex has a great story. The Fallout games are definitely badass.
But Planescape: Torment has the best story of any game, ever, hands down. You play an amnesiac immortal who wakes up on a mortuary slab and has to explore Sigil, the City of Doors, where every archway, doorway, and portal can take you to another plane in the multiverse. It’s the finest bit of storytelling in a video game and, I’d dare say, up there with any novel too.
Endure. In enduring, grow strong.
Having not played Planescape, my original comment (note the “That I’ve Experienced” qualifier in there?) stands. 
Of the games I’ve played, Deus Ex and the Fallout games have by far and away the best stories to them. The plot in Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura was pretty good too, now I think about it…
What is interesting is the way the world has changed from when Deus Ex was released in 2000- yet the game is, if anything, more relevant today IMHO.
Yes, I grok. Which is why The Nameless One would like to make your acquaintance and expand your experiences.
“There cannot be two skies.”
If you do decide to replay the original Deus ex, install this modernized renderer and this high res texture pack. It won’t make the game look like a game from 2011 but it’ll be significantly improved.
So I bought it and have been playing it. Like others have said, the gameplay still rocks, though the graphics are badly dated. That’s not a huge deal for me.
What’s more weird is seeing how game mechanics have changed in 11 years. Things that struck me as oldschool:
When you die, you’re dead. You can hit ESC and get to the menu to reload your last save. Nowadays, most games assume you just want to reload your last save and either do it automatically or prompt you.
Inventory system involving a grid and when you pick stuff up, you gotta rearrange the grid to make it fit.
No way to preview items you haven’t picked up from what I can tell. Want to see if that new rifle is better than your old one, and don’t have room in inventory? Drop a pile of stuff, pick up gun, look at it, decide it sucks, drop it, re-pick up all your inventory. Blech. I’m spoiled not only by the ability to preview new items on most games, but a lot of them also put up your current item so you can easily compare.
No map that I can find, other than the occasional fuzzy static aerial photograph.
Not much interactive dialog. I’m actually OK with that; having to pick what to say for every sentence, every single time your character interacts with an NPC ala Dragon Age gets old. I kinda like just listening to the dialog and not having to make choices until a real choice comes up.
nonstandard keymapping for a lot of stuff. Some stuff was standardized by 2000, like most games (including Deus Ex) use the space bar to jump. But DE uses X for crouching, while I’m more used to the CTRL key being used to crouch. Also strange combos - the [ key to zoom in while shooting, for example. That’s a real pain, as the [ key is a right hand key, and my right hand is usually on the mouse. Yup, you can remap, I’m just used to most games using the same sets of controls.
These are all minor, but it’s just kinda fun to see how standard gameplay stuff changes over time.
Thanks for that! Downloading now.
There is a bug that will allow you to pick up EVERYTHING. However, it does make modding the weapons a little harder.
I remember even at the time thinking that Deus Ex’s lack of an automap was soon going to be retrograde, for which I rejoiced. Replaying the game recently, I found myself running around in circles. Of course, previously I was fine with this. My mentality at the time was that it was perfectly reasonable to spend hours getting to know an area – shining a light into each shadow, seeing what might behind every movable object. I wouldn’t be surprised if I was beating my head against every wall in case it turned out to be illusory (thanks, Eye of the Beholder). I’m a lot less interested in doing all that now.
I also dislike the way looting works. You pretty much have to pick up the stuff you’re going to have to drop, like knives and batons, in order to check whether the body has a nanokey on it.
Another issue with the keyboard is that it used a lean-in mechanic, which is useful in a stealth game, but which I don’t ever see anymore, because for the most part I don’t end up actually using it.
New game has all of those things, except the lack of a map :).