1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF AUGUST 20 | THE ESSENTIAL 100, PART TWO

The Essential 100, No. 70: Deus Ex

Cover Story: A unprecedented journey into player agency and cyberpunk dystopia.

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oral dilemmas. Branching plot lines with multiple endings. Deep weapon and skill customization. With developers attempting to diversify and embolden gaming experiences, all of these things have become rather happenstance features for games of all genres. Modern titles like Borderlands, Crysis, Metal Gear Solid 4 and even open world titles like inFamous show how a number of genres, especially first person shooters, have ingested all these properties into their play experiences.

But such was not the case in June 2000 when the first Deus Ex released.

Deus Ex dropped the player in the role of augmented UNATCO agent JC Denton and asked, "What now?" Gamers had been given choice before, but never to the degree that Deus Ex did. Players were afforded the opportunity to play as they wanted. Through augmenting physical abilities and beefing up their personal arsenal, players could play as a barrel throwing powerhouse or a silent killer, picking off targets from the shadows undetected. The duality, as well as the game's branching plot lines and the ability to interact with the game's multitude of NPCs were revolutionary additions to a genre previously dominated by a shallow single-mindedness. In terms of player agency and narrative focus, Deus Ex truly opened the proverbial floodgates. Before the title released, the depth of play present in precursors like Ultima and System Shock appeared strictly niche. Of the digital landscape, before the title's release, Spector said "...I have been screaming for ten years for a kind of game that is richer and more compelling and more player driven than most games." The response he got from publishers and peers in turn was tepid. "That's not mass market...we don't want to do that. We just want to make shooters."

But in the title's wake came games that prioritized player agency and narrative depth. Games like KOTOR and even the sprawling underworlds of the Grand Theft Auto titles proved that a convergence of so many ideals was financially solvent. To this day one of the medium's most lauded titles, Bioshock (and forthcoming sequel Infinite) built its empire around the morality testing adventure/rpg/shooter foundation laid by Deus Ex and its conspiracy filled other reality.

The title's various elements, considered individually, were nothing new per se. Deus Ex's diverse game mechanics appeared in PC RPGs like the Ultima titles as well as System Shock, not to mention the ambient storytelling of Deus Ex's world is easily identifiable throughout the Marathon trilogy.

But what Deus Ex did with those various influences was bring them together into an experience that worked to fully immerse the player like no game did before. Narratively the game provided one of the densest and most intriguing storylines to grace the medium and remains unparalleled in its cyberpunk infused dystopia. It was a game that offered so much for the player to explore, but despite what was an overwhelming amount of content to unravel, refused to lead the player by the hand. Instead it provided player agency as a blissful absolute. Deus Ex established a sense of being and place and embellished it within a world fully explorable in the then still broadening technology of 3D worlds. It felt like there was a true fabric to the world the player inhabited. That there was purpose and weight to everything one did or didn't do- something that made the vague moral ambiguity of everything going on that much more alarming.

The influence Deus Ex has had on gaming since seems too massive to properly gauge. Deus Ex's release marked a pivotal moment for the industry. The title remains one of gaming's most inspired works and one that only grows in stature, as more and more titles try to duplicate its richly unique experience.

Nickolai Adkins

1UP freelancer Nick Adkins' musical tastes run the entire sonic spectrum. He likes his thrash fast, his doom slow, his pop electric, and everything in between be a mix of moody hook driven brooding and acoustic folk punk. He thinks David Bowie's Live Santa Monica 72' album is the best live recording ever released and is still pouring one out for a third Amy Winehouse album he'll never get to listen to.

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• problem with HR

  Posted: userComment.createdDate by  frozen_spark
  

  The problem with the new Deus Ex is emphasis on biotech upgrades. In the original Deus Ex, these were gameplay additions and the overall story was about conspiracy to rule the world. This is an extremely intriguing and rich concept to explore. This third entry, sort of commercializes the game in that it makes the story largely about the human augmentation and not so much about illuminati/conspiracy like the first two Deus Ex games did. 

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• Number 70 ???

  Posted: userComment.createdDate by  stf111
  

  How can this be number 70 ???????? The PC version was much better than the PS2 version. This game is way better then Gears of War or the System Shock series .

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• what an awesome game

  Posted: userComment.createdDate by  SuperSledge
  

  The conspiracy for PS2 is awesome and Invisible war for xbox has better graphics and physics but the new Deus Ex I'm not enjoying as much. I think the atmosphere and characters (main character aside) aren't as good as the previous games. Anyone play Project Snowblind?

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• Deus ex + Vampire =

  Posted: userComment.createdDate by  OdinStorm
  

  Vampire Bloodlines the Masquerade

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  • Yep.

    Posted: 08/23/2012 by  BorinGendo
    

    I love that game too.

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• 70?

  Posted: userComment.createdDate by  timmyboy
  

  70 seems high to me considering the games that have spawned due to Deus Ex's influence. Fallout 3, New Vegas, Bioshock, Rage, Borderlands, or any shooter with choice and rpg elements. Oh well. I knew it would be on the list, just wondered where it would fall. I'm biased cause it's my favorite game of all time, but there's a reason for that.

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  • Rage

    Posted: 08/21/2012 by  Sarcasticysm
    

    not good enough to be mentioned with the others

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  • Disagree

    Posted: 08/21/2012 by  Daemoroth
    

    Without DX you wouldn't have seen them, and they wouldn't be available to place on this list.

    And your choice in games you listed makes it quite obvious that you don't actually get the significance (Have you played DX? Serious question, not trying to insult you or anything).

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  • Very high I agree...

    Posted: 08/22/2012 by  Mandalorian_Wookie_Hunter
    

    I honestly was expecting Deus Ex to make it in the 20's. I mean it's influence on gaming is unquestionable. Not to mention, it is just a flat out awesome game!

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  • Probably because System Shock 2

    Posted: 08/22/2012 by  Machocruz
    

    that game established the FPS/RPG hybrid as viable, and influenced many a western developer, especially the people behind Deus Ex

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  • Sorry guys. . .

    Posted: 08/22/2012 by  timmyboy
    

    By "high" I meant that the number should've been lower, like top 5 easy. Bioshock, Mass Effect, and Rage are a few more of its children so to speak. Some sights list it as the most influentian game of all time, and I would have a hard time disagreeing with that.

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  • Thinking the same thing.

    Posted: 08/23/2012 by  BorinGendo
    

    I was expecting it to be higher on the list as well. 

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• Loved it...

  Posted: userComment.createdDate by  twinky22
  

  Easily one of, if not "the", greatest PC games ever made. The gold of this game is the plot line. The graphics are dated as of now (2012), but the story line is unparalleled. No other game has come remotely close to having as compelling a plot as Deus Ex. This game is on a very short list of games that must be played if you consider yourself a serious gamer.

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  • Agreed

    Posted: 08/23/2012 by  BorinGendo
    

    I must agree, possibly my favorite game ever.

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  • Eh...

    Posted: 08/23/2012 by  The_Great_Innovator
    

    I played a lot of it, but got bored fast because of how I was forced to do things in a complicated manner all the time, instead of being given the choice to do it simply.

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  • Great Innovator

    Posted: 08/25/2012 by  timmyboy
    

    You could do things simply. You could run in and just shoot everyone if you wanted, or noone at all. But it's a game for people that don't want simple games like Call of Duty or Halo or Doom, but more complication in an FPS like Fallout 3 or New Vegas.

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