If you're looking for a sign, here it is. Now’s the perfect time for you to play one of the greatest games ever made. The Deus Ex series has been a mainstay in the early 2000s gaming zeitgeist, providing us with one of the most thought-provoking dystopian stories that are still relevant in this day and age.
Being one of the games that popularized branching choices with its immersive approach to storytelling, there’s a lot to unpack in a Deus Ex game that you don’t normally find in most AAA titles today. Sure, Valve’s Half-Life and the classic Fallout titles share that same kind of approach, but the way Deus Ex handles freedom of choice is still unparalleled even to this day. Things like a wide breadth of character customization and gameplay freedom were some of the things that weren't very common when Deus Ex first launched at the turn of the century. It was so influential that it gave birth to titles like Arkane’s Prey and Dishonored series.
The Deus Ex Remastered is Coming
One of the biggest reasons why you should start playing Deus Ex is that a Remaster of the 2000 game is coming out on February 6 next year. This makes it the definitive edition to play Ion Storm’s sci-fi RPG, all thanks to its improved lighting, better controls, and a wide range of quality-of-life upgrades.
I’ve always found the original Deus Ex’s gameplay clunky, and that’s partly because it’s a 20-year-old game. The enhanced versions tried their best to alleviate some of the issues, but it was never really ideal for someone who’s gotten so used to the amount of quality of life modern video games have today.
The remastered version is developed by Aspyr, the same guys behind the Tomb Raider Remasters that came out in the past few years. It’s the perfect way to relive the nostalgia while ogling at the game’s improved visual effects and controls.
Start With Adam Jensen’s Story
While waiting for the inevitable Deus Ex Remastered next year, you can start your adventure by playing Adam Jensen’s games with Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Mankind Divided. These games act as prequels that will pave the way to JC Denton’s story in the original game. (We don’t talk about the other spin-offs here.)
But be warned, you might be disappointed as Adam Jensen’s adventures are still unfinished. Mankind Divided was a divisive game caused by a lot of internal company issues, resulting in the game’s abrupt ending, which followed up the series being shelved for a decade. Even the former Deus Ex writer laments the series’ loss and talks about what could’ve been a bridging point for Ion Storm’s Deus Ex in a podcast episode.
Adam Jensen’s gameplay in Human Revolution and Mankind Divided are clear upgrades from the 2000 game. It maintains the traditional freedom of choices that we once had with JC’s story, where you can still tackle missions stealthily or with traditional action combat. But being an immersive sim, there are always consequences to going full guns blazing rather than talking things out and doing things silently. But that degree of freedom has always been the series’s best feature.
You Can Always Play the Deus Ex Original
But if you want to take things further, you can try the original 2000 Deus Ex, but you’re gonna have to get used to its control scheme. If you’re on PC, there are plenty of mods from the community that fix some of the game’s issues, but if you’re playing on a console, you’re just gonna have to get used to it.
But if you can get past the frustrating lack of quality of life enhancements, you’re gonna be swarming with JC Denton one-liners and participating in the game’s subreddit. You could even join in on the endless debates and theories that the community is still talking about to this day.
Deus Ex is still a game that you should play at least once in your life. The original may have dated mechanics, but if you can wait for a few more months, the Remastered version will be the ideal way to play the game. The series has been an iconic remnant of a bygone era in gaming, but the fact that Aspyr is remastering the 25-year-old classic already means that it’s making its slow resurgence for the modern audience.
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