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Deus Ex: Human Revolution - All News

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Box Art

Thursday - April 30, 2015

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Editorial @ Kotaku

by Couchpotato, 06:59

GB Burford published a short article on Kotaku where talks about how Deus Ex: Human Revolution isn't as great as he remembers it.  So yeah it's kotaku guys.

Everyone has that one game they still remember playing for the first time. For me, it was Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Looking back, it seems weird—other games occupy my personal best-of list, but something about Human Revolution struck a distinct chord with me. It is a game I love. With the recent announcement of a new Deus Ex, I revisited the series, only to find that all was not well with the series’ last big installment.

Whenever I pick a game to write about, I return and replay it at length, making mental notes about what I like and what I don’t, what works and what doesn’t. I find some sort of controlling idea, some single concept that the game does really well. I like to experiment and try to break my theory, and, if it holds up, I write about it. The weird thing is, the more I dive back into Human Revolution, the less sure I become that this game I love is actually a great game at all.

Sunday - March 15, 2015

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Graphics Study

by Couchpotato, 03:35

Adrian Courreges did a study of the graphics for Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

The original Deus Ex is among the most critically acclaimed PC games of its time and I spent countless hours helping JC Denton fend off the conspiracies of UNATCO or the Illuminati.

I never had the chance to play the second opus “Invisible War”, but I gave a shot to “Human Revolution” when it was released. All I can say is: it lived up to the expectations!

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a game released in 2011 by Square Enix, and developed by Eidos Montréal and Nixxes for the PC version. It uses a modified version of the Crystal engine made by Crystal Dynamics and was one of the earliest games to support DirectX 11.

It featured great graphics at the time (still looks good!), and it was as beautiful as light-weight: even low-budget video cards could run the game smoothly.

I was curious about the rendering process, so I spent a few hours reverse-engineering the game, playing with Renderdoc. Here are the results of my investigation.

Sunday - March 01, 2015

DX:HR - Level Design Philoshophy #2

by Couchpotato, 05:21

Eidos Montreal posted the second part of the Level Design Philosophy this week for Deus Ex: Human Revolution with Lead Level Designer René-Martin Pauzé.

CYBERPUNK

We took considerable time to analyze and understand the cyberpunk theme, which would heavily influence the level layout creation and mission structure.

This theme is set in the near-future and heavily focuses on high technology and dystopian society. The locations characterizing this theme are generally based on:

 High Technology Environments :

  • Multinational corporations HQ
  • Scientific Laboratories
  •  Secret Compounds

Dystopian Environments :

  • Urban environments (Rooftop, Street, Alley, etc.)
  • Underground environments (Sewers, Catacombs, etc.)
  • Industrial Complex

 

Monday - February 23, 2015

DX:HR Dev Vault - Level Design Philoshophy

by Couchpotato, 04:50

Eidos Montreal has a post on their website from Lead Level Designer René-Martin Pauzé who talks about his Level Design Philoshophy for Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

Hello everyone! I'm René-Martin Pauzé, and my role on Deus Ex: Human Revolution as Lead Level Designer was to create guidelines and rules to help the level team to create the layouts and challenges.

With the help of Francois McCann (Senior Level Designer) who was responsible of the first production level (Detroit City), we want to give you some insight into the level design philosophy behind Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

Thursday - September 11, 2014

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Backlog Review

by Couchpotato, 02:40

Christopher of Endless Backlog finally had the chance to play Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and finally share his thoughts in a new review he posted on the site.

Player choice is what makes Deus Ex: Human Revolution fun. The removal of that choice is what brings the experience to a grinding halt. I will likely replay the entire game with different augmentations and pick different outcomes for the side missions just to see what happens, but I will dread those static boss battles with every fiber of my being. Maybe they’ll be easier with a more shooter-centric build. See, that’s the joy of Human Revolution: The game is your own to toy with.

Friday - May 30, 2014

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Scene Selection

by Couchpotato, 01:28

ViiTCHA has a new video series about the significance of environmental storytelling , and atmosphere in games. They chose Adam Jensen’s apartment as the first example.

This week we look at the atmosphere behind Adam Jensen's apartment and what we learn about his troubled life. Taken from: Deus Ex Human Revolution.

Wednesday - October 02, 2013

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Interview @ GameReactor

by Couchpotato, 00:54

GameReactor interviews Lead Game Designer Emile Pedneault from Eidos Montreal to discuss Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and the upcoming Director's Cut.

Tuesday - September 10, 2013

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Retrospective @ TheSixthAxis

by Couchpotato, 00:28

TheSixthAxis has a new retrospective for Deus Ex: Human Revolution with the topic of, "Will humanity ever be ready for bionics?"

The science of bionics is one that is growing and one that has a lot of potential, especially for medical purposes. Bionic arms, bionic legs , and even bionic eyes are being researched and tested so they can eventually help those with serious injuries or disabilities. It’s a very interesting field of research, but it’s incredibly far from having bionic augmentations installed on a mass scale for such reasons, let alone aesthetic reasons.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution uses the surge in bionic technology as a backdrop to the rise of groups trying to control the population and events surrounding the world. We see this world through the eyes of Adam Jensen, a security manager for Sarif Industries. Sarif is one of the world’s leading bionic companies and are trialling a way to help people with these augmentations to use them without a drug called Neuropozyne, which stops the body from rejecting the machinery. In a sense Sarif are offering a true freedom for people with bionics, allowing them to live their lives without having to pay for expensive pills.

Within Deus Ex: Human Revolution you see a society where bionics have advanced far past their original medical purposes, and instead see them become more of a fashion statement for people to show off their status. Darrow has watched as people become, in a way, superhuman leading to a massive divide between those who can’t afford major augmentations and those who can. If the divide is allowed to get bigger then it would be likely that society would have those with bionics running things, controlling things, and those who don’t become a new servant or even slave class.

Wednesday - August 21, 2013

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Retrospective @ Low Fat Gaming

by Couchpotato, 00:41

 Low Fat Gaming has posted a new retrospective for Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

What does it mean to be human? What is the price we pay for supposed evolution? Deus Ex: Human Revolution is not afraid to tackle some seriously heavy themes. Do you know when hippies are exposed to something they deem eye-opening they say: “woah man”? That was basically me at every turn. The writers efficaciously wrap up these engrossing themes in systems of sophisticated characterisation. It is clear that for the get-go Eidos had a strong focus on developing characters, not costumes. What is this bloke’s plan? Why did he say that?

Friday - August 02, 2013

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Director’s Cut Interview

by Couchpotato, 00:49

Eidos Montreal has posted a new community interview with Émile Pedneault discussing  his bio,and talking about the Director’s Cut version of Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

The improved boss fights are something fans are really excited about for the Director’s Cut. Can you give us some insight into your process as you worked to improve the design of the new boss fights?

This one, my friends, was a challenge! I’d guess that half my time on the project was devoted solely to the boss fights. It went a bit like this:

First, I took feedback on the original boss fights that the core DXHR design team had gathered and deeply analysed.

Then, I created brand new mock-ups of each map in 3D for each boss fight area to help me test my work. I wanted to take particular care to give more space for players in the boss fight areas to provide opportunities to flee, or give secret areas, cover etc. I also had to give special thought to the AI of each individual boss and consider how their behaviour and my designs could work together. This was a pretty huge task on its own.

Once I’d nailed down a good feel for each map, I moved on to exploring different original ways to deal with each boss for players who wanted to avoid all-out gunfights. This is much easier said than done when you start to take into consideration all the different possibilities of augmentation builds a player might have. Every time a boss fight occurs in the game, it was imperative that players of every play style have options to suit them.

Once I’d found cool new ways to handle the boss fights, it was time to tweak the AI. This was needed before we could move on to the playtesting, feedback and iteration phase of the game, something that was especially fun as we found some really sweet ideas that work really well!

Looking back, it’s hard to imagine the amount of time spent researching, thinking, trying, failing and then analysing every idea... Balance is so important, you don’t want to overlook an augmentation build that could make the fight super easy or impossibly hard. But it was also a really rewarding experience and I’m really proud of the new boss fights.

Wednesday - June 12, 2013

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Directors Cut Will be Released on 360, PS3, and PC

by Couchpotato, 00:16

According to GameSpot the Director's Cut version of Deus Ex: Human Revolution will be heading to platforms other than the Wii U. That's right, the game is now appearing on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, and Mac platforms. So everything basically.

Square Enix has confirmed to GameSpot that the upcoming Director's Cut for Deus Ex: Human Revolution will be coming to the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC alongside the previously announced Wii U version.

Eidos Montreal's Jean Francois Dugas revealed that the Director's Cut was going multiplatform on GameSpot's E3 2013 Live Show.

No additional information was given, nor did Square Enix confirm whether the Director's Cut would be released separately as DLC for current owners of Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

The Director's Cut for Deus Ex: Human Revolution includes the Tong's Rescue mission and Missing Link downloadable content, alongside "overhauled" boss battles, "redefined" game balance and combat, "improved" artificial intelligence, and updated graphics.

 

Friday - March 08, 2013

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - David Anfossi Interview @ RPS

by Aries100, 22:47

David Anfossi, excutive producer at Eidos Montreal has been interviewed by RPS.
In the interview he talks about his visions to develop stories across all media, be it games, books, movies and tv series - and much much more. Here's Anfossi's take on cross-media
in the DX franchise:

"I think for games based on a "complex" story and addressing [many] themes, a dramatic evolution of the characters deserve more than two hours..." he says. "For example, the world of DXHR could easily give birth to a TV series of 12 episodes that would fully support the points mentioned and allow viewers to have a complete and satisfying experience. It would be, in my opinion, the best way to share the world we created. Maybe one day."

For Deus Ex:Human Revolution, Eidos Montreal had

the chance to come into contact with members of the original team (eg to check the consistency of the DXHR story versus the established universe). This is a very important step in my opinion. These are important factors that began the design of the game itself. Without this information, the team would have gone completely "off" the DX universe. It should be the same for the teams in charge of adapting a game to the big screen and nothing less. The success of an adaptation/remake/sequel is directly linked to the homework you did before starting the conception of the specific elements of the film. We did our homework and we were able to identify the good - and less good - aspects of the first two games. Then we could frame our design and concentrate our energy on the right places. It's all about preparation."

Source: GameBanshee

Friday - January 18, 2013

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Composer Michael McCann Video Interview @ MSNBC

by Aries100, 22:59

In a 3,5 minute video interview MSNBC has talked to the Michael McCann, composer for this game. They talk to him about why he loves to do scores for video games,  how he decided which music should use for each one of the locations in the game, how the design process were like when he scored the theme song for this game as well the reaction fans have had to the game's soundtrack, and much much more.

Source: GameBanshee

Tuesday - July 10, 2012

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Headed to the movies

by Dhruin, 23:50

crpgnut sends word the Deus Ex series is headed to the movies:

CBS Films announced in a press release Tuesday that it had secured the film rights to the "Deus Ex" franchise, which currently includes three action-role-playing games: "Deus Ex," "Deus Ex: Invisible War" and "Deus Ex: Human Revolution."

CBS Films says last year's highly reviewed "Deus Ex: Human Revolution" game will serve as "the primary template" for the film. Certainly the game seems like great Hollywood material — what with its futuristic "Blade Runner"-esque setting and its tense, conspiracy-laden story. 

Friday - May 04, 2012

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Interview @ The Critical Bit

by Dhruin, 23:05

William sends in this interview with Deus Ex: Human Revolution's Art Director Jonathan Jacques-Belletête on how art direction can have a tangible impact on gameplay:

One of my favorite parts of Deus Ex: Human Revolution was the abundance of visual storytelling. There were many locations which conveyed a lot of narrative information through objects. Adam Jensen’s apartment is a good example – You can find out a lot about that character by exploring his home. Tell us about how you design art assets that can tell a story.

A lot of it has to do with the original brief for a location. For Adam’s apartment, right from the get go I called it “The Adam Jensen Museum”. Right there, it gives a very clear idea to the team about the visual narrative purpose of the location. It needed to be a place where just by walking around, looking at things (even some pretty small details), you would learn a lot about Adam; about his life (past and present), his likes and dislikes, his current state of mind, and so on. We spent a tremendous amount of time working on, thinking about, and designing these scenes throughout the game. It’s what we call the “show, don’t tell” principle. Here again, my belief is that few game developers fully understand this concept. Video game visuals are so much more than texture size, shader tech, polycount, and dynamic lighting. But hey, that’s my theory.

Wednesday - April 11, 2012

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - The Management Style Behind DX:HR's Success

by Dhruin, 00:52

Gamasutra has an interview with Stéphane D'Astous, the general manager of Eidos Montreal, discusssing the management style in use at the studio. Here's a sample:

Mary DeMarle gave a speech at GDC Online about the writing of Deus Ex, saying that everyone on the team, at some point in the game, was brought into the story process. So even if they're making props, they could understand the overarching goal of what the team was making, and get context and thus understand, and appreciate, what they were doing.

I think with big teams, people can lose sight of what they're actually making. You get bogged down on one piece. From that, big games can feel really piecemeal. You can see the divisions between things.

SD: Yeah, totally. I'm playing a couple of games, and I said, "Oh, this is a different game level designer that did this, because there's a big seam, somewhere." And with smaller games, you need to have more multitasking people. They need to touch more, because you don't have super-specialists that just do certain tasks.

They like to not do just one single thing during three years. I think we're trying to put into place the better conditions for craftsmanship, because the games that I personally enjoy, I see the quality of how they assemble all this together, and -- for me, anyway -- that's something, really, that distinguishes yourself between a regular product, and a great product. And smaller teams are better positioned to do that.

Spotted by Zohaib.

Thursday - April 05, 2012

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Ultimate Edition for Mac

by Dhruin, 00:30

Deus Ex: HR Ultimate Edition has been announced for Mac:

Deus Ex: Human Revolution TM - Ultimate Edition Take the Next Step on April 26th

Feral Interactive today confirmed that first-person role-playing game Deus Ex: Human RevolutionTM - Ultimate Edition will be released for the Mac on Thursday, April 26th. Developed by Eidos Montreal and published by Square Enix for games consoles and PC, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a prequel to the legendary Deus Ex (2000).


The Mac release of Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Ultimate Edition will be a complete version of the game, containing the Explosive Mission and Tactical Enhancement packs and The Missing Link DLC. 

“This is the next step in Mac gaming,” said David Stephen, Managing Director of Feral Interactive.

Wednesday - December 21, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Thoughts @ Twenty Sided

by Dhruin, 23:37

Twenty Sided's Shamus Young thinks about Deus Ex: Human Revolution, struggling to decide how to assess the game:

Months later, I still don’t know how to judge the game. Is it a masterful and cunning improvement on modern shooters, or a short, dumbed-down bastardization of its predecessor? It’s kind of both.

I will give the game credit for this: The story worked. This should not be praise. This should be the most basic, obvious accomplishment that a game can achieve. This should be like saying of a restaurant, “The food was cooked.” But as Fallout 3, Assassin’s Creed 2, and Fable 2, and many other games have shown, game designers can’t seem to keep even the most simple plots from falling apart into contradictory nonsense, and they can’t devise characters with any sort of coherent motivation. Yes, there were parts of Human Revolution I could nitpick. (And the boss characters were unforgivably horrible.) But on balance the writers managed to create a world that was both complicated (by videogame standards) and sensible. There were many sides to the conflict, they each had a unique viewpoint, and none of them were mustache-twirling “EVUL FOR TEH LULZ!” (Again, aside from the Boss Villains. I make no excuse for them. They were just shameful, and felt like they were grafted in from a much dumber game. The point is, the factions made sense and had interesting things to say.) 

Wednesday - November 02, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - On Boss Fights and Earnings

by Dhruin, 21:04

A couple of minor items for Deus Ex: Human Revolution, with producer David Anfossi admitting they knew the boss fights would be a "weakness". We've heard it before, of course, but it seems development was difficult. From Edge:

"We knew that it would be a weakness for the game, that we had to make a compromise to deliver it [on] two levels. First, the boss fights were forced, which is not the Deus Ex experience. Second, there is no mix [of] solutions to tackle the boss fights, which is not Deus Ex either.

"We knew that before the release of the game, but there had to be some compromise. It [was] our decision."

If that gives the impression of a difficult project, what follows rather rams the point home. "It has been a nightmare, to be honest," Anfossi said. "We started from scratch. From recruitment to release date, it's been a nightmare."

Still, the result has been good with Gamasutra reporting Square Enix' sales financial forecasts have been lifted because of the success:

Square Enix has revised its financial forecast for the first half of the current fiscal year, more than doubling its originally estimated profits.

The publisher put this alteration down to the success of recently-released Deus Ex: Human Revolution, as well as increased revenue from web content.

Friday - October 28, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Soundtrack Nov 15th

by Dhruin, 23:23

Eidos will be releasing the Deus Ex: HR soundtrack on November 15th, according to the press release at Joystiq:

EIDOS-MONTREAL PARTNERS WITH
SUMTHING ELSE MUSIC WORKS TO RELEASE
DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK

Official Soundtrack Album Available on CD and Digital Download November 15th
New York - October 27th, 2011 - Sumthing Else Music Works, the premier label dedicated to licensing and distributing video game soundtracks, today announced that it has entered into a licensing agreement with Square Enix Ltd., parent company of Eidos-Montreal, the developers of the blockbuster video game Deus Ex: Human Revolution™, to release the critically acclaimed original music score from the game. The Deus Ex: Human Revolution Original Soundtrack CD is scheduled for worldwide release on November 15th, 2011 to retail outlets through Sumthing Else Music Works www.sumthing.com, and for digital download at www.sumthingdigital.com, Amazon MP3, iTunes® and other digital music sites.

Wednesday - October 26, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Missing Link Audio Interview @ Major Nelson

by Aries100, 18:20

The latest podcast from Xbox Live's Major Nelson has an interview with Antoine Tisdale from Eidos Montreal. They talk about the Missing Link DLC. It can be listened to or downloaded from here. 

Source: GameBanshee

Tuesday - October 25, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Review @ HardwareHeaven

by Dhruin, 23:20

85/100 is the score for The Missing Link at HardwareHeaven, despite saying the DLC feels like a "deleted scene":

In short, The Missing Link spends a great deal of time going over the same game area and reinforcing the conspiracy theory plot. Having said that The Missing Link is tense and exciting with a lot to like and interestingly notable aspect is the boss fight. It gel's much better into the plot and setup than any of those found in the main game and allows the player to take down the final big bad in a variety of ways that best suit the players style.

Source: Blues News

Saturday - October 22, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - The Missing Link Walkthrough @ GB

by Dhruin, 12:54

GameBanshee sends word they have a walkthrough and database for The Missing Link:

It's been a very busy week of churning out content here at GameBanshee, with the latest batch being a fully annotated walkthrough and equipment database additions for Deus Ex: Human Revolution's The Missing Link DLC. We've even updated our achievements page, in case you're hoping to track down all ten of the newly added ones. 

Friday - October 21, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Review @ AtomicGamer

by Dhruin, 22:20

AtomicGamer doesn't think The Missing Link is great value, given the $15 price tag but the score is still reasonable at 7/10:

I have had a ton of fun with the DLC for Borderlands and the Bethesda-published Fallout games, and I consider the value of these $10 packs to be the current gold standard for video game DLC. It's not just that they don't feel like they were "held back" in the original game to be sold separately (and The Missing Link is not guilty of that either), but it's that ten bucks gets you six to ten hours of fun, and then you can take the things you earned back into the original game. It probably helps that those games have more of an open-world design and Human Revolution does not, but I can't help but be disappointed that The Missing Link does not connect to the original game except with a few "oh, that's mildly interesting"-type plot points. For a DLC pack that only works in a stand-alone fashion and costs a rather hefty $15 for a few hours of adventure, I think Square Enix and Eidos Montreal are pushing it just a tad too far, and they're going to lose at least a few sales as a result. I can recommend that you pick up The Missing Link if you really, really want to spend more time with Adam Jensen, but know that it's not a particularly good DLC add-on - especially for fifteen bucks.

Source: Blues News

Wednesday - October 19, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Patched

by Dhruin, 22:16

Deus Ex: Human Revolution was patched along side the release of The Missing Link. Here are the notes from Steam:

- A fix for some players that get stuck on an infinity loading screen in Detroit.
- Fixes for some issues that caused crashes for players using specific firewall or proxy software.
- Additional improvements to counter stuttering in the game.
- Support for Eyefinity in combination with 3D when using interleaved stereoscopic monitors.
- Support for additional brands of stereoscopic interleaved monitors when using AMD graphics hardware.
- Support for Nvidia 3DVision.
- Support for Nvidia Surround, also in combination with 3DVision.
- Improved control over the stereo-3D display in the game.
o The allowed range for the stereo 3D Strength setting has been increased.
o A Stereo 3D Plane setting was added to provide additional control over the 3D effect.
- Various performance improvements.
- Fix for ‘moire’ issues seen on billboards in DX11 mode.
- Some changes to try to counter specific driver issues causing crashes in DX11 mode.

Tuesday - October 18, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - The Missing Link Reviews

by Dhruin, 23:05

With The Missing Link now released, here are a couple of new reviews. First, CVG likes the fact that this is a "standalone adventure", and awards a score of 8/10:

Accessible straight from the main menu, the Missing Link has enough to do with the events of Human Revolution to be worth the attention of backstory-mongers, but those who've only dipped a toe in the wider plot should find it perfectly digestible.

At five or six hours in length (your mileage will surely vary), the pack's a fully fleshed-out miniature campaign. There's a new villain to rock the socks off, a handful of bystanders to shoot the breeze with (our favourite's the so-typecast-it's-brilliant Irish weapons merchant), a fancy rocket launcher to assemble, a smattering of Big Decisions to make and a stack of guards, turrets and robots to shoot at, KO, stab, hide, gas, electrify, flat-out confuse or avoid entirely.

IGN also goes for 8/10, praising the story and new approach to the boss battle, although the criticise cramped, repetitive environments:

It’s great to have an opportunity to revisit Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and The Missing Link is a substantial, tense and exciting piece of downloadable content that’s far more than just filler. It presents a stiff challenge and a great sub-plot alongside the opportunity to experiment with a different playstyle, branching out from what you may have done before. The repetition and the rather light runtime prevent it from being an essential purchase, but there’s still a lot to love here, especially for experienced players.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - The Missing Link Released

by Dhruin, 22:58

The first story-based DLC for Deus Ex: Human Revolution, The Missing Link, has been released. PC players will need to grab the DLC from Steam, for $14.99.

Steam is also offering a 25% discount on the base game, until the 21st.

Friday - October 14, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - The Missing Link Review Roundup

by Dhruin, 23:43

Reviews for The Missing Link are already popping up, so here's a handful of them.

GameBanshee praises The Missing Link as being more "confident" than the base game, finding the story and level design a notch higher:

On top of that, the level design in The Missing Link far outclasses that of Human Revolution's. While there aren't any absolutely massive and open environments to explore, and the initial section aboard the cargo ship is a bit on the linear side, the offshore platform is thoroughly entertaining to explore, featuring multiple levels, a good balance between large open spaces, corridors, and offices to sort through. Considering that you'll find yourself poorly-armed and scrounging both for new Praxis Kits to regain your augmentations, as well as ammo and weapons to fight the heavy odds, exploration also feels much more crucial, and I never found myself with "too many" supplies or a lack of opportunities to use them.

The tactical choices the levels provide are also a bit more nuanced than anything in Human Revolution's original campaign, with the obvious "stealth path, combat path, social path" setup many levels revolved around being all but gone. Instead, environments feel less "gamey", with the gameplay agnostic to various approaches, while still permitting all of them. Consequently, the choices you make in progressing are more significant. Unlike Human Revolution, I was far more tempted to vary my play-style with the different opportunities available, rather than simply adhering to the framework the designers had laid down for me. In short, it's much more confident and in line with the strengths of the original Deus Ex, trusting the player to make the calls rather than dictating them from a design document.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun has a short but measured piece. Jim Rossignol says he "couldn’t help enjoying it, of course, because it’s more DXHR" but that sounds a bit begrudging to me:

And yes, I really do mean business as usual. The Missing Link doesn’t really add anything to the palette, although it does incrementally challenge the visual palette a bit by simply not being quite so gold. It’s a bit more grey, instead. Nevertheless there’s tonnes of content, from the conversations being had by guards to the heaps of incidental info in emails, ebooks and other items scattered around the maps. If there’s a disappointment with any of this it’s that some of the dialogue is a bit weak, and the voice acting that delivers it weaker still. Not consistently, but some of it made me go “hmm” when I heard it the first time, and then “erk” later on when I heard it again.

Joystiq is very positive, apart from the $15 price:

Going through Deus Ex's growth arc at super speed (well, it's still five to six hours long) makes your choices feel more important and immediate, even if it's done without the thrust of a huge campaign. And the payoff is worth it. This time, you're able to tackle the boss exactly how you want, even if by "tackle" you mean "stab to death with sword arms." The Missing Link does, however, still favor stealth and hacking above other disciplines, which occasionally sends shooters to lame "solutions" like finding a cache of passwords lying on the floor.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - The Missing Link doesn't feel essential, but it's substantial and clearly representative of the main game's strengths. Oh, and if you thought one of those strengths was being like Metal Gear Solid, well, here you have DLC that partially takes place on a rocking, rain-soaked ship.

...and Eurogamer is tiring of the formula, calling The Missing Link "competent" but "linear" and "rountine, uninspired" (6/10):

But the dark, repetitive environments fail to inspire in the same way. On reflection, for all Human Revolution's interesting mechanics and immersive elements, the world which you are asked to pit your skills against can fail to match up to the tools in your hands. The range of ways to interact with environments is wide and deep, but the applications can sometimes feel a little limited, and this is never more evident than in The Missing Link.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - The Missing Link Price and Date

by Dhruin, 23:22

Blue's points out a post on the DX:HR Facebook page that announces a release date of next week and a price of $14.99 / 1200 point thingies for The Missing Link:

The Missing Link will be released on October 18th, 2011 on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC in North America! Will retail for 1200 MSP / $14.99. In Europe, it will be released on October 18th for Xbox 360 and PC, and October 19th for PS3, and priced at 1200 MSP / €11.25 (PS3) / €10.99 (PC).

There's also a Steam page for PC buyers.

Source: Blues News

Monday - October 10, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Walkthrough Trailer

Saturday - October 01, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - The Missing Link Interview @ Eurogamer

by Dhruin, 00:44

Eidos Montreal's Marce-Andre Dufort has been interviewed at Eurogamer to discuss the upcoming DLC, The Missing Link:

Eurogamer: What exactly are we getting with this DLC?

Marce-Andre Dufort: You will get some technical improvements. We reworked the post-process, shaders, lighting and stuff like that, since we weren't really happy with what we had on the core game. We worked a lot on that. It is about five hours long, give or take.

Thursday - September 29, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - DLC Item Packs

by Dhruin, 22:56

Two Deus Ex: HR item DLC packs have been released (not to be confused with the upcoming story/mission DLC). Here's a snip from the coverage at Rock, Paper, Shotgun:

First up, for £1.99, is the EXPLOSIVE mission pack, which contains more explosions and the Tong’s Rescue mission. Does that involve explosions too? I dread to think. To blow things up, Jensen can stick a grenade launcher and remote detonated explosives in his cavernous coat, or whichever cyber-cavity the kids are stashing their weaponry in these days.

Explosions are not for men such as myself though. I’m more a tactics man. They’ve got me covered with the £1.19 Tactical Enhancement pack, which provides a silenced sniper rifle. Yes, tactics. And there are close up tactics too in the form of a double barrelled shotgun. Remember when the Doom series made the tactical leap with the inclusion of one of those bad boys? Worryingly, this pack also gives Jensen an extra 10,000 credits, which sounds like it would break the game a little bit to me. Maybe he can tactically leave it on a park bench.

Both available from Steam, if you are interested.

Monday - September 26, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Walthrough & Item DB @ GB

by Dhruin, 22:42

GameBanshee sends word they have launched their Deus Ex: Human Revolution walkthrough and item database.

Sunday - September 25, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Mod Removes Gold Filter

by Skavenhorde, 17:09

If you are tired of gold tinted everything in Deus Ex: Human Revolution then have I got a mod for you. The guys over at ENBSeries have taken out the gold tint with this little mod. What a difference it makes.

There are a few catches to installing this mod. You need to own a Nvidia card and your framerate will take a hit. I haven't tried it out myself yet, but I imagine if you think your computer can handle it then give it a try.

Source PC GAMER.

Friday - September 23, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Interview, DLC Previews

by Dhruin, 22:45

I have a very early work gig today, so this will be a shorter news update than most. Rock, Paper, Shotgun has a post-release interview with Deus Ex: HR lead Jean-François Dugas, discussing their view now that the game has shipped, those boss battles and a little on the DLC:

RPS: Why do you think the boss battles didn’t work?

Dugas: When we started the goal was to have those boss fights with the same design and rules as the rest of the game. We had our pillars of stealth, of non-lethal actions, and everything else, and we wanted to make sure that was reflected in the bosses, but in the end it was not. It’s the place where people were surprised because they would equip themselves in a certain way and then they got their and everything they’d fought for disappeared. You have to change your mindset, which can be upsetting. I think the biggest weakness there wasn’t the concept of having boss fights, it’s just that our boss fights are not Deus Ex boss fights and that’s why people are complaining about them. I guess we live and learn.

Should we have cut them? It’s a decision we made, we said “well at least they will be entertaining in some fashion”. The biggest surprise, actually, was having released the game and finding that people thought they were frustrating. Not just that they weren’t that interesting, but that they were frustrating. The playtesters internally gave us a lot of good feedback for the game, and on the bosses they felt that the fights were entertaining and making you use what you had learned. They didn’t say they were frustrating. We knew it was not in step with the rest of the game, but the surprise for us was that the playtesting was correct everywhere but the bossfights. So lesson learned.

Moving on to The Missing Link, Bluesnews points out a walkthrough trailer and screens, as well as a number of previews on the 'net:

Here's a snip from the latter:

Towards the end of the DLC is a boss fight, which fans won't find as frustrating as those in the main game, Eidos Montreal told Eurogamer.

"We have a boss battle at the end, but it's different from the main game boss battles," producer of The Missing Link Marc-Andre Dufort said.

"You can actually not kill the boss. You can do a non lethal takedown on him. And you can kill him from afar. You can even kill him without him seeing you. It's more of a bigger challenge than a standard boss fight like we have in many games."

"Everything was done in Montreal at Eidos," he continued. "It's a lot less frustrating. But it depends on the way you play. If you played more combat in the main game, you probably didn't have any trouble dealing with the boss fights. So we allow the adaptation of the way you play for that particular boss fight."

Source: Blues News

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - New Patch

by Dhruin, 14:27

A new DX:HR patch, according to Steam News:

Unfortunately the recently released patch had a negative impact for some players. This patch is a hot-fix to address those issues.

- A specific issue that caused performance degradation for some DX9 players in the 1.2.630 patch has been fixed.
o We are still evaluating further measures to counter stuttering and plan to have a further update for this in another patch.
- Crashes when examining quest items have been fixed.
- Some issues related to switching between fullscreen and windowed mode have been fixed.
- Additional fixes have been made for the TYM medical card. The current fix should also allow users that already have the problem in their savegame to pick up the card again.
- ‘Russian’ text language option now shows up correctly regardless of current text language.
- An issue that may cause the game to have stability issues on certain RAID setups may have been addressed. Even with this patch, if you have a RAID setup, please ensure you have the latest drivers for your controller.

In addition to stuttering and performance problems we are continuing to investigate any other issues that players may have and will release a full new patch soon that also includes the previously mentioned 3DVision and Surround support.

Tuesday - September 20, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Boss Fights Were Outsourced

by Dhruin, 00:16

Here's a fascinating newsbit with a "Behind the Scenes" video originally from Facebook coming to light revealing the boss fights in Deus Ex: Human Revolution were outsourced. GRIP Entertainment President Paul Kruszewski reveals he is "a shooter guy" and didn't know much about the Deus Ex world. He goes on to say after speaking with other people he realised "this is a big franchise!" and describes testing the battles over and over ("this time we'll try with a shotgun and next time we'll go in with a machine gun").

Watch the interview at Rock, Paper, Shotgun.

Source: Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Saturday - September 17, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Patched

by Dhruin, 01:06

Deus Ex: HR has been patched via Steam with a number of fixes that address "stuttering" and improve performance. Notes here on Steam or you can also read them at Rock, Paper, Shotgun, who also talk about the Star Wars ad that you might have seen during loading and the rumours that more ads are coming (and, thankfully, a mod to remove them).

Thursday - September 15, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - The Missing Link Details @ Eidos Tumblr Blog

by Dhruin, 01:14

Eidos Montreal's Tumblr blog has answers to some questions about The Missing Link DLC, such as it will be paid content, wil start straight from the main menu rather than an in-game event:

Most of the tools at your disposal will be from the main game. We do encourage you, however to try different approaches. The Missing Link is about a fresh start for Adam. New augs, new weapons, new situation as the underdog. Since it is shorter than the main game, THIS is the time to experiment! Have fun… there’s only the weight of [REDACTED] on your shoulders!”

Source: Blues News

Monday - September 12, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Coming to Mac

by Dhruin, 22:53

Deus Ex: Human Revolution will be available for the Mac in Winter 2011/12:

Deus Ex: Human Revolution Coming to the Mac Winter 2011/12!

Feral Interactive has today announced that critically acclaimed Action-RPG video game Deus Ex: Human Revolution™ will be released for the Mac in winter 2011/12. Developed by Eidos-Montreal and published by Square Enix™ for game consoles and PC, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a prequel to the legendary Deus Ex™.

Saturday - September 10, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - 2M Shipped

by Dhruin, 01:07

Sqaure Enix announces 2 million copies of Deus Ex: Human Revolution have shipped. The pertinent part of the press release:

SQUARE ENIX ANNOUNCES DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION SHIPS TWO MILLION UNITS


London (September 09, 2011) – Square Enix Ltd., the publisher of SQUARE ENIX® interactive entertainment products, today announces the acclaimed DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION™ has shipped two million units in North America, Europe and PAL territories since launching in late August. DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION , which marks the first video game to be developed and released by Eidos-Montreal, a Square Enix studio, is available now for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, Windows PC platforms, Steam®, and OnLive®. The game will launch in Japan this October.

Friday - September 09, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - The Missing Link PR, Screens, Trailer

by Dhruin, 00:26

We already know about The Missing Link DLC but Square Enix has sent out a full press release:

SQUARE ENIX ANNOUNCES DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION THE MISSING LINK DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT

The Missing Link Available in October 2011

LOS ANGELES (September 8, 2011) – Square Enix, Inc., the publisher of SQUARE ENIX® interactive entertainment products in the Americas, today announces DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION™- The Missing Link downloadable content (DLC), which will be available in October 2011 for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, and Windows PC platforms via Steam®, OnLive® and other participating online retailers.

The DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION conspiracy grows deeper in The Missing Link. During lead character Adam Jensen’s quest for the truth in DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION, he mysteriously vanishes for three days. Where was he? What did he find out? The Missing Link reveals it all.

"We are very excited for DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION fans to be able to further develop Adam’s journey in the game with The Missing Link DLC," said David Anfossi, producer of DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION at Eidos-Montreal. "Gamers will be able to experience a vulnerable side of Adam like never before, which gives the overall game a whole new dimension. The Missing Link propels players into compelling gameplay, beginning with Adam being temporarily stripped of his use of augmentations; new, visually stunning environments; and the continuation of DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION’s conspiracy-rich story.”

After being tortured by Belltower agents and having his augmentations disabled, Adam Jensen must rely solely on his basic capabilities to escape from a freighter, destined for an unknown location. While fighting for his survival on the ship, he uncovers another layer to the conspiracy that he never would have suspected. As Adam, gamers will befriend new, mysterious allies and fight ruthless enemies to discover what was happening in the shadows during the events of DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION!

FEATURES:  

  • New layers of conspiracy unveiled
  • Sprawling new environments
  • Brand-new characters
  • Rebuild Adam’s augmentation set

For more information about DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION – The Missing Link visit www.deusex.com/themissinglink and join the human revolution at: http://www.facebook.com/DeusEx.

...and head over to Rock, Paper, Shotgun for the first trailer and screens.

Source: Blues News

Thursday - September 08, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Why Game Narratives Fail

by Dhruin, 00:55

IGN has an interesting piece that looks at the critical praise for Deus Ex: Human Revolution's story and questions that reality. Here's an excerpt after discussing some review snippets:

This is high praise indeed, especially coming from the very same people who so often bemoan the shoddy storytelling in today's games, where the best that players can usually hope for is that the cut-scenes won't induce actual groans. Like most readers of these breathless reviews, I was eager to pop Human Revolution into my console and experience this lauded story. After finishing the game, I have one important quibble with the avalanche of praise for Deus Ex's fiction, and I think it goes a long way toward explaining why video games typically have such unsatisfying narratives. That objection is this:

The sequence of events that takes place in Deus Ex: Human Revolution does not constitute a story. What it has is a plot, and the difference between those two, as a nerdy Mark Twain might say, is the difference between a lightning spell and the lightning bug.

Friday - September 02, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - The Missing Link DLC Announced

by Dhruin, 23:32

The Deus Ex site has announced The Missing Link DLC, due for October:

The Deus Ex: Human Revolution conspiracy grows deeper in The Missing Link. During Adam's quest for the truth in Deus Ex: Human Revolution, he mysteriously vanishes for three days. Where was he? What did he find out? The Missing Link reveals it all.

After being tortured by Belltower agents and having his augmentations disabled, Adam Jensen must rely solely on his basic capabilities to escape from a freighter, destined for an unknown location. While fighting for his survival on the ship, he uncovers another layer to the conspiracy that he never would have suspected. As Adam, befriend new, mysterious allies and fight ruthless enemies to discover what was happening in the shadows during the events of Deus Ex: Human Revolution!

-New layers of conspiracy unveiled
-Sprawling new environments
-Brand-new characters to interact with
-Rebuild Adam's augmentation set from scratch. Build up a brand new Adam!

What is The Missing Link? You'll find out soon...

Wednesday - August 31, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - DLC Hints?

by Dhruin, 22:54

If you've been playing DX:HR, you will have seen the scrolling note at the bottom of the game menu directing you to a special "message" at their website. That turned out to be a code-breaking excercise that I don't have the time for, but VG247 claims it's all about an upcoming DLC:

The DLC follows events of two days spent onboard a ship. The player is isolated from the support networks found in the core Human Revolution game, and must face events independent of comm advice.

While travelling, the player discovers the vessel is a floating prison of some kind, and that experiments are being carried out on the inmates. Environments include plenty of cells and a sentry tower.

It’s not clear whether the DLC is an event tied to Human Revolution’s plot, or part of the broader Deus Ex storyline – perhaps an episode from original protagonist JC Denton’s adventures, which would explain Eidos Montreal’s promotional build up.

Saturday - August 27, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - GameStop Compensates

by Dhruin, 00:52

GameStop has obviously realised the PR disaster they have created for themelves with DX:HR, so they have responded with a hefty free $50 gift card and buy-2-get-1-free-preowned offer for those affected. Here's their email, courtesy of Ting Taon who sent in this link at Beeping Computer:

Dear GameStop customer,

Earlier this week, GameStop removed a competitor's coupon from standard edition PC versions of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, a recent release by Square Enix. We were not aware that the product box would contain this competitor's offer. We regret the events surrounding this title release and that our customers were put in the middle of this issue between GameStop and Square Enix, the publisher of this game. And for this, we are truly sorry.

For your inconvenience, we would like to offer you a free $50 GameStop gift card and a Buy 2 Get 1 Free pre-owned purchase. We want to earn back your trust and confidence in the GameStop experience. Please bring in this email and your store receipt or order confirmation from GameStop.com and present it to a Game Advisor.

Sincerely,
Paul Raines
CEO, GameStop

Friday - August 26, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - News Roundup

by Dhruin, 00:30

Another handful of non-review items for Deus Ex:HR.

Tom's Hardware has a Performance Analysis for the tech heads.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun discusses Lethal vs Non-Lethal Approaches (mild spoilers):

It seems reasonable to argue that the finest achievement of the Deus Ex games is to offer some choice about how you handle combat situations. They are combat games, really, but since they are based around infiltration, rather than direct confrontation, there’s considerable scope for activities other than shooting men to death. Getting them to lie down and have a nap, via a range of persuasive implements, also becomes an option. The role-playing ramifications of that are pretty profound, especially when set against the backdrop of most of the games we play. You get to be the guy who doesn’t murder hapless goons (thus neatly sidestepping the “think of the Goon’s family” guilt-joke from Austin Powers) and instead drags their unconscious forms into airducts, traumatising them forever. We like that. It’s ethically okay and it’s gameologically refreshing. It’s also an interestingly different challenge.

DXHR pulls it off so well that John almost exploded when the non-murderous approach was forcible over-written by the bosses. Only the quick thinking of a nearby PC games journalist with a fire-extinguisher stopped the indignant Mr Walker from detonating into a crater where his desk should have been, and instead he was able to walk away, calm down, and vent his frustrations by attacking exploitative game distribution practices. I digress. The point is that DXHR, from the outset, is keen to offer a choice. You can take the tools of non-violent man-defeating into the game pretty much from the outset, and that remains mostly consistent throughout what is a huge, sprawling game.

Edge chats with Lead game designer Frank Lapikas about "making tough choices and getting players to stick to them":

How do you prevent players from wanting to restart when they make an error, or get spotted when playing stealthily? Did you encourage players to live with their decisions?
Well, the whole game was designed so that you had multiple choices at any one time. Even if you decide to go combat, through your choice of weapons and augs, there’s always a way for you to get out of dodge. You are never truly cornered without any means to get through the obstacle in front of you. That’s true for hacking, that’s true for stealth and social too. I’m not aware that we designed any system per se that would prevent players getting blocked - it’s built into the basic mechanics. The only exception would be the social boss-fights - if you lose one of those, it’s essentially over for you; you won’t be able to get what the character was offering.

IGN has 5 Easter Eggs  you don't want to miss.

Thursday - August 25, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - GameStop Removing OnLive Coupons and More

by Dhruin, 00:35

I'll collect a couple of non-review Deus Ex: HR tidbits here, including the sensational news that GameStop has been opening boxes and physically removing the free OnLive coupon in each box. Ars Technica has the news, including a copy of the email to employees from the GameStop Field Operations Manager:

We contacted Ivanoff on his business line and e-mail, and he refused to comment on the memo, instead asking us to take the issue up with public relations. GameStop spokesperson Beth Sharum confirmed the practice, telling Ars that "Square Enix packed the competitor’s coupon with our DXHR product without our prior knowledge and we did pull these coupons."

Thanks, jhwisner.

DX:HR was patched, quite possibly, before you played:

An issue was found that caused some users to be unable to start the game on specific machines. Specifically, the presence of older ATI/AMD drivers, also on machines with NVidia hardware, would cause the game to crash on startup. This patch is a hot-fix for that particular issue. On top of this, it also increases the number of save-slots from 20, like on the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions, to 99.

Joystiq points out a compilation video of the boss fights - I'd suggest this is very spoilery.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun's Alec Meer writes about his disconnect with the narrative - but how DX:HR still allows him to play the way he wants (spoilers for the early parts of the game):

Please note: this includes some small spoilers, but none of them relate to the game’s core plot.

I am not Adam Jensen, and Adam Jensen is not me. Our goals are not aligned.

This is not a complaint. This is exactly why Deus Ex: Human Revolution has been the mainstream game I’ve been most obsessed with this year. Jensen’s goals are these: to avenge his girlfriend and to serve his employer. These goals change over time, and most importantly become far bigger than such comparatively petty interests. They also don’t get in the way of my goals.

My goals are these: find everything, upgrade everything, read everything, buy everything, hack everything, don’t kill anyone. I am free to do them, and I did them compulsively for tens of hours. At the same time, I’m not terribly invested in why I’m doing these things, from the game narrative’s point of my view. I want to know how it all plays out, but being a dutiful employee and a dutiful boyfriend – those are Adam Jensen’s goals, not mine.

Wednesday - August 24, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Released in NA

by Dhruin, 00:30

We all know it's out but here's the official press release for the release of DX:HR in North America. Other regions have to wait a few days, as is often the case. One new thing is the retail version includes a free OnLive copy, theoretically allowing you to play it anywhere:

SQUARE ENIX ANNOUNCES CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION IS IN STORES NOW!

-The Human Revolution Begins in the Americas-

LOS ANGELES (August 23, 2011) – Square Enix, Inc., the publisher of SQUARE ENIX® interactive entertainment products in the Americas, today announces DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION™ is now available at retailers.

The return of one of the most revered video game franchises of all time, DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION is an action RPG that offers open-ended, hybrid gameplay. The game is playable today on the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, Windows PC platforms, Steam®, and OnLive®.

“With the release of DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION, Eidos-Montreal has reached a huge milestone in the development and delivery of our first game,” said Stephane D'Astous, general manager of Eidos-Montreal. “We could not be more proud of DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION and are incredibly excited for gamers to finally be able to experience this captivating story and unique, unparalleled gameplay.”

Already receiving critical acclaim, including a score of 94 out of 100 from PC Gamer magazine, DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION offers players multiple and vastly different ways to play. Challenging the foundations of gaming, this video game provides an immersive experience where every choice has a lasting consequence. DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION weaves a deeply emotive and captivating story, taking place in the year 2027 – a time of great innovation in neuroprosthetics, but also a time of chaos, conspiracy and a new social divide. Gamers play as Adam Jensen, a man cybernetically augmented against his own choice, who finds himself in the middle of a mysterious, global plot to which he holds the key.

KEY FEATURES

 

  • A legend reborn: DEUS EX® makes its much]anticipated return delivering players an unmatched gaming experience
  • Ultimate fusion of action and role-play: A unique combination of action-packed close-quarter takedowns and intense shooting, offering a vast array of augmentations and upgrades for the many weapons at your disposal
  • Multi-solution structure: Choose how to accomplish each mission using combat, hacking, stealth or social mode to create a customized experience to suit any gaming style.
  • Choice and consequence: Live in a reactive world in which a multitude of approaches, paths, and tools are at the player's disposal- each choice resulting in a consequence that affects the game dynamics and story
  • Diverse customization: Engage in combat and challenges, utilizing deep, specialized character augmentations and weapon upgrades
  • Unique visual design: Become immersed in a Cyber Renaissance setting that masterfully blends near future and Renaissance era styles
  • Explore the world: Traverse numerous locales across the globe – each with its own distinct art direction – in Adam’s search to uncover a worldwide conspiracy

DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION is available in standard and limited Augmented editions. The Augmented Edition features a bevy of content, including:

  • Exclusive bonus DVD featuring a 44-minute “making of” special, game soundtrack, motion-comic (adapted from DC's official series), the E3 trailer and animated storyboard
  • 40-page art book

Purchasers of the PC retail packaged version of DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION will be entitled to a free OnLive digital copy of the game giving them unprecedented freedom at an exceptional value. Owners of the game will be able to play not only on their home gaming PC, but also on nearly any PC or Mac® computer—as well as TVs with the OnLive Game System and, in the future, on iPad® and Android tablets—by simply signing in to the OnLive Game Service.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Review @ GameBanshee

by Dhruin, 00:19

GameBanshee has posted an extensive 4-page review of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. It appears a balanced article that, while ultimately very positive, does note a number of small issues. On some of the changes from the original:

The most obvious changes are those that have been made to the combat. In a thoughtful move, Human Revolution has been transformed into a pseudo-tactical shooter, at least as far as gunplay is concerned - and everyone knows that combat was one of the weakest aspects of Deus Ex, so the attempts to overhaul gunplay are welcome. The main way this has been accomplished is in the addition of a cover system - Jensen can duck behind cover, blind-fire over it, aim more precisely, roll from piece to piece, and so forth. Though my thoughts on cover-based shooters are generally less-than-amicable, in Human Revolution, it's handled with a degree of thoughtfulness that isn't always seen with this type of mechanic - using cover isn't an automatic "I win" button, and firing from behind it is generally extremely inaccurate, specially blind-firing. Next to other cover shooters it definitely feels a little bit on the clunky side (Gears of War this is not), but it certainly gets the job done. Thankfully, though, the cover system is never forced on you, and the game can be played as a straightforward first-person experience as well, so if you have a terminal hatred of such mechanics, you can simply ignore the feature and not miss out on anything - I rebound the cover key to some far-off region of my keyboard and never felt combat suffered for it.

On top of the cover system, and what significantly changes combat over the original Deus Ex, is the addition of a regenerating health system. A lot has been made of this, but in practice, I actually didn't find this to be too much of a problem. Once again, it's another design trend borrowed from more modern games, and surely it exists to appeal to fans of that trend, but, even on the normal difficulty, combat is challenging enough that a couple of stray bullets are enough to end Jensen's life, and the health regeneration itself takes quite a while to kick in, meaning that health-boosting items like painkillers still have a use when the going gets tough. Much of the resource management inherent in more traditional health systems has instead been shunted off to the energy that powers special abilities; limited numbers of energy-restoring items and a natural recharge of only a single energy unit ensure that even the most powerful of abilities don't become a crutch. While I suspect many fans will lament the loss of medkits and the need to heal individual body parts, nothing about the game's design led me to feel such an old-school option would have significantly improved the game, despite that I'm generally a proponent of medkits over regenerating health. In other words, yes, there's regenerating health, but it doesn't turn the game into Call of Duty, or even Mass Effect 2.

Monday - August 22, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Review Avalanche

by Dhruin, 23:15

The Deus Ex: Human Revolution review embargo has been lifted a day or so before the release and reviews are up everywhere. Here's a collection courtesy of Blue's and our own wandering - the lowest score we've seen is 8/10 and most are in the 9s, so it looks like his will be a hit.

Eurogamer - 9/10:

The systems that underpin everything are all great. Dialogue and interrogation are like boxing, full of ducks and weaves and - if you buy the right augment - vital signs and physiological tells upon which you win or lose exchanges. Stealth is based on line of sight and the cover system is perfect, allowing you to hide and move with confidence in every situation. Direct combat is brutal and difficult, but once you think beyond the assault rifle and start mixing it up with various kinds of explosives and projectiles, you can really master your environment.

Hacking is my favourite, though. There are computers, door panels and security systems all over the world to break into using a mini-game where you have to take over nodes one by one without being noticed. If you are, then it's a race against time, or you can pull out and try again using viruses and augmentations to try to remain undetected. Most hacks yield bonus cash and tools if you probe the right regions, too. It's always about risk versus reward rather than just puzzle-solving.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun - no score but they obviously liked it despite some minor foibles:

What you have here is a compellingly entertaining game, with some of the most rewarding stealth I’ve encountered. And most of all, you have choice. Choice about whether you mow down enemies with a machine gun, or tap them on the shoulders and punch them in the face. Choice about whether you sneak in via the roof, through the sewers, or march boldly in through the front door. Choice about whether you hack, smash or learn passwords through information retrieval. Choice about whether people live or die. So in those tiny moments when the game robs you of choice, it rather offends. But mostly it does not, and it’s a fantastic, elaborate, and so rarely today, long game.

Sunday - August 21, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Steam Preloading

by Dhruin, 00:22

If you haven't already preloaded DX:HR for your Steam preorder, get started!

Thursday - August 18, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - PC Impressions @ Ars Technica

by Dhruin, 23:18

Ars Technica has some short hands-on impressions of the PC version of DX:HR, unlike most articles. A sample:

In practice, the game looks great, and is a large step up from its console counterpart if you have the system supporting these DirectX 11 bells and whistles. With so much time spent taking in the details of the game world and with an emphasis on finding secrets and exploring every nook and cranny, the added clarity and sharpness that the high resolution and extensive anti-aliasing options bring to the game are welcome.

The controls are also impressive, with every menu and in-game option usable with the mouse. The hacking minigame benefits from the speed and precision that a mouse brings, and the ability to use your keyboard to type in codes and passwords is better than directing a cursor around the game's virtual keyboards. The controls are fully customizable, and just in case you prefer a gamepad, that's supported as well.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - No Region Lock, More Languages for DL

by Gorath, 20:01

GamersGlobal.de reports that publisher eidos reconsidered their decision to region lock the PC Deus Ex: Human Revolution to prevent price arbitrage. All PC retail copies from UK, Europe, AUS and the US are not region locked, so they can be activated everywhere.

Additional languages can be installed on activated games. This may require a language pack download.

Wednesday - August 17, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Preview Updates

by Aries100, 19:33

Some new info for this game has been released. First up is a TV Commercial (found via Youtube) with the following Darwin quote: "It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent...  it is the one that is the most adaptable to change."

Following that we have an interview at Discover Magazine with Lead Writer Mary DeMarle about augmentation, enhancement and ethics. A quote about how they approached this:

Q: How did you approach the topic of augmentation? What were your thoughts about cyborgs and human engineering before you began your research?

A: As soon as I knew we wanted to center the game around the concept of human augmentation and where advancements in neuroprosthetics might take Mankind, I knew I needed to do a lot of research. I started with a book entitled, “Radical Evolution” by Joel Garreaux. It was a great introduction not only to the subject of human engineering, but also to the various theories and arguments for and against it. After that, I split my research efforts in two, spending some of my time reading up on the technological advancements, and some of my time reading up on the philosophical debate. I have to admit that, before starting all this research, I had tended to think of cyborgs and human engineering as the stuff of Science Fiction — something I love to read and immerse myself in conceptually, but not something I might actually see in this reality.

Lastly, Frank Lapikas has answered questions from fans at the official Deus Ex Human Revolution Tumblr site. A few excerpts:

Slato asks this question:

Did your opinion on DX:IW change through development? It seems most of the fan community hated it. Did you incorporate any ideas at least in part inspired by Invisible War? Or was it entirely ignored?

Frank answers:

My personal opinion of it did not change, no. Have I played it? Yes. Through the end. I’m glad to finally have this question. We’ve tiptoed quite a lot around the issue of Invisible War, but we’ve never fully answered people who wanted to know how much of it we actually used as inspiration. I shall do this here and now. My aim is not to start a flame war. But if we’re to peel back the curtain on how this game was designed, I want to be truthful. And the truth about Invisible War is that I personally did not get as much enjoyment out of it as I did the original Deus Ex. Looking at Invisible War was a cautionary tale. The game showed us how some apparently simple design decisions such as universal ammo could alter the essence of what Deus Ex is. When you look at IW, all the staples are there: the future, augs, weapons, a conspiracy, dialogs, stealth, side quests, etc. Yet it doesn’t feel quiteright. It made us realize that it would be very easy for us to screw up Human Revolution. We had a fine line to thread after all. So in essence we used IW and compared it to DX1 in order to operate a “course correction”; which means we reverted most decisions in IW  in favor of what DX1 had done. From my knowledge (and sometimes defective memory), there is nothing in Human Revolution that comes from invisible War alone. Doesn’t mean Invisible War was a bad game.But it’s not the game we were trying to live up to. 

And here's a question about how the stealth system works: 

Willitblend asks:
Would the stealth system differ from the previous games, and if so, how?

Frank answers:

Yes it does. Our main complaint with DX1’s stealth was the lack of feedback. We personally found it hard to know when we were hidden and when we weren’t. To the point of frustration sometimes. (yeah yeah, I’m criticizing DX1. But bear with me…)That’s why we decided to go with a detection system based on line-of-sight, rather than light and shadows. To us it felt easier to read, especially when combined with a cover system. We read on the forums that some people felt we were dumbing down and consolizing the game. Our perspective was that we were actually empowering players, by giving them better information and better tools to use stealth. You be the judge.

Source: GameBanshee

Saturday - August 13, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Comments on Invisible War

by Dhruin, 01:01

An Eidos Montreal Tumblr post from "Frank" (game designer Frank Lapikas?) addresses the team's view of Invisible War as they set out to develop Human Revolution:

My personal opinion of it did not change, no.

Have I played it? Yes. Through the end.

I’m glad to finally have this question.

We’ve tiptoed quite a lot around the issue of Invisible War, but we’ve never fully answered people who wanted to know how much of it we actually used as inspiration.

I shall do this here and now.

My aim is not to start a flame war. But if we’re to peel back the curtain on how this game was designed, I want to be truthful.

And the truth about Invisible War is that I personally did not get as much enjoyment out of it as I did the original Deus Ex.

Looking at Invisible War was a cautionary tale. The game showed us how some apparently simple design decisions such as universal ammo could alter the essence of what Deus Ex is.

When you look at IW, all the staples are there: the future, augs, weapons, a conspiracy, dialogs, stealth, side quests, etc. Yet it doesn’t feel quiteright.

It made us realize that it would be very easy for us to screw up Human Revolution. We had a fine line to thread after all.

So in essence we used IW and compared it to DX1 in order to operate a “course correction”; which means we reverted most decisions in IW  in favor of what DX1 had done.

From my knowledge (and sometimes defective memory), there is nothing in Human Revolution that comes from invisible War alone.

Doesn’t mean Invisible War was a bad game.

But it’s not the game we were trying to live up to. 

Source: Blues News

Thursday - August 11, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - A Day At Eidos @ Worthplaying

by Dhruin, 23:23

Worthplaying has short-hand notes from a day at Eidos playing Deus Ex: HR.

One of the first things they told us is that they wanted to ensure that stealth players were rewarded since it takes a lot of work to stay hidden versus just powering your way through with a gun. If you are a total ghost, you will get more experience.

If you are not noticed, the NC patrols stay relaxed. They are easier to avoid. Once you are detected, the AI gets suspicious and aggressive. They will call alarms so other people can come out to find you. Alarms stay in the local area.

Stealth gameplay and combat are both based on the cover system. They do not rely on shadows; instead, it is all about line of sight. Each level has a stealth path, with cover.

One thing that was particularly difficult when creating a level in Human Revolution was the simple fact that the developers had no idea which augments a given player would have unlocked at that point. They had to make sure that there was a path through no matter what. In fact, they said one of the requirements was that you be able to play through the entire game without enabling any augmentations. It's much more difficult to do so, but it is possible.

Tuesday - August 09, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Social Trailer

by Dhruin, 12:55

Yet another Deus Ex: HR video, with Square Eidos releasing a "Social" trailer. Here's the description from VG247:

Square Eidos has released a new trailer for Deus Ex: Human Revolution, taking you through various abilities you’ll be able to employ in the game and explaining the title’s world. The trailer also contains a lot of info about how you can go around hacking things, as well as featuring developer commentary.

Friday - August 05, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Ninja vs Rambo Preview @ GameSpy

by Dhruin, 23:28

GameSpy has a Deus Ex: HR preview featuring two alternative play styles - a ninja and then a "Rambo". A sample from Rambo:

Ammunition is also at a premium. Scrounging through lockers can earn you precious primary weapon ammo, but much of your firepower and supply has to come from the cold hands of your fallen enemies. Many times, we were reduced to using the ubiquitous 10mm pistol favoured by Purity First.

To effectively 'play it Bogart' in a mission, you'll really need to be resourceful and have a steady aim (or the arm augmentations that offer such benefits). Through the radar, we could see that the A.I. was obviously relaying our last known location amongst itself, a fact we could exploit with tactical repositioning. We also spotted instances of identifiable group leaders in larger mobs, shouting out orders to coordinate their squad members. Eliminating these lynchpins effectively thwarted any future pincer movements against Jensen.

Wednesday - August 03, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Classified Information Trailer

by Dhruin, 23:09

Three weeks to go - plenty of time for more Deus Ex: HR trailers. This one is titled "Classified Information" and offers over 4 minutes of story and gameplay with a narrator providing an overview.

Source: Blues News

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Preview @ Worthplaying

by Dhruin, 01:01

Worthplaying has kicked up a new preview of DX:HR as the release gets down to three weeks or so. A snip of that describes the early gameplay, although I'm not sure why it is inspired by MGS rather than just the original DX:

For the stealthier folks, Deus Ex: Human Revolution could almost be inspired by Metal Gear Solid. Because each area is designed with multiple passages, it is possible to avoid almost every enemy. This is done by staying out of sight through a combination of smart cover usage and looking for alternate paths. Here, vent covers and air ducts allow us to pass undetected.

At the end of the warehouse level is the game's first real persuasion test. In facing off against a terrorist with a hostage, you have to attempt to talk him down. This is done by choosing to respond with a certain tone, such as sympathetic, and seeing how he reacts. Read your opponent well, and you can convince him to give up the hostage without spilling an ounce of blood. We've been told by Square Enix that it is possible to mess up a conversation and not get the desired result if you misread someone's reactions. In that case, the issue is permanent. You can't just go back and try again.

Sunday - July 31, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - FoV Option in PC Version

by Dhruin, 00:29

Blues reports the PC version of DX:HR will offer a FoV option, according to a post on the Eidos forums, which is a change from previous statements.

Source: Blues News

Saturday - July 30, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - 94% in PC Gamer

by Dhruin, 01:18

VG247 reports Deus Ex: Human Revolution has scored 94% in the PC Gamer magazine issue on the way out to subscribers now. Of course, Invisible War got 92% but still...

Friday - July 29, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Four Pillars Trailer @ CVG

by Dhruin, 00:47

CVG has a new DX:HR trailer showing the "four pillars of gameplay" - combat, stealth, social and hacking. I'm sure we've seen the entire game by now.

Thursday - July 28, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Gold!

by Dhruin, 00:23

Deus Ex: Human Revolution has gone Gold, in time for the release later next month. The (European) press release:

SQUARE ENIX AND EIDOS-MONTREAL ANNOUNCE DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION HAS GONE GOLD

Studio’s First Release Brings Renowned DEUS EX Series Back on August 26, 2011

LONDON (July 26, 2011) – Square Enix Ltd., the publisher of SQUARE ENIX® interactive entertainment products and Eidos-Montreal are proud to announce that DEUS EX®: HUMAN REVOLUTION™ has “gone gold” and will be available in European retail stores on August 26, 2011. DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION is the exciting debut title release for Eidos-Montreal. The game will be available for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and Windows® PC, Steam®, and OnLive®.

“We couldn’t be more excited that Deus Ex: Human Revolution has gone gold and will soon be in the hands of expectant gamers,” said Stephane D'Astous, general manager of Eidos-Montreal. “As the first release for Eidos-Montreal, it’s impossible to express how extremely proud we are of the final product and all of the hard work that went into its creation.”

Thursday - July 21, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Augmentation Trailer

by Dhruin, 22:08

Square Enix has released a new Live Action trailer for DX:HR, with around 3 minutes of anti-Augmentation presentation. Not relevant to the gameplay, of course, but worth a look to set up the gameworld.

Monday - July 18, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Audio Interview @ Major Nelson - Xbox Live

by Aries100, 20:43

Xbox Live's Major Nelson talks to Jonathan Jacques Belletete in this 404th episode.   Topics covered are the consequences they've implemented for the various choices we'll make, how the team members worked out ideas for the game, how the project was originally greenlit, and more. Forward to the 48:43 mark to hear the 20 minute interview.

Source: GameBanshee

Saturday - July 16, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Combat Dev Diary

Thursday - July 14, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Stealth Dev Diary

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - 30 Min Demo Video @ IGN

by Dhruin, 00:20

There's a three-part DX:HR video commentary over at IGN that totals 30 minutes. I haven't had the chance to watch it but it should provide a pretty deep (but spoilery?) look. From the intro:

If you really, really want to know just about all there is to know about Deus Ex: Human Revolution, we've got you covered. Linked below just over 30 minutes of footage from Eidos Montreal's anticipated prequel, covering everything from the hacking mini-game to the specifics of the energy resource system's style of regeneration. Yes, it's that specific.

If you're looking for an overload of nerdy detail, game director Jean-Francois Dugas explains it all in the videos below.

Wednesday - July 13, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Conspiracy Trailer

by Dhruin, 00:56

Head over to Rock, Paper, Shotgun for a new Deus Ex: Human Revolution "conspiracy trailer", although the actual content is more combat than conspiracy.

Friday - July 08, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - The Year 2027 Trailer, Part 2

Wednesday - July 06, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - 12 Minute Video and More

by Dhruin, 22:14

IGN has some Deus Ex: Human Revolution coverage that has spilled over to other places on the 'web. The most impotant bit is a 12 minute gameplay video with developer commentary, which I'm going to link via Rock, Paper, Shotgun; here's their intro:

Check it out. Here are twelve (count ‘em!) minutes of hot Deus Ex: Human Revolution footage, courtesy of the overflowing infinite video vat at IGN. Eidos Montreal Director Jean-Francois Dugas shows us around a section of the game located in “Tai Young Medical”, where Jensen is on a critical mission to collect some information from a data core. Why is it always a data core? It’s never data-lollipops or data-bears… Hmm.

IGN also has an interview with Art Director Jonathon Jacques-Belletete about the art style:

IGN: Do you think the Bladerunner Cyberpunk style is old hat?

Because Cyberpunk's been done quite a bit, I wanted to bring something new to it, and I started analysing all the transhumanist themes. Quite rapidly, you start seeing this connection with the renaissance period, because it was about the humanistic and we're dealing with transhumanistic stuff; the renaissance was, if you want, the beginning of the transhumanist era. If you want to upgrade a system, you first need to be able to understand how the system functions at its basics, and the renaissance is the first time in the west when we start going back into antiquities research and understanding the human machine. That's where transhumanism starts, understanding how the machine functions, and then in 2027 we upgrade that machine.

In related news, Blue's reports that Square Enix is suing 15 individuals for leaking a preview build a few months back.

Tuesday - July 05, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Preview @ CVG

by Aries100, 23:01

CVG has a two-part preview up for this game. Part 1 is here,  part 2 is here.   The preview covers the first 10 hours of the game. Spoilers abound, though not much new information is revealed.  From part 1:

Augmentations have allowed the blind to see, the legless to walk, and paralysed people to live active lives but sooner or later everybody rejects the implants. Neuropozine is the answer - invented by David Sarif's mentor Hugh Darrow, Nu-Poz is exclusively manufactured by Versalife and of course is sold at an astronomical price, making augmentations a rich man's treat. Megan's announcement would have meant an end for the Nu-Poz monopoly; her supposed death kept the status quo intact. Sarif is waiting , so we'll have to investigate those thefts later.

A quote from part 2:

But these are the guys who attacked Sarif Industries, killed Megan, and broke Jensen's back.

They're the reason Jensen is more machine than man and the reason he's short of a fair few dozen friends. The next half hour is a blur of explosions and shotgun fire. The mech meets its demise on the end of a rocket launcher, security cameras are blasted off walls and mercenaries are shotgunned off balconies.

Source: RPG Codex

Thursday - June 30, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - World in Making Video @ Gamespot

by Aries100, 23:11

A three minute video interview  released by Eidos Montreal can be found at Gamespot   where lead writer Mary DeMarle, art director Jonathan Jaques Bellette and art director discusses how they, in the game, created a believable world for us to immerse ourselves into - in the year 2027 where augmentations are cool.

Source: GameBanshee

Wednesday - June 29, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Video Interviews

by Skavenhorde, 20:10

Spoony interviews Mary Demarle, lead writer for Deus Ex: Human Revolution, at E3. The first part of the video has a bunch of gameplay and cut-scenese. The interview doesn't start till 2:20 and there were a couple of technical problems with the microphone. The interview is rather brief, but he does ask about branching storylines and what are some key features that make Deus Ex stand out.

Angry Joe also has a video interview with three of the developers of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. He interviewed Jonathan Jacquest-Belletete, Jean-Fracois Dugas and Mary DeMarle. This interview lasted a lot longer. He asked about cutscene length, gameplay length, openended gamplay/does the game handhold you through the game and a lot more. A great interview for those few of you who are not familiar with Deus Ex yet.

Thursday - June 23, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Video Interview @ GamesOnNet

by Aries100, 18:11

GamesOnNet did a video interview with Jonathan Jacques-Bellet, the Art Director for the game. The interview was done during E3 and covers how you are able to upgrade your weapons, why highligting are optional, the core tenets during certain missions and their viability, the game's unique approach to stealth - and more.

Source: GameBanshee

Wednesday - June 22, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - News Roundup

by Aries100, 17:06

A few newsbits for this game have surfaced, first is the ESRB rating Mature, then we have a fanpowered Q&A, and lastly there is a competetion in which, if you have an iOS device, you can scan QR codes and win something.

The ESRB Mature rating first - a sample:

Rating summary: This is a first-person shooter in which players assume the role of Adam Jensen, an ex-cop who must uncover the truth behind a cybernetics company's attack. Players complete mission-based objectives to increase their character's skills (e.g., stealth, strength) and advance the main storyline. Players use pistols, shotguns, assault rifles, and explosives to kill a variety of human enemies (e.g., soldiers, police officers, gang members, drug dealers). Players can also use stealth attacks (e.g., choking, electrocution) to dispatch enemies at close range.

The content descriptors are

Blood, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Alcohol

Then the fan-powered Q&A where the devs from Eidos Montreal answered question from
fans on this site - a sample:

the first deus ex didn't shy away from explicitely going into real world conspiracy theories (ones that are prominent even today), will this game be equally as topical and relevant to the 'conspiracy theories' floating around today?

The Great JF says:

Albeit the fact that our game is fictional I hope that it can convey some of those aspects for those who are looking for it.

And then the news about the competition. 

In order to join the DXHR QR MISSIONS Scavenger Hunt, fans should visit the App store on their iOS device.  The first code is already available in the exclusive content section of the game’s official Facebook page (www.facebook.com/DeusEx). New codes will be released every week for the next seven weeks.

So, How Does It Work?
Fans should visit the App store to download the App (DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION QR MISSIONS) for their iOS device and register for the DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION QR MISSIONS. Participants must be 17-years-old or older, have an iOS device with a camera and be able to register using Facebook Connect. Participants will also have to choose their preferred gaming platform.

Source: GameBanshee

Monday - June 20, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Screens @ RPS

by Dhruin, 22:41

New Deus Ex: HR screens have been released, which you can check out at RPS.

Wednesday - June 08, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Play Like A Lunatic @ GameSpot

by Dhruin, 02:25

Play Like A Lunatic at GameSpot looks at roleplaying an "unhinged maniac" in Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

Most people won't want to rush through Deus Ex: Human Revolution. With a vast conspiracy at the heart of its story and a deep upgrade system that lets you outfit yourself with a variety of cybernetic augmentations to suit your own preferred play style, this is a role-playing shooter where a measured, methodical approach is often the most rewarding one. But it's not a game that tells you what to do, so if you'd prefer to play like an unhinged maniac with an itchy trigger finger and a deeply held distrust of others, well, that's a path you can take. In fact, it's one we tried for ourselves with Human Revolution's Electronic Entertainment Expo demo--with the help of some serious role playing.

Friday - June 03, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Video Interview

by Dhruin, 01:33

Original Gamer has a video interview on Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution Art Director, Jonathan Jacques-Belletete, and the staff at Eidos Montreal understand the pressure that they're under. Living up to a series that started with a game that many consider to be the best PC game ever which was followed-up by a sequel that simply fell on its face, there's no doubt that the pressure is on.

Source: Blues News

Tuesday - May 31, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Hour of Revenge Trailer

Friday - May 27, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - OnLive Preorders

by Dhruin, 00:26

According to VoodooExtreme, you can now preorder DX:HR for OnLive (at RRP prices). Does anyone actually use this thing?

Wednesday - May 25, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Collector's Edition Trailer

Wednesday - May 18, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Preview @ Ars Technica

by Dhruin, 23:41

Fighting the Past is a new preview of Deus Ex: Human Revolution at Ars Technica:

When I played the first 10 hours of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, the weight of the first game colored my expectations. The original Deus Ex was a PC exclusive—it's sad how quaint that sounds to modern ears—and it was beloved in its time. The game doesn't hold up very well graphically, nor does the voice acting do the game any favors, but it's always viewed through heavily rose-tinted glasses. The sequel had the opposite problem, as it's remembered for being a massive let-down.

So it was tricky to get rid of all that baggage and play Human Revolution on its own terms. We have very good news for fans of the series, though: what we've played captures the feel of the first game, and it plays like how we imagine the original game played the first time. While this is early code and I didn't play the entire game, there was enough here to move the game from curiosity status to "must have now" in my internal list of releases. Let's take a look at why it left such a positive impression.

In other news, IGN has a 5-page extract from Issue #4 of the comic book series from DC Comics.

Source: Blues News

Tuesday - May 17, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Sarif Industries Trailer

by Dhruin, 22:22

Rock, Paper, Shotgun has a new live-action "ad" for Sarif Industries, the fictional entity from Deus Ex: HR. There's no gameplay or anything but it's a pretty cool promo.

Monday - May 16, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Facebook Promos

by Dhruin, 21:52

Eidos has announced a "slew of assets" (including in-game augmentations) for those that "Like" DX: HR on Facebook. Since I rather agree with Rock, Paper, Shotgun's distaste for this sort of thing, I'm going to link via their article on the topic. A quote from Eidos:

“Deus Ex has one of the most passionate, vocal and dedicated communities in all of video games, so offering a program that rewards that loyalty — even before the game is released — is a great way for us to give something back. The Facebook community now has significant control over the release schedule for some of our favorite assets. We have a ton of surprises and unlockables planned, so fans should invite their friends to ‘Like’ the page and start collecting these rewards.”

Friday - May 13, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Websites Hacked

by Dhruin, 22:59

Several sites (such as Rock, Paper, Shotgun) are running the story that Eidos websites - including for Deus Ex: Human Revolution - were recently hacked and, possibly source code stolen.

Not surprisingly, Eurogamer clarified that the stolen source is for the website, not the game, although users email addresses were compromised.

Thanks to Alrik for a similar link.

Wednesday - May 11, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Is it an RPG?

by Dhruin, 22:14

GamePro has an article titled Is Deus Ex Human Revolution an RPG? They explore several different RPG element in what is ultimately a standard preview article. The result? A little from "column A", a little from "column B":

That doesn't mean that the stats aren't there, they're just hidden away. If an RPG is all about getting a peek underneath the hood of a game and seeing all the moving parts, then Deus Ex has sealed that hood up tight. Ultimately, it's true to the original game, and the augmentation does seem to have a big impact on character development. But as far as customization goes, RPG fans who aren't familiar with the series might want to temper their expectations.

As was discussed earlier, Deus Ex goes out of its way to discourage actual combat. One way it does this by making it possible to negotiate with the bad guys rather than put a bullet in their head. And that's exactly what happens at the end of one of the opening missions.

After working my way through a factory (I ended up killing everyone because I'm terrible at stealth), I met the leader of the terrorist group. The first he thing he did was grab a woman and put her a gun to her head, putting me in a delicate situation. I could rush in and try to fight him, or I could try and talk him down.

I mentioned earlier that stats are nowhere to be found, but they do have a role to play. You can see them working during the conversation, when the terrorist leader considers your words for a moment, then shakes his head and holds firm. Put a point into the "social" augmentation, and hostage negotiations are obviously much more likely to be successful.

Thanks also to Zohaib for a similar submission.

Whilst we're on DX:HR, here's a couple of other items around the net. Rock, Paper, Shotgun has 10 Things You'll Think Playing Deus Ex 3:

“This game isn’t just good, it’s fantastic.”

This is the obvious one. The art design is gorgeous, there’s loads to explore, and the whole package is so polished you can see your grinning face in it.

Better still, while the bugs you’d expect to find in code that hasn’t finished the full gauntlet of quality assurance were present, almost none of them affected how the game plays. No crashes to desktop, no guards being alerted while I was behind cover, no broken quests. Just the camera occasionally placing itself inside an NPC’s mouth, and the wrong text appearing underneath tutorial videos. Eidos Montreal could release this game tomorrow and it it’d still be in a better state than plenty of PC releases.

As for the game proper, after ten hours spent guiding protagonist Adam Jensen through dangerous conversations (his asbestos growl occasionally reveals a Detroit twang), as well as unforgiving infiltrations, a few firefights and an implausible number of air vents, I was left hungry. Both metaphorically – I was having an incredible time, and right on the cusp of fully removing the first layer of Human Revolution’s conspiracy – and literally.

I started playing Human Revolution on Saturday morning. I’d come home with a hangover, having eaten no breakfast. I didn’t stop to eat anything until late in the evening. It’s been a long time since a game’s managed to starve me like that.

...and Games On Net has a preview and IGN has Questing in Deus Ex: HR.

In true Deus Ex tradition, Human Revolution isn't just a first-person action game sprinkled with choices to make about which weapons to use. Role-playing game-style exploration appears to be a big part of the experience. The street section of Detroit is surprisingly large and filled with all sorts of hidden pathways, important locations and multiple side quests that are only picked up through interaction with the city's residents. There's even a basketball half-court with a ball you can pick up and shoot, which I'm assuming is a tongue-in-cheek reference to Invisible War, the second Deus Ex game.

Saturday - May 07, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Steamworks Enabled

by Dhruin, 00:26

Eidos has announced the PC version of Deus Ex: HR will use Steamworks and discounted preorders should now be open, althouh that doesn't seem to be the case for me. From the press release at Blue's:

DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION TO RELEASE DIGITALLY THROUGH STEAM

Pre-Orders Now Available; Pre-Orders To Receive Special Discounted Price For a Limited Time

DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION™ is making a triumphant return to its franchise PC roots, with digital availability on Steam®, the leading online platform for PC games and digital entertainment, as well as in boxed copy form at retailers worldwide at launch in August 2011. Eidos-Montreal has chosen this agreement with Steam because of its esteemed capability for an enhanced experience for the PC gamer, with boosted functionality and easy accessibility.

DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION will support a host of Steamworks® features such as auto-updating, Steam Achievements and Steam Cloud support. Available in the standard version and the robust Augmented Edition on Steam, gamers will be able to enjoy the Deus Ex experience of their choice. The Augmented Edition boasts a digital 40-page art book, a “making of” special, trailers, animated storyboard of the CGI trailer, motion graphic novel, soundtrack, and a free download of the Deus Ex Game of the Year Edition.

Source: Blues News

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - How It Feels On The PC

by Dhruin, 00:17

Von Paulus sends in How Deus Ex: Human Revolution feels on PC from PC Gamer:

HUD
The Deus Ex 1 toolbar is back! So cool. Whatever you pick up puts itself in the next free slot on your toolbar, and you hit the appropriate number key to switch to it. You can also hover over anything in your inventory and press a number key to assign it to that slot. And like Deus Ex, there’s a hotkey to toggle it if you’re confident you can remember what slots you put everything in. Personally, I switched stuff around a lot and preferred to keep it on.

Object highlighting, etc
On the easiest mode, the game highlights interactive objects and marks the direction of your next objective on-screen. It also shows an on-screen prompt when you’re close enough to someone to do a melee takedown, telling you what to press. Thankfully, all three of these can be turned off, and they’re not even on by default on Deus Ex difficulty.

Friday - May 06, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - DX11, 3D and Eyefinity

by Dhruin, 00:31

News of some of the technical features Deus Ex: HR will support have been written up at PC Gamer in a short article. An excerpt:

Square Enix have told us more about Deus Ex: Human Revolution’s PC specific features. The game will have full DirectX 11 support, and will work with AMD Eyefinity, which will let players hook up an incredible FIVE monitors to play the game in uber-widescreen. It will even run in 3D for those with compatible screens. The development team discuss the advantages of playing Human Revolution with 3D and Eyefinity set ups in a new video, embedded below.

Head of Nixxes, Jurjen Katsman describes a few of the improvements players with DX11 cards can look forward to. “We do use tessellation; this was one of the first features we started making use of with DX11. We mainly used it to improve character silhouettes, but also used it for some other objects in the world.

Tuesday - May 03, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - System Reqs

by Dhruin, 22:29

Modest system requirements for Deus Ex: Human Revolution have been released at PC Gamer:

Deus Ex: Human Revolution Minimum PC Specs:

    OS: Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7 with DirectX 9.0c
    PROCESSOR: 2 GHz dual core
    RAM: 1 GB RAM (Windows XP) / 2 GB (Windows Vista and Windows 7)
    GRAPHICS: NVIDIA GeForce 8000 series or ATI Radeon HD 2000 series or better
    REQUIRED DISC SPACE: 8.5 GB

 
Deus Ex: Human Revolution Recommended PC Specs:

    OS: Windows 7
    PROCESSOR: AMD Phenom II X4 or Intel Core 2 Quad or better
    RAM: 2 GB
    GRAPHICS: AMD Radeon HD 5850
    REQUIRED DISC SPACE: 8.5 GB

Monday - May 02, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Preview @ Bitmob

by Dhruin, 22:22

Bitmob is another site with a preview of Deus Ex: HR.

"This is the part where I usually screw up and die," says Antoine Thisdale, game designer at Eidos Montreal. He's demoing a mission in Deus Ex: Human Revolution from roughly eight hours into the game, sans god-mode cheating.

Jensen's light on firepower for now, but he's still a fully loaded cyborg with a major catalog of augmentations at his metallic fingertips. That's important, because those superpowers might just make or break the game. Everything, and I mean absolutely everything -- tactics, social interaction, hacking, combat, stealth -- comes down to what you've got under the hood...and how intelligently you use it.

Friday - April 29, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Preview @ PC Gamer

by Dhruin, 12:20

Thrasher points out another Deus Ex: HR preview at PC Gamer that describes a scenario they played:

Jon Jacques-Belletête is infiltrating a warehouse. Jon is Human Revolution’s art director, and his version of Adam Jensen is augmented up to the synthetic eyeballs. Augmentations give skills – from x-ray vision to the ability to punch clean through a wall and snap a man’s neck in one fluid motion – and they’re gained through ‘praxis’ points. Jon’s Adam has more praxis than he’s supposed to at this point in the game, letting him take a two pronged approach to the mission.

There’s a trio of gang members relaxing in front of the warehouse. They’re augmented too, but their exposed gold-and-chrome robo-arms lack the style of Adam’s matte black guns. Jon should punch them for their gaudy fashion sense – and he could. But he doesn’t. Instead, he talks to their leader, securing a weapon modification for his tranquiliser rifle. Purchasing the mod doesn’t automatically weld it to your rifle. To do that, Jon needs to dip into his inventory. It’s a comforting sight for Deus Ex devotees: it uses the same grid system the first game did, where each item takes up blocks of space depending on its physical size. Jon selects the weapon mod, clicks ‘combine’, and attaches it to his rifle. He pauses on the screen for a moment, resisting the urge to spend five minutes arranging his toys into neat little corners.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Previews @ Joystiq, IGN

by Dhruin, 00:17

Joystiq has a look at Deus Ex: HR titled "Patient Assault":

Jensen can employ cover -- now something players can set to toggle, based on some feedback Eidos Montreal received after the last set of previews. By sticking to walls, boxes and sneaking under some trucks, Jensen's infiltration of the building almost looks easy, until he reaches a door requiring keycard access.

Hacking is a major component of the game, and appears in the form of a mini-game where nodes must be captured before a sub-routine captures your user node. It's not as complicated as it sounds: you pick an icon, choose to hack it, then wait. Time to hack is based on a number corresponding to the difficulty of the node in question, and you're given a bonus should you capture the enemy user node. During this segment, Jensen earned a pair of viruses which can grant you instant success in hacking or slow down enemy users in the system.

...and IGN titles theirs "Curving Bullets":

The catch is you can't do everything all at once. Though Deus Ex may look and play like a first-person shooter with cover mechanics, there's a heavy emphasis on character development. This isn't Crysis where you can swap between stealth and armor at will. Instead, the choices you make stick with you. As protagonist Adam Jensen you modify your body and your gear in according with how you want to play.

About six to 10 hours into the game, you'll have filled out enough of your skill tree to see a significant impact on gameplay. Taking the stealth approach can be an effective way to navigate dangerous areas, but costly. Remaining cloaked consumes Jensen's energy, which doesn't automatically recharge to full capacity, meaning the cloak ability can't be spammed. Instead, it'll need to be mixed in with careful movement around stages swarming with enemies. You'll need to keep an eye on the directions enemies are facing as they patrol, as their ability to detect your presence is based on line of sight and sound.

Tuesday - April 19, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - "Very Special Edition" for EU, AU, NZ

by Dhruin, 22:26

Wow, Australia and New Zealand mentioned for a limited edition... Joystiq has news of a "Very Special Edition" of Deus Ex: Human Revolution for Europe, AU and NZ. You'll get an Adam Jensen figurine, "Making of" DVD with soundtrack and more:

The "very limited" iteration of Deus Ex comes packed with a "highly collectable" figure of protagonist Adam Jensen, the "Explosive Mission Pack" (which is also part of GameStop's pre-order incentive), a smattering of in-game weapons, 10,000 extra in-game credits, a "making of" DVD and soundtrack, and a 40-page art book. How much will all that "very limited" stuff cost you? Square's not saying just yet, though pricing and specifics on availability will be made clear "closer to launch."

Monday - April 18, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Highlighting Now Optional

by Dhruin, 22:57

The Deus Ex: Human Revolution team has released a video message announcing they have heard the community concern over highlighting and object locating (the gold outlines) and it will be optional. they explain and defend the original choice as being faithful to the fiction but they have responded to the concern. The video also includes some footage, so you can see the differences.

Thanks, Von Paulus.

Monday - April 11, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Preview @ Player Affinity

by Myrthos, 21:35

Player Affinity has a preview of Deus Ex: Human Revolution up, which is apparently not based on actual seeing the game in action.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution has had a variety of teaser material released, including several incarnations of trailers, developer interviews and even a few playthoughs emphasizing the multiple possibilities to resolve situations, such as the first level and a more advanced mission in which the player must ascertain the location of a hostage and proceed to implement his rescue. From a first glance, it appears that the majority of the problems identified from Invisible War have been reverted, including a full grid-based inventory system, multiple ammunition types and much more interactivity with the environment. Computer hacking has become a full-fledged endeavor, with computer terminals linking the player with a grid of nodes that have to be unlocked in sequence to utilize particular end-nodes that provide benefits, be it security control or background info (i.e. logs, emails or notes).

Source: GameBanshee

Monday - April 04, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Preview @ PC Gamer

by Dhruin, 23:21

PC Gamer has a preview of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, which offers a few personal observations:

Almost everywhere you fight is a multi-layered space: there’s always some vertical variation, whether it’s stairs or a sheer drop. The open areas are littered with things to hide behind: tables, cabinets, and our eternal friend the crate. And your enemies roam that space with admirable moxy.

There don’t seem to be set patrol routes to learn, the AI guards explore of their own accord and often vary their behaviour – particularly once they’re alerted. Every time I died and restarted a section, the guards moved through the space in a different pattern.

Right now, though, guards sometimes behave stupidly under pressure. One failed to kill me as I blundered past him and through the door he was facing, closing it behind me to delay him. As soon as it shut, he blurted “Where did he go?” The cupboard, dude, you just watched me shut myself in the cupboard.

It’s too soon to call, but I wouldn’t be surprised if some of these behavioural anomalies were still around in the finished game. I wouldn’t mind. I’d rather have experimental AI that can surprise me in good ways and bad than AI that doesn’t surprise at all.

Source: Blues News

Tuesday - March 29, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Interview @ PS3 Center

by Skavenhorde, 18:22

PS3 Center interviewed Deus Ex: Human Revolution's Game Director, Jean-Francois Dugas. Here are a few snippets from the interview:

PCN: For people that are new to the game, Deus Ex has always been a relatively linear game, can we expect similar gameplay in Human Revolution or will we see more open world situations like in Fallout, or will it be more like Mass Effect?

 

JFD: I'd say that Deus Ex: Human Revolution is more open than Bioshock, but less than Fallout, so, it's an in-between. Depending on how you play it, if you take on additional quests, etc., it will make your experience even more expansive. Nevertheless, if you do the strict minimum, you're still in there for at least 20 to 25 hours.

 

PCN: It's important to note that this is a kind of prequel to Deus Ex, so it will be easy for those who've never played a Deus Ex before to get into the game. With that said, will we see any information regarding UNATCO and JC Denton and his brother?

 

JFD: The game happens about 25 years before the first one. It's not really a direct prequel to the original game per se. We have a brand new cast of characters and story, so, you don't have to have played the old games to make this one engaging; it stands on its own. Of course, there will be hints at the original game, but for those without experience with the Deus Ex franchise, it definitely won’t diminish their experience in any way.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Vote on How You Want Highlighting

by Skavenhorde, 15:51

There seems to be quite a few unhappy fans out there because of the amount of highlighting being demonstrated in the trailers. There is a poll over at Deus Ex's forums asking people how they would want the game to deal with this issue. When I first saw the trailers I would have hoped that this feature could be turned off in the control panel, but I'm not sure if that will be possible this late in the dev cycle.


So if you feel like voicing your opinion on this head on over to Deus Ex forums and cast your vote. You'll need to register to be able to take part in the poll.

Here are the eight different choices you can choose from:

Keep highlighting as is.

 

Remove all highlighting.

 

Modify highlighting; have ON/OFF toggle in options menu.

 

Modify highlighting; have ON/OFF toggle in-game (as an augmentation).

 

Modify highlighting; only highlight 1 object at a time when within range to use it.

 

Modify highlighting; have a scaling system to customize # and range of highlights.

 

Modify highlighting; change opacity and/or thickness.

 

Modify highlighting; make into an aug with upgrades.

 

Thanks, Von Paulus, for bringing this to my attention.

 

Source Destructoid

Monday - March 28, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Three Way Trailer

by Skavenhorde, 16:03

Here is another three way trailer showcasing the three different paths to choose from. You can take on the mission through aggression, stealth or adaptive. It is similar to the walkthrough that Dhruin posted, but without the narration and much shorter. You can view the trailer here or click below:

 

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Preview @ MTV Multiplayer

by Skavenhorde, 14:30

Russ Frushtick from MTV Multiplayer offers up a hands-on preview of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. He was able to play the first three hours of the game. I'm normally skeptical when it comes to previews from the mainstream, but he seems sincere in his appreciation for the original Deus Ex.

Spoiler alert for anyone wanting to read the preview. He goes into detail on what happens in the beginning of the game.

Here are a few snippets from the preview:

 

A TALE OF TWO DEMOS

 

The number of options really became apparent when I noticed that another member of the press, sitting right next to me, took about half the time I did to get through the demo. It wasn't because I'm terrible...it was because I wanted to take my time, I wanted to try to be strategic with my encounters, to explore every nook, to read every piece of email. If I wanted to run and gun, that option was there (though an easier difficulty level would've been required), but my path took twice the amount of time and I feel like I digested twice as much of the world.

 

The game is scheduled for five months from now, and there's definitely still work to be done. Apparently I was working off a build that was three months old, and the controls (which did feel a bit swimmy and loose in my playthrough) have been tightened. There's also been another lighting pass which should hopefully clean up some of the starker-looking character models. But, all things considered, these are relatively minor issues compared to the core. The core, I'm happy to say, is "Deus Ex" to a T.

Wednesday - March 23, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - PC Port Studio Revealed

by Dhruin, 21:18

I'm not aware of the Netherlands-based studio Nixxes, who Shacknews has revealed is working on the PC port for Deus Ex: HR.

For a number of years, Nixxes has been the go-to team for Eidos' multi-platform release calendar. Most recently, Nixxes helped deliver the PS3 and PC version of Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, a "full featured PC port" of Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days, and porting the PS3 and PC versions of Tomb Raider Underworld. Ties to Eidos with Nixxes goes back as far as bringing Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver to the Dreamcast.

Tuesday - March 22, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Walkthrough Trailer

by Dhruin, 11:35

Eidos has released a new walkthrough trailer for Deus Ex: Human Revolution, with writer Mary DeMarle showing three different approaches to the same scenario. She shows a gameplay segment using combat, then stealth, then "exploring to find alternative paths". It all looks pretty good but the yellow outline to show interactive objects sure is annoying.

Source: Blues News

Thursday - March 17, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Hands-on @ VG247

by Dhruin, 21:38

VG247 has a hands-on walkthrough of the first two hours of Deus Ex: HR, with input from Jean-François Dugas. I guess spoilers apply but obviously Eidos is using this early part of the game for marketing. The very beginning:

Human Revolution certainly doesn’t start like a traditional first-person shooter. No explosions. No thematically inappropriate wise-cracking soldiers. No Carmines getting shot in the head. Instead, the game kicks off by introducing you to an ideological conflict – that of augmentation and transhumanism versus purity and, arguably, humanity. Main character Adam Jensen follows his girlfriend – who’s recently made a major breakthrough in the field – through the sterile white Sarif Industries augmentation lab, and it’s there that the stage is set for the argument that will dominate the rest of the game. And who will win? Well, that’s for you to decide.

Over at Edge, there's an interview with Mary DeMarle about writing DX:HR.

In the opening cinematic to Human Revolution we hear a shadowy cabal discussing the fate of certain characters. Are we right in thinking there are some familiar voices there?
You might be right! But I’m not going to go any further than that.

If they were familiar voices, how far can you revisit [or pre-visit] Deus Ex’s characters without hitching yourself to their fate?
I’m often asked: “If you’re going to write a story that allows me to change the future, how can you make it a prequel when I already know what happens in 2052?” My answer to that is: “The world can change overnight”. When 9/11 happened, the world changed overnight. And we have 25 years between our story [in Human Revolution] and the story of Deus Ex to make that happen. At the same time – and maybe this is more what you were trying to get at – the original Deus Ex does have specific characters that we want to touch upon and events that we’d like to foreshadow, and we have to do that very carefully, because we don’t want to contradict what is canon. But, at the same time, with this story that’s 25 years before, what struck me was thinking, where was I 25 years ago? I was in college or high school, or maybe younger – I don’t want to date myself here! There’s not a whole lot I could have been doing 25 years ago, so which characters in Deus Ex could really have been a factor? We have to take all of that into consideration.

Wednesday - March 09, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Hands-On @ G4TV

by Dhruin, 21:06

G4TV has a video preview-slash-interview on Deus Ex: Human Revolution with input from Art Director Jonathan Jacques-Belletete. There's quite a bit of footage, so worth a look.

In other news, VE3D has box-shots of the "Augmented Edition".

Tuesday - March 08, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Official Release Date

by Dhruin, 22:29

Hmm...later than I expected. The official release date for Deus Ex: Human Revolution is August 23 in NA and August 26 in Europe, according to Eidos' Tweet.

Monday - March 07, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Preview, Release Date Coming

by Dhruin, 21:24

There's a Deus Ex: Human Revolution preview at IGN titled Consequences, discussing the outcomes from an in-game scenario:

The receptionist at Sarif HQ gives you several options. You can head over to see Francis Pritchard, a scientist who will fix that nasty flickering HUD in your retinal display, you can go to the boss' office and have a conversation, you can head directly to the chopper so that pilot Malik can take you to the manufacturing plant, or you can loiter around the headquarters and explore every corner. How you choose to spend your time in this section will have direct consequences in the next level, and likely the rest of the game.

...and Project Lead Jean-François Dugas has Tweeted that the release date will be revealed this week:

Of course ! The release date will be announced next week! What about that! ;)

Thursday - March 03, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Interviews @ GameBanshee, AtomicGamer

by Dhruin, 21:19

Buck from GameBanshee has interviewed Deus Ex: HR writer Mary DeMarle:

GB: The game is obviously quite linear during the game's opening act, but once the city hubs open up, how non-linear does the game become? Can we do whatever we want on a per-hub basis? And once we go to Shanghai or wherever, can we come back to Detroit if we choose?

Mary: The best way for me to answer that is to say that in essence the story is linear in that there is a sequence of events that carry the plot. But there's a lot of branching that happens within it. Overall, it is a linear story, but within each segment of the linear story things can happen that will affect it and change it. For example, in this demo, how you end up dealing with Zeke at the very end. There will be repercussions to that that will come in a later environment, depending on what you did. If you killed him, he's out of the story for good. If you don't, then there are other options that come up.

But within in a city hub itself, the way it opens up in a non-linear way is how you start achieving objectives. For example, the first time you go to Detroit, David Sarif gives you two objectives; you can do these in any order that you want. The way you do it will be reflected in that sense.

Also, when you get into more of those open-ended objectives, you can diverge from the critical path. You can do side quests, but eventually the story will keep you going forward to your next hub, and your next hub, and your next hub.

...and there's another interview with Mary at AtomicGamer:

AtomicGamer: We're here with Mary DeMarle, Lead Writer and Narrative Designer on Deus Ex: Human Revolution. We got to play some of the game's intro, both before and after the main character, Adam Jensen, is nearly killed and parts of his broken body are replaced with sci-fi augmentations. Now, one of the things we don't see too much is his opinion on the matter. Does Jensen hate his augmentations?

Mary DeMarle: It's really you that gets to decide if he hates them or not. Story-wise, he starts when you're at a time when humanity is questioning whether this is a good thing or a bad thing and he personally hasn't made up his mind yet as to what he wants to do. [At the start], he hasn't become augmented, and he's getting pressured to be augmented, and he doesn't really necessarily know if he wants to yet. He hasn't made up his mind. And then of course the initial incident happens and he's forced to become [augmented] so now he's dealing with that issue. And he's thrown right into middle of the whole crisis and he's got to figure out he feels about that, but it's you as the player that ultimately gets to decide how he feels about that.

Monday - February 28, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Playing the Demo Twice

by Dhruin, 11:19

Siliconera has an article titled Exploring Choice in Deus Ex: Human Revolution by Playing the Demo Twice. An intro quote to avoid spoilers:

Not counting the pre-augmentation opening, which we covered before, I got to play through the beginning of Deus Ex: Human Revolution twice. (Actually, two and a half times.) Since player choice is at the core of the Deus Ex multiple runs gave me an opportunity to experiment and see how my decisions affected the game. We’re going to dive into this in detail, but spoilers will be covered with giant black bars. Highlight the text for "what ifs" and to know more about the game.

Source: Blues News

Friday - February 25, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Previews @ Joystiq, IGN

by Dhruin, 21:25

Joystiq got to spend three hours with Deus Ex: Human Revolution, which seems a reasonable taste. As with other previews, they emphasise this is going to be a "special" game:

When Deus Ex: Human Revolution launches, two things are going to happen: 1) People are going to inevitably compare it to Mass Effect 2 and 2) Fans of the original game are going to find a prequel that carefully and methodically takes its cues from Warren Spector's masterpiece. I know it's not actually out and I didn't get to toy around with the final product, but my near three hours playing through the beginning of the game and its first major mission were incredibly telling of what Eidos Montreal is trying to accomplish here. This is going to be a special game.

IGN takes a different approach, with a Newcomer's Perspective. I'm not sure how someone who has never played DX can declare this one "feels" as trailblazing as the first but there you go:

Me? I'm simply curious, first to see what all the fuss is about and then to see how Deus Ex's open-ended model holds up in an era where, thanks to its progeny, choice is king. There's no doubting that Human Revolution feels like a Deus Ex game, but is that enough to cut it against the new breed of games its predecessors helped spawn?

Short answer, yes it can, and it cuts it in its own very special way. In many ways Deus Ex: Human Revolution feels as singular as the trailblazing first game did 11 years ago. It's ball-breakingly tough and asks you to play it in a way that, to an audience raised on the high-budget shooting galleries that are now ubiquitous, feels counter-intuitive, while as a role-playing game it's detailed to a degree that's initially terrifying.

Thursday - February 24, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Roundup

by Dhruin, 21:19

We have three Deus Ex: HR items, today.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun has the second part of their hands-on impressions:

Ready? We’re going in.

Adam Jensen is perched, dark and predatory, at the lip of a vent overlooking the interior of a warehouse, office and simple research facilty where armed, jittery radicals stalk and bark between aisles of goods. The stakes of his mission- and yours- are high. Not only do you need to recover an experimental weapon belonging to your company, not only are there hostages being held in the complex, but this is the first test of the newly augmented Jensen following the disaster that left him at death’s door.

As a player, crouched up there, watching your opponents patrol and thumbing your way through your comprehensive map of the area, it’s a gorgeously intimidating situation. And, being a task that could have been pulled cleanly from the design document of the original Deus Ex, it feels like a statement of intent. As such, when you play this mission you may not be entering from the roof. You may have gotten your hands bloody in a direct assault on the front door. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves, and this mission demands patience.

IGN has a piece titled Does Human Revolution Feel Like Deus Ex?

The second important part of Deus Ex that Human Revolution appears to get right is the element of choice. It seems like Eidos Montreal has paid a lot of attention to this aspect in Human Revolution, both in terms of completing missions and developing Jensen. Making kills and discovering hidden pathways offers experience, eventually freeing up Praxis points. These points can then be dropped into a wide range of augmentation categories. Some augmentations go well together, like the ability to see through walls and then punch through to dismantle targets. Sadly this wall punching ability was not in the demo I played, so I concentrated on stealth for silent takedowns and hacking.

...and VG247 has five new screens and a preview roundup for those that want to catch everything.

Wednesday - February 23, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Preview @ Shacknews

by Dhruin, 21:26

Shacknews has Part 1 of some hands-on impressions of Deus Ex: HR in a walkthrough style aticle. I'll skip to the end for a quote:

Deus Ex: Human Revolution has some big shoes to fill, but the opening moments of the game make me very optimistic. The characters introduced all seem multi-dimensional, the subject matter itself is rife with moral gray-areas, and the story hints at many different layers. More importantly, players are allowed to approach each combat situation according to their own play-style, with both stealth and shooting that rely as much on tactics as they do reflexes. Even from the onset, Adam Jensen also seems like a character that I wouldn't mind spending dozens of hours with.

Monday - February 21, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Rebooting Deus Ex @ VG247

by Dhruin, 22:44

Jean-Francois Dugas speaks with VG247 on "rebooting" Deus Ex:

“We look at Deus Ex more from the game’s perspective as, ‘Is it a PC game or is it a console game?’” he says.

“We really, really wanted to go back to that franchise and try to understand what was so special about it, what made this game a fantastic experience and we wanted to recreate that.”

The PC version has been modified, though.

“Of course, on PC we’re going to adapt certain aspects of the interface because of the keyboard, mouse and things that would feel more natural. But other than that, it’s going to be the same great experience on all the platforms.”

Wednesday - February 16, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Comic Preview @ RPS

by Dhruin, 22:34

Everything seems to have a comic book tie-in these days and Deus Ex: Human Revolution is no exception. Rock, Paper, Shotgun takes a look:

I say prequel, but in fact the comic falls just after the introduction of the upcoming game – the bit Quinns and I recently had a waffle about just here. The comic’s been on sale since Feb 9, and were you to read it today, you’d encounter a few tidbits that we’re not allowed to talk about until Feb 24th, hilariously. It is, however, a standalone side-story, not documenting or (I believe) affecting events in the game.

It documents one of the newly-augmented (not by choice) Adam Jensen’s first missions, which is attempting to rescue a young relative of his boss from a particularly nasty kidnapping. As a backdrop to that, we get a taste of how this world’s fast-evolving human society feels about the growing prevalence of augmentations, with a number of characters treating Jensen with open hostility due to his extensive mechanical modifications. This is, as far as I can tell, one of the key themes in the game too: the conflict between scientific progress and concerns about preserving biological purity.

Thursday - February 03, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Preview @ CVG

by Dhruin, 21:21

CVG has a new preview of Deus Ex: HR.

Since Jensen can only take a couple of hits at best, and the AI clearly isn't the type to take it in turns or leave long gaps between bursts of fire to give you a chance, the need to take a tactical approach is absolutely crucial.

The whole system of crouch and cover shooting is ever so slightly different from other FPS games though, if only from a control point of view, and does take a bit of getting used to.

With the push of a button, Jensen will snap to cover as the camera moves to third-person. From there you can move along with the left analogue stick with your options widening as you reach a corner: Leaning out from cover (or aiming over the top if it's a crate, for example) is done by gesturing in a particular direction with the same stick. It seems intuitive but, with both your strafing movements and peaking control in the same place, you'll find yourself popping your head out of cover and coming nose to nose with a nasty man when what you were trying to do was silently sneak past him.

Lining up a shot before coming out of cover also takes a bit of work. Human Evolution isn't a game that lets you aim up while you're in hiding so that you can pop out and hit a head-shot like a Jedi first time. Instead Jensen's position moves, along with the crosshairs, enough for you to have to really over compensate if you want that quick execution.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Blowout @ Rock, Paper, Shotgun

by Dhruin, 21:10

Rock, Paper, Shotgun has posted no less than four Deus Ex: Human Revolution articles in a row, so settle in for an overload.  We'll start with a new "Protagonist" trailer, which offers a mix of in-game and CGI.

Next, there's an interview with the writer we met yesterday, Mary De Marle:

RPS: I’ve heard a lot of talk about Human Revolution having themes of humanity, asking what makes us human and so forth, which I imagine would require a cast that seems quite human in the first place. What steps have you taken to make the cast believable?

Mary DeMarle: Well, we didn’t want to go black and white with anything, we wanted to have shades of grey in everybody and everything in the story. So when I approach character development I usually do it by starting with deciding what each character’s core personality traits are. I usually come up with 3 or 4, and try to pick traits which compliment each other, but also contradict each other, which I think makes for a more realistic character. Because we all have those inner conflicts, and sometimes certain traits take over.

So I start with that, and then I think about how those traits might manifest in real actions. So if you have a curious character, you might have a curious character who’s also quiet, so he sits in the background or the back seat of the bus and watches everybody. I think this way you create a character with a more realistic bent to them.

It’s also realising that even “evil” characters aren’t evil because of their intentions, but only their actions. You have to think about that person is motivated to do what he’s doing and build a backstory around that.

Next, Quinton Smith and Alec Meer talk about their recent hands-on experience with the game:

Quinns: Well, I was thrilled to find out that we’d be playing the first couple of hours of the game, rather than a couple of disjointed levels. That was a relief. But when we got to playing, what I found most striking is that the game’s flavour- the art design, the dialogue, the characters, the architecture and fashion- is even better than I hoped. And I was hoping for a lot.
Quinns: I was transported. What Eidos have done here is nothing short of beautiful, and that’s all the more interesting because- while Deus Ex did an incredible amount- beauty was not its focus.
Alec: Yes, there’s a real urge and satisfaction to looking around, soaking it in. There’s remarkable distinction between even incidental NPCs, which is something I hope they can maintain throughout the game. The lab you’re lead around near the start was a helluva sight – so bright, busy, cheerful. Sort of the exact opposite of DX1′s dingy, sparsely populated spaces. Such a bold statement of “here is our brave new world.” Which in turn means it’s more affecting when that lab gets the smackdown a few minutes later.
Quinns: Mm. Believable is the word I’d use. Without wanting to give anything away, the game’s tutorial level sees you being steered around your company’s laboratory, meeting some of the more important members of the game’s cast (who are all on edge as your biotech firm is about to go public with some heavy shit) and then being fed all the combat mechanics when the building reports some intruders. The annoying part of all this is that the levels afterwards are still under embargo, so all we can do now is report that the tutorial was extremely linear. But then, so was Deus Ex’s.
Alec: I’m pretty sure that no-one’s going to get cross if we say the game is a lot less linear later. But yes, this is plot setup, and an introduction to some basic controls – including the nuts and bolts of stealth.
Quinns: Oh my god the stealth.

Finally, they've contributed some stuff to GamesIndustry.biz but you'll need to sign up to read the whole thing and Alex Meer has a preview at Eurogamer.

Wednesday - February 02, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Interview @ Eurogamer

by Dhruin, 22:11

Eurogamer has an interview on Deus Ex: HR with Lead Writer Mary De Marle, who is a new face for the game to me:

Eurogamer: What inspired you in coming up with Deus Ex's story?

Mary De Marle: I came onto the game about four months into it. There were few things that were determined. They determined already they would do a prequel to the first game, they would set it in 2027, and it would deal with mechanical augmentations rather than nano ones. And a couple of other things that gave me the initial direction for my research to take.

I started then researching into everything from where is biotechnology today and where will it be in 18 years to possible conspiracy groups. So a lot of my inspiration, believe it or not, came from non-fiction and writings about transhumanism, the singularity and where will we go, and is technology going to lead us to heaven or hell? Even reading about Howard Hughes and Bill Gates to see what kind of people they are.

A lot of that fed the initial idea. I'm a drama junkie, as I like to say. I can never get enough of story because I'm very curious about characters and interpersonal things. So everything I've ever read both in science-fiction and fiction and every TV show I've ever seen feeds into it. It's difficult to pinpoint anything in particular. This project, the focus was on the non-fiction at first.

Wednesday - January 26, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Video Q&As

by Dhruin, 21:06

Eidos Montreal's Youtube channel sees Deus Ex: Human Revolution Art Director Jonathan Jacques-Belletête answering a single community question in each of a series of videos.  The latest one responds to "What were you hoping to accomplish with a Deus Ex title, both artistically and in terms of game experience?" but you'll find a bunch more in the sidebar.

Wednesday - January 19, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Preview @ Bright Hub and interview with JJB

by Aries100, 14:45

At Bright Hub, there's a short preview for this game, though it doesn't seem to tell much new about the game. Anyway, here's a snip:

Though it may be a first-person game the majority of the time, the game switches to a third-person view during stealth sequences that require you to take cover and sneak up behind enemies. Just in case you’re wondering, yes, performing stealth kills results in some violent animations. New to the series is the regenerating health system.

Jean-Jacques Bellette art director for the game, in his ASK JJB #  9, and in a stunning white furry hat, answered the question of "How did you make things look less advanced than the original?" Youtube video with answers available here.

Source: GameBanshee

Tuesday - January 18, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - No Dynamic Difficulty

by Dhruin, 22:30

Apparently there's been an incorrect rumour that Deus Ex: HR would feature dynamic dfficulty.  Not the case, says Producer David Anfossi, quoted at PC Gamer:

“I don’t know who said that,” said Anfossi of Birch’s comments, “but that person was either drunk or doesn’t work here.” He made it very clear: “No. We have three difficulty settings: Easy, Normal and Hard. There’s no adaptation of the difficulty at all, we don’t have anything like that.”

Monday - January 17, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - 25 Hours Long

Friday - January 14, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Preview @ PC Gamer

by Dhruin, 21:20

If you tentatively maintain the hope that Deus Ex: Human Revolution will be a worthy prequel, PC Gamer has a preview that will warm your heart.  It eschews self-serving hype for some specifics - like the number and type of augmentations, the grid-based inventory, why the health regeneration isn't so bad and so on:

You earn XP for killing, sneaking, hacking, talking, completing objectives – anything you could call progress. A certain amount of XP gets you one Praxis point – basically a level up. You spend Praxis on upgrades for your augmentations: each has its own mini skill tree of possible improvements. Praxis is meant to represent the way Adam Jensen gets more effective with his cybernetic implants as he uses them – the word itself is likely a corruption of the word ‘practice’. Expect every review of the game to contain a box titled ‘Praxis makes perfect’.

Right now, the game shows 21 augmentations divided into lots of interesting categories: neural, visual, defence, physical, movement, offence, and sound. Each augmentation then has a few different ways it can evolve: the Hacking Device, a neural augmentation, initially only allows you to open locked doors once you’ve hacked a security terminal. An early upgrade lets you also control cameras, and two later ones enable you to mess around with turrets and robots respectively. Along the way, there are four other upgrades that make the hacking minigame easier, effectively letting you tackle better-defended terminals. Now if you’ll excuse me for a moment, I need to loosen my collar.

Thursday - January 13, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Video Interview @ GamerLive.TV

by Dhruin, 21:07

There's a video interview with Deus Ex: Human Revolution Game Director Jean-Francois Dugas from CES 2011 at GamerLive.TV, which I'm going to link via GeekTV.  Jean discusses the game and their view on the original DX with footage playing on a screen in the background.

Tuesday - January 11, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Video Preview @ IGN

by Dhruin, 23:03

There's a video preview of Deus Ex: HR with IGN's Charles Onyett describing the game over video footage.  I'm not sure any of the footage is new or that the voiceover introduces anything new, either, but fans may want to take a look.

Thursday - January 06, 2011

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Preview @ CVG

by Dhruin, 08:43

CVG has a preview of Deus Ex: HR, reprinted from Xbox 360 World.  It's a pretty standard piece but here's an interesting quote on dialogue:

Conversation has been beefed up, the visuals now on a level where you can judge the authenticity of a suspect by his body language alone.

Likewise, the adoption of the third-person for stealth now makes sneaking about a bona fide option, rather than a clumsy afterthought.

Thursday - December 16, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Delayed

by Skavenhorde, 17:43

Kotaku reports that Deus Ex: Human Revolution release date will be pushed back till the next fiscal year, which begins in April 2011. The game was supposed to be released in March, but they have decided to polish up a bit more before releasing it. Here is the official statement:

With weak sales performance of console game titles that have been newly released during the current fiscal year as well as harsh market feedback regarding a key title, the Group recognizes the reinforcement of development capability in our Digital Entertainment segment as our most critical managerial issue.

 

We therefore have decided to spend additional time to further polish our upcoming game, DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION, resulting in a shift in release timing from our prior plan of the current fiscal year to next fiscal year.

 

Wednesday - December 15, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Interview @ Edge

by Skavenhorde, 17:48

Edge interviews some of the creative talent behind Deus Ex: Human Revolution. They talked to producer David Anfossi, game director Jean-Francois and art director Jonathan Jacques-Belletete:

You chose to revisit the fiction’s past, with its rudimentary tech. Did you feel the series had already taken future tech as far as it could go?

JFD: The choice was motivated by several things. But we noticed that the 2020s saw an explosion of human enhancement through mechanical or nanotech means, and we found it interesting to draw a contrast between people who could afford nanotech enhancements – that are invisible – compared to mechanical ones, that were very visible. The theme of transhumanism was very appealing indeed.

JBB: The tech was already too advanced in the first Deus Ex. Of course, people would obviously go for an enhancement that wouldn’t affect their appearance as human beings. But as a gaming experience, we thought a human with mechanical parts would have a more powerful aesthetic impact. So an early period was a better choice; as art director, this gave me a lot more possibilities.

JFD: Making the enhancement visual with mechanical means allows us to keep the game’s core theme of human enhancements very present throughout the experience. It also gives a sense of tragedy as people are losing their humanity. We’ve integrated the things you see in current wars with generations of veterans coming back home with prosthetic limbs. These aren’t enhancements as such, but visually our game echoes those images.

Friday - December 10, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Extended CGI Trailer

by Dhruin, 23:26

An extended CGI trailer for Deus Ex: HR is doing the rounds, offering 5 minutes of story exposition - you've seen the standard version of this but this has extra footage.  I normally don't go for CGI stuff but this is pretty good.

Monday - December 06, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Interview @ Atomic Gamer

by Dhruin, 21:36

There's a new Deus Ex: HR interview over at Atomic Gamer, with Lead Writer Mary DeMarle supplying the answers:

AG: Where do you think Deus Ex: Invisible War went wrong and what do you see as the most important aspect of the Deus Ex franchise to preserve?

MD: I actually liked Invisible War, though I recognize why people say it's not as good as the original. For me where it failed was in how they handled the various factions. I think they wanted you to form an emotional or intellectual connection with one side or the other, and discover real consequences when choosing to help advance its agenda. But in the end, no one really made you regret or pay for any betrayal, because it would have cut off too many story and/or gameplay possibilities. Consequently, (at least for me) the game became more about figuring out the order in which to betray all sides in order to maximize my personal reward, rather than about forming real emotional connections. But the option of having choice and living through the consequences of that choice -- that's essential to the Deus Ex franchise.

Friday - December 03, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Viral Website

by Dhruin, 21:25

Viral promo websites are all the rage these days and Deus Ex: Human Revolution has one now.  Sarif Industries is actually pretty cool (despite all the Flash) - it looks like a website for one of the fictional cybernetics companies in-game but if you fiddle around, a hacking mini-game can be found.

Tuesday - November 30, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Preorder Packs Revealed

by Myrthos, 22:38

Eidos Montreal has reveiled two bonus packs for Deus Ex: Human Revolution that are available to those who preorder. Each of the bonuspacks is shown in a video.

 

Friday - November 19, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Interview @ Eurogamer

by Dhruin, 21:44

Eurogamer catches up with Jean-Francois Dugas after the release of the Deus Ex: HR trailer yesterday:

Eurogamer: How does stealth (cloaking) work, exactly? I assume it doesn't last forever, or does it?

Jean-Francois Dugas: It uses energy. We have what we call "passive" and "active" augmentations. All "active" augmentations use energy. When depleted, you can't use it any more. So, you need to find/buy nutrients to recharge your energy cells to use your augmentations again.

Thursday - November 18, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Gameplay Trailer

by Dhruin, 22:28

Blue's has a promised Deus Ex: HR gameplay trailer with around two minutes of action, including views of the interface and minigames for hacking, stealth and so on - well worth a look.

Monday - November 15, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Ten Reasons It's Faithful

by Skavenhorde, 17:38

CVG offers up ten reasons why fans shouldn't be worried about the faithfulness of this game. Here are a few of them:

 

KEEP THE FAITH

Eidos Montreal didn't just play the bejesus out of Deus Ex, Invisible War and Project Snowblind, they also commissioned a whole bunch of consumer studies to quiz fans on their recollections of the series - and what they wanted to see play in future instalments.

 This painstaking prep lasted a full two years... now that's what you call a faithful homage.

 .........

 SIZE MATTERS

With most games nowadays clocking in at a relatively measly eight hours, Human Revolution looks set to buck that trend... and then some!

 In keeping with the spirit of the original, Eidos reckon you can potentially rattle through in 20 hours - but tackle the side quests and it's closer to 30

Source: GameBanshee

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Interview @ Siliconera

by Skavenhorde, 13:21

Siliconera sits down with Mary DeMarle, Narrative Game Designer, to discuss Dues Ex: Human Revolution. She couldn't go into too much detail without going into spoiler territory. However, what she could tell us sounds excellent. Here is a snippet:

 

Maybe I’ll ask a broader question. Are there any links to the Deus Ex family tree in Deus Ex: Human Revolution?

 

Yes. I’ll say there are, there is, I don’t want to say there are, there is. [Laughs.]

 

Like I said we created a new story with new characters, but we do give mention, largely for the hardcore fans, they’ll be able to find references to the characters they know in Deus Ex. Those characters are present, but very much in the background. There is a particular character, and maybe you’ve already found him, that is more directly tied to someone’s prodigy who may be important later.

Source: GameBanshee

Tuesday - November 09, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Previews, Interviews

by Dhruin, 22:45

Desctructoid were invited to Montreal to check out Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

The open-ended approach is stunning in scope. Eidos says that they wanted players to feel creative in the way they solve their challenges. To achieve this, all maps are multi-path and have multiple solutions. There are no linear levels and there are always several options. Multiple paths, multiple solutions and multiple play styles combine with the ability to make important choices to direct the game in one direction or another to make a game that seems so unbelievably vast that it boggles the mind.  We'll touch on how the gameplay can vary by player in a later preview.

Meanwhile, CVG has a couple of interviews.  The first discusses the influence of Cyberpunk classics like Bladerunner and Ghost in the Shell and the second talks about the influence of the original, with game likes Fallout 3 and Mass Effect being "descendants" and various art-related issues.

Friday - October 22, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Screens @ Worthplaying

Wednesday - October 20, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Preview @ Critical Gamer

by Dhruin, 19:51

The last article from Critical Gamer for the moment.  A look at Deus Ex: HR from the Eurogamer Expo:

Jensen fails to get the barman on side but, we are told, this is possible – and he would have given the player full access to every area of the club. As it is, the dev makes his way back down to the dancefloor empty handed. On the way, he overhears two staff talking. What’s that? Something about a security code? One of them has thoughtfully left details of the code lying around somewhere in the club? Off we go. Knowing where to go of course, the dev makes a beeline for… the toilets, where he finds the guy’s PDA lying on the floor. I was going to complain about this highly unlikely piece of happenstance, until I remembered that we live in a world where Apple employees leave iphone prototypes lying around in bars and British civil servants leave laptops full of sensitive information in taxis. When you look at it like that, it’s actually quite realistic. 

Friday - October 15, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Interview @ Games On Net

by Dhruin, 21:39

Time for another Deus Ex: HR interview, this time at Australian site Games On Net:

games.on.net: It’s been ten years since the first Deus Ex, and obviously game design and technology have evolved a lot during that time. What has this allowed you to do, that the original creator of Deus Ex could not do? What are some of the main ways that you can make it bigger, or grander?

Sebastien Bich: I think with the increased firepower of the consoles, obviously you can make that notion of choices more prominent. The graphics are another thing, but it’s not just the graphics, we like to present this game as being strongly art direction driven. We really want to get that immersion, just throw you into the world of of 2027. You might not notice but in terms of the instances and the objects that you have in the world, the monorail you saw and such, there are lots of things being done under the hood to make the game more immersive and believable.

There are some gameplay elements obviously, like the number of AI’s you can have on the screen, the depth of the customisation and so on but I think to me at least what really makes a difference is how you get thrown into that world. You saw the E3 demo - I don’t know how it is for you, but for me, and I’ve seen that demo at least fifty or sixty times, and every time I see that alley I’m in Blade Runner, you know. The smoke, the neons, all these things help with the immersion, with the believability of the character and the story. To me, this art-direction driven approach is what is really important, and the reaction from the journalists and the public, this is the first thing they really notice and tell us about.

Thursday - October 14, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Interview @ CVG

by Dhruin, 19:58

CVG has another Deus Ex: HR interview with David Anfossi (producer), Jonathan Jacques-Belletete (art director) and Andre Vu (marketing game manager).  The black-and-gold thing gets more tiresome focus but here's a snip on being faithful:

We can't quite believe how evocative Human Revolution is of Deus Ex 1. Why did you feel like you had such a duty to do the original game justice?

AV: We had a mandate from Eidos back then - it was very important for the portfolio that we had this major title. One of the core points was that, if you're using a name like Deus Ex, then the original was such a great experience we wanted to recreate something that's still kind of unique. We didn't want to create just a shooter, just a stealth game... You take the name, you have to respect the core values. And if you look at the state of the market right now, with games like Bioshock, Fallout 3 etc. people - hardcore gamers - will say they're kind of niche, but they sell millions. That kind of audience wants more depth, the universe, some kind of customisation... instead of a regular shooter. There is a real audience for that kind of game.

Monday - October 11, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Preview @ Joystiq

by Skavenhorde, 13:10

Joystiq has posted a hands on preview of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. The previewer, Andrew Yoon, experienced one level three different ways. The mission he played was to get into a building and retrieve an item. To do this you can talk your way in, sneak into the building or as a last resort you can go in guns blazing.

Andrew Yoon's impression of this demo:

Each playthrough of the level felt radically different, a testament to how the game adapts to whatever style you wish to pursue. I left the demo with a number of unanswered questions -- how do your actions affect later missions? Does each level truly offer the same level of freedom? There's a staggering ambition behind Human Revolution. With the right execution, Eidos Montreal has a real opportunity to fulfill the promise of Deus Ex, and introduce a new generation of fans to the franchise.

Source: Evil Avatar

Wednesday - October 06, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Interview @ IGN

by Dhruin, 19:52

Deus Ex: HR Art Director Jonathan Jacques-Belletête chats with IGN UK in a conversation that largely centres on why they chose to keep the depth of Deus Ex, instead of streamlining:

IGN: I keep thinking back to Bioware, and how with Dragon Age and Mass Effect they're gradually stripping away the less intuitive elements.

JJB: Yeah... I'm not gonna tell you what I really think of them doing that. But there's always a way to make something rather complicated work well. Our game director is a pragmatic, no-bullshit kind of guy and I'm really lucky to be working with him... one of his main skills is to ask what the reason is for something, and then make it usable and understandable.

And that's what design is! Whether it's game design, graphic design, industrial design, it's the perfect marriage of complexity and usability. If you have a graphic interface that looks beautiful but nobody understands what it is or how to use it, or if an industrial designer makes a beautiful chair that hurts your back when you sit in it, that's bad design. There's always a way to make something work.

Friday - October 01, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - 25 Minutes of Footage

by Dhruin, 22:55

VG247 has 25 minutes of shakycam Deus Ex: HR footage taken from the Eurogamer Expo:

Eidos Monreal held a developer’s session earlier today for Deus Ex: Human Revolution at EGE. We’ve filmed 25 minutes of the gameplay demo for you to watch below.

This is the build that was shown at E3 back in June, running on PlayStation 3, and shows main character Adam Jenson on the lookout for someone known as “Tong,” who’s been linked to the Triads.

The voiceover you hear for the presentation is art director Jonathan-Jacques Belletete.

Thursday - September 30, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Why Black and Gold?

by Dhruin, 20:52

We've seen umpteen interviews on the Deus Ex: HR art style but CVG finds out why it's black and gold.  Because of an ad!

"Okay, so that was just one day... one picture. I think it was like a Sunday, and I saw this black and gold advert - I have no idea what it was. But it just struck me - this could be a great palette, it's never really been used in videogames. It was great for communication, packaging, bags so on," Jacques-Belletête explained.

Monday - September 27, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Screens @ Worthplaying

Thursday - September 16, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - TGS Trailer

by Dhruin, 20:53

The official Deus Ex: HR trailer for the Tokyo Game Show has been released and you can watch it at RPS, although apparently it is mostly recycled CGI from previous videos.

Monday - September 13, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Interviews @ RPS, CVG

by Dhruin, 20:46

Jim Rossignol from Rock, Paper, Shotgun has quizzed Deus Ex: HR Lead Designer Jean-François Dugas about the game.  Here's an except on using the original game - not Invisible War - as template, because the RPG elements were stronger:

RPS: Something that comes up when we talk about Deus Ex is that if Invisible War hadn’t had the Deus Ex name attached, it might not have been judged so harshly. But it was also the point at which that kind of game was being attempted for consoles, which makes it interesting, and possibly relevant to you?

Dugas: Before we really started designed Deus Ex: Human Revolution we went back to the first two games and played them again. Even though the second one hadn’t been so well received, it was important to go back and see what they had done. We also had to go back to the original game, because you might not have played a game like that for years and you end up with souvenir memories of everything. Playing it again now enables you to step back and look at what is strong and what is not as strong. For me it was essential to go back to those games and try to understand what were the pillars of the franchise, what were the core values. We had to make sure that we designed within the confine of those values. It doesn’t mean that it’s the same as DX1 or DX2, but the same ideals and values are portrayed in Deus Ex: Human Revolution. That said, our game is based more on Deus Ex 1 because the more RPG aspect is stronger. The way things are used, the feature list, that is stronger. But overall it was about understanding the values across both games. We wanted to revive it for a third game, understanding the franchise through both earlier games was the best way to do that.

...and from CVG's conversation, on the console influence:

Does that mean hardcore PC gamers can call it 'consolified'?

Absolutely not. I think PC is a great platform, but I think consoles are a great platform, too. Back in the '90s, games on the two platforms were very different, but I think these days it's all about bringing things together - movies, TV, music - they're all converging in the same places for everyone to access. I see it as convergence, and it's the same for games.

We didn't think, 'Oh, it's coming to console; it has to be easy'. We can have a very deep experience, but it's important that if you want to just jump in to it, you can jump in to it. It's not about removing complexity or cutting possibilities: it's about the way the complexity is introduced.

Tuesday - August 31, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Preview @ Now Gamer

by Aries100, 18:28

Now Gamer has made a preview for this game based on a talk they had with Jean-Francois Dugas, the game director from Eidos Montreal. As usual, a snip:

One of the many themes in Human Revolution is that of technology dehumanising people, but as with all the ideas in this semi-realistic future world (like the question of how the advantages of augmentation are distributed in society), Dugas is adamant players will make up their own minds.

We’re not trying to be moralistic or tell people ‘here’s the lesson you need to learn’ – that’s not our role. To me it’s about making people think about these things and come up with their own conclusions.” It’s an approach that helps layer this sci-fi world with depth and a sense of place; something we very much felt as Jensen made his way to a police morgue in a futuristic ghetto of Detroit.

Source: GameBanshee

Monday - August 30, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Previews

by Aries100, 17:01

G4TV has made a preview for this game, based on what they saw at GamesCom. An excerpt about the conversation system:

Throughout the conversation, you have to option to use the guard’s depression against him, or assuage his guilt and show him that whatever happened wasn’t his fault. This encounter was relatively easy to navigate, so there was no need to use social augmentations like charm or one that lets you scan your subject’s pupils to get a read on whether they are lying or not, giving you a strategic advantage in the conversation. We chose the “nice” path, which led to the guard happily giving us access to the station. And since we talked our way in, we were free to investigate the entire building (talk to people, use computers to access files, etc.). For the sake of time, we proceeded down to the morgue, got the chip, and calmly and quietly exited the front door without issue.

Digital Spy and GameOn also have previews for this game.

Source: GameBanshee

Sunday - August 29, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Preview and Interview

by Aries100, 08:57

There's a preview for this game over at Now Gamer.

Lead character Adam Jensen is a mechanically-augmented chap (with nice sunglasses), and as such can be upgraded. We’ve been informed about things like the ‘bungie’ aug, that helps players descend from a height safely and land silently (or just land on an enemy if they so choose/aim). Then there’s the ‘claymore’, which sends out explosives in a 360-degree radius for those who think stealth is overrated and pointless. But for those who do still appreciate subtlety there are augs like a cloaking device and X-ray vision – ideal for knowing where your enemies are at all times

Then there's an interview with Lead Designer Jean-Francois Dugas at IGN AU. Here's an interesting answer to a question about focus-testing:

IGN AU: Focus testing can be a dangerous practice in game design these days. Gamers might know what they enjoy – but that might not necessarily make for a cohesive game design. What's your take?

Jean-Francois Dugas:
The good thing is that we're very stubborn. [laughs] So, we listen – we consider a lot of things – but there are subjects that, when we make decisions, we know why we're making them; there's reasoning behind it and we're fully dedicated to that. Some might not understand those things or some other people in the industry might disagree, but this is what we believe and we move forward.

Source: GameBanshee

Saturday - August 28, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Preview @ Gameon

by Dhruin, 22:00

This Deus Ex: HR preview at Gameon covers the three-paths-demo seen by a lot of sites at GamesCom but the detail in the piece is quite good:

The final playthrough was an entirely stealth based option, with Jensen having to infiltrate the building without being seen or detected. This would mean having to sneak past the police officers, laser grids and cameras: a difficult but viable choice. Choosing to explore a side alleyway by stacking a series of crates next to a fence and leaping over, revealed a number of possible routes into the building. Both the sewer system and the roof would provide access, but Jensen chose to use a doorway on the first floor. Using a hacking augmentation on the locked entrance initiated a mini-game where Jensen had to hack the computer mainframe without being detected. The game seemed surprisingly complex, and was oddly reminiscent of a scaled down defence grid game mechanic.

Once this was cleared things became quite tense as Jensen had to make his way through the patrolling guards. Here the X-ray vision mode worked really well, allowing each guard's route to be mapped out in advance. Using a cloak augmentation allowed him to slip past some of the more difficult sections, including a bustling office. However, the developers emphasised that this was a very energy consuming option, meaning it could only be employed in short bursts. Reaching the basement of the police station, a laser grid presented an impassable obstacle which could only be deactivated when an officer walked nearby. Sneaking up behind him, Jensen silently incapacitated him before dragging his body close the laser grid to deactivate it. This allowed him access to the morgue and the data chip.

Thursday - August 26, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Interviews @ CVG, IGN

by Dhruin, 20:59

Here's a couple of Deus Ex: HR interviews spotted by Omega.  CVG has a short article with Game Director Jean Francois Dugas:

What defines Deus Ex?

Choice and consequence, cyberpunk, and augmentation. Choice and consequence are central to all level aspects of the game where the choices you make have a huge impact on what is going to happen to you. But also on the story level where the characters you meet and what you're going to decide affects the story too.

We have a point in the game where you go into a police station to find a brain chip. You can sneak your way in or you can meet an old colleague and try to convince them to let you get in. If you succeed in convincing him, he might go, "Jensen, I'll lose my job."

If you succeed, he's going to come back with a story to tell. Those kinds of things come back over and over again in the game. It's never a binary choice on screen - you just do what you think is right in the circumstances.

...and IGN AU chats with the game's director, Jean-Francois Dugas and Producer David Anfossi.  This one actually asks some new questions and is worth a read:

IGN AU: The first game allowed you to complete it without killing anyone. Is that still possible in Human Revolution?

Jean-Francois Dugas:
Yes – minus the boss fights.

IGN AU: Minus the boss fights? But if you've been honing your sneak skills the whole time, won't you be at a combat disadvantage during these encounters? How do you balance that?

Jean-Francois Dugas:
We don't penalize the players. You don't need a specific augmentation or gun for the job; obviously if you're the kind of guy who runs around with a pistol and a few bullets, you're going to find it less interesting [laughs], but in the levels, we're still making sure you have the economy in place so that you can figure out how to deal with that. And we build the levels in such a way that, if you have this or that augmentation, it can be helpful – but it's not mandatory, and it doesn't make the boss fight hellish or whatnot.

We're making sure that players – with their own playing style and the choices they make – aren't penalized for those choke-point moments.

Monday - August 23, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Interview @ MEGamers

by Dhruin, 21:25

A site called Middle East Gamers has an interview with Deus Ex: HR lead designer Jean-Francois Dugas:

How will Human Revolution differ from the previous two titles – treatment, story and gameplay wise?

The first game was definitely our inspiration, more so than Invisible War, so on that note, we are going back to an inventory system similar to Deus Ex 1 and getting rid of universal ammo which Invisible War had. In terms of level design and technology, the levels will be similar in size to the first game, with significantly less load times than Invisible War.

But at the same time, it is important that we bring something new to the table, whether it be artistically, storywise, or in terms of gameplay. One of the bigger differences fans will notice right away is that, since Human Revolution is a prequel, we’re focusing on visible mechanical augmentations, rather than nano-augs. In the first two games, due to the nature of nano augmentations, you really couldn’t see your character change as you upgraded them, but with mechanical augmentations you will visually see the modifications that you make, and with our contextual third-person camera, during combat you will really get to see some of your more brutal augmentations in action.

Beyond that, as mentioned previously, we’re coming up with some new gameplay possibilities, reinforcing the choice and consequence aspect, and introducing a brand new cast of characters and storylines that will expand the Deus Ex 3 experience for a new generation of gamers and old fans alike.

Source: Evil Avatar

Friday - August 20, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Gameplay Options Preview @ 1Up

by Dhruin, 12:24

1Up has a Deus Ex: HR preview that takes a leaf out of the Alpha Protocol playbook by describing the same segment played in three different ways.  Combat, "communication skills" and dialogue are all demostrated as viable solutions to the same quest:

The demo we saw was actually shown to us three different times -- it's the same exact scenario, just played through with entirely different approaches. Here's the setup: about 90 minutes into the game, you're given the task of infiltrating the morgue at a police headquarters to retrieve a chip embedded in a dead terrorist's head. This terrorist is part of a group against transhumanism (people augmented with cybernetics, which is the product Sarif Industries, your in-game employer). But here's the catch: the terrorist himself has cybernetic implants. So he must be some sort of plant within the terrorist organization -- but a plant by who? The government? You're on a mission to find out, which is why it's imperative you get access to the morgue and get that chip.

Thursday - August 19, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - DLC, Screens

Friday - August 13, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - In-Game Footage

by Dhruin, 23:30

The first official in-game footage for Deus Ex: HR has been released - check it out at Rock, Paper, Shotgun.

Thursday - August 12, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Preview @ Play.tm

by Myrthos, 13:06

Play.tm takes a look at Deus Ex: Human Revolution based on some actual playtime.

Putting his marketing hat on, Seb explains that the publishers put the game forward to retailers as "the world of Blade Runner as the action of the Matrix", but he doesn't need to tell me that there's far more to the game than that. Human Revolutions clearly has the potential to live up to the legacy of its predecessor, and it has a shine, polish and atmosphere that make it exciting just to watch. But Human Revolution needs to be challenging and have substance in the play as well as the style, and it's far too early to start proclaiming this as the one to watch for 2011.

But when you consider that I haven't even gone into the renaissance aspects of the style, the inner workings of the story, the depth of the RPG mechanics, and an entire side of the gameplay not shown today by Seb, namely the hacking, then there are more than enough reasons to be positive about Human Revolutions. Then again, expectations are already astronomical following the E3 trailer. If Eidos Montreal can live up to them when the game releases next year, it will truly be something special.

Thanks Omega.

Tuesday - August 10, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - 10 Questions, Screens and even more Questions

by Myrthos, 19:21

Omega has gathered some Deus Ex news from various sources for your reading pleasure; At Gamerzines they've collected a list of 10 things you need to know about Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

- Adam Jensen is cooler than JC Denton

No doubt fans of the original will be livid that we've dared to mention that Jensen is superior to Denton, but hear us out. The new guy has retractable blades from his arms, the ability to disable foes even if they are behind solid brick walls, as well as the knowledge and experience required to deal with any foe. As an agent of the successful human augmentation conglomerate Serif Industries, he's tasked with investigating a recent attack on the company's HQ which not only caused many scientists to lose their lives, but also placed Jensen in critical condition forcing his employer to save his life via drastic augmentations.

Some new screens are to be found at various places, like at Aggrogamer.

And if you ever wanted to ask a question to Eidos about Deus Ex: Human Revolution, you can do so at PCFormat.

Thursday - August 05, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Preview @ RPS

by Dhruin, 21:05

Rock, Paper, Shotgun has a good preview of Deus Ex: HR, written by Quinton Smith who saw a demo at a recent UK press event:

In short, I think they’ve got the mechanics of the original Deus Ex down pat. The presentation began with Eidos Montreal’s Marketing & Communications Director, Sebastien Bisch, talking about the “four pillars of gameplay” the team had identified- combat, stealth, social and hacking. Which might set alarm bells ringing in your head, but sure enough, you can see all four come together to create the exact same level design you’d expect to see in Deus Ex.

The Shanghai level he showed was a pleasant, circular slice of a city with a selection of side quests. The docks level was an open-ended level containing guards, cameras, computer terminals, overheard conversations and multiple entrances to each building. With the exception of the new cover system, context-sensitive takedowns, the pretty visuals and the lack of an inventory, it could have been Deus Ex.

Everything is here, from the keypads, to ventilation shafts, to playing through the game using nonlethal means, to using stacked boxes to create steps. The dialogue seems pleasingly pacy and adult, and there’s a consistent competence in the voice acting that this series has never had (mixed with the contrived overhead conversations it always had- “Damn! I lost my datapad with the entrance code to this door on it again! oooh I am so clumsy.”)

...and new screens and art here.

Tuesday - July 27, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Preview @ CVG

by Dhruin, 22:57

Omega points out this Deus Ex: HR preview at CVG, re-posted from Xbox World magazine.  It covers known material but serves as a good catch-up:

Find an informer and pump him for the location of a secret entrance? Yes, that certainly sounds promising. What about getting insanely tooled up and swanning in all-guns blazing? We like your style. Swim in via the sewers? Eurgh, frankly. Hack into the mainframe, get all those turret bots on your side while opening up all the doors? Now you're really talking. Human Revolution's scenarios are never quite as cut and-dried as that though, and mostly you'll need to combine all Adam's natural and bolted-on talents to make any headway in the game.

Admittedly, none of this sounds what you'd call cutting edge - but it's the way in which Eidos Montreal are going about their business that demands attention. There's a level of sheen here - from the seamless switching between first and third-person during gunplay or stealthy bits, to the impressive assortment of techy augmentations Jensen can utilise to, er... make his point.

Monday - July 26, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Interview @ Gamasutra

by Dhruin, 22:58

Deus Ex 3 director Jean-Francois Dugas and producer David Anfossi have spoken with Gamasutra about the challenges in making this type of game:

A lot of first-person games have become more directed and scripted, more about spectacle, in the last several years. Games in the Deus Ex style are not very common these days. What kind of experience have your designers had? Did it seem like they had to readjust their level design mentality for this?

JFD: A little bit. A lot of games we worked on in the past, and for a lot of other developers too, you're used to thinking that every single bit that you build, players need to see, because it's so expensive to be making a game. I will spend three months on something, but if a player doesn't see it -- "Oh my God, we cannot do that. We can't afford this."

But Deus Ex is all about the things you might miss. At first, to be honest, it was hard to convince the team and say, "Yeah, you're building this," because they'd say, "Yeah, but the player might not see it." It's not about that.

What it's about is the consequence of choice, letting them play the fantasy the way they want, letting them explore the maps and find creative ways to achieve their objectives.

This is the heart of the experience. At some point, everybody got on board with it, but at first it was tough to get all the people on properly, because they are not used to making that kind of game.

As for the more, like you said, spectacular aspects, I think by making great systems, like cool augmentations to use and having great enemies, it's going to give you those "wow" moments that make you think, "Oh my God -- this just worked into that, and it was really awesome," while keeping the spirit of multiple pathways and solutions alive. We're trying to balance it out -- keeping what Deus Ex is and bringing in a new generation of gamers.

Tuesday - July 20, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - February Release?

by Dhruin, 22:08

VG247 thinks February might be the release goal for DX: HR, after Steam put up the date for preorders.  It says "March" for me but that might be a regional thing.  A bit nebulous but it matches the early 2011 expectations.

Thanks, Omega.

Wednesday - July 14, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Interview @ VG247

by Dhruin, 00:11

Deus Ex: HR Producer David Anfossi has been interviewed at VG247.  Here's a snip:

Deus Ex was – at least, initially – a PC exclusive. Is Deus Ex: Human Revolution a PC-targeted experience? Is PC development front-and-center for HR? What’s your primary dev platform? (Thanks, Keenan)

The experience will be the same on PS3, Xbox 360, and PC. The same mechanics – everything is the same.

I used to work on previous games where we had lead platforms, and when we were close to the release date, we had to do a port. And believe me, you don’t want to do that. For Deus Ex, we decided to work on all platforms parallel to give players the same experience.

You’ve got your shooter side and your RPG side. How do you make sure the two don’t end up stepping on each other’s cybernetically-enhanced toes? Is this going to be one of those games were a headshot can hit someone dead-on, yet the game still considers it a “miss”?

We cannot be a Gears of War on the gun side, or a Sam Fisher on the stealth, or an [inaudible] on the RPG. We have to deal with all these mechanics in the same game, so what we tried to do is work as a whole so that the player is able to do what he wants to do when [he wants to do it].

Usually, people say we’re a competitor to Mass Effect and Fallout and that kind of game. This is about action-RPG, and so that’s true. We’re in the same category. But if you look at Mass Effect, which is a space opera  with an action component, and it’s a great game. But there are things that are in Mass Effect that are not in Fallout and vice versa. So every game has its specific things – specific mechanics. In terms of visuals, this is also very different. Every game has a signature.

Spotted by Omega.

Tuesday - July 13, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Book Announced

by Dhruin, 23:25

We received this PR announcing a book tie-in for DX:HR titled Deus Ex: The Icarus Effect.

DEL REY BOOKS ANNOUNCES NOVEL BASED ON THE DEUS EX® VIDEO GAME SERIES


NEW YORK, NY – July 13, 2010 – Del Rey, an imprint of Ballantine Books at the Random House Publishing Group, announced today that Del Rey Books will publish a novel based on the Deus Ex® video game series. DEUS EX: THE ICARUS EFFECT will be written by author James Swallow and will release in 2011.

DEUS EX: THE ICARUS EFFECT
is set in the complex and enthralling world of Deus Ex, a cyberpunk-style technological dystopia where all is not what it seems. In the not-so-distant future, the world is a place of great innovation and technological advancement... but also a place of chaos and conspiracy. New technologies push the limits of human potential, even while they threaten the very future of the world. And from the shadows, dark and secret powers are coming together to take control, intent on designs so large, so intricate, they will take decades to come to fruition. But when two unlikely heroes—Anna Kelso, a Secret Service agent, and Ben Saxon, a special-ops soldier—draw uncomfortably close to the truth, the choices they make here and now will alter the course of history... or usher in an age of darkness.

“We’re really pleased to be able to announce this new DEUS EX novel with Del Rey books,” said Andre Vu, Marketing Game Manager, Deus Ex. “The novel is set in the DEUS EX universe and there will be characters and story elements in it, that will overlap with our next videogame DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION, which we hope fans will be very excited about.”

DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION
the game has recently been unveiled at E3 2010 in Los Angeles, where the game received over 25 award nominations from gaming media from around the world, securing 13 awards at the show.

DEUS EX: THE ICARUS EFFECT will release in North America and Europe in 2011, the book will also be available in many other countries around the world please keep an eye on the Official Deus Ex: Human Revolution website for further details.

Monday - July 12, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Everything Old Is New Again @ IGN

by Dhruin, 22:46

Everything Old Is New Again is the title of a DX:HR preview at IGN, broken down into different sections.  Here's a bit on "flexible, deep gameplay":

Eavesdropping for hints now plays a larger part in determining the path you take through an area. Solutions are less overt than your typical shooter from what we've seen; you actually need to exercise some investigatory skills if you want to gain the most insight into a given situation. Sometimes simply listening to a conversation between two characters can net you passwords or drop hints about secret areas that you'd otherwise not have known about.

The conversation tree is just as flexible; it's akin to Mass Effect's radial dialogue system, where certain options are more aggressive than others – and depending on your tone, the path of the discourse will change dramatically. Again, if you're flippant and don't read into the other character's subtle body language, you'll end up offending them or missing out on key information completely. Of course, if you push a little harder and press for information, you may just intimidate some key facts out of them, rather than simply getting shut down. It's a risk versus reward system applied to conversations and we love it.

Thanks, Omega!

Thursday - July 08, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - First Looks @ GamesRadar

by Myrthos, 19:40

Omega points out an article from GamesRadar about Deus Ex: Human Revolution covering several elements of the game.

Too much time has gone by and, just like Valve might find out when Episode 3 (or Half-Life 3 even) finally sees the light of day, delays and water under the bridge breed unrealistic expectations. Nobody in their right mind would predict Human Revolution as having anything akin to the quality of the original, but maybe it’s time to let go a bit and look upon this game as more than just a sequel to a revered game and more as a title that will be standing on its own merits.

Wednesday - July 07, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Social Paths @ Silicon Era

by Dhruin, 22:23

Silicon Era reports on the social or diplomatic opportunities in Deus Ex: Human Revolution.  You'll have to excuse the poor English but here's an example (light spoilers):

Dugas gave an example of the social mechanics can by detailing an unseen part of Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution has a mission set in Detroit where Adam needs to go into a police station to recover information. Adam can fight his way in or sneaking in through the roof or sewers. If you want to take a non-violent route, Adam can walk through the main lobby and talk to the desk sergeant. “By talking to him you’ll discover there is a background story between your character and his character,” Dugas highlighted. “If you try to convince him to go inside he says ‘I’ll lose my job’, that type of thing. If you pursue that route and win you can access the entire police station.” Pick this path and you won’t have to resort to stealth or fighting.

Later on in the game, Adam may run into the desk sergeant again in civilian clothes. After letting Adam into the building he lost his job and is upset with Adam. Again, you’re not forced to fight. You can try to calm down the enraged desk sergeant with words.

Monday - July 05, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Preview @ Associated Content

by Dhruin, 20:53

A general preview of Deus Ex: Human Revolution is up at AssociatedContent, recapping the info from E3:

As with the other Deus Ex games dialogue in Deus Ex: Human Revolution will play an important role in the gameplay. Users will have to choose from several dialogue options and talk to certain individuals in order to obtain important information. In Deus Ex: Human Revolution it also pays to listen in on the conversations of other individuals as some of the time this information can be used later in the game. An interesting aspect of Deus Ex: Human Revolution compared to its predecessors is that you hacking will be done in real time. You won't enter a new window when you hack, so in Deus Ex: Human Revolution you will have to concentrate on hacking all the while looking around and keeping an eye out for guards.

Saturday - July 03, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Video Interview and More Previews

by Aries100, 17:14

Games Axis Online has been to a press event featuring this game held by Eidos Montreal.
The result is a video interview with JeanFrancois Dugas, Stephane D'Astous and Mary DeMarle. They talk about the story, the augmentations used in the game and much much more.

In similar news more written previews for this game can be found at Gamernode, GameFocus and Original Gamer. 

Source: GameBanshee

Tuesday - June 29, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Preview Round Up # 3

by Aries100, 16:25

Some more previews for this game have seen the light of day - after the event that was E3 2010. I'll list one of them and  mention the others.

The preview I'll list is from Strategy Informer and here's the quote:

There’s not much to mention about the stealth – it’s pretty traditional first person stealth gameplay, and the same can be said of the shooting, which looked like competent first-person action mixed with third-person perspective stuff when you head into cover. All of this is augmented with cool powers, abilities and weapon mods that characterise the Deus Ex universe.

Previews can also be found at Worthplaying, New Game Network, 411 Mania, Fragland and GameXplain

Source: GameBanshee

Sunday - June 27, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Preview Roundup # 2

by Aries100, 16:22

More previews for Deus Ex: Human Revolutions have surfaced.  I'll list the one from Siliconera and mention the others. The game seems to be all about choice as you can choose from stealth, social, combat and hacking when you play the game:

The first one I saw was “social.” Six hours into the game, Adam was searching for a hacker in Shanghai, which was bustling with digital people. You could hear chatter fade in and fade out as Adam walked by. Adam can talk to non player characters to get sidequests and startle them by pulling out his gun. This was demonstrated to show how people react to Adam.

 But, there wasn’t time to stick up pedestrians for fun. There was a hacker to find and Tong, who hung out in a gritty nightclub called The Hive, may know his whereabouts. A bouncer blocked the entrance and demanded Adam slip him some cash to get in. DeMarle explained Adam’s choices: scoping out a sewer path (stealth), shooting the bouncer (combat) or simply paying him off. In my demo, Adam handed the bouncer money and entered the club.

Previews can also be found at The PlayStation Blog and at Big Download.

Source: GameBanshee

Thursday - June 24, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Preview Roundup

by Dhruin, 21:07

Here's a small collection of Deus Ex: HR articles spotted by Omega.  I'll take one quote and line list the others.

Shacknews moves between describing the demo they saw and a little commentary.  On the four pillars of gameplay:

"The four pillars [of Deux Ex] were really important to us and we kept them--combat, stealth, hacking and social--it's totally there and the game is highly concentrated around that. Just like in the first one, you're not obligated to play one style or another," he explained. "It is just really up to the player to either choose one style of gameplay or oscillate between the different gameplay styles."

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Preview @ Kotaku

by Aries100, 15:26

Kotaku has posted a preview of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Here's a snip:

The game looked slick already, but because it is a game about choices and complexity, it is hard to assess at an E3. The mechanics look sound. The graphics look nice. The systems are in place for gamers to play Human Revolution the way they want to. But does it come together well? We need more time with it to tell

There's also a 13 minute video interview that Joystiq made during last week's E3. 

Tuesday - June 22, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Preview @ GamingTrend

by Dhruin, 22:56

This E3 preview of Deus Ex: HR at GamingTrend is a few days old but has some reasonable detail:

Our demonstration skips forward to show some more elements of the game.  Using a second suit called a Commando suit (it looks not unlike a nano suit), we dash from cover to cover avoiding cameras and soldiers alike.  Seeing that the front gate is heavily guarded, we used our strength augments to move some nearby crates, allowing us to sneak around the fence.  Using that same augment, we stack a box next to a security shed.  Jumping into the skylight, we step in behind a soldier manning a computer and put our hidden sword through his spine.  Taking control of the computer, we turn off the nearby cameras.  Other options were taking control of turrets and opening otherwise sealed doors, but we’ll have to wait to see those in action, as well as the hacking mechanic – neither were ready for prime time quite yet.  Sneaking out of the back of the building we spear another soldier to a nearby box with a crossbow bolt to the skull.  Closing distance on another soldier, we cut him to ribbons with a rapid takedown.  Jonathan explains that these takedowns are completely contextual and that none of them are pre-determined.  Two nearby guards were carrying on a conversation, unaware of what we’d done to their comrades.  Jumping directly in between them, we dispatch them both simultaneously and silently.  Going a little louder, we use an augment to see through a concrete wall.  A soldier resting against this wall got a surprise as we used our strength augment to punch through the concrete, twisting his head like it was made of bundled paper.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Interviews @ PC Gamer

by Aries100, 17:21

PC Gamer has been having a Deus Ex Week which has seen a retrospective on Deus Ex, a screenshot analysis and 3 interviews with developers. Here's Lead Writer Mary DeMerle about the conversation system:

PCG: It’s interesting that you pick up on that, because one of the things that surprised me watching the demonstration was that the guy failed the conversation. And I know Deus Ex had moments like that, where you could fail to get what you wanted, but it’s very rare in games for a social path to be closed by you saying the wrong thing. Even in BioWare games, you get a good ending and a bad ending, but it’s not a dead end. So is that a conscious focus for the game?

DeMerle: Well, certainly in the conversation gameplay. So we have different types of conversations in the game. The one we were showing you there was the conversation gameplay, which has that gameplay component about it. So yes, it was very much a decision that you could fail the conversations. I actually would like to see a lot more of that kind of thing, because I feel that it was such a strong moment for me in Deus Ex to know that my path got closed because of my decision.

I actually don’t like it in a lot of roleplaying games where you get these choices and then it’s like, “Okay well, I followed that path. Let’s go back and do the other thing,” and then you get all the information. To me, that’s fake: it’s not what a real dialogue is like. And so I like moments in the writing of our story where we can do that. Where we can say, “You’ve got to choose this or this.”

There's also interviews with Art Director Jacques Belletete and Game Director
Jean-Francois Degas.

Monday - June 21, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - E3 Preview @ Giant Bomb

by Aries100, 15:45

Giant Bomb has posted their impressions of the demo for Deus Ex: Human Revolution given by Square Enix at E3. The demo was also shown in a closed off area, available only to accredited game journalists. Here's an small part from the preview:

From the looks of the demo, it's a safe bet the story-related scenarios at least will give you the freedom to define your play style. When confronted with a surly bouncer who wasn't too excited about letting Jensen enter the club, the demo's driver went through a simple-looking menu-based dialog tree to talk his way past the front door. The conversation system doesn't look quite as elaborate here as the ones in games like Alpha Protocol and Mass Effect have recently, but each option does carry a label dictating how aggressive or focused on the topic at hand it is. Of course, afterward I was told it would have been a perfectly valid option to just shoot the guy and storm into the place, too.

There's also previews at GamerLimit and GameZenith

Source: GameBanshee

Wednesday - June 16, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - E3 Preview @ GameSpot

by Dhruin, 21:37

GameSpot has kicked up some Deus Ex: HR impressions from E3, in the form of a walkthrough of the demo:

The second half of the demo focused on pure action. In it, Adam makes his way around a dock cluttered with shipping crates, slipping from cover spot to cover spot to avoid detection. This is where augmentations come in handy. For example, because the player has given Adam the strength augmentation, he is able to move some heavy boxes out of the way and reveal a path that would have otherwise been unavailable. Once through this opening, Adam plunges a sharp weapon through a guard's midsection in another disgusting-looking takedown move. According to DeMarle, takedowns are always contextual and not scripted, so the takedown you perform conforms to the circumstance.

This is also an opportunity to post some DX:HR stuff Omega sent in a couple of days ago.  First, there's some politcal commentary built into the game with a screenshot showing a "Wanted" poster for George Bush, accused of mass murder.  Second, PC Gamer has a quote on Deus Ex: Invisible War being too futuristic to resonate:

“It was more futuristic and less grounded in a reality that we can relate to. I’m not talking about universal ammo – that’s a whole different debate – it’s more about the broader appeal. In the first Deus Ex you have an identity already clear in your head. You’re a super-soldier, you work for UNATCO, a branch of the UN. It’s the near future, and you immediately see the Statue of Liberty with its head on the ground. There’s something strong that you can relate to, that Invisible War lacked.”

“We don’t have universal ammo,” Dugas laughs.

Thursday - June 10, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Preview @ IGN

by Dhruin, 21:15

Saying the demo "looked great", IGN has a preview of DX:HR, describing the demo they saw blow-by-blow:

As the action begins, Jensen is high up in a gritty apartment complex. He moves out into the streets draped in Blade Runner-esque neon lighting and packed with large, overlapping animated advertisements. Eidos Montreal created over 100 fake brands and logos to make this world feel real, something you can really feel the effects of when blasted with walls of fictional advertisements like this. It's a world stuffed with detail, one that feels worn and lived-in. Curious onlookers peer from windows high above at Jensen as he passes. Steam drifts lazily up from a window-mounted air conditioning unit into the misty air. Bike racks and trash cans line the streets as non-player characters chatter and move between vendor stands selling vegetables under the green and gold glow of the billboard ads. As you might expect, should Jensen pull out a silenced pistol and point it at an NPC, they react with fright, gulping in surprise. Eidos Montreal says you can talk to every NPC in the game, which should be good news for patient players who like to take their time and explore every part of a game world.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Eurogamer Roundup

by Dhruin, 21:01

Eurogamer has apparently been given "unprecedented access" to Deus Ex: HR, with three new articles resulting.  First, a standard preview:

And that - somewhat early on in what will be a glowing preview of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, by the way - is the message I want to convey. This is, recognisably and joyfully, a true Deus Ex game - we can stop worrying and start tentative negotiation with the hype train.

When you see the game in motion you find yourself breathing sigh of relief after sigh of relief at the tiniest of things - from the way the screen looks after you've hacked a computer and are fiddling with security feeds, to the way a strength augmentation will let you pick up boxes that are in your path.

Sure, a 20-minute preview presentation of the nerfed and agoraphobic Deus Ex: Invisible War may well have featured box movement and correctly represented CCTV too - but with DX3 you can't escape the feeling that Eidos Montreal knows what made the original such a classic, and the follow-up a disappointment in comparison.

He isn't kidding when he says it's a "glowing" preview, by the way.  Next, in Fan Service, Eurogamer asks several devs about the inclusion of specific features from DX1.  Here's Narrative Designer Mary De Marle:

On being able to kill main characters...

"We definitely wanted to create a story that, despite at heart being a linear story, had key moments in it where the decisions you make can cause characters to disappear from the storyline. Or, can enable them to come back later. We very much want to have that, just as Deus Ex 1 did. So we have those instances in the game."

Finally, they have an interview with lead designer Jean-François Dugas:

Eurogamer: In terms of how it all works, such an important part of Deus Ex is the experimental nature of the gameplay. How open will the action be?

Jean-François Dugas: All missions have multi-path solutions. It's not once in a while - it's all of them. We also have a lot of areas that are more open, like Detroit or Heng Sha streets - in the demo your saw today we went round two corners. It's much, much bigger than that.

Eurogamer: How much bigger? Give me numbers and statistics.

Jean-François Dugas: Big enough to lose yourself. It's not Fallout big, don't get me wrong, but there are a lot of streets, back alleys, rooftops, building interiors, sewers, conduits... There's a lot to explore.

In terms of how the game is open, and the experience of playing the game, one example I can give is in Detroit. It's early on in the game and as ever you have objectives: when you've done A you can move on to B and C.

The thing is while you're doing A you can come across something, and can hack it and shut it down. If you do that then right away one of your colleagues will call you and ask, "Jensen, what did you just do?" You say: "I don't know. There was this switch and I shut it off."

But as you progress and do the other objectives it becomes clear that what you've already switched off is actually the final objective for the map - only you did it at the start. So basically we support players that maybe go left when they're meant to go right, when it makes sense, as much as we can.

Away from Eurogamer, IGN's Video Rewind feature dissects the recent E3 trailer for those interested.

Thanks, Omega!

Wednesday - June 09, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Advertising Outside E3

by Dhruin, 11:44

A bit of a minor item but Silicon Era points out Square Enix seems to be putting faith in Deus Ex: Human Revolution as a major blockbuster, taking out large outdoor advertising banners outside E3 for the game.  Thanks, Omega.

Tuesday - June 08, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - First In-Game Screens

by Dhruin, 22:05

Ah, we're finally getting past the CGI to actual in-game shots.  A site called Scrawl has nine real screens - thanks, Omega.

Friday - June 04, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - E3 Trailer, Interviews

by Dhruin, 21:20

The full E3 trailer teased a while back has been released, with three minutes of CGI footage.  I normally skip CGI stuff but I found this fairly compelling - have a look via RPS.

There are also interviews (about the trailer) at CVG and Eurogamer.  Here's a snip from the latter:

Eurogamer: The combat looks stylish and frantic - can you talk a little about the encounters we're seeing there and how else they might look based on player choice?

Jean-Francois Dugas: On top of first-person shooting with a variety of weapons and upgrades, Deus Ex: Human Revolution features aggressive takedowns where the camera pulls back from first- to third-person in order to see the damage done.

We have tons of different takedowns, from lethal to non-lethal, and the outcome changes depending on what angle, or how many, of enemies you are attacking, in addition to the various levels of upgrades.

In the first two games, due to the nature of nano augmentations, you really couldn't see your character change as you upgraded them, but with our mechanical augmentations, and with our contextual third person camera, during combat you will really get to see some of your more brutal augmentations in action.

Thursday - June 03, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Interview @ NowGamer

by Dhruin, 22:53

Deus Ex: Human Revolutions Game Director Jean-Francois Dugas has been interviewed at NowGamer.  Here's a good snip, even though the author needs an RPG history lesson:

The original Deus Ex pioneered many features that have since become staple in the FPS genre, such as morality, choice, RPG elements and a detailed plot. Will Human Revolution deliver the same degree of invention and innovation?

Choice and consequence is at the heart of the Deus Ex 3 experience. So, yes, we want players to make choices that will affect some outcomes (story-wise and gameplay-wise). Like the first game, our game world is designed around a multi-path, multi-solution approach so any objective can be approached in different ways. Whether you like action, stealth, hacking, or social, you can complete objectives in different ways.

Open-ended gameplay allows the player to take advantage of multipath/multi-solutions to accomplish their objectives and explore the game world for side quests, hidden treasures, etc. Some RPG dialogs will be mandatory but most will be available to players in an optional form. Obviously there are benefits from a story and gameplay standpoint to talk to other characters but it’s not forced. If your play style is more centered on shooting, then so be it.

Tuesday - June 01, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Screens @ CVG

by Dhruin, 20:43

CVG has four Deus Ex: Human Revolution screens, courtesy of their stable mag PC Gamer UK.  Apparently they'll have a new trailer and a big preview later this week.

Thursday - May 13, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - The Rebirth @ Gamepro

by Dhruin, 21:07

Gamepro talks to Deus Ex: Human Revolution Art Director Jonathan Jacques-Belletete about the art direction and his application of the Icarus myth:

During his preliminary research for Human Revolution, Jacques-Belletête grew fascinated by the myth of Icarus. This popular tale from Greek legend has been used before in games such as God of War-Kratos steals Icarus's famed wings and uses them throughout his quest-and, most famously, the NES classic Kid Icarus. It also plays a small role in the original Deus Ex  as well, serving as the name of a highly sophisticated artificial-intelligence program. But Jacques-Belletête saw a tremendous amount of potential in this well-known myth because it tied in so well with one of the game's core concepts: transhumanism, which Wikipedia defines as "the use of science and technology to improve human mental and physical characteristics and capacities."

Saturday - May 08, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Silicon Era Series Wrap

by Dhruin, 22:24

The Deus Ex: Human Revolution interview series at Siliconera has wrapped up. Here's an important snip from the last bit:

You mentioned choices, and choices were a key element in Deus Ex 1. What kind of choices is Adam (the main character) going to face?

Ahh… that’s a really good question. Wow. A lot of things, a lot of things. Obviously, the gameplay elements of the player deciding what they want to do and how they want to play the game. Without getting into any details, there are a couple points in the game where Adam is faced with like an increasing level of importance based on his choices. Towards the end of the game the player or Adam has to make choices that might affect, you know, stuff at the humanity level and things like that. It’s entangled with the story and all of that kind of stuff so I’m not going to say anything specific.

Adam has a personal take in the story. There is something, based on choices, there is something he wants to make sure will never happen again. And also there are all of those things with the conspiracy and everything that ends up with Adam, the player, making very, very important choices.

Thanks again to Omega.

Friday - May 07, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Interview Series @ Siliconera

by Dhruin, 21:15

Siliconera is celebrating Golden Week (Google it - I had to) with a series of Deus Ex: Human Revolutions interview snippets with Art Director Jonathan Jacques Belletete. First, they talk about the connection to the original (and, oddly, hiring consultants to identify the core of its success):

It’s interesting that you say point out it is a shooter. I remember the first game had choices like diplomacy and hacking… will Human Revolution have those choices?

Big time. One of the things I say all of the time is there are aspects, very import aspects, of Deus Ex 1 that we identified straight from the get go. We even had an exterior firm also kind of do a study of those things for us, making sure we identified really what those the core elements, that made spirit, like the soul of the first one, what they were. We said, these things we’re not touching them. These things we bring them back into Deus Ex 3 and then we give it our own texture around it.

So, all of that freedom of choice, you know, is there. All of that I just want to go through the entire game without killing is there. Or if you really want to be the last man on Earth you can do this. If you like stealthing more than using weapons, if you want to hack through things, and just like the first one the level design is really built around those choices. Yeah, it works well. The comments that we had were this really feels like Deus Ex 1.

Next, they ask if players will see familiar characters from the first game, then on to the colour palette theme of black and gold and, finally, stylised characters with Final Fantasy hair:

And yeah, it’s Square Enix, and as a huge fan, they are the best in CGI. They are always the top of the top. They have specific techniques that they do that I wanted, like the hair. If you look at Adam’s hair, yeah it’s Final Fantasy hair. I’m not going to deny it. I’m going to tell you, that’s what I wanted. I’m like don’t try to do any other types of hair. You are the best at it, it’s stylized, and that’s what I want Adam to have. The haircut is the haircut he has in the game, it’s the haircut we designed. So be it, man.

Thanks, Omega!

Monday - March 29, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Previews @ 1Up, GameDaily

by Dhruin, 08:09

Here are a couple of Deus Ex: Human Revolution previews from GDC.  First, 1Up has comments from Art Director Jonathan Jacques-Belletete about "nonlethal walkthroughs, robots, and secret real-world islands":

In a quick chat with DE: HR art director Jonathan Jacques-Belletete, when asked if one could finish the game without killing anybody (the actual form of the question, for context, was, "does [DE: HR protagonist] Adam Jensen believe in nonlethal takedowns?"), he answered, "Adam doesn't believe in nonlethal methods if the player doesn't believe in nonlethal methods. But if the player believes in not killing anybody, then you can finish the game without killing anybody. It's just like the first one -- except that we have the boss fights."

Thanks to Omega for that one.  Here's one from GameDaily, via Bluesnews:

If there's anything that thrusts the game forward, it's the augmentation system. Here, you'll be able to use alterations to help you move on in the story, fighting against enemies (or, in some cases, passing them by) and changing things as you go. There are four types in all: Combat, Stealth, Technology and Social. How you use these augmentations is completely up to you, and they can totally change how you play the game. You'd be surprised how quickly you change from angry mercenary to non-combative strategist with only a few variations. The camera perspective can also shift from the traditional first to third-person, depending on what you're using at the time.

Wednesday - March 24, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Art Direction Explained @ Atomic Gamer

by Aries100, 19:26

A speech on this subject was given by Jonathan Jacques Bellette, Art Director for Deus Ex: Human Revolution, during the latest GDC. Here's an excerpt:

The game's concept and its art stand for both the potential and the danger involved in human augmentation and as such, blends beauty and unseemliness in almost equal measure. The characters in Human Revolution were the first big challenge, especially the main character, Adam Jensen. His two mechanical arms cry out to be seen, but creating a sleeveless default costume that didn't make him look, as Jacques-Belletete said, "like a douchebag" proved to be nigh impossible. The art team began with Renaissance fashion, co-opting the ruffled collars and puffy breeches of that bygone era wholesale, only to realize the resulting characters looked utterly ridiculous. The goal then became to create a hybrid of Renaissance clothing and present-day fashion and to that end, the art team drew inspiration from many far-out fashion designers. It was this approach that finally worked; the mixture clicked, and the result is truly spectacular. Both main and incidental characters are sexy, believable and fashionable and Adam Jensen is well, cooler than hell. Really-with his sunglass implants and Don Quixote goatee, if he doesn't become a automatic entry in the game hero pantheon, I'll eat my big velvet hat.

Source: GameBanshee

Friday - March 19, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Video Interview

by Dhruin, 11:14

A video interview from GDC that explains where Deus Ex: Human Revolution fits into the Deus Ex milieu is up at Gametrailers.  Art Director Jonathon-Jacques Belletete talks about transhumanism, their art direction and elements of the teaser trailer.

Tuesday - March 16, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Q&A @ IncGamers

by Dhruin, 21:21

This Deus Ex: Human Revolution Q&A at IncGamers is exclusively about the recently released CGI trailer and its contents.  If I understand correctly, this is a canned article supplied by Eidos Montreal:

What does the game’s subtitle, Human Revolution, refer to?

The progress of technology and the advent of mechanical augmentations has offered mankind many exciting new possibilities but also many dangerous ones as well. In Deus Ex: Human Revolution, humanity will come to a tipping point where Adam Jensen will have to decide the path our society takes. It’s a time of wonderful advancements but also much unrest as the general public, governments, and corporations all struggle to come to terms with the new possibilities.

Thanks to Omega!

Friday - March 12, 2010

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Officially Unveiled

by Dhruin, 20:10

Deus Ex: Human Revolutions has been officially unveiled with a CGI trailer, some screens and a ton of GDC coverage.  You can watch the trailer at the official teaser site but I'm going to embed it here, courtesy of Blue's Youtube channel.

Here's a sample of the coverage out there from the GDC presentation:

They all cover the same general territory - the visual design; here's an illustrative snip from GameSpot:

For Human Revolution's high-level visual goal, Jacques-Belletete said the team focused on two points: illustration as opposed to simulation, and that design distinction creating desire. When it comes to illustration, Jacques-Belletete wanted to create a world that wasn't necessarily photorealistic, but one whose individual pieces looked like they all belonged within the same reality. This aesthetic extended to characters' faces. Jacques-Belletete said they wanted to avoid any uncanny valley problems, and even singled out recent PS3-exclusive Heavy Rain for some critique. "It (Heavy Rain) is a beautiful game, but those people are so scary! And you look at the teapot in Beauty and the Beast, and that little dude looks alive and he looks like a human being," he said.

On the second goal-- design distinction creates desire--Jacques-Belletete explained that looking unique can be a strong selling point for a game. He cited the example of the Big Daddy and Little Sister designs in BioShock as great examples of a game pushing a distinct look. He then put up a slide showing stills from games like Killzone 2, Gears of War, Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, Unreal Tournament 3, and Turok, saying they were examples of games that all looked similar and therefore weren't doing anything distinctive.

Wednesday - March 10, 2010

Deus Ex 3 - News Coming Tomorrow

by Aries100, 17:25

According to a Tweet that VG247 picked up, Stephanie D'Astous, boss of Eidos Montreal flustered this in the tweet:

leaving tomorrow for GDC-SFO, i advise everyone to log-onto IGN thursday the 11th march at around 20:30 PST ... little surprise from DX3!

Apparently, announcing that there'll be an announcement is how marketing is done today.
VG247 speculates that the surprise could maybe be a trailer?

Source: GameBanshee

Monday - March 08, 2010

Deus Ex 3 - Community Interview Coming

by Dhruin, 19:47

IGN is calling for questions for a planned Deus Ex 3 community interview.  Head over to add your own questions and for the rest of us, this presumably means we'll be seeing some solid info soon.

Thanks, Omega!

Thursday - March 04, 2010

Deus Ex 3 - Teaser Image

by Dhruin, 19:49

Destructoid reports that Eidos Montreal community rep René Valen has teased their forums with an image from Deus Ex 3.  The shot shows...a Zippo style lighter:

"I can't say a darn thing about this," he wrote. "other than people who like to go into details will shortly have some new material to dissect."

Source: Blues News

Sunday - February 28, 2010

Deus Ex 3 - To be Multi-Platform?

by Woges, 23:04

Deus Ex 3 looks to be heading to XBOX 360 and PS3 to be "very attractive and accessible to a wider audience." Not that that is too much of a surprise.

Deus Ex 3 has only been announced for the PC so far. However, new evidence suggests it will be released for consoles as well.

A production manager for Eidos Montreal lists the game as "Deus Ex 3 - Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC" on his LinkedIn profile. The same platforms are also mentioned in a senior software engineer's profile. The LinkedIn page of a production coordinator who started working at Eidos last month says the same, which seems to rule out the possibility that console iterations were cancelled along the way.

Eidos Montreal boss Stephane D'Astous stated in a recent interview that they wanted to make DX3 and "very attractive and accessible to a wider audience." That would seem to suggest these games are multiplatform. Still, they're being coy for now.

Source: GamesRadar

Thursday - February 11, 2010

Deus Ex 3 - Feature Summary

by Dhruin, 20:04

Badesumofu writes in with this GameSpy summary of known info for Deus Ex 3.  Much of it is based on a forum post from a moderator on the Eidos boards back in December, so I'm not sure of the reliability.  Fingered crossed:

--Non-linear, multi-path, multi-solution gameplay.
--Different ways to solve any objective depending on your play style (social, hacking, stealth or action).
--Character and weapon customization.
--Action/RPG just like the first game.
--Choices and consequences.
--A semi-open world approach to levels and missions.
--An inventory system similar to DX1.
--It's not a sandbox. It's not totally linear. It's like the best of both of those approaches.
--Random explorable elements with earned experience points.
--Global travel.

Tuesday - February 09, 2010

Deus Ex 3 - Subtitle Trademarked?

by Dhruin, 20:42

Siliconera notes that Square Enix has trademarked "Deus Ex: Human Revolution" (and a second mark without the colon) in NA.  While we have nothing else to work with, it sounds like title for DX3.

Thursday - November 26, 2009

Deus Ex 3 - PC Only Rumours are False?

by Dhruin, 19:01

A number of sites are running stories about Deus Ex 3 being a PC exclusive.  The source of this is Bit-tech, who seem to have extrapolated this from yesterday's cinematics news and the fact that the PC has been the focus of news thus far.

Rock, Paper. Shotgun points out their article has been edited and community reps on the Eidos boards are surprised:

However, they don’t state where this was confirmed, and the peeps on the Eidos forums seem equally surprised. “Only the PC version has been announced so far,” notes ‘René’, one Eidos Montreal’s community types, continuing, “The magazine coverage we had last year were all PC… I dunno where that website is getting its info from!”

It would seem highly unlikely in this day and age.

Wednesday - November 25, 2009

Deus Ex 3 - Square Enix to do Cinematics

by Magerette, 15:47

Total Video Games has posted the announcement that Deus X 3 will be the first game to reflect the acquistion of Eidos by Square Enix earlier this year, with the Final Fantasy artists of the Japanese division in charge of cinematic sequences:

Deus Ex 3 will benefit from the amalgamation of Eidos and Square-Enix with confirmation that the game's cinematics will be created by the Japanese division, who've previously demonstrated their skill and experience in the CG-heavy Final Fantasy series.
 
"Deus Ex 3 is going to be the first project which will be a concrete product of joint effort between Square Enix and Eidos," Stephane D'Astous recently told EDGE. "The cinematics—by which I mean any CGI pre-rendered cinematics — are going to be done in Tokyo by Square Enix, and that's going to be amazing."
 
D'Astous claims that the team is excited by the prospect of working on a title unrelated to Final Fantasy and also showed an interest in Thief 4.

As mentioned above, there's a bit more information over at EDGE.

Monday - July 13, 2009

Deus Ex 3 - Going Well

by Dhruin, 22:11

Well, at least according to Eidos Montreal's Twitter page.  The very brief message:

Development on Deus Ex 3 is going well and the Thief 4 team is ramping up!

Source: GameBanshee

Thursday - March 26, 2009

Deus Ex 3 - Returning to "Core Values"

by Dhruin, 22:19

I'm not sure this jives with other comments I've seen from Ubi Montreal but a site called NowGamer is reporting some snippets from Deus Ex 3 lead designer Jean Francois Dugas:

“We ultimately decided to focus more on the first game," said Jean Francois Dugas. "...In terms of being a Deus Ex game, we keep the core gameplay essence alive, which is a hybrid of action-RPG in which the core gameplay mechanics revolve around combat, stealth, hacking, and social aspects."

Source: GameBanshee

Tuesday - March 03, 2009

Deus Ex 3 - Concept Art?

by Dhruin, 23:00

Rock, Paper, Shotgun is pointing out two pieces of art on the Eidos forums that may or may not be from Deux Ex 3.

Source: Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Tuesday - November 18, 2008

Deus Ex 3 - Concept Art

by Woges, 15:52

A couple of Deus Ex 3 concept pictures have risen on Kotaku.

Monday - November 10, 2008

Deus Ex 3 - Inside DX3 @ Edge Online

by Dhruin, 22:38

Inside Deus Ex 3 is a preview with input from lead designer Jean-François Dugas that discusses some of the team's choices:

Setting the third game before the events of Deus Ex is, the developers say, a logical choice given how the various possible endings of the sequel, Deus Ex: Invisible War, seemed so absolute. Establishing a global consciousness or a totalitarian religious state doesn’t leave much in the way of wiggle-room. “Another thing was that we wanted to ground the game in an era the player would be more familiar with,” says Dugas.

“Invisible War was very sci-fi – maybe too much. We wanted to explore the era when mechanically augmented people first started to emerge.”

Saturday - November 08, 2008

Deus Ex 3 - Art @ Tiscali

by Dhruin, 23:39

Tiscali has a bunch of DX3 concept art taken from Gamestar magazine.  We've seen most of them before but these are better quality, as well as a handful of new ones.

Source: Blues News

Sunday - October 05, 2008

Deus Ex 3 - Eidos: DX3 is an RPG

by Dhruin, 07:50

Eidos has hit back at the disquiet on several discussion boards, with the community manager firing off the message to VoodooExtreme that Deus Ex 3 is an RPG:

Deus Ex 3 is indeed an RPG. It's a hybrid action/RPG just like the first game. There is a skill system where you upgrade your character (Adam) based off experience points you earn and you can do the same thing with weapons. It's a game with a very detailed plot with numerous characters you interact with. The gameplay takes the form of a consequence-driven multi-path, multi-solution approach in a non-linear space.

For stealth, that is another major pillar of gameplay and we do have it. The difference is that it's now cover-based rather than "shadow/light-based" as in the past games.

Deus Ex 3 - First Details

by Dhruin, 00:14

Multiple sites are pointing to an article at CVG, which summarises a few points from the imminent unveiling of Deus Ex 3 from PC Zone.  According to the piece, original writer Sheldon Pacotti returns as a consultant and they are "well aware" of mistakes in Deus Ex: Invisible War - pointing out unified ammo as an example.  Despite being aware of previous mistakes, they still seem to be pushing on with a raft of changes:

Eidos Montreal says it's more than aware of fan reaction to controversial second game, Invisible War, and promises mistakes, such as limiting ammo types to just one, won't be repeated.

This said, they are doing their utmost to please newcomers as well as existing fans. Perhaps controversially this time around combat won't be influenced by stats, but will rely purely on your personal marksmanship skills. Instead stats will influence "a vast array of fully upgradeable and customisable weapons", and you'll be able to tailor your arsenal to your play style with mag upgrades, scopes and other add-ons.

What's more, stealth will now rely on a cover system rather than shadows, and damage will be dealt with by a very Call of Duty-style auto-heal. There's probably going to be some debate over those two.

Tuesday - December 04, 2007

Deus Ex 3 - Interview @ 1Up

by Dhruin, 10:31

Eidos Montreal's Stephane D'Astous speaks to 1Up about their approach to Deus Ex 3, although they aren't giving away much detail:

1UP: Deus Ex has a sizable fan base, and you pointed to the forum reactions toward this announcement as proof of that. But many critics and gamers were left disappointed with Invisible War. What strengths and weaknesses from the previous games are you trying to emulate or maybe overcome with the new title?

D'Astous: Without going into specifics, what we've done the past several months with both games is read a lot of archives about how it was perceived. There's obvious features that we definitely want to continue. I think the dialogue, choice versus consequences, the depth and richness of the game is something that we will certainly conserve. There are other more specific features that we want to keep.

Everyone knows what worked well on the first one and what the second one tried, but now we're five years later, even seven years later from the first Deus Ex. I think we have the possibility to have a fresh look. I think the franchise is at a turning point in its life where new blood will be good, but also respect for the history of that great franchise. With the new technology available now, we really want to give a second wind to this franchise. Games don't last forever. Deus Ex came out in 2000, seven years ago. If we wait any longer, I don't think that's a good thing, but we don't want to rush production either. That's why we're working on a schedule that we're trying to respect as much as possible, but definitely the game will not be published until it has obtained a certain level of quality according to us.

Bring back the skill system, please. 

Monday - December 03, 2007

Deus Ex 3 - Engine News @ Eurogamer

by Magerette, 18:10

Eurogamer has posted a few additional tidbits of information on Deus Ex 3, primarily the news that Eidos has chosen in-house tech for the engine:

Eidos Montreal boss Stephane D'Astous has said Deus Ex 3 will be built on the Tomb Raider: Legend engine.

Working with other Eidos studios like Crystal Dynamics (and IO Interactive) is a big plus for him, as it provides a solid foundation to quickly build upon. However, D'Astous is also adamant this game will not be rushed, but spend a regular two years in development.

"We chose the Crystal engine because we plan to help develop this engine more and then share it back with the rest of the company, the other Eidos studios." Stephane D'Astous told Develop [a European game developer's site-see link below]...

"Having that technology from the start gives us a great advantage and foundation for our coders - there are no doubts about the approach, and we have few uncertainties."

Deus Ex 3 will be the first title Eidos Montreal has developed, before it moves on to another existing Eidos IP and then embarks on an original project.

It's taking the resurrection of the action role-playing FPS whatever series very seriously too, and looking to the cherished first instalment for inspiration.

"Deus Ex 3 is an incredible title to be working on, and will also help us attract talent. Real gamers, serious gamers. It's a big mandate we have received - and we take it very seriously," continued D'Astous.

You can read more on this subject from Stephane D'Astous in the original article where these comments appear, a Q & A with Develop,

Thursday - November 29, 2007

Deus Ex 3 - Unravelling the Conspiracy @ RPS

by Dhruin, 22:08

Titled Deus Ex: Unravelling the Mystery, Rock, Paper, Shotgun's ieron Gillen launches enthusiastically into an examination of the scant material available on DX3, deconstructing the trailer and looking at some of the developers involved.  I'm not sure it proves much in the end but it's an interesting attempt:

To summarise: A close-up on a technologically enhanced foetus with a Hollywood-style voiceover:
“For centuries man has struggled to understand his true nature.
What is it which makes us who we are?
Soon, one answer will override all overs.”

Followed by a text logo…
“Who we are is but a stepping stone to what we can become.”

What can we take from that? Well, googling for the phrase without quotation marks brings us to a Girl Guide Ceremony, which I suspect we can reject as a direction unless Eidos Montreal really have a sharp-U turn in mind for Deus Ex. More generally, you can - in the context of the actual foetus - take it all as transhuman or posthuman rhetoric. The dual ideas that humanity’s ability to sidestep the basic evolutionary forces that have driven the world, and actively craft our future selves.

Tuesday - November 27, 2007

Deus Ex 3 - Trailer Screen Captures @ ShackNews

by Magerette, 17:11

ShackNews has isolated individual renders from the teaser recently  released by Eidos Montreal for their third game in the Deus Ex series now in development. It shows the concept art in more detail than the video which flashes them past pretty quickly.

You can view the shots and commentary here.

Information about

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Developer: Eidos Montreal

SP/MP: Single-player
Setting: Sci-Fi
Genre: Shooter-RPG
Combat: Real-time
Play-time: 20-40 hours
Voice-acting: Full

Regions & platforms
World
· Homepage
· Platform: PC
· Released: 2011-08-23
· Publisher: Eidos Interactive