Deus Ex

1001 Video Games

The PC version of Deus Ex appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Alex Denton

Somewhere in Area 51 (the last stage of the game) you can see a number of containers with clones in suspension. One of them is called Alex Denton. Alex Denton is the lead character to the successor Deus Ex: Invisible War.

Books

Ever wonder about the books found in Deus Ex? The Man Who was Thursday by G.K. Chesterton is a real book written in 1901, and takes place in a fantasy version of Victorian England, in which anarchists take names of days of the week it has some similarities to Deus Ex. G.K. Chesterton also wrote a book about St. Thomas Aquinas whom is referenced several time in Deus Ex.

One of the many books you can read in Deus Ex is the beginning of The Eye of Argon by Jim Theis. This is a real book, considered by many to be the worst fantasy book ever written. Information about the book and the full text can be found online.

Cancelled Linux version

The Linux version of Deus Ex was supposed to be ported by Loki Entertainment Software. Unfortunately, they went bankrupt back in 2001. Although their company website still exists, it (obviously) hasn't been updated. The status of Deus Ex in the website is "coming soon". Not likely.

Non-lethal

Due to the array of non-lethal weapon and the numerous stealth options, it is quite possible to finish the game having only killed three people. That's a pretty non-violent option for a first person shooter! With the explotation of glitches, the number can be dropped to one.

References

• There's a register in the hotel at the Hell's Kitchen location... click on it and you will see that the last name is Hyppolita Hall... a character from the Sandman comic books.
• One of the computer passwords used in the game, "reindeerflotilla", is actually a reference to the 1982 movie Tron, where it was used by Flynn to hack into the computer network and challenge the MCP (the time when he's actually inside the Encom building).
• The helicopter pilot Jock with which J.C. Denton allies himself in the game is possibly a reference to the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark. In the opening scenes of that movie, Indiana Jones makes a getaway in a biplane, flown by a pilot also named Jock.
• Main voices of JC Denton and Agent Navarre are eerily similar to the protaganists of Nocture... as well as their general appearances.
• A couple of tidbits. JC Denton was supposed to have a famous ancestor with the Initials J.C. If you look at the game logo, you see a very stylized J and C rotating around a tiny sphere.
• Castle Clinton, as well as the Statue of Liberty, are real buildings represented in the game as playable maps.
• In the hotel, in NYC, check the guest register. One entry is, Gabriel Syme, from London, England. Syme was the title character in the novel, The Man Who Was Thursday.

Special edition

Beware the "special edition" that's being sold for $9.99 in bargain bins at Best Buy, Circuit City, Target, etc. This is a one-level demo being passed off as a full retail version. Unlike other legitimate bargain bin software, the Deus Ex being sold in the bargain bin section is only a demo and not the full game.

Eidos has a nasty habit of releasing game demos disguised as full retail versions and pedalling them in bargain bin software racks (they've done this previously with Tomb Raider). Nowhere on the packaging is it mentioned the "special edition" is a demo and not the full retail version of the game.

Title

The title "Deus Ex" comes from the latin term deus ex machina. It means- 1. A god introduced by means of a crane in ancient Greek and Roman drama to decide the final outcome. 2. A person or thing (as in fiction or drama) that appears or is introduced suddenly and unexpectedly and provides a solution to an apparently insoluble difficulty.

Twin Towers

If you run around Liberty Island, you can see the New York skyline. The Twin Towers are missing because allegedly, they were destroyed by terrorists. This was a design decision for a game released before September 11, 2001.

Voice acting

Lots of Ion Storm employees were used as voice actors. Tom Hall plays the villain in the game; Jay Franke, a QA tester, played the protagonist. He used to be on the TV sitcom California Dreams.

Awards

• GameSpy
  • 2000 – Game of the Year
  • 2001 – #18 Top Game of All Time
  • 2011 – #3 Top PC Game of the 2000s
• PC Gamer
  • 2000 - Game of the Year
  • October 2001 - #10 in the "Top 50 Games of All Time" list
  • April 2005 - #27 in the "50 Best Games of All Time" list

Information also contributed by Adam Baratz, Alan Chan, Dr. M. "Schadenfreude" Von Katze, emanjonez, Entorphane, Jason Musgrave, jeremy strope, MasterMegid, PCGamer77, Ryan Prendiville, Scott Monster, Stephen Atkinz; Tomer Gabel and WildKard