Deus Ex

aka: DX1, Deus Ex: The Conspiracy
Moby ID: 1749
Windows Specs
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Add-on (unofficial) Special Edition

Description official descriptions

Some time during the 2050's, the world is a dangerous place as terrorists, drug czars, and outlaw states rule, using violence and subterfuge as tools in their push for global conquest. A deadly virus dubbed "gray death" is running rampant throughout the world and the only known cure is a chemical known as "Ambrosia" manufactured by the VersaLife corporation. However Ambrosia supplies are scarce and world governments, particularly the United States, carefully monitor and control who receives this cure. As protest against these events, French terrorist organization "Silhouette" bombs the historic symbol of friendship between French and American people, The Statue of Liberty. In response to this attack, the United Nations Anti-Terrorist Coalition (UNATCO) organization is formed. Building a headquarters underground at Liberty Island, its mission is to attack terrorism and maintain peace around the world. JC Denton is a nano-enhanced agent who has been primed for UNATCO service. While JC's brother Paul is already an active agent, JC is beginning his first day of service when the National Secessionist Forces (NSF) suddenly raid a supply of Ambrosia at UNATCO headquarters.

Deus Ex is a dark cyberpunk game that combines gameplay styles of first-person shooter and RPG, with elements of stealth and puzzle-solving. The player assumes the role of JC Denton, UNATCO anti-terrorist agent. Pitted against an elaborate global conspiracy, he must interact with characters, pick up weapons and complete objectives. While JC is essentially fixed within the mission-framework of the game, he can be customized in areas such as weapons, technical skills and physical prowess. Completing objectives rewards the player with skill points, which may be distributed to increase JC's proficiencies in eleven different disciplines. The player can choose to increase the damage JC inflicts with various types of weapons, improve his lock-picking or computer hacking abilities, etc. Each such discipline has four levels of proficiency.

Another way of customizing JC is applying nano-augmentations to his body. These cybernetic implants bestow the hero with super-human abilities, and can be installed on different body parts, up to nine at the same time. Along with combat-related benefits, nano-augmentations also grant JC abilities that can be used to overcome certain obstacles within the game world. Examples of those are jumping to extreme heights, swimming, lifting heavy objects, etc. Weapons can be customized as well: their range, accuracy, and magazine sizes can be increased, and they can be enhanced by attaching scopes, silencers, or laser sights to them.

The game leads JC to various places all around the globe. The cities he visits, as well as most mission areas, are expansive and fairly open to accommodate different approaches to solving the same problems, depending on the player's preferred style of play. Most of the missions can be tackled in various ways, e.g. with brute force, stealth, or extensive usage of lock-picking and computer hacking abilities. At certain points, the course of the storyline can also be influenced by the decisions made by the player. Similarly to System Shock games, the environment is largely interactive, the player being able to pick up, use, and discard various types of objects.

Spellings

  • 杀出重围 - Simplified Chinese spelling

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Credits (Windows version)

184 People (144 developers, 40 thanks) · View all

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Average score: 89% (based on 78 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 530 ratings with 35 reviews)

The best game ever, and even that doesn't do it justice.

The Good
--IMPORTANT NOTE—Whatever I write in this section won’t be enough. This game is such that it is possible to rain plaudits on it for hours and still have more to talk about. I will have forgotten many things about the game which are brilliant after I’ve finished. So please consider this section a summary of what makes this a work of genius, rather than a full account. I could never list everything.

Deus Ex is a masterpiece. It is the first game ever to completely shatter all preconceptions about how to make games. Its influence will be seen on games in years to come. Why? Because it reverses the law of making games and the relationship that the gamer has with the game. Deus Ex has opened the door and paved the way for the future, it’s destroyed traditions used by developers that up until now haven’t even been challenged. The original school of thought, the undisputed leaders of which are Valve (with Half-Life); believes that to create a truly enticing game experience, ideas and events must happen in a way that fit so seamlessly together that the world really feels alive. Half-Life is the most tightly scripted and one of the most intense games ever. However, the game is leading the gamer. As the developer creates games like this he is saying “Right, this is what you must do, this is how to do it, this is what will happen, and this is why”. This does of course make great things possible, like rooms collapsing. But since the events are scripted, they happen every time. These are the developer’s events trying to amuse you instead of you making your own events. Until the launch of Deus Ex, it was thought the technology for the player to be able to dictate to the game instead of vice versa was years and years away. Of course, some critics and gamesplayers don’t like this radical new way of thinking. Yet Deus Ex proves that when done correctly, these games are the future. It may not have done it perfectly but it’s shown them the path. It’s a bit like Method Acting, and Deus Ex is Stanislavski. The method that Deus Ex is showing is one where developers will be able to create a gaming world so rich that sequences and events will happen because of the player and won’t be scripted. The gamer will be able to find his own way to have fun, there won’t be any “intended” ways. Until now, this was nearly unthinkable. This game has nearly done it straight away. In one game, the entire basis of creating games is being questioned. That’s got to be one hell of a compliment. Deus Ex gives the gamer freedom. You can blast your way through this game or you can sneak your way through it, each way is just as enjoyable to the people who prefer that style. It’s possible to kill nearly everyone in the whole game and it’s possible to do nearly half the game without killing ANYONE. You can talk to everyone, you can talk to nearly no-one. You can hack computers or you can blow them. You can skip objectives if they’re morally wrong to you or are unnecessary. Every choice you make, no matter how small, opens up and closes routes for you. If you love Thief you’ll be right at home here. If you love Medal Of Honour you’ll be right at home here. Name another game that can do that. The plot is more complex, deep, and vast than any other game or any film I can think of. The major characters have incredibly deep personalities. You brother, for example, is a humanist and a freedom fighter. He tends to avoid casualties wherever possible. He’s charismatic yet very secretive, and is utterly self-less. Always strives for the greater good. That’s some guy, and many of the characters are just as complex. And since the creator, Warren Spector, is something of a master of narrative; you rarely lose track of the plot. Even in it’s biggest stages. Now that I’ve mentioned about 1/10 (literally) of the ideas and revolutionary aspects of Deus Ex, lets go onto the technical side. This is the most interactive and detailed game ever. Nearly every object in the whole game can be acted upon. Chairs can be moved and destroyed. Lamps can be turned on and off (or destroyed). It’s possible to clear an entire kitchen of every pot, pan, plate, dish, roast chicken and joint of beef if you wanted to. Sound plays an integral part and NPCs act on it, though perhaps not as well as System Shock 2. Then there is the unparalleled attention to detail. Famous works of art and literature pop up every where. Every character in the game blinks. It’s possible to walk into a bar and find people talking for 5 minutes about philosophy and ethics, with no real consequence in the game. I’m still only barely scratching the surface about what this game is and what it will hopefully do to the whole gaming industry. But lets hope others follow it’s lead. It has reversed the law of game design and is the only game where you can lead the game rather than the game leading you, you can find your own enjoyment. Here’s one last example: On the first level you are on Liberty Island on some docks, you’re told to meet your brother because he’ll explain everything and then you have to enter the Statue Of Liberty and find a terrorist leader. As soon as I’d spoken to my brother, I jumped into the sea and started whacking fish with a crowbar I’d found, I was having a great time and I was doing it for over 20 minutes. After that, I got out and started piling up boxes to see how high I could jump back into the sea again. By the time I was done messing about, 45 minutes has passed! I’d been entertained for 45 minutes and I hadn’t even started the game yet! I’d barely even walked 4 feet! I’d better stop because I’m getting too passionate. And there is still so much I haven’t said. I haven’t mentioned how the characters are so real you almost care for them. Or how the game engine is so great it can create over 100 entities on screen at a time and have no slowdown. And I run this game on a PII 266! Or the huge outdoor environments. Or how a dog will chase a cat if they’re near to one another. There are no words to express what this game is, but “art” is the closest.

The Bad
Oh who cares? Ok the graphics look a little ropy now and haven’t aged as well as System Shock 2’s. The music is pretty poor and repetitive and isn’t used as a plot device unlike Looking Glass’s opus. The game doesn’t have that slick presentation and glossy style that I like and which was once again present in SS2. If you’re trying to pick up a body and your inventory is full, you have to drop some stuff, take what they’re carrying, and then move the body. If you back towards the edge of a level, after it loads you’ll be facing the other way. Most importantly and the only one that is really significant; the game may come across as pretentious depending on your point of view. The box cover and name does little to help this. Indeed, it may seem like Warren Spector is trying to push gaming into art and failing. After all, games still haven’t got past the “good guy Vs bad guy” staple. Despite what that Deus Ex claims to be, you are still saving the world against evil people. But Jeez! What kind of game is this if the highest criticism you can give it is that it (arguably) doesn’t succeed in becoming art and could be dismissed as pretentious? I wouldn’t DREAM of giving a criticism like this to any other game out there! Deus Ex operates on a different plane anyway.

The Bottom Line
Genre-blurring, boundary-moving, door-breaking, tradition-shattering, ultra full, video art. Massive conspiracies, government cover-ups, genetic engineering, snooker...Deus Ex is a world in a CD. It doesn't transcend it's parts like System Shock 2, but that's only because it has too many. The best game ever for any platform.

Windows · by Shazbut (163) · 2002

Play it again and again and again.....

The Good
This game has broken ground in non-linear play. You can go in and kill everyone or you can sulk around and avoid being detected. You can even take the middle road and engage in non-lethal takedowns. (My favorite method.) The game allows you to solve problems by exploring and using any available methods. You can hack electronic locks, or hack terminals to find the entry code. You can also get explosives and blow the door off the hinges. Keep in mind that explosions will bring guards to find you.

The story serves the game to a point and the levels do offer a lot of challenges with various possible solutions. In a limited sense, the game does respond to your decisions by letting NPCs react to your reputation. Some will be pleased if you kill a lot and some will be if you show restraint. Exploration is rewarded with xp points, weapons, tools and information that expands your play options.

The play is best when you balance your resources with exploration and selective actions. Even cooler was the fact that IonStorm was able to get lipsync to work with the original Unreal engine.

The Bad
The graphics were so murky and dark. Granted its a murky and dark game. The levels were pretty cool but the music drove me nuts. The sound was ok and the dialogue was fairly well done. The audio quality was less than great and dampened by poor mixing.

The gameplay was unbalanced because there were some parts that were extremely easy and others that were nearly impossible. I'd find myself quickly dispatching guards in one level and struggling with other guards in a different level. And there are a few points where you face a dead end and have to load from a previous game.

The Bottom Line
A fairly deep game about conspiracies and world politics. Its a great game for older machines if you care more about challenge, exploration and story than graphics.

Windows · by Scott Monster (986) · 2004

It is not the God of video games... but it comes close

The Good
You know how there are sometimes games everyone keep recommending to you, asking you to play them, and you resist stubbornly, perhaps without even realizing why, talk rudely to your friends, and say: "Gimme a break! I'm not interested! Got that?!"

Well, that's what happened between my game-playing buddies, Deus Ex, and myself. Nearly everyone spoke about this game as if it were a sacred object, almost an idol, worthy of zealous admiration and maybe even human sacrifices. Nearly every review was positive - no, positive is not the correct word. The game was praised up to the point of calling it the Messiah of gaming, the savior of sinful player souls, and the way to a new, enlightened gaming paradise.

Since I usually can't stand this kind of hype, Deus Ex annoyed me long before I actually laid my paws on it. But when I read some of the reviews more carefully and realized the game was a kind of a fancy mixture between FPS, sneaking game, RPG, and adventure, I understood I wouldn't be myself if I didn't try it.

I can't say I fell in love with the game from the moment I inserted the disc into the drive. In fact, the game was heating up pretty slowly. The intro sequence is rather unspectacular, and the first mission not particularly exciting. But times has passed, and it really grew on me.

It is interesting that the atmosphere in the game also develops gradually. The more I played, the more I got sucked into the game, and finally I found myself praising it for what I was already prepared to condemn: its atmosphere. It increases slowly, the more missions you get, and the more clear the relationships between the different characters of the game become. After you get your partner, and your brother appears on the scene as a really important figure, Deus Ex becomes more than just interesting - it actually gets captivating and fascinating.

One of the decisive gameplay elements here is the fantastic interaction with the world, which can be almost compared to Ultima-style "if it is there, you can use it" kind of gameplay. You can fool around with pretty much everything you see, and sometimes the results are more interesting and rewarding than you'd expect. I absolutely love this kind of attention to interaction and detail. I mean, which other game lets you take a break from the story, walk over to a playground and play some basketball?

Deus Ex is a spiritual successor to the fantastic System Shock 2, especially in the way it experiments with different genres. Like System Shock 2, it is also primarily a FPS with strong RPG elements; but it goes even further than its predecessor in merging various playing styles into a single coherent and immensely satisfying whole.

The magic of Deus Ex is that it allows you to play it the way you want to. The different genres are not "over-imposed" on each other, but are merged in such a way that you won't notice it; you'll simply feel that you can do whatever you want. The subtlety of this genre-mixing is astounding; but even more astounding is the fact the game actually works as a representative of any of the genres it contains, taken separately.

Basically, if you liked straight-forward shooters, you can play Deus Ex as one. If you liked Thief-style sneaking, Deus Ex provides it for you as well. If you like RPGs, you can focus your attention on that aspect when playing this game. The thing is that Deus Ex only rarely throws at you tasks that can be completed only in one way; it doesn't have "shooting missions", "stealth missions", etc. You don't need to disable every single alarm or to hack every single computer system to get what you need. The game conveniently offers you several ways of solving a problem. If it doesn't go with force, try using the brains; and vice versa. You choose the approach by yourself almost at any given moment. This is the greatness of Deus Ex.

I loved the RPG touch. You gather "experience points" which you can then allocate to make your character more skillful. You choose yourself how to do it, like in a true hardcore RPG. You can upgrade your weapon skills, or your ability to pick locks, or your swimming, etc. and all those skills are important, it really shows in the game and is a testimony of its fantastic programming. Then there are the bio-upgrades which work a lot like equipment or even like magic spells, you can protect your characters from various poisons and similar things, heal him, make him jump higher, and so on.

The locations of Deus Ex are, for the most part, interesting, large and detailed. You visit large urban areas such as New York or Hong-Kong (one of the best levels), there's no linear "go there, talk to that guy, take this" advancement; on the contrary, you wander around like in a RPG or an adventure game, talk to characters, gather objects, and so on.

The story is more than just a simple "good guys vs. bad guys" thing it seems in the beginning. And the characters are more than just anonymous voices who give you missions. Yes, it takes time to get into the story, but its development and the ending makes up for the long wait. And the final part lets you choose between three ways, each one of which leads to a convincing (in its own way), yet a problematic ending. Bravo! There's no "save the world, get the girl" stuff: you should apply your philosophy and your vision of the world to the game. It is like Shin Megami Tensei, only a bit more concrete.

The Bad
I could mention some obvious flaws such as the not-so-hot graphics in certain areas, the somewhat repetitive level design (too many "square" levels, vents are a bit overused), the length of the game, which is not always a plus (it starts repeating itself, and while some parts are brilliant and full of plot twists, others are just "missions" devoid of story), the average voice acting, the dubious AI (you drop an electronic grenade to disable an alarm two meters from the guard, but he ignores it completely; you run loudly towards a terrorist, and instead of turning his head back at the noise, he waits until you aim your gun at his skull, and says something like "Aha! An intruder, eh? I think you shouldn't be here! Or am I wrong? Maybe it should be so?") and so on. But to tell you the truth, those things didn't really bother me.

The story is not that great. Interesting, yes, with a couple of very good twists, and some fantastic moral choices in the end, but it couldn't help being a bit dry and uninvolved for a game of this scope. Also, the writing is definitely less than stellar; some of the dialogue seems to be taken straight out of a not particularly brilliant B-rated movie.

The Bottom Line
There is no doubt about that: Deus Ex is amazing. Incredible gameplay flexibility, marvelous interactive world, interesting locations and a good plot make it an outstanding shooter/RPG hybrid and an overwhelming, deeply satisfying experience. It fully deserves the praise it has got and stands out as one of the most remarkable achievements of video game design.

Windows · by Unicorn Lynx (181788) · 2014

[ View all 35 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Genres Cantillon (75426) May 7, 2021
20th anniversary Patrick Bregger (298416) Jun 22, 2020
First original US box design? sndwv Aug 28, 2016
Did you know? Donatello (466) Jun 23, 2013
Happy birthday! Patrick Bregger (298416) Jun 24, 2010

Trivia

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

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by rstevenson.

PlayStation 3 added by GTramp. Macintosh added by Kabushi. PlayStation 2 added by NeoMoose.

Additional contributors: MAT, Adam Baratz, Unicorn Lynx, Shoddyan, Zeppin, DreinIX, Zeikman, Patrick Bregger, FatherJack.

Game added June 25, 2000. Last modified March 16, 2024.