Deus Ex's 20th anniversary

[will2k]

Deus Ex turned 20 yrs old couple of days ago on June 17. A timeless masterpiece that still holds its own ground 20 years later.

The genius mastermind Warren Spector struck gold with it but it wasn't without its own fair share of difficulties that almost resulted in the game getting cancelled at one time.

I couldn't play the game on release because I was having my final exams at the university at the time, and had to wait a whole month until mid-July 2000 to get my hands on the game and play it religiously for another month; good times  

Here's a very interesting article about the rise and fall of Ion Storm studios, the larger than life character of John Romero, the failure with Daikatana, the addition of Warren spector, and the redemption with Deus Ex.

Very interesting details of the development of Deus Ex are spilled in this article. 

https://www.pcgamer.com/the-history-of-ion-storm/

And for extra anniversary bonus, here's @[HP] 10 year anniversary thread from 2010 where he links to an interview with Deus Ex lead designer Harvey Smith

[-HP-]

Still my favourit game of all time.

[Radu]

I miss your old avatar @[HP]

[-HP-]

read: 
https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2020/06/22/deus-ex-at-20-the-oral-history-of-a-pivotal-pc-game/

 

also:

[dux]

re-installing

[-HP-]

Really awesome video analyzing DX's level design.

 

[PogoP]

I've tried so many times to get into Deus Ex (the original), but I've never been able. I think it's one of those games you had to experience when it came out. I never played it as a kid, for whatever reason, so missed out  

Kinda reminds me of old movies that people say are great. You go to watch them, and are left feeling underwhelmed, sometimes. Probably because other movies have taken what made them great, and taken them in different directions, or to the next level, but either way you feel like you've already watched them you know? I think it's likely the same with Deus Ex. Other games took that formula and expanded on it.

I might try it again sometime, and see if I can break through that barrier.

[Pampers]

Yeah I'm in the same boat as Pogo here, this was the one classic that I missed playing back then. Will wait for a remake/remaster that both HP and dux approves before trying

[FMPONE]

11 hours ago, PogoP said:

I've tried so many times to get into Deus Ex (the original), but I've never been able. I think it's one of those games you had to experience when it came out. I never played it as a kid, for whatever reason, so missed out  

Kinda reminds me of old movies that people say are great. You go to watch them, and are left feeling underwhelmed, sometimes. Probably because other movies have taken what made them great, and taken them in different directions, or to the next level, but either way you feel like you've already watched them you know? I think it's likely the same with Deus Ex. Other games took that formula and expanded on it.

I might try it again sometime, and see if I can break through that barrier.

It’s really moddable. I didn’t play it originally but installed a bunch of mods that made it look way better. It was pretty dope and I got why people liked it

Thing is, the shit graphics are exactly why no one has made a game like this since. It’s too complex, and it’s not really possible with modern game budgets to all the little intricate bullshit they did, not to mention the length of this game.

For those same reasons you can expect a remake to cut corners heavily and almost certainly suck. If you want to experience this one, I would load it up with visual and bug fixing mods and expect something dated in some ways.

The cliche about this game is that your choices matter, but it’s true, they took that idea further than any other linear FPS ever has. 

[-HP-]

8 hours ago, FMPONE said:

The cliche about this game is that your choices matter, but it’s true, they took that idea further than any other linear FPS ever has. 

There's this moment in the game where your fucking brother dies... on my, 3rd or 4th playthrough back in the day, I realize that you can save him after all, and the game changes massively as he talks to you and helps you via the infolink throughout the rest of the game, pretty much. Just an example of how far they really took the "choices matter" with this game, it's tangible

[FMPONE]

38 minutes ago, [HP] said:

There's this moment in the game where your fucking brother dies... on my, 3rd or 4th playthrough back in the day, I realize that you can save him after all, and the game changes massively as he talks to you and helps you via the infolink throughout the rest of the game, pretty much. Just an example of how far they really took the "choices matter" with this game, it's tangible

This makes me think, why don’t they just remake this game? It’s got awesome design still, they could keep all of that complexity 1:1, all they would have to do is update the graphics and remake the soundtrack. Sounds a lot better than a sequel...

[-HP-]

8 minutes ago, FMPONE said:

This makes me think, why don’t they just remake this game? It’s got awesome design still, they could keep all of that complexity 1:1, all they would have to do is update the graphics and remake the soundtrack. Sounds a lot better than a sequel...

After the sales of Dishonored2 and Prey (I still can't believe they called this game Prey, and not System Shock 3...) I doubt anyone wants to invest in "immersive sims" for the foreseeable future. I'm sure those games broke even, or maybe even made a decent profit. But Multiplayer and Microtransactions is where the real money's at, and publishers know it.
The latter is way more dangerous than the former though, as it's a pandora's box that once open, you can't ever close it back up, not without some serious changes to the way you monetize your games, that is.

[FMPONE]

11 minutes ago, [HP] said:

After the sales of Dishonored2 and Prey (I still can't believe they called this game Prey, and not System Shock 3...) I doubt anyone wants to invest in "immersive sims" for the foreseeable future. I'm sure those games broke even, or maybe even made a decent profit. But Multiplayer and Microtransactions is where the real money's at, and publishers know it.
The latter is way more dangerous than the former though, as it's a pandora's box that once open, you can't ever close it back up, not without some serious changes to the way you monetize your games, that is.

People like remakes tho  I think it would be easy to market

[-HP-]

28 minutes ago, FMPONE said:

People like remakes tho  I think it would be easy to market

Eidos Montreal is working on something unannounced.... one can hope that it's a proper remake of DeusEx. It would make sense actually given their pedigree. Also, seeing how popular Resident Evil 2 / 3, Final Fantasy 7 were? You're right, people do like remakes man...

I hope they learned from Mankind Divided's lessons, It was a step back compared to Human Revolution, imho.

[dux]

2 hours ago, [HP] said:

After the sales of Dishonored2 and Prey (I still can't believe they called this game Prey, and not System Shock 3...) I doubt anyone wants to invest in "immersive sims" for the foreseeable future. I'm sure those games broke even, or maybe even made a decent profit. But Multiplayer and Microtransactions is where the real money's at, and publishers know it.
The latter is way more dangerous than the former though, as it's a pandora's box that once open, you can't ever close it back up, not without some serious changes to the way you monetize your games, that is.

Look guys, we are all pro game devs now we should remake deus ex we are super smart talented and handsome