An unknown virus spreads throughout the world as people hope for a vaccine that returns life to normal and corporations profit as infections spread and rights are stripped away.
While a similar situation unfolded with the coronavirus pandemic, it was also the plot point of video game, Deus Ex.
Deus Ex was developed by Ion Storm and first published by Eidos Interactive on June 22, 2000. The game became a cult classic, sometimes referenced as pin code 0451, and spawned an entire series.
I started out the series playing some of its prequels: Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, which were both developed by Eidos Montreal and published by Square Enix on Aug. 23 of 2011 and 2016, respectively.
While Deus Ex is over 20 years old, it’s still playable today but there are some quirks that should be noted throughout the game, including the leveling system.
Experience points are important to help a character reach their full potential. In most video games, experience points are gained by defeating enemies with characters that are able to level up and increase their stats, resulting in giving more damage or receiving less damage.
In Deus Ex, players don’t gain experience points by killing enemies but through objectives, resulting in the leveling up of skills, which gives the option to be more accurate with a weapon or doing things, like hacking, efficiently. However, not all skills in Deus Ex will be able to be upgraded to their full potential.
Another peculiarity players should keep in mind is the limited inventory system. In Deus Ex, players have a set amount of inventory space throughout the game and different items take up varying amounts of space.
Before starting Deus Ex players can choose between several layers of difficulty. I chose to play in “realistic” mode on my first playthrough, meaning any enemy could potentially kill the player as soon as the game begins.
Upon difficulty selection, a limited character creation screen appears with the game protagonist JC Denton, whose appearance, ranging from a limited selection of different skin and hair colors, and skills including hacking, lockpicking or shooting, are customizable.
Deus Ex is set in a futuristic world where a leaked virus kills people and sends panic throughout the world.
Players are able to control Denton, an agent for the United Nations Anti-Terrorist Coalition (UNATCO) who’s stationed at Liberty Island in New York. He is given a briefing of the current situation by his brother, Paul Denton.
As the player moves forward with Denton, conspiracies are uncovered, new locations are explored and player choices determine outcomes throughout Deus Ex.
Players are given the choice to either kill or knock out their enemies and NPCs, besides a few exceptions.
NPCs are non-playable characters with whom users can talk and interact. NPCs vary in conversation ability, ranging from one-liners to myriad dialogue options that JC can respond back with, potentially determining game outcomes.
I tried to play without killing anything, until I reached a point where missiles were being chucked at me resulting in an instant game over.
While the game is old by today’s standards, if anyone is willing to disregard the quirkiness of Deus Ex it is an experience that many games don’t match.
