Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Deus Ex: Human Revolution (previously Deus Ex 3) will be the third game in the Deus Ex series and a prequel to the original Deus Ex. It is being developed by Eidos Montreal in co-production with Square Enix, who are responsible for pre-rendered movie sequences and publishing. There is no multiplayer mode.

Plot
Human Revolution is set in 2027, just as human augmentation begins to enter mainstream life. Augmentations are not of the nanotech variety used in JC or Alex Denton's time: they are mechanical implants, and in some cases full-blown limb replacements.

Players take the role of Adam Jensen, a security guard employed by Sarif Industries to protect a research lab in Detroit. The game opens with an attack on the laboratory by augmented black ops soldiers who use a security plan Jensen created himself. He is mortally wounded, and is saved only by having military-grade augmentations installed. It is unknown whether he agrees to this, disagrees, or is unconscious until after the operation. As the plot progresses, Jensen uncovers a conspiracy to force human evolution down a very particular path, and is forced to augment himself further to survive and conquer it. The events in Human Revolution eventually lead to a strike on the Statue of Liberty and the formation of UNATCO.

Themes
Human Revolution deals with the ethics of transhumanism, and carries an overarching message of humanity's reach exceeding its grasp. "Mankind is using mechanical augmentations," director Jean-François Dugas said before the game's release, "but there is still much to be determined in terms of their effect on society and the ultimate direction it will lead us in." The Greek myth of Icarus and Daedalus appears in Adam Jensen's dreams as an allegory to this thought, and also - given that Daedalus was the name of an artificial intelligence in Deus Ex - an intellectual bridge to the original game.

The pace of technological development is reflected visually by a Renaissance theme. Characters who support the advances of human augmentation dress themselves and decorate their homes in reinterpreted late-mediaeval Italian style, and the game as a whole has a sepia-tinted colour palette reminiscent of. In contrast, characters who oppose augmentation wear clothing that is more or less current-day.

Conspiracy theories and immensely powerful corporations also feature strongly, as in Deus Ex, though nothing is currently known about them.

Parts of the game will take place during the day, unlike in Deus Ex, but most locations will nevertheless be brooding and dark.

Characters
The E3 2010 trailer introduced many new characters:


 * Adam Jensen
 * Jensen augs noshades.jpg
 * The protagonist. A private security guard hired to protect a group of Sarif Industries scientists, he is mortally injured when augmented black ops soldiers attack the research installation. His life is saved by augmentations provided by Sarif Industries and implanted in him by a Sarpatech technician. His motivations following this are unclear.


 * David Sarif
 * David sarif reflection.jpg
 * Owner of Sarif Industries. May prove to be Adam's mission-giver in the early part of the game, something like Manderley. He wants to use the augmentation industry to revitalise the economy of his home city of Detroit, and has fitted out old car plants to manufacture, among other things, the arms fitted on Adam Jensen.


 * Farida Malik
 * Farida Malik concept.jpg
 * Jensen's pilot. Sarif Industries employee.


 * Barrett
 * Barrett.jpg
 * Appears to be the game's chief antagonist. He is augmented, wielding a chaingun arm.


 * Adam's sister or girlfriend
 * Worked at Sarif Industries, presumably as a scientist. It is unknown whether she is kidnapped or killed during the attack that opens the game.


 * Augmented woman
 * Can be seen uncloaking during the E3 2010 trailer. Nothing else about her is known.


 * Eliza
 * Eliza.jpg
 * The Picus TV newsreader is somehow involved. She appears to be an artificial intelligence, perhaps a precursor to the Illuminati intelligences seen in Deus Ex.

Corporations & other groups

 * Sarif Industries
 * Sarpatech
 * Picus TV

Locations

 * Detroit
 * Heng Sha, a two-tiered island offshore from Shanghai
 * Montreal
 * Two other metropolises (New York presumed for the formation of UNATCO, and the skyline of Philadelphia was identified in one piece of concept art)

Gameplay
In the Deus Ex games, augmentations are body modifications that allow the user superhuman abilities. While the previous two games focused on nanite-based augmentations, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is set earlier than both and instead features mechanical augmentations. Augmentations will be divided into four types: Combat, Stealth, Technology and Social. Every enemy squad will have an identifiable squad leader who will direct the team's actions. If the leader is killed, the squad falls into disarray. Enemies will also react to subtle player decisions, such as a change in behaviour or weapons, etc.

Unlike Deus Ex: Invisible War, the game will use different ammo types for different weapons, instead of unified ammunition. Weapons can also be upgraded to better suit the player.

In a controversial departure from previous titles in the series, Deus Ex: Human Revolution will use a regenerating health model. This change was made because the developers didn't want players to get into a situation where they were unable to progress due to low health, and would be forced to "scrounge for med packs." They see this scrounging behavior as breaking the flow of the game when one retreats to search the entire level for medical supplies. They believe their regenerating health model will still encourage tactical and strategy forming retreats, but not to the extent where the tension and flow of the game is disrupted.

Human Revolution is primarily a first person game, but will feature a contextual third person viewpoint when using the cover system, certain augmentations, or closeup instant-kill moves.

The two primary gameplay styles are Combat and Stealth and the two supporting gameplay styles are Hacking and Social Interactions.

Augmentations
In Deus Ex: HR, you'll get full-blown, heavy-duty body part replacements, rather than clean and invisible sub-dermal nano-tech. These upgradeable implants don't look quite like the clunky 'Roboscopian' attachments that we saw on Gunther and Anna, they've been visually redesigned to be closer to modern-day prosthetics: smooth skintone plastic plates cladding a steel endoskeleton. Since each aug you install can visibly alter your character (but not all of them do), your choices customise your appearance at the same time as your abilities. Some of the mechanical augmentations passively improve your abilities, and can also take the form of special combat moves. As you use some of these special moves, the camera pulls back to show you doing it. It will also switch to third person when you make use of the game's new cover system. This should allow for more tactical combat as you will be using it in combat for the tactical aspect, but also when you're stealthy, because the camera allows you to see more what the enemies are doing.

Augmentations will span several categories and capabilities. Among others, there will be augs for strength, jumping, sight enhancement, and defense.

Role-playing elements
DX:HR will use experience gained through completing objectives, exploration, or other means to "upgrade" or "learn better use of" purchased augmentations. There is some versatility in character build; you aren't forced to use your skill points in the same manner at the beginning of the game, you can use other configurations and clear the levels of the game. You can modify yourself and your weapons to be able to do different things and also in the physical world there are different ways to complete an objective. It's about multi-path and multi-solution - it depends on your own personal style of play. But you won't be able to get every augmentation or weapon in one playthrough - as mentioned already, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is about choice and consequences, so multiple playthroughs will be required to find and use everything. Experience Points accumulated during the game experience are spent to gain new, or improve upon, already possessed talents conferred by augmentation. As an example: everyone can shoot a gun, simple point and shoot. Only practice and experience will make you a better shot. Same applies to hacking: everyone can use a low level hacking software to help out, but skilled and experienced hackers will be faster, better, and have less risk of getting noticed while on their endeavor. You can spend skill points on augs. Weapons are upgraded by other means, such as with money or if you find an upgrade in the environment (i.e. searching off the beaten path). But your handling of the weapons are "upgraded" via augmentation (recoil and accuracy) which are basically "arm augment" related.

Combat elements
The weapons in DX:HR will be similar to those of our own time, based on real life models so that they have credibility. In addition, there will be some prototype weapons that are a bit more futuristic. Weapons will be upgradeable and will face the same difficult choices as your cybernetic innards. There will be unique upgrades and customisation that might change the behaviour of certain weapons. There is going to be a mix.

In DX:HR, stats have been removed from the act of shooting and instead relies on your ability to target with your control pad or mouse and keyboard. However stats have not been removed from you building your character or modifying weapons. There may be other examples of stats/simulation like this in the game, but it must be restated: combat is not more frequent than DX1, not more important, just better in the instances in which you will use it. The design has been updated to utilise a cover system should you choose to engage it. As the game is first person, it is only if you press a button or key when up against a wall that the view changes to third person perspective. As soon as you move away from the wall, the game returns to first person. You don't have to engage the cover system if you don't want to. You can just easily walk up to that same wall in first person and never see the third person cover. It remains your choice... an option if you wish to see the way Adam looks with augmentations you've chosen throughout the game. Stealth in DX:HR is based on light and sound; shadows are no longer used as the primary stealth element - it will be line-of-sight and sound propagation. You can hide anywhere you see fit as long as you're hidden by an obstacle and don't produce too much noise.

Hacking is a major pillar of gameplay in DX:HR and is certainly not a mini-game feature like we saw in Bioshock 1. We don't have too much information right now but think of hacking DX:HR as almost a Real Time Strategy game where you have your territory that must be defended against the CPU. Again, it remains an option which you can modify with augmentations if that is the way you choose to develop your character. You can spice things up with using your hacking skills and/or your social skills to unlock new possibilities, but you never have to do it if you don't want to. Unlike Deus Ex 1, which took you out of the game world and presented you with a new screen and the progress bar, hacking in DX:HR keeps you in the world. Everything is rendered in-engine so as you're hacking at a terminal, you can still look around, up, down, left, and right as things are happening. You have to keep an eye out for guard patrols as you're trying to hack.There are different levels of hacking software or only different levels of augmentation that effect hacking. This means that your arm aug, for example, can receive a wall punch talent and an EMP punch talent depending on how many XP you spend on it and in which path you put that XP. So if you decide you want to go all wall punch talent, you can do that, but if you decide to go all EMP punch you can do that as well.

Development
It was announced on May 17, 2007, by IGN in an interview with Patrick Melchior, the director of Eidos France, on the French-Canadian television station, MusiquePlus. Neither Warren Spector nor Harvey Smith, the main creative directors behind the first two games, were attached to the project.

Further confirming the game's development, Eidos Montreal's general manager Stéphane D’Astous reported that they have received a "huge mandate" to focus on the creation of Deus Ex 3. In the same report, D’Astous expounded upon the development philosophy being implemented at the new studio. The philosophy focuses on smaller teams with multi-discipline employees. While embraced by the designers, this philosophy means that Deus Ex 3 is scheduled to develop for at least 18 months, if not 24 or more, which puts the earliest release date in the middle of 2009. The last bit of information D'Astous divulged was that Deus Ex 3 had just passed proof of concept, as of late November 2007.

A teaser trailer was released on November 26, 2007. The 200th issue of PC Zone Magazine revealed the conspiracy of Deus Ex 3 along with information and artwork/screenshots. Several design decisions were unveiled, such as regenerating health and a cover system, precipitating an initial backlash amongst many fans of Deus Ex.

Some concept art and early screenshots had been provided for PC Zone's first preview, but it was not until a Square Enix-produced CGI teaser trailer was shown at the 2010 Game Developers Conference that another glimpse of the game's visual style was shown. The teaser was expanded to a three-minute trailer at E3 2010 (still all pre-rendered) which coincided with a second preview in PC Gamer UK containing new screenshots and gameplay details, and announced that the game will not be coming out until "Early 2011". E3 2010 also saw a second major preview of the game, this time in PC Gamer UK, which provided engine-rendered screenshots and gameplay details.

Gallery
Deus Ex 3