"I once thought I could save the world... now look at it"
— Spoilers for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided follow!
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"I never asked for this." | ||||
— Adam Jensen |
Adam Jensen is the mechanically augmented protagonist of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, in which he works as the Chief of Security for the biotechnology company Sarif Industries, and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, in which he is an operative of Task Force 29 aiming to hunt down and capture augmented terrorists while also working for the Juggernaut Collective. In addition to being a major character in the games, he also has a role in tie-in comics and novels such as the Human Revolution comics, Children's Crusade, and Black Light. He is portrayed by Elias Toufexis.
Biography
Early life
Adam Jensen was born on March 9, 1993. At a very young age, he was one of a group of infants subjected to experimental genetic therapy treatments by White Helix Labs, a subsidiary of VersaLife. All of the children, aside from Jensen, died as a result of the treatments. Two scientists in charge of Adam found out they had succeeded with him, but had grown too attached to let VersaLife continue experimenting on him. Not wanting any more children to undergo the same treatments, they burned down the facility where the experiments had taken place. They were later murdered by the Illuminati and reported as fire casualties, but their plan worked, and infant Jensen was rescued by a kind-hearted nurse named Michelle Walthers. Walthers was acquainted with a couple who desired a child and at age five he was unofficially[2] adopted by loving parents, Arthur and Margie Jensen.
With his adopted parents, Jensen was raised in a blue-collar neighborhood in Detroit and was a B-average student with no notable youthful indiscretions[3]. In high school, he was the captain of the debate team.[4] Relying solely on Arthur's income, money was always tight for the family; Margie lacked the skills and emotional temperament needed to maintain a job.[5] When Margie lost a job she would pull Adam from school to go on "an adventure" they could not afford--these outings were some of Adam's happiest memories but were also tinged with guilt and uncertainty.[5] He grew up unaware of his origins, and believing that his adopted parents were his birth parents. His relationship with his parents and adopted family appears to have been good as, in Jensen's apartment in Detroit, an old photograph of relatives is seen hanging in the living room. While Jensen does not speak often of his parents, he does mention that his mother sometimes kept him waiting,[6] and would not want to see him in a brothel.[7]
While Jensen had escaped White Helix Labs, its legacy had altered his life forever. Unbeknownst to Walthers, Jensen, or anyone else, the White Helix gene therapy had permanently altered Jensen's biochemistry. His body would not reject PEDOT electrodes with glial tissue buildup; if anything, the bond between tissue and electrode would strengthen with time, possibly without limit. If he were to be augmented, he would not require Neuropozyne. For the thirty years that followed the White Helix experiment, Jensen would unknowingly carry the secret of universal augmentation in his DNA.
Police career
As a young man Jensen earned a Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice from Phoenix University and Ferris College, according to the framed diplomas in his office. In The Missing Link DLC it is noted that Jensen received an Associates degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Phoenix, Detroit.[8] At the age of 21 he joined the Detroit Police Department. He graduated in the top ten percent of his Police Academy class.[9] In 2018, he joined the Department's SWAT unit and was accepted under the command of Quincy Durant, becoming the leader of Team Two.[9] As a gesture of camaraderie, Jensen got a tattoo of a rifle sight on his right bicep, like other Detroit SWAT members had.[10]
During this time period Jensen met Sarif Industries scientist Megan Reed, beginning what would become one of the most important relationships of his life. As of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Jensen had known Megan Reed for ten years.[10] The two began a romantic relationship in 2019, going so far as to consider "settling down together."[11] In Megan's office in Sarif Industries can be found a small toy cop car, a joke gift from Jensen on their first date, as he picked her up in a police cruiser.[12] Jensen and Megan broke up in 2023[8] but the separation was amicable and they remained friends and shared ownership of their dog, Kubrick.[13]
In 2020, Jensen and Durant confronted Tyrell Banks, an augmented murderer, who severely injured Durant before being killed by Jensen. Durant was saved by augmentation surgery, something he did not agree with philosophically. In the following years, Jensen witnessed and grew concerned with Durant's increasing aggression and corruption growing with his new powers.
Jensen rose quickly through the ranks as part of SWAT Team Two, eventually becoming the commander, but his police career came to an end during an incident known as the Mexicantown Massacre. A young augmented boy was identified as dangerous, and Jensen was given the order to shoot to kill. He refused that order, and it was passed on to another member of Jensen's team, Wayne Haas. It appears that Durant was somehow involved in the incident, as Jensen confronted him just as the riots were calming down. He defeated Durant with an EMP grenade and a bullet in the head, and quit the force soon after. Haas was then promoted into Jensen's vacant slot, though he didn't last long under the pressure of guilt concerning the shooting.
Sarif Industries
During Jensen and Megan's relationship Megan discovered his unique genetic traits and began, unbeknownst to Jensen, to take genetic samples from him beginning when he was 32 years old.[14] When Jensen resigned from the police force she advised her employer, David Sarif, to hire Jensen in order to ensure continued access to Jensen's genetic material.
Jensen joined Sarif Industries as Head of Security in 2026.[15] However, the founder of Sarif Industries, David Sarif, being a cautious individual, decided to hire a private investigator named Brent Radford to investigate Jensen's past. Radford discovered Jensen's role in the White Helix experiment and the fate of his biological parents. Sarif chose to not tell Jensen, believing that knowledge of his origins as a human test subject would be harmful to him.
Although Sarif was impressed with Jensen's loyalty and skills, Jensen was unwittingly even more important to the company as "Patient X" in Reed's research. If Jensen's genetic quirk could be directly integrated into a new generation of biochips, then rejection would be eliminated entirely and augmentation would become as simple as plastic surgery - ushering in a new age of human enhancement and destroying VersaLife's Neuropozyne market. Megan Reed's research was completed in early 2027.
Injuries and subsequent augmentation
On the eve of a series of high-profile augmentation hearings in Washington DC, Illuminati member Bob Page responds to Sarif Industries' announcement of a Neuropozyne alternative by ordering the Tyrants, an augmented Black Ops team, to attack Sarif Industries Headquarters.
The five key researchers - Megan Reed, Declan Faherty, Nia Colvin, Eric Koss and Vasili Sevchenko - are apparently killed in the attack, and Jensen sustained life-threatening injuries, culminating in being shot in the head with a .357 Magnum at point-blank range by Tyrants leader Jaron Namir. The Tyrants also copied and destroyed all data pertaining to the announced research breakthrough, but leave Jensen for dead at the scene, unaware that he was its source.
David Sarif then took advantage of a clause in Jensen's employment contract to collect genetic material and resume research on the biochip - and of his genetic condition to augment him to an extent which would have been impossible for any other individual. Jensen receives the most advanced augmentations that Sarif Industries could produce. The result is, at that time, probably the single most extensive cybernetic modification that had ever been performed outside the Illuminati's Tyrants. However, the extent of Jensen's injuries meant that most of the augmentations had to be left initially inactive. Jensen is sent home to recuperate, but subsequently struggles to come to terms with his body's fusion with machines - and ends up smashing his bathroom mirror the first time he sees himself in it.
Returning to work at Sarif Industries
About six months later, Jensen is taken off sick leave by David Sarif, in order to infiltrate the compromised Sarif manufacturing plant in the Milwaukee Junction, to secure a prototype Typhoon Explosive System augmentation, and to release hostages captured by a pro-human purist organization known as Purity First, led by Zeke Sanders. Making his way through the plant, Jensen locates the Typhoon data - though he also discovers an augmented hacker, with the appearance of a member of Purity First, attempting to steal the data. The hacker urges Jensen to help him, but then immediately commits suicide by shooting himself in the head. Jensen secures the Typhoon data and proceedes through the plant - on Sarif's orders - and confronts Zeke Sanders, who had taken the plant manager Josie Thorpe hostage. Jensen attempts to discern who is behind the attacks on SI, but becomes aware that Sanders and his subordinates are simply pawns, being used by a real mastermind who had been controlling the augmented hacker.
Investigation of the attacks
Jensen returns to Sarif Industries HQ in Detroit and undertakes an illegal mission to retrieve the dead hacker's Neural Hub from the Detroit Police Department morgue. Inside the morgue, Jensen discovers that the hacker's Hub had been modified with a wetdrive, and takes the Hub back to his apartment to allow Frank Pritchard to examine it remotely. Pritchard finds out that the modification had turned the hacker into a "human proxy," allowing someone else to hack through him. The hacking attempt had originated in an abandoned factory complex in Highland Park. Pritchard also informs Jensen that a transmitter in Detroit's Derelict Row is maintaining a constant "backdoor" into the Sarif Industries network. Jensen goes to Derelict Row and shuts the transmitter down.
Faridah Malik airlifts Jensen to the Highland Park warehouse, where Jensen witnesses the arrival of two members of the Tyrants, Lawrence Barrett and Yelena Fedorova, as well as another appearance of their leader, Jaron Namir. Barrett says that their operation was compromised, and that they have failed to retrieve the Neural Hub, despite the fact the Police Station was on lockdown by the orders of Joseph Manderley. Following the Tyrants, Jensen discovers that the warehouse is a front, and that the lower levels housed a FEMA internment camp. Jensen stumbles upon Namir and Fedorova as they are preparing to leave, but is briefly incapacitated by Barrett before he could stop them. Namir orders Barrett to get rid of Jensen, and then departs with Fedorova. Barrett engages Jensen in combat, but loses.
Jensen conducts a brief interrogation of the wounded Barrett. Barrett indicates that Sarif Industries is not being targeted by FEMA, but by someone else, and that Jensen should go to Hengsha in order to find out who. Barrett then sets off the grenades strapped to his chest, intending to kill both of them. Jensen stabs him with his combat blade and barely escapes the explosion. He then makes his way back to the surface and Malik takes him back to Sarif Industries to report on the situation. Pritchard tells Jensen about tunnels in the SI network that Sarif had apparently created before Jensen was hired, and that the tunnels had been hidden even from Pritchard. Jensen crosses paths with William Taggart and Isaias Sandoval in the Sarif Industries penthouse, just as they are leaving a meeting with Sarif. Jensen and Sarif discuss Sarif's secret data-stream. Sarif indicates to Jensen - somewhat cryptically - that Megan Reed and her team were not killed because of their involvement in the Typhoon or other military augmentations, but rather because of their research that would redefine human evolution into a self-controlled process. Following the conversation, Jensen is immediately ordered to Hengsha.
En-route, Jensen is at the last moment diverted to Juarez to save Sarif's niece from pro-augmentation cartel captors. Her mother is a high-ranking official of the Humanity Front. After the rescue is successful, a terrorist attack against a Humanity Front rally sends Jensen on a hunt for his former SWAT commander Quincy Durant and his pro-augmentation terrorist group. During this ordeal, Jensen befriends and becomes intimately involved with Katrina Sutherland, who sacrifices herself to save him, just as he was about to take his own life in a hopeless attempt to save her from Durant. Her death deeply affects Jensen, who then continues his original mission, heading for Hengsha.
In Hengsha, Jensen is directed by Malik to the Youzhao district, the location of the Hengsha Court Gardens apartments. However, the building is under lockdown by Belltower Associates, a privately-contracted security force operating through Hengsha. Jensen gets through the lockdown and finds the apartment from which the real hacker, Arie van Bruggen, was operating. Van Bruggen is not there, having gone on the run. Malik suggests that Jensen speak with Tong Si Hung, owner of The Hive nightclub, as he may have information on the hacker's whereabouts. After some negotiation, Jensen speaks privately with Tong, who tells him that van Bruggen is hiding in the Alice Garden Pods motel.
Jensen tracks down van Bruggen at the motel, but he insists that he was simply a middleman, hired by Zhao Yun Ru to lay the groundwork for a hostile takeover of Sarif Industries by Zhao's own corporation, Tai Yong Medical. Van Bruggen also says that he has stashed evidence of this in the TYM tower in Upper Hengsha. He encodes a TYM employee card with Jensen's biometrics in order to allow Jensen to access the tower. However, Jensen's conversation with van Bruggen is cut short by the arrival of a large number of Belltower soldiers led by Narhari Kahn. The soldiers have been tasked with killing van Bruggen. The hacker pleads with Jensen to give him a weapon, and opts to attempt to escape the attack on his own. Jensen escapes from the building and takes a TYM shuttle up into the Pangu, the artificial structure between Lower and Upper Hengsha.
Jensen makes his way up through the Pangu and into the Tai Yong Medical tower, where he finds van Bruggen's recording from six months earlier - which shows Zhao speaking with Namir in advance of the attack on Sarif Industries. The recording reveals that Megan Reed and her team were not killed by the Tyrants, but merely kidnapped and taken to an unknown location, and that Picus TV newsreader Eliza Cassan was involved.
Search for kidnapped SI scientists
Jensen informs David Sarif of what he had discovered and heads to Zhao's office to get answers about the kidnapping. Zhao briefly plays the victim, telling him that she had no choice in her actions - but as soon as Jensen lets his guard down, she locks herself in a panic room and triggers an alarm, forcing Jensen to flee to the tower's helipad. From there, Malik flies Jensen to Montreal, to confront Eliza Cassan.
Jensen finds the Picus TV building to be entirely devoid of people, having been evacuated and sealed by fire alarm protocols. Pritchard confirms that the alarms had been silenced after the lockdown. Jensen makes his way to Room 404 and has a brief conversation with Eliza. Eliza says that she had been observing Jensen since an occasion six months ago on which she had been ordered to temporarily disrupt satellites over Detroit - an action that effectively jammed the G-P-L implants in the kidnapped Sarif Industries scientists, creating the appearance that the scientists were dead. Jensen attempts to take Eliza away with him, but discovered that he had been speaking to a holographic projection. A large number of Belltower soldiers begin searching the building for Jensen.
During Jensen's escape through the Picus offices, he is contacted by Pritchard, who says that the projection of the hologram was accompanied by a massive power spike originating from a sub-basement connected to the main building by a funicular elevator. Jensen descends to the sub-basement, where he finds an entire suite of offices dedicated to altering, censoring, and manipulating information on a global scale. In room 802-11, he discovers that Eliza Cassan herself is actually a massive, sophisticated computer intelligence, programmed to monitor communications and data streams worldwide. Eliza's purpose is to find out what people were talking about and - if necessary - reshape the message in line with the designs of a powerful faction that she was physically unable to name. Following Eliza's conversation with Jensen, the Tyrant Fedorova appears and engages Jensen in combat, but is defeated.
After Fedorova's defeat, Eliza presents Jensen with a recording that show Sandoval and Namir discussing the removal of the G-P-L implants from the Sarif Industries scientists. Jensen deduces that the scientists would have been taken to the FEMA internment camp after the kidnapping, as the facility had the operating suite that would be required for such surgery. Eliza states that Sarif would know why the scientists were kidnapped in the first place, but warned Jensen that everybody lies. Malik - responding to a signal from Eliza - picks up Jensen from a nearby Picus helipad and flies him back to Detroit.
Following Picus TV's release of footage that showed biotechnology companies engaged in augmented supersoldier experiments, Detroit - like many other major cities around the world - is the scene of extensive anti-augmentation riots. Sarif comes to Jensen's apartment at the Chiron Building, where Jensen confronts him about the reason for the kidnappings. Sarif makes vague allusions to the power of the unnamed group behind it all - and Jensen (somewhat incredulously) describes them as the Illuminati. Sarif says that Megan Reed was on the verge of a historic breakthrough - one that would have made augmentations safe and available for everyone. Jensen mentions Sandoval's involvement, and Sarif provides an invitation to Taggart's speech at the Detroit Convention Center - but urges caution and delicacy, as Taggart's motives are questionable. At the Convention Center, Jensen discovers that Sandoval is not attending the speech, and proceeds to Sandoval's apartment. There, Jensen discovers a hidden passage into the sewers, and confronts Sandoval in a secret room guarded by members of Purity First.
Following Taggart's speech, which shifted all the blame on to him, Sandoval becomes suicidal. Jensen nevertheless learned that Sandoval's involvement with the kidnapping had ended after he failed to remove the kidnapped scientists' G-P-Ls. He was only able to change the G-P-L frequencies to one so low that nobody would think to look for it. Pritchard tells Jensen to return to Sarif Industries and report, and that he will look into tracking the adjusted frequencies. At Sarif's office, Jensen is met not by Sarif but by Hugh Darrow, the creator of mechanical augmentations. Darrow says that Sarif has urged him to invite delegates from the United Nations to Panchaea and to persuade them that regulation of the augmentation industry is unnecessary. Following this conversation, Sarif appears and tells Jensen privately that Pritchard has tracked Vasili Sevchenko's G-P-L to Hengsha. Sarif indicates that he has called in a favor from the Defense Department in order to do this, meaning that the conspirators would expect Jensen's arrival.
On the approach to Hengsha, Malik's VTOL is diverted by flight control, and subsequently disabled by an EMP missile fired by a Belltower operative. Malik makes an emergency landing in a suburban area near the Alice Garden Pods. Escaping from the ensuing Belltower ambush, Jensen takes an elevator to street level, where he suddenly experiences a painful glitch in his augmentations. Everyone else with augmentation is similarly affected at the same moment. The World Health Organization announces a problem with a faulty biochip, and issues a mass recall, advising every augmented person worldwide to visit their nearest LIMB clinic for a replacement.
Jensen follows Sevchenko's G-P-L signal to the Harvester hideout in Youzhao district. Inside, he once again meets Tong, who is wearing Sevchenko's scavenged cybernetic arm. Sevchenko himself was already dead; his corpse had been given to the Harvesters by Belltower a few weeks earlier. Tong claims that he didn't know about the other four Sarif employees - but would now tell Jensen more, if Jensen agrees to rescue Tong's son, who had been captured by Belltower. Jensen accomplishes the rescue, but learnes from Tong Jr. that the capture had been deliberately orchestrated. Tong Jr. wanted to leave Hengsha because he did not share his father's love of augmentations, and he felt that his family shouldn't put so much trust in the technology. Tong Jr. then departs with the aid of a personal cloaking device.
In exchange for the rescue, Tong Sr. tells Jensen to look for clues at the Belltower dock, where several ships seemed to be loaded at night and dispatched to unknown destination. At the dock, Jensen is told by Tong to pick up a parcel containing a bomb, and detonate it in the shipping company's offices. The bomb turns out to have been set with an extremely short countdown, presumably with the intention that Jensen himself would die. Jensen escapes the blast by jumping out of a window, and, in the resulting chaos, sneaks into a shipping crate and conceal himself in an empty cryo-pod, while Tong's son sneaks aboard a ship for Hong Kong.
Rifleman Bank Station episode
- For a more detailed account of Adam Jensen's story during The Missing Link, see The Missing Link.
Jensen is found hiding aboard Hei Zhen Zhu and takes out multiple Belltower troopers before he is subdued, put into an EMP chair, and brutally interrogated by Pieter Burke and Netanya Keitner. Unexpectedly, the chair is deactivated, allowing Jensen to escape. Jensen is soon contacted by a mysterious hacker, advising him to get out of the ship and meet with a contact, which turns out to be Netanya Keitner, on Rifleman Bank Station. Keitner had assisted in Jensen's escape as it seemed to her the best chance to get someone to find proof that Belltower is associated with something illegal.
Eventually, with assistance of Keitner and a Belltower engineer Garvin Quinn, Jensen accesses the seafloor laboratories from the prison wing to findout that the prisoners are turned into parts of Organic Computational Matrix computers. Jensen urges Tiffany Kavanagh her to get the incriminating evidence on Belltower and to escape with it after he orders a submersible.
As Jensen gets back to the station, his elevator is stuck halfway through. Keitner informs him that Burke has found out what they have been doing, before Jensen climbs his way to the top. He finds Keitner fatally wounded, who got the submersible for Kavanagh before Burke locked down the station and started to fill the prisons and the laboratory with toxic gas, which will kill the prisoners and Kavanagh unless Jensen does something about it. The lockdown is eventually lifted and Jensen takes out Burke and the team guarding him. The mystery hacker then contacts Jensen to inform him that the way is clear for him to get back to the ship, that could take him to Reed. Quinn reveals himself to be the hacker and tells it will be only a matter of time before the black station makes to the international headlines. He also gets Jensen a helicopter to take him to the ship inside a cryo-pod as the ship already managed to leave.
Back on track
Several days later, Jensen awakens and emerges from the cryo-pod in an unknown location. Upon re-establishing contact with Pritchard, Jensen discovers that he is now at the Omega Ranch biotech lab facility in Singapore.
On Pritchard's instructions, Jensen disables a nearby signal-jammer, allowing location of the G-P-Ls of the remaining scientists. Jensen speaks to each scientist inside the ranch facility and recruits them into an escape plan that entails infecting the ranch's computers with a virus that Sevchenko created before his death, and then staging three simultaneous serious incidents in the laboratories themselves. The virus would prevent the scientists' G-P-L signals from being tracked while they escape. Jensen proceeds to the secure wing of the facility to locate Megan Reed, but crosses paths with Zhao and Namir once again. He confronts Zhao about the biochip upgrades being another plot by the Illuminati - a killswitch intended to limit the abilities of augmented people so that they could easily be controlled. Zhao tried to use the killswitch to incapacitate Jensen, but Jensen is nevertheless able to defeat Namir in combat. Zhao escapes.
Jensen discovers Megan Reed, alive, in a secure suite nearby. Reed says that Darrow knew what the Illuminati were planning, and had tasked her with making modifications to the biochip before mass production began, which would prevent the chips being used as a killswitch. Immediately after this conversation, however, a broadcast from Panchaea revealed Darrow's true intention - he had altered the killswitch signal to enable him to project terrible hallucinations into the minds of augmented people. He activates the signal, driving all augmented people throughout the world to violent insanity. This event would later become known as the "Aug Incident."
Role in the Aug Incident
Reed urges Jensen to try to shut down the signal. Jensen agrees. The four scientists escape in a VTOL while Jensen takes Darrow's sub-orbital shuttle to Panchaea.
Most people at Panchaea had either been driven insane by the signal or been killed by those who had been. Jensen makes his way to the control room and confronts Darrow. Darrow insists that humanity has taken his gift of augmentation technology and twisted it, and altered the biochip signal as a way of showing that the technology is dangerous and that mankind needs to evolve without it. Darrow urges Jensen to allow his message to the world to expose the Illuminati and everything that had happened. After hearing Darrow's arguments, Jensen descends to the lowest levels of the facility to shut down the signal driving the augs insane.
At the very bottom of the facility, Jensen finds the Hyron Core, a quantum computer that used human drones as living processors. Zhao appears and connects herself to the Hyron system, intent on altering Darrow's signal for the Illuminati's benefit. However, the system rejects her biochip. In an attempt to gain control, Zhao activates the core's defenses, turning them on Jensen. Jensen is forced to destroy the human drones and kill Zhao. With Zhao gone, Jensen accesses the broadcast control room.
Here, Jensen is contacted by Eliza Cassan, who gives him the option of sending Darrow's recorded confession, warning the public of the potential danger of transhuman augmentations; the option of editing the message according to Sarif's suggestion, so as to blame the Humanity Front for their collaboration in producing the biochip and denounce the anti-augmentation movement to the public; editing it according to Taggart's suggestion, so as to blame the chaos on contaminated Neuropozyne from VersaLife, erasing any information about the Illuminati, and urging the public to demand regulation on augmentation research; and the option of destroying Panchaea by turning off its water pressure control system, killing everyone on the base and destroying all information and leaving the public unaware of any truth.
Due to the damage sustained as a result of the Aug Incident, Panchaea is destroyed. Jensen is plunged into the Arctic Ocean, with only his Sentinel RX Health System to keep him alive.[16]
After the Aug Incident
Jensen's body is recovered from the wreckage of Panchaea by an Illuminati-controlled recovery team, and is secretly sent to a facility in the Baltic Sea.[17] However, the events that transpired there are unclear.
Sometime after the Aug Incident, a full set of cutting-edge experimental augmentations were installed in Jensen by Vadim Orlov.[18] It is further suggested this his memories were altered in some way by the Illuminati.[19]
Awakening in Alaska and return to Detroit
- For a more detailed account of this part of Adam Jensen's story, see the main article for Deus Ex: Black Light.
In late 2028, one year after the Aug Incident, Jensen awakens from a coma to find himself in Facility 451 in Alaska, a processing clinic for augmented people set up by the World Health Organization. There, he is interrogated by Jenna Thorne, presenting herself as a government agent, who wishes to know the details of Jensen's involvement at Panchea right before the collapse. Suspecting that Thorne is an Illuminati agent, Jensen refuses to divulge any details. With the help of Stacks, Jensen escapes the facility. He then contacts Pritchard, who helps Jensen and Stacks return to Detroit.
By early 2029, Detroit has now become much more discriminatory towards augs due to the Aug Incident, with "naturals only" signs being posted on train carriages and at the Chiron Building, the building of Jensen's former apartment. Together with Pritchard and Stacks, Jensen visits the Sarif Industries' former headquarters, now abandoned after Sarif was bought out by Tai Yong Medical.
Jensen and Stacks then investigate Sarif Industry's now-abandoned Milwaukee Junction manufacturing plant. There, they discover that the Motor City Bangers are looting military-grade augmentations from the plant. Jensen and Stacks manage to destroy the Junction to prevent further looting, although a sizable amount of military-grade augmentations have already been looted. It is later revealed that the Illuminati intend to use the augmentations for operations in Europe. In order to extract the augmentations out of Detroit, an operation assigned to Thorne, the Illuminati plan to have the arms dealer Sheppard air-lift the augmentations out of the city by a cargo jet. Jensen is captured by Don Wilder, an ex-Sarif employee now working as a local proxy for Thorne. Wilders intends to kill Jensen, but is denied permission to do so by Thorne, who instructs Wilders to leave Jensen for pick-up by local police.
Meanwhile, a unit from the North American Division of Interpol's Task Force 29 is in Detroit to track down Sheppard's illegal weapons trafficking. TF29 manages to reach Jensen before the local police. Jensen returns the favor by helping TF29 stop Sheppard from air-lifting the augmentations out of the city. The TF29 commander, Christian Jarreau, is impressed with how Jensen handled himself and offers him a position in his force, but Jensen is not yet ready to commit.
In Detroit, Jensen is also approached by Juggernaut Collective members Garvin Quinn and Alex Vega, who want to recruit Jensen. The Juggernaut Collective assists Jensen in locating a train, carrying the augmentations seized from Sheppard by TF29, that is about to be attacked by an Illuminati strike force tasked with seizing the augmentations for themselves. Alex flies Jensen to the train.
Meanwhile, the train guarded by TF29 is rapidly being seized by the Illuminati strike force, which includes Gunther Hermann and others under the command of Jenna Thorne. Jensen arrives and assists TF29 agent Raye Vande, one of the few survivors, fight against the Illuminati operatives. Vande is killed by Thorne, but Jensen is successful in causing the train to run off the track, forcing Hermann to flee. Jensen then confronts Thorne, who is irate at the fact that her superiors seem to want to keep Jensen alive for reasons unknown to her. Earlier, Thorne was reminded by Hermann that she would be exceeding her authority if she were to kill Jensen herself. Nonetheless, feeling defiant of her superiors, Thorne attempts to kill Jensen but is defeated. Jensen then escapes the train before it derails and crashes.
Jarreau then arrives. Jensen, who had just witnessed the deaths of TF29 members on the train, would later take up on Jarreau's offer of recruiting Jensen into TF29. Jensen also decides to join the Collective, telling Quinn and Alex that he has had enough of how the Illuminati has caused the deaths of so many innocent lives, including those of Keitner and Sevchenko.
Juggernaut leader Janus has determined that TF29 has been compromised by the Illuminati and that Eastern Europe is the heart of the Illuminati's infiltration of the task force. Janus wants to deploy Jensen to TF29's Central European Division based in Prague to investigate Illuminati activity there, as well as the local TF29 director, Jim Miller.
First mission for TF29 and subsequent transfer to Prague
Jensen begins work for TF29 in its North American Division. In Jensen's first mission for TF29, he is sent to an aug-only super-max prison known as the "Pent House" to make contact with Hector Guerrero, a deep-undercover Interpol agent who has gone dark.
Jensen does not stay with the North American Division for long. Shortly afterwards, Jensen is transferred to the Prague-based Central European Division. Jensen's arrival in Prague thus fulfills Janus' objective of deploying Jensen to Prague. However, it is later revealed in Mankind Divided that Joseph Manderley, the director of TF29 and an Illuminati member, signed Jensen into TF29's Prague-based division, indicating that the Illuminati purposely allowed him to join.[20]
Early missions in Prague
- For a more detailed account of Adam Jensen's story during Deus Ex Universe: Children's Crusade, see the main article for Deus Ex Universe: Children's Crusade.
Shortly after Jensen joins TF29's Prague-based Central European Division, the team is sent to rescue kidnapped children but the team leader, Duncan MacReady, leaves Jensen at the VTOL while the rest storm the building. Hearing that the fight is getting bad, Jensen rushes in, ignoring Miller's orders to stay, and saves the team from the augmented terrorists. However, one of them gets away before Jensen can pursue while the rest of the team finds the children and start to evacuate them. Jensen runs back up to the roof to find the escaped aug, only to see him escape down an alley. Jensen starts to pursue, but Miller tells him to stand down. However, Titus King, a Picus News reporter with anti-aug sentiments, corners Jensen and Miller orders Jensen to only say "no comment" unless he wants to be kicked off the team. Agent Jana Niemi gets Jensen back inside the warehouse before they and MacReady find a suspiciously locked door and find a natural woman, Helena, and an augmented boy, Marek, handcuffed inside. Another terrorist appears and Jensen follows him to the warehouse floor, where another agent knocks him out. Helena reveals the terrorist's name is Bruno before MacReady asks why she is there. She explains she is being forced to look after the children as her own daughter, Emilia, is being held hostage in Glasshütte, an aug ghetto in Dresden. Bruno comes around and draws their attention to Marek before MacReady punches Bruno, only for the terrorist to repeat an obvious kill phrase that makes Marek turn red before the warehouse explodes, killing Marek, Bruno, and Niemi.
The team sends samples from the warehouse back to their HQ for Smiley to look over while Miller hands Helena off to Prague's police. Jensen tries to say they need to get Emilia, but Miller refuses until Chang informs them one of the samples matches a breakout from Glasshütte and Jensen confirms the pictures are of the escaped aug, sending the team to Dresden. Jensen is sent in alone into Glasshütte and finds the escaped aug, Sebastian, with a stockpile of weapons. Another aug informs Sebastian that a mole inside the local police knows Interpol is coming but Jensen attacks before they can move. However, Sebastian orders another to kill the girl, so Jensen knocks him out and chases after the messenger. With Alex Vega's help, he finds the room and kills the guards and rescues Emilia.
Sebastian escaped, so the team returns to Prague with Emilia and discuss what happened before Miller tasks Jensen with talking to the girl to try and get more information. However, the girl, seeing King's latest anti-aug broadcast, is upset and starts to become angry and Alex calls Jensen to let him know someone within TF29 knew Marek was going to blow himself up. Miller then informs Jensen he just got orders that the girl and her mother are to be taken to a safehouse. Smiley interrupts to give Jensen important information: one of the samples he ran came back as being related to Titus King. Miler then tells Jensen the car is ready, with the route already programmed into it.
Jensen retrieves mother and daughter and starts to drive them to the safehouse when someone shoots Helena in the head and an explosion goes off on the car, throwing Jensen out of the vehicle and knocking him out. A vehicle pulls up, retrieves an unconscious Emilia, and leaves. As TF29 check out the crash scene, Jensen comments that the bomb on the car was just big enough to get him out of the way but keep Emilia alive, and asks how it got on one of their vehicles, to which Miller points out it was not theirs but one from Interpol itself before sending Jensen home for rest. However, Alex tells Jensen there is a link between the Illuminati and Titus King, so he decides to check out the reporter's studio while the reporter is still outside Glasshütte's walls, broadcasting his hate-mongering alongside Pavel Mikulski, an anti-aug politician. Unknown to them, Sebastian leads a group of children soldiers through the ghetto and gives them weapons before placing a bomb. Jensen, meanwhile, finds King's servers and learns that Sebastian is Titus King's son and was augmented to save his life, but during the Aug Incident, he accidentally killed his mother.
An explosion goes off on Glasshütte's border and terrorists pour out, grab and knock out Titus King, and drag him into the ghetto. TF29 goes mobile and Miller tells Jensen to join them, so he gets a ride from Alex. En route, he learns that Emilia is among the children soldiers, shooting at the police. In Dresden, the Collective tell Jensen of Sebastian's real plan: to reveal he is King's son before blowing them both up on a live broadcast, but they have a non-violent way to end it. Jensen convinces Miller to let him go in solo, and the Collective block all of Sebastian's feeds, ending the broadcast after he reveals the family ties. Not deterred, Sebastian hugs on his father, making hints that he is about to set off the bombs when an unknown person gives a command to another agent, Vasquez, to take the shot if he has it, and he does.
Afterwards, Miller tells Jensen that Sebastian was too high of a risk to let live and keeping him in the dark was necessary, but Jensen inwardly thinks how they still do not know where the weapons and bombs came from. He is then approached by Emilia, who is angry at him for saving Titus King before she is taken away with the other aug children. Miller privately approaches Vasquez to ask who gave him the order, but the latter confusingly responds he thought it was Miller. King, meanwhile, gets back to his studio to play up on the events, using it as an excuse as to why no one should be augmented and that in wars, sons will die.
Elsewhere, Mikulski attends an Illuminati meeting, who say they supplied enough weapons to Sebastian to light the fuse and now they just need to control the timing of the explosion. They then discuss whether to announce their initiative, which they have named the Human Restoration Act.
Mission in Dubai and the Růžička Station bombing
- The following sections relate to Adam Jensen's story during Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. For a more detailed account see Deus Ex: Mankind Divided storyline.
In October or November of 2029, now six months since Jensen first joined TF29, Jensen's team is suddenly given a last minute assignment in Dubai to break up an illegal arms deal between Sheppard and the Jinn. All appears to be going according to plan, until a group of gold-masked mercenaries ambush the weapons deal, killing Shepard and all of the Jinn members present except for undercover Interpol agent Arun Singh.
Once back in Prague, Jensen meets Alex Vega at Růžička Station. Jensen and to Alex suspect that Jensen's team was sent to Dubai intentionally by the Illuminati in order to officially "witness" something. Moments later, bombs go off, blowing up the station in an apparent terrorist attack. In the aftermath of the explosions, a child is screaming for his mom to be saved from under the rubble and wreckage. Adam hears this, and intervenes, but it's too late; she dies shortly after touching Adam's hand, which is the moment he remembers why he's doing what he's doing, and the eye shields come on, the banter with side character stops, and he becomes much colder as a character. Mail at TF29 HQ confirms this, as well as the identity of the woman killed, whom Adam tried to save.
Searching for clues
Back at TF29, Jensen is assigned to investigate the Růžička Station bombing by collecting evidence from the station. However, Jensen is also conducting a parallel investigation with the Collective to uncover the true reason behind the bombing and the Dubai ambush. He learns that the Augmented Rights Coalition are being framed for a number of attacks, including the ones in Dubai and Růžička Station.
Jim Miller sends Jensen into Golem City to retrieve ARC's leader, Talos Rucker, but Rucker dies while talking to Jensen, forcing him to return home empty-handed (depending on how you behaved in Golem, this could have dire consequences for your playthrough). Back in Prague, Jensen learns from Smiley that the evidence he collected from Růžička Station links to a locally made wristwatch by Nomad Staněk. Jensen learns Nomad's daughter, Allison Staněk, is most likely the bomb-maker.
Taking advantage of Miller's absence, Jensen enters Miller's Neural SubNet machine to examine, on behalf of the Juggernaut Collective, evidence of Miller's potential involvement with the Illuminati. Looking through the recorded conversations, Jensen learns that Miller was being ordered by Joseph Manderley to put blame on ARC for the Dubai ambush and the Růžička Station bombing. The recording also shows that Manderley's actions are being controlled by another man, who had instructed Manderley to order the assassination of Talos Rucker using something known as the "Orchid." Jensen then teleconferences with Janus, who tells Jensen that Manderley's superior is Bob Page, owner of VersaLife. Janus suggests that Jensen infiltrate the VersaLife vault in the Palisade Property Bank to learn more about the Orchid. However, Jensen also receives a call from Nomad Staněk to rescue Allison Staněk. Following the clues, Jensen learns that he needs to investigate a facility in the Swiss Alps known as G.A.R.M.
Sometime prior to leaving for G.A.R.M., Jensen is contacted by Francis Pritchard, who asks Jensen to help him obtain data stored on the Palisade Blades on behalf of David Sarif, whom Pritchard refers to as his client. With the help of the hacker ShadowChild, Jensen infiltrates Palisade Blade-01, and succeeds in getting the data sought by Pritchard. Jensen's infiltration of the Blade results in the creation of the Breach.
When Jensen goes to G.A.R.M., he is immediately ambushed by Viktor Marchenko, whom Jensen met earlier in Golem City. Marchenko attempts to kill Jensen with the Orchid, the same substance used to assassinate Talos Rucker. In its current state, the Orchid is lethal. However, due to the way the Orchid works and Adam's unique DNA, Jensen survives. During Jensen's visit to G.A.R.M., he learns that another attack is being planned. Back in Prague, Jensen discovers that the impending attack is set to take place at the Apex Centre, London during a conference set up by Nathaniel Brown of the Santeau Group. In Jensen's apartment, Vega tells Jensen that Brown is working to oppose the passage of Human Restoration Act. If the Act passes, Brown's corporation, the Santeau Group, will be unable to sustain the inflow of the augmented into their safe-haven cities such as Rabi'ah, which would result in enormous financial loss. Vega tells Jensen that the Illuminati's plan is to stop Brown.
London operation and aftermath
Prague's TF29 Division travels to London to attempt to prevent the attack. Jensen is presented with the decision of whether to focus on stopping Viktor Marchenko from detonating bombs in a nearby residential building, or prevent Nathaniel Brown and his delegates from being poisoned by the Orchid.
After the London mission, Jensen and the Juggernaut Collective are now a step closer to bringing down the Illuminati. He has the names of two conspirators involved in organizing the attacks and framing ARC, Bob Page and Joseph Manderley, and he plans to bring them to justice. Adam is also interested in uncovering the identity of Janus, who refuses to meet other members in person. Jensen makes clear that he wants to meet Janus face-to-face.
Jensen sees Dr. Delara Auzenne once again. Auzenne asks Jensen to recount Jensen's first mission with the TF29 in which he was sent to the Pent House to make contact with deep-undercover Interpol agent Hector Guererro. At the time, Interpol had received intelligence reports of possible terror attacks on pro-Aug groups in the U.S., and Guerrero was the only one who could confirm if the intel was solid. The story, as told by Jensen to Delara, culminates in a confrontation between Jensen and Guerrero, whose extensive time at the Pent House made him question his loyalties to Interpol.
After Jensen concludes his story, he asks Auzenne what she would've done in his position—whether she would kill the agent in front of her with no questions asked, if she had any suspicion of the agent had gone rogue. Auzenne answered that maybe she would, if she really felt that the person in front of her was no longer on her side. Auzenne also tells Jensen that understanding when to pull the trigger in this situation is the single most important instinct an agent can possess. As Jensen departs, he tells her that Guerrero was right that there was no terror attack, and that he wonders what else Guerrero was right about.
Personality
The personality that Jensen exhibits during Deus Ex: Human Revolution is fixed in many ways, but the player has the ability to shape it in various others. The game provides continuous opportunities for the player to decide Jensen's ethical/moral stance towards social behavior and the use of violence. The player can also shape Jensen's evaluation of his own role in events that have already taken place by the time the story begins - such as the Mexicantown Massacre.
Jensen is described as a "working class hero" and exhibits personality traits consistent with that mentality: dependable, resourceful, curious (in a stand-offish way), and with a streak of cynicism. Jensen's childhood and experiences with his mother Margie may have impacted his life and career decisions in that it may have inclined him to a life of service and a desire to help others.[5]
The most prominent fixed element of Jensen's personality is that he is a loner, though he was allegedly getting better before the train attack. He undertakes missions exclusively alone and rarely displays strong emotion even towards close acquaintances. He's also stoic and maybe even a bit melancholic when expressing himself, rarely showing any emotion, be it happiness, joy, sadness or anger when speaking to others. However, a few people in Jensen's life do provoke him to more emotional reactions and his inner thoughts and monologues are highly emotional, but he keeps those emotions to himself. He retains strong affection for his ex-girlfriend Megan Reed and he nearly commits suicide in an attempt to save his new friend and lover, Katrina Sutherland. Although he has a general distrust of authority— perhaps as a consequence of his experiences in law enforcement—Jensen respects and trusts his employer, David Sarif, and reacts badly when that trust is not reciprocated. He shows antipathy toward his colleague Frank Pritchard, who regards him with disdain in return, although their dislike of each other appears to be fairly superficial. Jensen can express bitterness toward Sarif early on in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. When Sarif leaves a message on Jensen's answering machine, one can simply leave the apartment and not answer. If you come back later to discuss the experimental augs, Jensen will not retract his eye shields and has quite a few unflattering things to say to Sarif.
By Jensen's own admission, he becomes "bore-sighted" on goals, focusing on a target to the exclusion of everything else.[21] Jensen considers this "not one of my better qualities."
When first facing Zhao Yun Ru, Jensen hesitates and is easily distracted when Zhao pretends to be a victim. It slightly suggests something about Adam's personality, possibly that he has a soft spot for women in distress.
Despite his emotionless appearance, Adam often displays a sarcastic, sometimes ironic, sense of humor. If the player didn’t get a new biochip before Adam’s final fight with Namir, he can mock Zhao’s attempt to stop him with her own quote, claiming how “women never fail to underestimate men.”
Many of the fixed events in the game, and especially in the comic series, describe Jensen as a professional operative with a high regard for innocent civilians in danger, but he's not above collateral damage if it'll stop further bloodshed.
Furthermore, Jensen is both a smoker and a drinker. Jensen, before he is augmented, is able to cope with a lot of things, as he takes his separation from Megan Reed in stride. Thus, we see little evidence to provoke his indulgence in vices. However, after the attack, he loses everything that matters to him: his humanity, his lover, and his dog, among other things. The result of this pushed Jensen into a depression (he smashed his fist into his mirror), driving him to smoke and drink. We can draw from this that, regardless of the choices the player makes in the game to indicate otherwise, Adam Jensen is often given choices to perform actions that tend to his soul.
Gameplay in Deus Ex: Human Revolution does not usually force the player to commit to a particular personality, or at least not completely. The player has freedom to be inconsistent. It is possible for the player's actions to result in the implication that Jensen is extremely manipulative, to the point of being sociopathic. Practical consequences from the game world and story are mostly determined by what happens, rather than by an assessment of why the player did it, so Jensen's motivations are largely open to the player's interpretation.
Augmentations
Alongside Jaron Namir, Adam Jensen is one of the most augmented characters in Deus Ex: Human Revolution, with forty to fifty percent of his body replaced with augmentation.[22] All of his initial augmentations were produced by Sarif Industries, and were given to him as a result of the attack by the Tyrants. While Namir seems to have his head and spine implanted into a robotic body, Jensen's augmentations are grafted into his organic torso and skin.
All of Adam Jensen's limbs have been completely replaced: his arms include nanoceramic blades that can be released at either the wrists or elbows for close quarters combat, a function that enables him to punch through walls by opening a section of his forearm, and the ability to dislocate his fingers (which he uses when grabbing a guard's helmet and spinning him in midair, causing massive spinal trauma). Other augmentations include firing stability, lifting heavy weight, and firing accuracy while running.
Jensen's augmented legs are rarely seen, as he wears pants and combat boots to cover them. In the Deus Ex: Human Revolution comics, his legs are mechanical from just above the knee down. However, this depiction of the extent of his leg augmentation is contradicted by full body scans in The Missing Link and A Criminal Past, which show that his leg augmentation reaches his hips.[23]
His torso appears to be biological, but is covered in dermal armor, along with bolt ports from the bar placed within his chest to support said augments. Underneath he has a variety of cardiovascular and muscular augmentations, such as an internal rebreather, a Sentinel RX health system, three types of bio-electric batteries, and the Typhoon Explosive System, its ejection ports mounted on his upper and lower arms.
Jensen has two augmentations attached to his spinal column: a Reflex Booster and the Icarus Landing System (although the effects of the landing system appear to originate from anywhere in his body).
Jensen uses the Glass-Shield cloaking system, which classes as a skin augmentation. The origin of the mechanism is still indeterminate.
Jensen's head has a plethora of augmentations, most notably a variety of hacking tools and the CASIE module (allowing him to see personality traits and emotional reactions of those he converses with). Jensen bears a hexagonal scar on the left side of his forehead, the result of the insertion of the Infolink's implant module containing a neural hub server, which is paired with a communications bead bonded to his mastoid bone, allowing for subvocal communication.[24] He also has a cochlear implant within his ear cavity. Jensen's eyes have notably been replaced with cybernetic eyes (Eye-know Sarif brand) with gold irises that display various information about the environment, and can be used to record and view video,[25] as well as serve as the base layer for some rather uncommon augs, like Smart Vision and its MAGPIE upgrade, Flash Suppressant upgrade, and a complete suite of Wayfinder Radar System modules. Jensen's eyes are compatible with another Sarif Industries cybernetic eye, the "Atid" model.[26] Additionally he has an unspecified implant that allows him to cover his eyes in eye-shield lenses hidden in black comma-shaped augments around his eyes, an augmentation he shares with Ben Saxon. NPCs occasionally refer to this augment as "mirrorshades." Jensen almost always keeps the lenses activated, appearing to only retract them when sleeping, showering, or engaging in important conversations or interaction.
Adam is the only known Neuropozyne-independent augmentee, the result of experiments performed upon him as an infant at White Helix Labs. However his augmentations post-surgery are for the most part immediately "locked" to prevent overexertion of the brain during his recovery. Over time (or with the use of Praxis kits), Jensen learns to use his augmentations effectively, one at a time.
Notes & Trivia
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- Jensen's blood type is O Negative.
- Jensen's weight is 182 lbs.[27]
- Jensen's famous quote, "I never asked for this," is only said once in Human Revolution.
- Jensen's surname is a homage to the Gabriel Knight series and its creator, Jane Jensen. According to developer commentary, the idea for using the surname "Jensen" came from discussion of the Gabriel Knight series and its creator in brainstorming sessions during the game's development. The full name "Adam Jensen" was proposed by lead writer Mary DeMarle.[28] No specific basis for the first name "Adam" has been given in developer commentary. However, the name "Adam" was previously used in Ion Storm concept material as the name for an AI antagonist of Majestic Revelations and as part of the proposed name "Adam Denton" for the protagonist of the cancelled Ion Storm game Deus Ex: Insurrection.
- Jensen was likely inspired by the character Alex Murphy, or better known as RoboCop. Both are from Detroit, both served as members of the police, and both were severely injured to the point of near (Jensen) or clinical (Murphy) death in the line of duty, only to be saved via cybernetic technology. This connection is lampshaded in the Detroit Police Station as two officers can be overheard discussing RoboCop.
- Jensen's character design resembles a composite of the three Denton brothers: he wears a longcoat and sunglasses at all times, speaks in a nearly emotionally-detached accent similar to that of JC Denton, his goatee resembles that of Paul Denton, and he wears his hair in a spiky hairdo akin to that of Alex Denton.
- According to the developers, Jensen's design guidelines were that he "...had to look like he could either walk into a posh restaurant just to talk to someone, or be dropped behind enemy line and take care of business--all within the same design."[29]
- He is voiced and performance captured by actor Elias Toufexis, the husband of Michelle Boback, who voices Megan Reed.
- According to this video, Elias and Michelle got into an argument on the day they were supposed to record the lines for Adam and Megan at Omega Ranch, causing them to be genuinely angry during the scene.
- Elias Toufexis also voiced Gabriel Nowak in Rainbow Six: Vegas 2. In an incident similar to Jensen's, Gabriel was disgraced after a sniper situation caused a bad situation to turn worse. But whereas Gabriel provoked the situation, Jensen walked away.
- In Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Jensen's skin color appears paler, and his hair a darker black-brown compared to his appearance in Deus Ex: Human Revolution, due to the removal of the gold-yellow graphic filter used in said game. His face has also been made less angular and more sculpted.
- Jensen wears his eye-shields most of the time, even at night. In Deus Ex: Human Revolution he covers them the moment he steps into Sarif Industries and retracts them only once: when talking to Megan Reed in Omega Ranch.
- Jensen's eye-shields are presumably not tinted in the conventional sense, as they do not seem to affect his perception of light levels. However, since Jensen never removes them during gameplay, it is hard to be sure of this as the whole game has a gold tint. As this tint is apparent even before Jensen receives his augmentations though, it is more likely that the eye-shields are not tinted.
- In Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Jensen tends to retract his eye-shields more often, like during personal conversations. This is heavily dependent on how much "your" Jensen actually trusts the person in question.
- The Eidos logo can be seen on the frames of his eye-shields in artwork and the trailers for Deus Ex: Human Revolution. In Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, his eye-shields are styled after the Eidos logo, as well as having the logo printed on them.
- His original set of eye-shields from Deus Ex: Human Revolution were heavily damaged during the events of Deus Ex: Black Light, being replaced by the set he wears in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.
- If the player chooses to have Adam get the new biochip (that allows Zhao to temporarily shut down his augs), Megan Reed will inject him with a nano-augmentation that shields his biochip from the Illuminati's signal. This would make him the second character in Deus Ex to have both mechanical augmentations and nano-augmentations at the same time.
- An e-mail discussing Jensen's DNA reveals that his biological mother did not share the mutation that allows him to tolerate mechanical augmentations.
- Jensen has various vices shown throughout the game. Bottles of whiskey and packs of cigarettes are strewn around his apartment and office and in the cinematic trailers, he drinks and smokes during his recovery. It is revealed in the Deus Ex: Human Revolution comics that he took up smoking again after Megan Reed was presumed dead, yet due to his Sentinel RX Health system the negative health impacts of smoking do not affect him.
- While the player can consume alcohol within gameplay, the player has no opportunity to smoke tobacco.
- He still smokes as of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, his favorite brand apparently being Royal Hellhounds.
- Jensen enjoys baseball, as demonstrated by the baseball bat in both his Detroit and Prague apartments and the autographed baseball in his Prague apartment, as well as his watching a Detroit baseball game in the opening scene of the System Rift DLC.
- Jensen's pantry selection reveals surprisingly large quantities of sugary breakfast cereals, hinting at a personal preference for sweet food. However, seeing as his augmentations are supposed to draw bioenergy from his systems to function, the strong preference for sugary food might have been a way to adapt to his body's increased energy demands.
- In Mankind Divided his favorite drink is Nye's rye, a Canadian made whiskey "proudly produced in Montreal." Coincidentally, it's among the best health restoring drink items in the game.
- Jensen's trench coat is tailor-made to have custom Typhoon ports and blade slits that are magnetically attached to his body to allow him to perform Typhoon blasts or lethal takedowns without having to worry about the condition of his suit. These blade slits are much more noticeable in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, due to the higher detail in the coat's design and rendering.
- ACRONYM, a real-life apparel brand, collaborated with Mankind Divided artists to create a real, working version of Jensen's trench coat.
- In Jensen's office, there are three diplomas from three different universities for the same degree: B.S. in Criminal Justice from Ferris College, Phoenix University, and a third school whose name is illegible.
- In Jensen's apartment and office, there are several whiteboards with mathematical writings and mechanical schematics and an eBook in his apartment tells the story of the first mechanical clock. All this suggests that he has an interest in mechanical theory, though he also used clock-making as a method to learn to control his artificial arms during the 6 months he spent recovering.
- As of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided he continues to enjoy clock-making, as he has a work table dedicated to the hobby and he visits Nomad Staněk's watch shop often enough for the owner to comment on it when being interrogated by Jensen.
- Initially the developers intended Jensen's clock-making to indicate that he had always been a collector and simply enjoyed taking devices apart out of curiosity.[30] However during playtesting the testers perceived Jensen's crafting to be his way to learn about his augmented body rather than his being a collector. The developers preferred this interpretation to the original idea and it became canon, so much so that in Deus Ex: Black Light Jensen notes that building model clocks was part of his physical rehabilitation.[31]
- He is ambidextrous, although this is for gameplay reasons. Various weapons and objects in the games require Jensen's animations to use both hands. As of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided the presence of the Reflex Booster would make him ambidextrous, even if he wasn't already. In spite of this in promotional material and in general in combat, Jensen is demonstrably right-handed.
- Jensen's preferred beard style appears to be the "anchor beard."[32]
- His first name may be a direct reference to Adam, described in the Bible as being the first man created by God. This would fit with JC Denton's first initials possibly being an allusion to Jesus Christ.
- Jensen's first name may be intended to imply a parallel with Frankenstein's monster, which is also compared to the Biblical Adam. Deus Ex: Human Revolution includes a number of other allusions to Frankenstein, particularly in reference to Hugh Darrow and the technologies he has created, but couldn't control.
- In the Deus Ex: Human Revolution comics, it is stated that over 50% of Jensen's body has been replaced. It also shows only the bottom half of his legs have been replaced. However in the comic his eyes are blue rather than yellow.
- The comics are further contradicted in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided when it's shown that Jensen's leg augments go all the way up to his hips, instead of half-way down his thighs.
- In a low temperature container on one side of the VersaLife Vault in the Palisade Corporate Vaults is the head and torso of a human being, who looks nearly identical to Jensen. This unknown being even shares Adam's facial hair, scars on his cheek, and scar over his eye. The only noticeable difference is that he lacks Jensen's full hair model and the eye cover (eye shield/sunglasses) augmentation (however, he has a faint scar at the locations flanking the eyes where the eye cover aug would be mounted). By using third-party tools to see through the entire container, the torso's shoulder area shows indentations corresponding to the parts of Jensen's cybernetic arms that extend onto the torso around the shoulder socket.
- When the final touches were made on Adam for Deus Ex: Human Revolution, the character designer strongly opposed the semi-auto superspy look with silenced weapons, and made his default (if you can call it that) a big revolver, with as much bite as it has bark. This was allegedly a throwback to the old noir days of PIs using large caliber revolvers, Blade Runner's iconic pistol, and the fact that neither Clint Eastwood nor Peter Weller (Robocop) ever used tactical silencers, and in Clint's case a big gun doesn't need to be fired, as long as you're deathly afraid of the man wielding the gun.
- By the time of his augmentation, and even before, Jensen showed signs of being an experienced Silhouette revolver shooter, based on how he grips his 'trademark' .357 revolver, which would quality him for 'lightweight,' based on caliber alone, but even by the events of Mankind Divided, his old habits reign strong, and he holds his revolvers with the signature 'cradle,' normally reserved for .44 special and above.
- On the coffee table of Jensen's Prague apartment can be found a signed copy of Pritchard's Nuclear Snake screenplay, possibly indicating that Pritchard sought Jensen's opinion on it.
- As of the time period of Deus Ex Universe: Children's Crusade Jensen speaks and understands some German. By the time of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Jensen is attempting to teach himself Czech, as evidenced by the Czech language books on his coffee table.
- By the time period of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Jensen demonstrates an interest in cooking, as shown by the cookbook found in his apartment.
- Adam's cybernetic arms are a matched pair of the bleeding edge Sarif series 7 arms: S7 combat arm replacement 0903_93AJ. He seems to be the only character throughout the series to sport these incredibly advanced and versatile arms. Based on their production number ending in AJ, it's possible they were a one-off production specifically for Adam. Most Sarif aug owners are limited to series 5, but a handful of (formerly) very rich, influential, and successful people, like Irenka Bauer, have Sarif series 6 arms, which were considered some of the best arm replacements money could buy in 2027. His arms` serial number is #0099D56Y as seen in the Human Revolution trailer.
- The toy cop car Adam gifted Megan with on their first date, which can be found on Megan's desk in Deus Ex: Human Revolution, appears later on Adam's desk in the TF29 headquarters in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.
- During Steam's Summer 2017 sale, a sticker book was added for the event and Jensen was included in one of the pages.
- Jensen's apparel also appear as promotional content in various other video games. His augmentations, combat armor and Zenith pistol are available as DLC for Hitman: Absolution. His augmentations, combat armor, and the FR-27 SFR are featured in Sleeping Dogs, another game published by Square Enix.. His eye-shields, cybernetic arm, and Diamondback .357 revolver appear as promotional miscellaneous items in Team Fortress 2. Jensen is also available as a map commentator in DotA 2, for those who purchase Deus Ex: Mankind Divided on Steam.
- If the Adam Jensen announcer and mega-kill pack for Defense of the Ancients 2 can be considered canon, then the lines "Just like Kubrick... give me a minute" following an animal courier death, and the low-action commentary line "Here, Kubrick 2! Here, boy! <dog panting>", heavily imply that Kubrick is dead, and Adam has purchased another dog with the same name. Taken outside of the context of Kubrick being a dog, the first line implies Adam is still deeply saddened and not over the death of famous director Stanley Kubrick.
Gallery
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Miscellaneous
References
- ↑ RE: Paternity Test
- ↑ Unofficially as, per the investigation by Brent Radford, Jensen appeared at the age of five with the Jensens with no paperwork trail regarding his adoption and the Jensens had been denied legal adoption numerous times in the past.
- ↑ Deus Ex: Black Light, pg. 168.
- ↑ Jensen mentions this when speaking to Daria Myška during The Harvester side mission in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Per the brief on Jensen's childhood read by Hugh Darrow in the cutscene before Jensen's return to Hengsha.
- ↑ When speaking to Alex Vega if she was kept waiting for Adam after infiltrating Jim Miller's apartment in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.
- ↑ Jensen mentions this when speaking to Masa Kadlek in the Red Queen in Prague's Red Light District.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "FW: Adam Jensen" email on Garvin Quinn's computers.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Deus Ex: Black Light, pg. 169.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Deus Ex: Human Revolution comics, issue 2.
- ↑ Deus Ex: Black Light, pg. 101.
- ↑ The toy car can be interacted with during the prologue of Deus Ex: Human Revolution and initiates a conversation between Adam and Megan about the date.
- ↑ As shown in conversation between Jensen and Megan in the prologue of Deus Ex: Human Revolution and in the "RE: The dog" email on Megan Reed's computer.
- ↑ Based upon the listed age of Patient X in Megan's medical records in her office.
- ↑ As noted in conversation with Delara Auzenne in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.
- ↑ Deus Ex: Black Light
- ↑ Deus Ex Universe Timeline, 2027, entry 3.
- ↑ The Mystery Augs side mission in Mankind Divided.
- ↑ Conversation between Delara Auzenne and Lucius DeBeers at the end of Mankind Divided.
- ↑ Dialogue from Jim Miller in Mankind Divided.
- ↑ Deus Ex: Black Light, pg. 241.
- ↑ Deus Ex: Black Light, pg. 171.
- ↑ Jensen's security scan (screenshot)
- ↑ Deus Ex: Icarus Effect, pgs. 11-12.
- ↑ Jensen makes use the of this function when he views the stored video on Don Wilder's cybernetic eye in Deus Ex: Black Light, pg. 253.
- ↑ Deus Ex: Black Light, pg. 254.
- ↑ Deus Ex Universe: Children's Crusade collected edition end matter.
- ↑ J. J.-B. and J.-F. Dugas (Mar 14, 2011). "Ask JJB - Where does the name Adam Jensen come from?". EidosMontreal YouTube channel.
- ↑ The Art of Deus Ex Universe, pg. 12.
- ↑ Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director's Cut commentary.
- ↑ Deus Ex: Black Light, pg. 253.
- ↑ Gillette Beard Grooming.
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