Deus Ex: Human Revolution

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Developer(s)	Eidos Montreal Nixxes Software (PC)
Publisher(s)	Square Enix
Designer(s)	Jean-François Dugas David Anfossi
Composer(s)	Michael McCann
Series	Deus Ex
Engine	Modified Crystal Dynamics Crystal engine
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Release	NA: 2011-08-23 AU: 2011-08-25 EU: 2011-08-26 JP: 2011-09-08
Genre(s)	Cyberpunk Action RPG
Mode(s)	Single-player

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is the third game in the Deus Ex first-person role-playing video game series, and a prequel to the original game. Announced on May 27, 2007, Human Revolution was developed by Eidos Montreal and published by Square Enix. It was released in August 2011.

Human Revolution contains elements of first-person shooters and role-playing games, set in a near-future where corporations have extended their influence past the reach of global governments. The game follows Adam Jensen, the security chief for one of the game's most powerful corporations, Sarif Industries. After a devastating attack on Sarif's headquarters, Adam is forced to undergo radical surgeries that fuse his body with mechanical augmentations, and he is embroiled in the search for those responsible for the attack.

Human Revolution received critical acclaim upon its release, with many reviewers praising the open-ended nature of the game and the weight of conversations on the outcome of events. Criticisms were leveled at shortcomings such as ammo quantities, long loading times, and the inclusion of boss fights.

Gameplay

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Screenshot of protagonist Adam Jensen in the "Picus TV" newsroom

The different "pillars of gameplay", as called by the developers, are "Combat", "Stealth", "Hacking", and "Exploration". Players can switch between these gameplay types whenever they please, and certain pillars may flow into others. For example, a failed hack may sound an alarm and start a fight, and exploration might lead to the discovery of a stealthy way past the area's enemies.

In the series, Augmentations are technological modifications to the body that allow the user to use superhuman abilities. While augmentations in the first two games were nanotech, Human Revolution is set prior to both and instead features mechanical augmentations. These Augmentations cater to each of the four gameplay types. While the player character is highly capable of bringing death on his enemies, the player is never forced into acts of lethal violence, except during certain special encounters (e.g. boss fights), some of which even can be resolved without violence. Augmentations, while enhancing the player's performance in each of the gameplay types, also allow players to craft their own methods of play as they see fit.

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 in Invisible War, weapons will fire distinct ammunition types instead of depleting a unified pool. They can also be upgraded to better suit the player.

Deviating from previous titles in the series, Human Revolution uses a regenerating health model. This change was made because the developers did not 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" and food. 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. Combat is highly lethal, so the regenerative health is only a major factor between fights, not during them. Despite using a regenerating health model, the game will still include health restoring consumables, such as food.

Another major change seen in Deus Ex: Human Revolution is the highlighting of objects a player can interact with, explained via the in-game plot as tactical vision Augmentation. This feature can be seen in the game play preview released in March 2011. This highlighting of objects can be turned off in the game options. Human Revolution is primarily a first-person game, but will switch to a contextual third-person viewpoint when using the cover system, certain Augmentations, or for melee combat.

Synopsis

Setting

This cyberpunk- inspired game takes place during the year 2027, 25 years before Deus Ex. Nanotechnological augmentations have yet to be developed and biomechanical augmentations are the current state of the art. The main protagonist, Adam Jensen (voiced by Elias Toufexis), is a private security officer with Sarif Industries, a leading company that specializes in human augmentations. After he witnesses a chilling attack on his company which leaves him horrifically injured and forced to undergo augmentation to survive, "the conspiracy begins." The player will visit four cities over the course of the game, including Detroit, Shanghai, Montreal, and Singapore. In addition, the protagonist will have his own apartment where he may store his secrets and collected information. The events in the game will lead to the formation of UNATCO from the original game.

Characters

• Adam Jensen – The central protagonist, Adam was a SWAT commander in the Detroit Police, but his career came to an end when he refused to follow a questionable order. Subsequently, Adam became a private security specialist for Sarif Industries, assigned to protect scientists on the verge of cutting edge breakthroughs. During what should have been a routine security detail, an ambush by a rogue black ops team, the Tyrants, leaves Adam critically injured and his charges dead. Adam awakens with cybernetic augmentations, and begins a relentless search for the truth behind the attack.
• Dr. Megan Reed - One of the lead researchers at Sarif Industries and Adam's ex-girlfriend. Dr. Reed is considered a pioneer in the field of human enhancement technologies. Her dedication to her research, and her aloof demeanor, has made it difficult for her to cultivate lasting interpersonal relationships.
• David Sarif – The founder and CEO of Sarif Industries, David is a futurist who developed an interest in machines at an early age. He is known for his forward, honest demeanor, though he has no aversion to keeping secrets when appropriate.
• Jaron Namir – An Israeli-born mercenary, Namir is the field commander for the Tyrants. Officially a senior member of the PMC Belltower Associates, he actually takes his orders from the Illuminati. A merciless combatant, yet also a devoted family man, he has had numerous cybernetic enhancements to compensate for the decline associated with advanced age.
• Lawrence Barrett - A former marine turned mercenary, Barrett is a member of the Tyrants. Like Namir, he has augmented his already impressive physique with numerous cybernetic upgrades. He lives for the moment when he's beaten his enemy into submission, and Adam Jensen is his next target.
• Yelena Federova - A statuesque, athletic woman of Afro-Russian descent, Yelena is one of Belltower's most elite assasins. Unlike Barrett, she favors stealth over brute force. Being one of few women in a male-dominated profession has strongly influenced her worldview, making her cautious of everything around her.
• Faridah Malik - A helicopter pilot for Sarif Industries, she transports Jensen into various missions and locations. It is revealed later that she once lived in Hengsha and that her best friend was murdered. She then asks Jensen to bring the killer to justice.
• Frank Pritchard - The head of Sarif's cyber-security team, Frank has a sour releationship with Jensen, however, he is Jensen's main logistical support during his missions.
• Eliza Cassan - A reporter for Picus, she is revealed later to be an AI programmed to spin information. However, she shows interest in Jensen and his activities and supports him in uncovering the conspiracy.
• Bill Taggart - A psychologist, Bill is the founder of the Humanity Front and becomes a leading opposition to human augmentation, a cause he took up after his wife's murder by an augmented addict.
• Isaias Sandoval - Taggart's chief aide, who joins the Humanity Front after his augmeneted brother goes on a rampage and is talked down by Taggart.
• Zeke Sanders - A former augmented solider and Isaias's brother, becomes an anti-augmentation extremist and leads an attack on a Sarif maunfacturing plant.
• Tong Si Hung - The biggest crime boss in Hengsha, Tong owns a nightclub called the Hive. Tong can help Jensen find the hacker who assisted in the attack on Sarif. Later, he is revealed to be the leader of the Harvesters, a gang who deals in black market human enhancement augmentations as well as being the father of Tracer Tong. A main character in the original Deus Ex.
• Zhao Yun Ru - One of the primary antagonists, she is the president of Tai Yong Medical whose company is attempting to take control of the biomodification market. She is also the boss of the Tyrants who attacked Sarif Industries and wounded Jensen.
• Hugh Darrow - The father of augmentation, after having retired, builds the Panchaea to help control global warming. Seen as a hero for David Sarif and Megan Reed, however, it is revealed that he regrets creating augmentation and plans to end biomodification in a sinister and frightening way.

Plot

At the start of the game, Adam Jensen is taking care of security preparations for Sarif Industries' forthcoming presence at a United Nations hearing to discuss the need for augumentation technology regulation. Adam's girlfriend Megan Reed will take the opportunity to announce a revolutionary discovery made by her and her team that will allow people to augument themselves freely without having to resort to anti-rejection drugs, though she seems nervous as to the source of said discovery. During a meeting between Adam and Sarif Industries' CEO David Sarif, the company is suddenly attacked by a group of heavily armed soldiers apparently led by three heavily augumented mercenaries. When Adam tries to rescue Megan, he is caught by the mercenary leader Jaron Namir, who brutally beats Adam and shoots him in the head, while Megan is taken away.

Adam survives by undergoing extensive augumentation provided by Sarif. 6 months after the attack, Megan and the other missing scientists are declared dead due to their tracking implants going offline. Adam is called back to action by Sarif who needs him to interevene in a hostage crisis in Sarif's Milwaukee Junction manufacturing plant, which was taken over by the radical anti-augumentation organization Purity First. Sarif suspects the terrorists might actually be after the Typhoon Explosive System, an experimental military augumentation that had just been scheduled for production at the plant. Sarif's suspicions are confirmed when Adam encounters an augumented hacker in Purity First uniform trying to steal the Typhoon. Upon being found, the hacker shoots himself in the head while pleading for help, as if doing this against his will. Adam later confronts the Purity First leader Zeke Sanders, who denies any knowledge about the augumented hacker leading Adam to believe that Purity First is being manipulated by a third party.

After the hostage crisis is resolved, Sarif tells Adam that the official police reports don't mention any augumentation on the hacker, which means that there's a cover-up at work. Sarif sends Adam to the Detroit Police Department morgue to investigate the corpse himself and retrieve the hacker's neural hub. Evidence scattered in the police department reveals that both the Milwaukee incident and the Sarif Industries' attack had crucial pieces of evidence covered up by government official Joseph Manderley. Sarif Industries' cyber-security head Francis Pritchard analyses the hub and discovers that the hacker was a literal "human proxy" and thus being controlled by someone else. Pritchard traces the source of the control signal to an abandoned factory complex, which Adam goes to investigate. While there he spots the augumented mercenaries involved in the Sarif attack. Adam descends into the facility and finds a massive underground secret internment camp run by FEMA. At the core of the facility, Adam is spotted by the mercenaries and gets into a fight with one of them, Lawrence Barrett. After defeating Barrett, Adam demands to know why FEMA is going after Sarif to which Barrett cryptically replies "You've got worse enemies than FEMA". Barrett gives Adam an address in Hengsha Island in China before trying to kill himself and Adam by setting off his frag grenades, which Adam escapes from.

Adam travels to Hengsha only to find the building mentioned by Barrett under lockdown by Belltower Associates, a PMC and the de facto police in that section of the city. Adam infiltrates the building and discovers that this was the residence of the hacker controlling the proxy, Arie van Bruggen AKA "Windmill". By investigating the apartmet, Adam learns that Windmill has gone into hiding with the help of another client, Triad crime boss Tong Si Hung. After investigating Tong's nightclub "The Hive", Adam learns the location of the hacker. Adam confronts Windmill who claims he is just a hired hand and that Adam is really looking for his employer: Zhao Yun Ru, CEO of Tai Yong Medical, one of the leading augumentation companies in the world and Sarif's main competitor. Windmill has left a compromising recording inside the Tai Yong Medical headquarters and thus he helps Adam gain access into the building by creating a forged ID for him. Adam infiltrates the Tai Yong Medical headquarters and watches the recording. In it, Zhao Yun Ru reveals that the scientists' implants were disabled, meaning they, along with Megan are still alive. She also reveals that Eliza Cassan, the celebrity news anchor of leading media conglomerate Picus is also involved. Adam makes his way to the building's penthouse to confront Zhao but she flees into a panic room and set off the alarm forcing Adam to escape.

Adam makes his way to Picus TV headquarters in Montreal to confront Eliza. He finds an empty building and speaks to Eliza who turns out to be a sophisticated hologram. Soldiers storm the building prompting Adam to make his way to the source of the hologram's signal in a secret sub-basement. There, he discovers that Eliza is actually a sophisticated Artificial Intelligence, designed to maniuplated public's preception through the media. Their meeting is interrupted by another of the augumented mercenaries, Yelena Federova. After defeating Federova , Eliza reveals that the scientists' implants were removed by Doctor Isaias Sandoval, the aide of William Taggart, leader of the peaceful anti-augumentation organization Humanity Front.

Adam returns to Detroit where Taggart is scheduled to give a speech. Sarif informs Adam that everything that has happened so far is consistent with the actions of the Illuminati. After confronting Taggart, Adam learns that he wasn't aware of Sandoval's actions and that Sandoval is also Zeke Sanders' brother. Taggart directs Adam to Sandoval's apartment where he finds a secret bunker filled with Purity First members, proving his allegiance to the organization. Adam confronts Sandoval who now knows that Taggart knows everything and will seek to distance himself from him and throw Sandoval in jail. Sandoval reveals that he couldn't remove the tracking implants and thus simply changed their frequency to one where recievers wouldn't know where to look. Sandoval then attempts to commit suicide, though Adam can talk him down.

Pritchard manages to track one of the implants, belonging to Sarif scientist Vasili Sevchenko, to Hengsha. Nearing his arrival to the island, however, Adam's VTOL aircraft is shot down by Belltower leading to a massive ambush which may result in the death of the craft's pilot, Faridah Malik. Adam discovers that Belltower is on a manhunt for him and that augumentation users all over the world are being advised to have their biochips replaced due to a defect. Adam tracks the signal to the hideout of the Harvesters, a gang known for kidnapping augumented people and extracting their augumentations. Adam finds Tong Si Hung wearing Sevchenko's arm, who states that Sevchenko's corpse was sold to the gang by Belltower. Not having any love for Belltower himself, Tong directs Adam to one of Belltower's ships and gives him a bomb to plant as a distraction. When Adam detonates the bomb he notices that the distraction also allowed Tong's son to escape Hengsha. Adam then stows away in a high-tech hibernation pod.

When Adam wakes up, he that he is currently in the Omega Ranch, a biotech research complex in Singapore. Adam infiltrates the facility and contacts three Sarif scientists in order to stage a distraction allowing him to access the secure part of the complex where Megan is held. Adam also uploads a virus designed by Sevchenko to disable the facility's security to allow the scientists to escape. Once Adam makes his way to the secure sector, he encounters Zhao again. Adam confronts her with knowledge gained from the scientists that the Illuminati are creating a "killswitch" for all augumented people worldwide so they won't challenge their rule. Zhao acknowledges this and uses a remote control to try to disable Adam augumentations (if she is successful depends on whether the player decided to have Adam get the new biochip or not). Regardless of the result, Zhao dispatches Namir to kill Adam.

After defeating Namir, Adam finds Megan who reveals that the facility is owned by Hugh Darrow, the millionaire Nobel Prize winner "father" of augumentation technology, currently involved with Panchaea, a massive geoengineering facility in the Arctic Ocean designed to stop global warming. She also reveals that the basis of her revolutionary discovery is Adam's DNA, which he has gathered without his consent. At that moment, while giving a press conference from Panchaea, Darrow activates a signal that causes everyone who got the biochip upgrade to turn violently insane (if Adam got the upgrade, Megan uses a device to isolate him from the signal). Adam travels to Panchaea to confront Darrow. There, Darrow explains that he invented the technology to help the less fortunate but it has since become just another means for the powerful to control said less fortunate (especially given the Illuminati's plans to use it as a killswitch for mankind) as well as potentially causing humanity to lose its moral center. Darrow used the insanity inducing signal as an attempt to get the technology permanently banned. Reagrdless of whether Adam can convince Darrow of the error of his ways or not, he makes his way to the core of the facility to shut down the signal. On the way, he encounters Sarif and Taggart (who had both been invited to the conference) who each propose a course of action for Adam. At the core of the facility Adam once again encounters Zhao who merges with the Hyron Project, a huge bioelectronic quantum supercomputer. After destroying the Project and killing Zhao, Adam makes his way to the broadcast center where he is contacted by Eliza. Eliza explains to him the various options he can take: he can broadcast Darrow's confession about augumentation and the Illuminati thus ensuring that augumentation is permanently banned, he can blame the Humanity Front for the attack thus ensuring that augumentation is developed further (Sarif's proposal), he can blame the event on tainted augmentation anti-rejection drugs thus ensuring tight regulation on augumentations (Taggart's proposal) or he can set the entire facility to self destruct, killing everyone present and letting humanity decide for itself. When Adam makes his choice, the game ends.

In a post credits scene, Bob Page is heard talking to Morgan Everett about the "Morpheus project". Megan Reed is revealed to be working for him on a "Gray Death nanite-virus chimera". It's also implied by the achievement unlocked by viewing the scene ("The D Project") that Adam's DNA will be used as the basis for the creation of the Denton brothers.

Development

Deus Ex 3 was announced on May 17, 2007, in an interview with Patrick Melchior, the director of Eidos France, on the French-Canadian television show M. Net. An initial teaser trailer was released on November 26, 2007, and around one year later PC Zone ran a first preview which detailed some of the game's mechanics and setting and provided the first true artwork and screenshots. Several of the design decisions mentioned, most notably the introduction of regenerating health, precipitated an initial backlash amongst many fans of the original Deus Ex. In November 2009 it was announced that Square Enix was to publish the game, and that the CGI sequences were to be created at its Japanese Visual Works studio with direction from Goldtooth Creative in Canada. The results of this international partnership were first seen in the teaser trailer shown at the 2010 Game Developers Conference (by which point the game's subtitle had changed to Human Revolution and its release pushed back to "early 2011"), which was expanded to a three-minute trailer at E3 2010. 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.

At Gamescom 2010, producer David Anfossi told VG247 he was creating DLC for the game which, he says, is "an extension of Deus Ex: Human Revolution." On December 16, 2010, Square Enix announced that the game had been pushed back to their next fiscal year, which begins April 6, 2011. At the Penny Arcade Expo East in March 2011, it was announced that the game was being released on August 23, 2011, in North America and August 26, 2011, in Europe. On May 31, 2011, a preview build of the game was leaked online. The Japanese release of the game has been given a CERO Z rating, but it will have one cutscene edited because it shows a man's internal organs exposed and a sexual object. Originally Eidos had intended to make the PC retail version of the game region locked. The reason behind this was due to DVD disc limitations which meant the languages on the game had to be split. However due to negative reaction from the public, the lock wouldn't be implemented.

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-Francois 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 Daedalus and Icarus appears in Adam Jensen's dreams as an allegory to this thought, and also—given that both Daedalus and Icarus were the names of artificial intelligences 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-medieval Italian style, and the game as a whole has a sepia-tinted colour palette reminiscent of historic manuscripts. In contrast, characters who oppose or are of neutral opinion to augmentations wear clothing that is more or less current-day. As was the case in Deus Ex, conspiracy theories and immensely powerful corporations feature strongly.

Marketing

Special editions

An "Augmented Edition" will be released in select European countries, Australia and New Zealand. It will include a making-of documentary, motion-comic, E3 trailer, game soundtrack by Michael McCann, animated storyboard, and a 40-page Artbook. In-game, the player will receive an additional mission, weapons, and cash via the included Explosive Mission Pack and the Tactical Enhancement Pack. The Augmented Edition is also available in North America, but does not include the Explosive Mission Pack or the Tactical Enhancement Pack. These packs are available solely as pre-order bonuses from select retailers. In addition, there will be a "Collector's Edition" which will include all the contents of the Augmented Edition as well as a Play Arts Kai figure of the game's protagonist, Adam Jensen.

Gamestop reaction

Gamestop, a video game retailer, came under fire from critics when customers discovered that content had been removed from the original packaging of the game. Gamestop had instructed employees to remove coupons for a free copy of Human Revolution on OnLive, an online digital distribution service. Gamestop stated that the coupon promoted a competitor of one of its subsidiaries, Spawn Labs and Impulse, which it had recently acquired in April of 2011.

Reception

Reception

Aggregate scores

Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	90.25% (PC) 87.83% (PS3) 89.74% (Xbox 360)
Metacritic	89% (PC) 89% (PS3) 89% (Xbox 360)

Review scores

Publication	Score
1Up.com	A
Computer and Video Games	9.4/10
Edge	9/10
Eurogamer	9/10
G4	4/5
Game Informer	8.5/10
GamePro	4/5
GameRevolution	A−
GameSpot	8.5/10
GameSpy	4/5
GamesRadar+	10
GamesTM	8/10
GameTrailers	8.7/10
GameZone	9/10
IGN	9/10 (PC) 9/10 (Xbox 360)
PlayStation Official Magazine – UK	8/10
Official Xbox Magazine (UK)	10/10
Official Xbox Magazine (US)	8.5/10
PC Gamer (UK)	94%
Play	91%
VideoGamer.com	9/10

Deus Ex Human Revolution has received critical acclaim, gaining an aggregated score of 89 for the PC version on Metacritic. Reviewers who had access to the game in February 2011 praised the open-ended experience of the game, similar to the first Deus Ex, the importance of conversations in the missions, and also the depth of the storyline. PC Gamer UK gave the game a score of 94 and the Editor's Choice, describing it as a game that "puts almost everything else in the genre to shame." Official Xbox Magazine UK gave the game a 10/10. Official PlayStation Magazine UK gave it an 8/10, citing frustrations in ammo quantities, load times, and boss fights. Common criticisms included the game's inclusion of boss fights, which removed the element of player-choice and flexibility in combat.. IGN gave the game 9.0, praising the nonlinearity of the main story quests and the side quests, saying, "Each of them has several layers, several angles to be explored or not, several perspectives to be considered and several possible outcxomes." IGN also praised the freeform nature of the game, stating that they, "never felt punished for [their] playstyle", and that there was room for both stealth and 'all guns blazing', and that every path always had advantages and disadvantages, but ultimately, all led to success.

External links

• Official website
• Eidos Montreal's projects page
• Sarif Industries
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Interview with Mary DeMarle