Many consider the Deus Ex series to be one of the best video game series of all time. The original game was not only incredibly fun, but it also brought massive innovations to immersive sims and RPGs of the time.
FPS combat in an RPG lite was rare back then, and meaningful decisions were even more so. It is safe to say that Deus Ex changed the way PC titles were created forever thanks to its massive scale, scope, and ambition. It wasn’t perfect by any stretch, but many of its achievements can be felt in most games today, especially those in the immersive sim genre. Here are 10 ways the original Deus Ex changed the immersive sim genre forever.
10 Skills
RPGs have known of skills for years, back when they were pen and paper instead of a digital computer game. Deus Ex found a brilliant way to streamline the impact of skills into a game without the unnecessary baggage.
In most RPGs, players have a character sheet that consists of their base attributes determined at character creation, along with proficiencies with various items and maybe even a spell sheet. In Deus Ex, players simply earn experience by playing the game to upgrade core skills like lockpicking or firearm training, granting a noticeable bonus to that skill without the need for prerequisite attributes or proficiency bonuses. It simplified a complicated system very well, although certain skills like swimming weren’t nearly as useful as others.
9 Variety
Whether you enjoy immersive sims or not, one of their notable qualities is the amount of variety the game presents. Missions range widely in objectives, and the player can deal with these missions in any way they choose.
This is partially thanks to Deus Ex. In this game, many of the levels encourage a unique approach from the last. One mission might favor stealth gameplay since getting spotted could result in the death of others, while another might encourage the use of high-power firearms. It helps with replayability and encourages experimentation.
8 Core Gameplay
That variety the Deus Ex series presents is even better when the core gameplay loop is taken into account. Nearly every mission in the game can be completed however you choose.
Players can choose to use guns to kill enemies, crossbows and stun batons to incapacitate enemies, or even talk their way out of situations. While Human Revolution and other immersive sim games would improve on this formula, its major focus in Deus Ex helped make it a common trend within this genre.
7 Compelling Story
Deus Ex takes place in a world where every conspiracy theory you can think of is real. The Illuminati is a real organization that works in the shadows and nano-augmented soldiers are used by the government without anyone knowing.
It is a lot to take in, but the game does a great job of slowly raising the stakes. You begin with investigating terrorist attacks, but that quickly evolves into a large investigation into that terrorist group, FEMA, and how the internet even works. Deus Ex gives a good excuse for the player to travel the world to uncover a massive mystery that the player is slowly clued in on. It goes to show that massive sandbox games can have compelling narratives.
6 Replayability
Few games have nailed the balance of action, stealth, and diplomacy as well as Deus Ex. Better yet, the actions players take throughout the game can change the outcome of various missions and the narrative.
Levels allow any playstyle to work if players get crafty enough, and new interactions of characters are available depending on your previous actions. Because of this, the game is highly replayable, almost requiring you to play the game multiple times to see everything. It has now become a staple in immersive sims to allow multiple avenues of completing an objective to give both a sense of urgency and great replay value.
5 Player Choice
Many of the choices in Deus Ex are not presented in an obvious fashion. The way you interact with enemies early-game can determine dispositions towards other characters later on.
When a choice is obvious, it is usually inconsequential. It might be to help out an NPC with a small task, or it could be to give information to somebody. In most games, helping an NPC with an obscure objective will change the entire ending. Not in Deus Ex, but that character might impact characters you meet later or they might give you a powerful item as a thank you. It is commonplace in gaming today, but it was rare to see a game handle it so well back when Deus Ex released.
4 Meaningful Consequences
Choices wouldn’t mean anything if there weren’t consequences, however. Deus Ex has plenty of choices for players to make, but it has equal consequences to give out.
If you do help an obscure character out in the game, they might get tracked down and killed. Helping your brother out can compromise your relationship with UNATCO, an anti-terrorist agency you work for. Even entering the woman’s bathroom in your HQ can result in your boss talking about your behavior and how that is affecting others negatively. Few games have an actual impact from choices made, even as small as entering another gender’s bathroom.
3 Progression
The plot in Deus Ex is ripe for extreme encounters and adventure. It certainly lives up to that potential, but it does so over time instead of all at once.
Things seem off with what you’re doing at the beginning of the game. As long as you are merciful and listen to other characters, you can piece together a larger conspiracy happening. The game naturally transfers you to crazier, more dangerous locations while you acquire new gear and skills from your adventures. Levels also hide augmentation canisters that significantly increase your power, giving you new abilities and ways to solve problems. Immersive sims like Dishonored would not such incredible character and narrative progression if it wasn’t for Deus Ex laying down that foundation.
2 Level Design
Quests in Deus Ex wouldn’t be as engaging if it wasn’t for its incredible world and level design. The game sends players to various hub areas around the world that connect to tons of levels.
The first notable area is Hell’s Kitchen, an area in New York that players go to three times throughout the game. Each time, new areas get unlocked and introduced while others might close off or change. It is very Metroidvania in the sense of level progression being tied to story events and player power, making every revisit a complete treat. It also helps that every individual level has plenty of avenues for gunfights and stealth, helping with the replay value immersive sims are so well known for.
1 Multiple Endings
This is so commonplace in games today, especially in the immersive sim genre, that it seems bizarre mentioning it. Deus Ex is one of the first immersive games to pull this off so well, however.
With the epic scale this game presents towards the end, it would make sense that the endings the game presents are world-encompassing, more relatable to the likes of Mass Effect than other immersive sim games like Thief. The endings of Deus Ex represent your philosophy with how the world should continue more than what is good or evil. It did miss the opportunity of having variants for the ending based on decisions throughout the game, but other immersive sim titles and RPGs have incorporated this as time’s progressed. Still, the unique and very distinct endings this game presented shaped not just the genre but how games handle the philosophy of endings altogether.
NEXT: 10 Games With The Best Post-Game Content, Ranked
