After layoffs were issued at Eidos Montreal at the start of 2024, hopes of ever seeing a new Deus Ex game went out the window (thanks, Embracer Group).
It’s a shame, really. The last entry – 2016’s Deus Ex: Mankind Divided – ended in a way that a follow-up made sense. To drop the series so abruptly while it was enjoying a resurgence feels like a massive middle finger to the fans.
But we’re not here to talk about that. Instead, I’m going to show you what the gaming media at large thought of each Deus Ex entry. To do so is to show that – with the possible exception of one – the games were pretty lauded. Some of the later ones weren’t exactly considered perfect, but then what is (possible exception: Red Dead Redemption 2)?
As always, this list will contain the mainline entries in the series. I’m also chucking in the one spin-off and a mobile title. So….all of them except for Breach, basically. I’ll also be basing them off their PC scores where possible. With that in mind, let’s get into all the Deus Ex games as judged by Metacritic.
Deus Ex: The Fall (2013) – 45%
We’ll start with something that’s a bit of an outlier. Not only is The Fall a spin-off to the Deus Ex story, but it’s also the only entry that wasn’t developed by either Ion Storm or Eidos Montreal. That and it was originally a mobile release. That doesn’t necessarily mean it was destined to be a not-so-favorably-received game, but…well…you’ve seen the score.
Now, in fairness, the above Metacritic number is based on reviews for the PC version. Who knew taking a mobile game and porting it to another system would not go down so well? I would imagine a lot of people. PC Gamer described it as “one of the worst PC ports” back in 2014.
So, okay, what if we were to use the score from the original iOS release? Well, that would put it at 69%, which is not terrible, but it’s not great either. It would also still mean that The Fall goes dead last on this list.
Deus Ex: Invisible War (2003) – 80%
There are inevitably going to be a few concerns on the developer side when it comes to doing a sequel to a critically acclaimed release (more on that later). Invisible War came just three years after the original Deus Ex, which had received pretty universal praise from reviewers and gamers alike. That’s a tough act to follow by anyone’s measure.
Despite notable criticisms, the Metacritic score speaks for itself, really. With a glowing 80% on PC (and 84% on Xbox), Invisible War was a solid follow-up to its 2000 predecessor, even if it was flawed. I would imagine at least a couple of points got knocked off for calling the protagonist Alex D. Despite conspiracy theories and cyberpunk themes rampant throughout, I can’t help but picture the world being saved by someone who possibly moonlights as a techno DJ sporting frosted tips, and who has a penchant for John Woo films.
I haven’t actually played this one, so I can’t make any judgments. What I can tell you is that it was an early adopter of Unreal Engine 2, which meant it could make use of some hilarious “ragdoll” physics that was starting to become all the rage at that point. Maybe that’s not too impressive these days, but I do quite like the fact that this Deus Ex game was made using the same dev toolkit as Postal 2. I dunno. There’s just something slightly amusing about that.
Deus Ex GO (2016) – 81%
Let it never be said that mobile gaming isn’t worth a hill of beans in this cutthroat industry. While not every studio can produce a Candy Crush, Angry Birds, or…I don’t know…Guns of Boom, we can still get some high-quality gaming for our morning commutes. Deus Ex GO is such an example.
This was basically a follow-on from Eidos Montreal’s other installments in its mobile GO series, with games such as Hitman GO and Lara Croft GO following a similar format to this one. It’s pretty far removed from the other entries in the series as far as gameplay is concerned, but its puzzle-based, hexagonal grid, touchscreen mechanics evidently worked.
I actually did play this one many years ago, and it had its moments. Sadly, like a lot of mobile games, Deus Ex seemed short-lived. With a respectable Metacritic score of 81%, it seems a Windows port was released not long after the iOS version. However, it looks like it’s hard to come by these days.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (2016) – 83%
I finished replaying Mankind Divided just the other day, which is what prompted me to write this article. You probably didn’t need to know that information. I just thought it was worth mentioning. Anyway, this was the last Deus Ex game we got, and it’s fast approaching its eighth birthday. Where does the time go?
I feel it’s a lot easier to look back at this one with a sense of joy and wonder. Game Informer (RIP) gave it a meaty 8/10 but criticized Eidos Montreal for disguising “hot-button issues as speculative fiction” while sacrificing “an interesting story to hammer home its messaging.” However, The Guardian called it a “half-baked cyberpunk sequel,” giving it a middling 3/5 stars.
Look, what I’m trying to do here is shoehorn in a “fan-kind divided” joke, which I’m positive no one else has ever said when talking about this specific Deus Ex game. No sirree. So to summarize: I actually really like Mankind Divided (83% on PC is not to be snubbed), but I’m evidently not very good at trying to set up punchlines.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution (2011) – 90%
Human Revolution is steeped in cultural significance, and I don’t say that lightly. It had been eight years since a Deus Ex game was released, and this one was made by a different studio than the original developer, Ion Storm. That meant the series was experiencing something of a rebirth which, according to art director Jonathan Jacques-BelletÍte, drove the team to find inspiration in Renaissance art for the visuals.
Despite the hiatus (or, perhaps, even because of it), Human Revolution was a triumph. I got a copy of it not long after its release, and I was entranced. Its emphasis on stealth and a story rich in political and societal turmoil, all of which was wrapped up in corporate shenanigans, appealed to 2011 me.
Human Revolution was something of a triumphant return for the series, and while we’ll never know what the John Romero-founded Ion Storm could have done with a third Deus Ex game, Eidos did a mighty fine job.
It wasn’t perfect, mind you. Before the Director’s Cut was released, the game forced you into boss fights where murder was a requirement, even if you were gunning for a stealthy, no-kill playthrough. This was a kick in the teeth for people like me, marring what should have been a stealth-lover’s near-flawless game. This was eventually fixed, though, leaving Human Revolution a formidable part of the Deus Ex arc.
Deus Ex (2000) – 90%
If you haven’t played the original, you might be wondering why Deus Ex sits just ahead of Human Revolution when both games have a score of 90%. After all, Deus Ex is nearly two and a half decades old, looks pretty ugly by today’s standards, and its old-school gameplay mechanics makes it less accessible to modern gamers.
But when Deus Ex hit game stores, there wasn’t much like it. Its sophisticated role-play elements are what made it so immersive. It’s generally considered to be one of the first games in the immersive sim genre, which would eventually lead to popular titles such as Dishonored and Prey.
Deus Ex also had an incredibly complex narrative centered around global politics and international terrorism. Those themes are popular now, but they weren’t the norm in 2000. Deus Ex earned IGN’s Best of 2000 Award for Best Storyline thanks to that daring political narrative.
It still has its criticisms and detractors, but Deus Ex went down as one-of-a-kind for its generation. To this day, it regularly appears on lists of the best PC role-playing games of all time, despite the fact that it’s pretty dated now. But even if you can’t get into the original Deus Ex a quarter of a century later, it’s impossible to deny the impact it had at the start of the new millennium.
Published: Aug 10, 2024 10:00 am