Deus Ex: Human Revolution is an action role-playing game developed by Eidos-Montréal and published by Square Enix. The game is a prequel to the original Deus Ex (2000) and the third installment in the Deus Ex series. The gameplay combines first-person shooter, stealth, and role-playing elements. It features exploration and combat in environments connected to multiple city-based hubs, in addition to quests that grant experience and allow customization of the main character's abilities with items called Praxis Kits. Set in the year 2027, players control Adam Jensen, a security officer for Sarif Industries, a company which develops controversial artificial organs dubbed "augmentations". After an attack on Sarif, Jensen undergoes extensive augmentation and investigates the shadowy organization behind the attack. The story explores themes of transhumanism and the growing power of megacorporations and their impact on social class. It also uses the series' cyberpunk setting and conspiracy theory motif.
Development of Human Revolution began in 2007 with a small team within the fledgling Eidos-Montréal studio after failed attempts to create a sequel at original developer Ion Storm following Deus Ex: Invisible War (2003). The two key influences were the myth of Icarus, a thematic element carried over from Deus Ex, and the artwork and ideas of the Renaissance, which influenced the story, graphics, and music while combining with the series' typical cyberpunk elements. The open-ended gameplay was tricky for the team to achieve; the boss battles were outsourced to another developer due to time constraints. The music, composed by Michael McCann, focused on ambience and three-layered compositions over character themes and overt melodies. Human Revolution was announced in 2007, soon after its beginning development. Its title and release window were announced in 2010.
Human Revolution was released for PlayStation 3, Windows, and Xbox 360 in August 2011. The game received critical acclaim for its player-driven plot, gameplay, and freedom of choice in the story and character customization. The major criticisms went to its boss fights and technical problems. The director's cut was praised for its revamped gameplay. By November 2011, the original version had sold 2.18 million units. After release, a downloadable episode, The Missing Link, was developed, featuring gameplay improvements. A director's cut, featuring further improvements and additional content, was released in October 2013 for the original platforms and Wii U. The game was followed up with a spin-off, The Fall in 2013, and a direct sequel, Mankind Divided in 2016.
Gameplay
Deus Ex: Human Revolution is an action role-playing game incorporating first-person shooter and stealth mechanics. Players take the role of Adam Jensen, a man equipped with mechanical cybernetic implants called augmentations. The game's environments, ranging from open world hubs to more scripted environments, are explored in first-person, although actions such as hiding behind cover, conversing with non-playable characters (NPCs), and some attack animations switch to a third-person view. In these environments, players can find NPCs who will advance both the main story quest and optional side quests: completing quests, along with other actions such as combat with enemies, rewards Adam with experience points, which raise his experience level. Also accessible are black market vendors that supply equipment and weapons for Credits, the in-game currency. Interactive objects within environments can be highlighted, although these options are either turned off on the hardest difficulty or can be turned off in the options menu by the player.
There are various ways to approach the game's situations: players can use a violent approach and shoot their way through environments while using cover to hide from enemy fire. Alternatively, Adam can take a stealthy approach, avoiding/knocking out guards and security devices and using cover to avoid enemy sight lines. Adam can move between cover elements and around corners while staying hidden. The melee takedown system offers lethal and non-lethal options, in addition to an assortment of lethal and non-lethal weapons. Adam can also move the bodies of enemies into hiding places, preventing them from being seen and raising an alarm. A crucial part of Adam's abilities are augmentations, which can be acquired and upgraded using Praxis Kits either bought from particular vendors, found in the game environments, or are automatically unlocked by leveling up: higher-level augmentations require more Praxis Kits to unlock. Augmentation functions can range from passive enhancements to Adam's vision or damage resistance to active upgrades such as allowing Adam to fall from great heights without injury or increase his strength. Some augmentations depend on Adam's energy level, deactivating after an amount of energy has been drained.
At multiple points within the game, Adam partakes in conversations with NPCs related to main and side quests. When talking, Adam is presented with three different conversation options that affect the outcome of conversations: choosing the right option can help with completing objectives while choosing the wrong option closes off that route and forces the player to find an alternate solution. A "Social" augmentation enables better reading of an NPC's expression and judging their psychological profile, improving chances of selecting the correct dialogue option. While in the game's environments, Adam finds terminals and computers that can be accessed with a password or through hacking. When hacking, the hacking screen is summoned, which shows the pathway through a device's security system to access the information: the pathway is accessed by opening "directory" nodes to reach the registry. Different nodes have different ratings, affecting how easily they can be accessed. Various devices have different grades of difficulty, which dictate how often hacking may be attempted. Each hacking attempt activates a Diagnostic Sub-Routine that works to stop the hack, activating a time limit once it is alerted. Adam can use additional skills and items to lengthen the time, such as software to stop or instantly capture nodes or fortify captured nodes to increase the time limit. Successful hacks yield experience points, Credits, and sometimes additional items.
Synopsis
Setting Human Revolution takes place in the year 2027, 25 years prior to the original Deus Ex. The Deus Ex series is set in a cyberpunk future rife with secret organizations and conspiracies: among these forces is the Illuminati. Leading up to Human Revolution, there have been marked improvements in human society, with people actively fighting global warming, finding cures for various diseases, and improving green energy. Alongside this, global megacorporations have come to eclipse government authority in power and influence, while private military forces dwarf the sanctioned armies of First World countries. Advances in biotechnology and cybernetics have led to the development of "augmentations", advanced artificial organs capable of significantly improving and enhancing the human body's performance. The development of augmentation technology has triggered a new social divide: those with augmentations become the world's new upper-class citizenry and are touted as the future of humanity, while normal humans form the majority of the lower-class population. Augmentations also require taking Neuropozyne, a limited and expensive immunosuppressive drug that stops the body from rejecting the technology. By the events of Human Revolution, society is being divided between "augs", humans who have accepted augmentation technology, and ordinary humans who are either morally opposed to it, too poor to afford it, or whose bodies actively reject it. The tensions between the two factions begin generating open conflict.
Characters The main protagonist is Adam Jensen: coming from a humble background in Detroit, he worked as a leader with the local SWAT squad until he refused to follow a questionable order and was turfed out. After this, he is taken on as a security manager at Sarif Industries, a local company at the leading edge of augmentation technology. A fellow at the company is Megan Reed, a researcher for Sarif and Adam's ex-girlfriend. His employer is company CEO David Sarif, who is instrumental in saving Adam after he was left near-dead at the beginning of the game. Adam meets many key characters during his missions between Detroit, Montreal, and the new Shanghai metropolis of Hengsha. These include Sarif's chief pilot Faridah Malik; Sarif systems engineer Frank Pritchard; Eliza Cassan, a media personality and public face of Picus Communications; William Taggart, founder of the anti-augmentation group Humanity Front; Hugh Darrow, who founded augmentation technology but is one of those genetically incapable of using them; Zhao Yun Ru, CEO of the Tai Yong Medical megacorporation; and the "Tyrants" mercenary squad, composed of leader Jaron Namir and his associates Lawrence Barrett and Yelena Fedorova.
Plot Note: While the general plot of Human Revolution follows a distinct path, many elements are subject to the player's decisions. The game also offers several subplots that the player may or may not encounter, depending on their actions within the game. This synopsis concentrates on the main, unavoidable plot thread of the game.
On the eve of unveiling a way to end Neuropozyne dependence for augmentations, Sarif Industries is attacked by a group of augmented terrorists, the Tyrants. Megan Reed and many other scientists are presumed dead in the attack, and Jensen is grievously wounded. Sarif saves Jensen by giving him advanced augmentations. Six months later, Jensen is summoned to deal with another terrorist attack by anti-augmentation radicals. Jensen finds an augmented terrorist trying to steal information, but is remotely killed before Jensen can capture him. Pritchard tracks the hacking signal to an abandoned factory in Highland Park. Jensen discovers the Tyrants guarding a FEMA detention camp, but they are moving out after the Sarif raid failed. Jensen defeats one of the mercenaries, Barrett, who tells him to go to the Hengsha megacity in China before launching a failed suicide attack.
In Hengsha, Jensen finds the original hacker Arie van Bruggen, who is being hunted by private security company Belltower Associates and hidden by local triad leader Tong Si Hung. Van Bruggen directs Adam to Tai Yong Medical, the world's largest augmentation technology manufacturer and Sarif's main rival. Infiltrating Tai Yong, Jensen finds evidence confirming the involvement of Zhao Yun Ru and Eliza Cassan with the Tyrants, along with the fact that Megan and the other scientists are alive. When confronted, Zhao reveals that is allied to an organization controlling global interests Jensen must escape. He then locates Eliza in Montreal, revealed to be an artificial intelligence construct designed to influence the media. Having started questioning her role, she decides to help Adam after he defeats her controller, the Tyrant Fedorova. Eliza provides evidence implicating Isaias Sandoval, an aide to William Taggart.