This is the closing part of a six-piece blog series that shows my in-depth impressions of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. I've posted one entry a day since Monday, and the past entries are linked below.
Part 1: Inspirations, improvements and missteps
Part 2: Choices without consequences
Part 3: Universe and relationships
Part 5: Augmentations and controversies
As the end credits rolled after I finished Deus Ex: Human Revolution, pictures of developers appeared next to the scrolling words. Normally, I might find this cheesy (such as in Vanquish’s over-the-top credit sequence) but seeing the well dressed men and women who had spent years of their lives working on this game, who created a world for me to live in and experiment with gave me chills. My eyes teared up. I wanted to reach into my television and shake everyone’s hand who appeared on the screen and say, “Thank you for making this piece of art. Thank you for letting me play around in it for tens of hours. I appreciate your hard work, and I look forward to booting it up again for a new (and much different) playthrough.”
Since then, I’ve already beaten Human Revolution again and I’m, yet again, looking forward to starting a third playthrough to dig into some achievements and test out augs I still haven’t tried. In my second playthrough, I told myself I’d go guns blazing, but sneaking around is so satisfying I only rarely went loud. I was, however, far more lethal while staying hidden.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution isn’t a perfect game. I understand why people might not like it, and I recognize underwhelming gameplay and design aspects from it. With that on the table, I have to say that, without a doubt, it’s one of the best games I’ve ever played. It also helps that it seems tailor-made for what I want in a game.
It had the same effects that Heavy Rain had on me as I played that. Heavy Rain introduced me to things that games had rarely done before. It played like a movie, was completely focused on narrative, and it rarely reused sets. Human Revolution has an attention to cohesive design that I’ve never experienced in a game, and it has beautiful design to flesh out the world and communicate ideas. I expect it to be a long time before I’m struck by breathtaking visual design in another game.
For Human Revolution to be Eidos Montréal’s premiere game, they certainly have something to be proud of. Whether they move on to a sequel in the Deus Ex universe, a remake of the original Deus Ex or something completely different, I have faith that it will be another winner.
I suppose I can end this marriage proposal of blogs with tradition by getting down on one knee and presenting the ring.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution, will you take my hand in marriage? I promise to love and cherish this relationship forever.
Photos from DeusEx.com