Não é o caso do jogo, mas ele me passa uma vibe de um projeto que foi feito pra ser de uma IP diferente no meio do desenvolvimento, tipo o filme de Starship Troopers que no início era outra coisa. Esse jogo é tipo MGSV ou Prometheus no sentido de que é uma prequel feita pra fazer conexões que....ninguém liga? Ou só eu não ligo. Existem histórias e histórias e casos e casos que uma prequel pode funcionar mais ou funcionar menos. Metal Gear é uma história mais introspectiva e por isso prequels como MGS3 funcionam, mas Deus Ex é sobre o mundo inteiro e como ele reage à tecnologia, e o final desse jogo é inteiramente sobre isso. Eu não sei como o Mankind Divided vai tratar isso mas a gente meio q já sabe como as coisas vão estar no primeiro Deus Ex, então essa história, pelo menos pra mim, acabou não tendo muito impacto.

Falando no primeiro Deus Ex, uma das coisas que contribuem pro sentimento que eu apontei no início, é a estética e os visuais desse jogo. O primeiro se passa em 2050 e é um jogo extremamente pé no chão. Óbvio que existem coisas como nanotecnologia, ciborgues e hologramas, mas no geral, na forma de veículos, prédios, armas, é tudo bem atual e relatável. Esse jogo se passa em 2027 e tudo parece mais tecnológico, fantasioso, diferente doque a gente tem. Esse tipo de diferença é bem explícita nos computadores, helicópteros, soldados, que no primeiro pareciam bem atuais e aqui se parece bem futurista. Isso de forma alguma é uma reclamação, mas é algo estranho no sentido de me deixar curioso, e acaba dando uma gigantesca identidade visual pro Human Revolution.

No departamento da gameplay, ela é funcional. Joguei o jogo inteiro no stealth sem matar ninguém e é bem viável, só se prepare pra ter MUITA paciência e dar load em save que é uma beleza. O tiroteio do jogo me pareceu bom e muitas vezes eu só queria dar tiro em todo mundo.

O level design é bom e muito bem pensado, como qualquer jogo que aspire o mínimo a ser um ImmSim deve ter, com bastante opções, como esperado.

E também, um grande salve pro sistema de diálogo desse jogo, é muito criativo, foda, interessante, e seria bom se mais jogos fizessem coisas assim.

Assim como o primeiro Deus Ex, esse jogo tenta fazer bastante coisa e acaba sendo o tanto quanto fraco em algumas partes, mas na soma das partes, acaba sendo uma experiência positiva.

Não é o melhor Immersive Sim da época dele e não deve ser o melhor Deus Ex, mas é um jogo bem massa, e foi uma boa repaginada do Deus Ex original pra uma geração mais atual, em um sistema e game design mais atual.

im not sure if its the gamer brain in me but how often does a game allow you multiple options to play the game, only to have a boss fight that forces combat against a build around stealth

(talking about you invisible woman)

even after beating her (somehow), ive simply lost all motivation to play, it might be the crash in expectation after hearing so much good (like the detail of stalling the hostage situation at the beginning of the game), but at this point, i doubt ill be touching this soon

I wish vents weren't a thing before 2012, so the devs would've had to get creative with, you know, level design

I gave HR a 4/5, but, thanks to deus ex 1, I have little to no tolerance towards this game now. It's a good thing it exists, yes, but it's sooooo dumbed down in many ways compared to deus ex 1 that idk how is this even considered a deus ex game (no, I haven't played invisible war). That's the question I was asking to myself with each hour spent in Dues Ex 1, with each vent encountered that didn't lead me directly to the destination/let me easily skip through an obstacle (to be fair, there were like 3 of these types of vents, in the whole game. Deus ex human revolution literally CONSISTS of them, especially in the first two missions), with each door lockpicked, with each PC hacked without a fuckgnsgf hacking minigame, with each door blown up (you can do this in HR, but you won't know the health of a door, because fuck you), with each plant thrown at Paul, with each melee kill not being a cutscene I have to sit through every single time.
Mankind divided is much better, deus ex 1 is infinitely better

A prequel to Deus Ex, Human Revolution is set in the early days of mass cybernetic augmentation. Left for dead after the company he works for is attacked, Adam Jensen is rebuilt and tasked with investigating the terrorists responsible. The plot, in true cyberpunk fashion, spirals into a web of corporate lies and world-controlling conspiracies.

I feel like this game is a fairly slow burn and that's not going to be for everyone. After the exciting opener we're dropped into a tense stealth operation; while you can put your experience points into becoming a walking grumbling tank, the game prefers you to be quiet - that is, apart from the boss fights, which are the weakest aspect of Human Revolution, given that they force you into open combat. Fans of writing will find a lot to love amidst Detroit's grimy streets and Hengsha's seedy underbelly; many of your decisions can have ranging consequences, and are also weighted by your role-playing and leveling choices.

Although it's a prequel to the game that's often held up as the quintessential immersive sim, Human Revolution is in fact an entirely different beast. Sure, it looks like a Deus Ex game, but when I peer deeply into its mechanics, I see two major influences, neither of which was produced by Ion Storm.

Those influences are none other than Metal Gear Solid and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

The radar, the tranquilizer rifle, the shifts between first- and third-person POV ... maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like these devs wanted to emulate Kojima. And it's not just Metal Gear -- they were clearly fans of Japanese games in general. These are guys who grew up playing Final Fantasy VII and they aren't shy about it.

The quest design, on the other hand, follows more of a Western approach. Quests are doled out just as they would be in a Bethesda game, with clear goals recorded in a journal and juicy rewards upon completion. While the side quests take a back seat later in the game, the early areas of Detroit and Hengsha play as like miniature open-world RPGs.

MGS gameplay plus Western RPG elements, then? It's a perfect combination, and for the most part Human Revolution makes good use of it. Outside of the boss battles, which are universally lame, the game plays smoothly and maintaining stealth is fun. I think I had more fun with the stealth here than I did in any of Arkane's games, if I'm being honest.

What drags the game down, then, is the big-picture stuff. The story makes sense, but there are too many characters who each get too little screentime, and because of this nothing resonates like it should. You can tell the developers wanted to make this game absolutely epic -- a globe-trotting Oblivion, if you will -- but ultimately they ran out of time. The end product is still great but it feels oddly incomplete. Hengsha really suffers in this regard -- it's essentially a copy/paste dystopia of ma-and-pop convenience stores and butcher stalls with a few key locations added for good measure.

Before I sign off, I just want to say that I do really admire the game's visual design. Like I said in my review of Bulletstorm, games from this era feel huge in a way that modern games often don't. It turns out massive dams and endlessly sprawling cities are more impressive when you can only gaze at them from afar -- once you can visit and explore them, the spell is broken.