Deus Ex™ GOTY Edition

...and it's not nostalgia, since it's my first time playing it in 2021. Despite the old graphics (in my opinion, has its charm too) and sometimes an odd gun combat system, it's one of the best games I have ever played. If I had to pick only one thing to convince people to play this “old” game, it would be the dialogue, it truly shines as its own thing, and I can’t think of any other game that exists with the same level of conversation topics, and I know there will never be anything like it (seriously, play it! You will know what I mean when playing it). Also, ignore the bad reviews on gameplay or being an older game, it's way more polished and complete than modern game releases. Bonus points: The soundtrack is very good!

From a story standpoint it's an awesome tale of deception, turncoats and cyberpunk dystopia. The gameplay makes every point you invest in make a difference, with only 2 skill that aren't useful(swimming and environment are dump stats). For those who say the shooting is bad, you're forgetting it's an immersive sim. If you don't invest in your weapon skill then you're not gonna have much fun. That being said the AI isn't the greatest. Enemies forget about you in seconds a la an Elder Scrolls game. It's also pretty clunky, which was the style at the time. Despite the flaws, I wholeheartedly reccomend this game. Buy it at full price even. There's a reason it's held in high regard.

You all know why this is great, I don't need to tell ya.

For context: I played DX and DX2 for the first time in 2024, so nostalgia wasn't a factor for me. Didn’t expect the same production values or level of refinement from HR or MD, but all core mechanics were already in place and the lineage clear to see. GMDX did smooth out some of the rougher edges and made it a supremely playable experience even today, though granted HR and MD generally do everything just a little bit better (as they should as AAA releases). Most levels were very large with few loading screens in between to interrupt the action (unlike DX2), with multiple ways to accomplish one’s objectives through stealth, combat or both. I really did enjoy the large degree of player freedom, but the game certainly didn’t do any handholding! It was up to me to figure out how to solve any given objective and manage my resources very thoughtfully as they’re very scarce in GMDX. Almost softlocked myself on multiple occasions because of that, but discovering a way to progress regardless felt very rewarding. Navigating numerous environmental hazards or around them added to the feeling of tension and danger in face of overwhelming enemy opposition. No minimap either. While I was free to pick whichever perks or augmentations I wanted, it appeared to be a good idea to specialize in one or two areas due to the increased difficulty overall in GMDX and limited number of skill points. Guess it also made more sense from a narrative point of view. While I could question some of the story points as being a little over the top (HR and MD were more subtle and believable in their representation of conspiracies), it didn’t detract from my experience and was immersed from start to finish. Voice acting wasn’t all that great, but dialogue was delivered in a much more natural fashion than DX2. Sour points: the poor gunplay, lack of enemy variety and almost-instakill bullshit like plasma weapons or alien death rays. Otherwise a fantastic old school RPG experience worth your time.

What can you say? When someone even mentions Deus Ex you get this crippling, overwhelming urge to play Deus Ex. In Deus Ex you play JC Denton and you can put all your points into Swimming because in Deus Ex you want to be an olympic-class swimmer. Deus Ex is called an immersive sim and if you want to be immersed in the world of olypmic swimming then Deus Ex has you covered. Deus Ex is still hecking fun to play, there's no doubt about it. Sure, the graphics certainly don't hold up and if you want to play as a lady nano-infused, trenchoat wearing, sunglasses at night badbutt then you gotta mod it, but that's fine, Deus Ex is worth it (and it's not even that hard to mod). Deus Ex is a game that every game after is based on. Even DOOM, the dad of DOOM-likes saw the future and copied Deus Ex. Every game is a Deus Ex-like in my book. So really, if you like modern games and have 1 dollar to spare, buy Deus Ex. Even playing Deus Ex for 10 minutes you will see what all the hubbub is about and the dollar to minutes played would have paid for itself ten times over. Deus Ex gets 4 stars because you can't raise Swimming to Grandmaster. Deus Ex.