Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Director’s Cut

I hate the missing link DLC integration and they added bugs not present in the original version.

If you like sci-fi RPGs, this is pretty much as good as they get. Maybe the only thing that could be better, is the tiny "world" compared to some others.

I love this game. The art style is quite unique, environments feel lived in with lots of detail. Gameplay-wise, the game wants you to be stealthy, but you can go in guns blazing. Shooting is harder than stealth tho, especially on max difficulty, you'll die after a few hits. There are different ways of how to approach each mission, exploration is rewarded with extra XP and additional side-quests. DX:HR uses a cover system where you switch from 1st to 3rd person upon taking cover. It's very fluent and works well. Unlike in the original Deus Ex, augmentations are now solely unlocked via XP-gain. No more aug canisters. DX:HR dropped skills too, but there are enough augs to choose from to cater to different play styles. Weapons can be upgraded with regular upgrades and one special upgrade that changes their functionality. Graphics still look great in most places, textures are very sharp. System requirements seem a bit low, my GTX 970 is at 100% utilization at max settings. The game has almost no bugs by now. There are two hubs in the game, plus rifleman bank station where the DLC takes place and a few one-time locations where missions happen. You can free-roam in the hubs, mission areas you can only leave after the mission is completed. There are different endings, which you determine with a choice at the final mission. Choices throughout the game sometime have consequences later, but I would say that mostly their effects are fairly immediate. Boss fights in the Directors Cut give you more options than the original release, but can still be rather hard, unless you invest in the Typhoon, which is basically a skip-boss-button. The soundtrack is fantastic, and together with the believable world and great art-style make this a very immersive game. I recommend this to all fans of Sci-Fi and Cyberpunk, especially since there aren't many Cyberpunk games out there.

After Invisible War decided thinking was overrated, Human Revolution is a welcome return. Multiple ways of approach. Variety of viable strategies. Large, multistory levels. Deus Ex is back. Sort of. As much as I enjoy HR (and think you should absolutely pick it up on sale, because it's dirt cheap) it still doesn't match the original Deus Ex. 1) Story: HR can be attributed with both "deep writing" and "stupidity." The story uses transhumanism to explore media control, activism, terrorism, corporate influence, ect... . The one thing it never explores is how any of this is relevant. Unlike the original Deus Ex which was about a government's inability to combat a plague and suppression of the media (sound relevant?) HR eschews rational discussion. Its main theme is so forced it never feels relevant. 2) Why did they outsource bosses? HR is great at facilitating the "do it yourself" approach. Except during bosses, where they need to be killed in combat. The Director's Cut added hackables to add a little more, but they still suck. 3) This was a pretty detailed game for its time... on 7th-gen consoles. Compromises. Instancing. You can go 2-minutes in a city without running into an obvious bottleneck or a loading screen. It genuinely hurts the game when doing quests that involve you running from one end of the city to another. 4) Music. It's serviceable. It's forgettable. It all works, but it doesn't live up to the original game. I still hum the OG's UNATCO theme to this day. 5) Director's Cut? You sure? The DC's is based on an earlier build than the final version of HR. More bugs yay. The DC overcorrects the originals overwhelming yellow with a tepid grey filter. Look up "Human Revolution Gold Filter" for a tool that lets you switch between the 2. Decide which you think looks better. The DLC, originally played separately, is now mandatory. It breaks the pace entirely. It's so poorly placed into the main game that it starts with a flashback of a cutscene YOU JUST WATCHED.

English (deutsch weiter unten) In contrary to invisible war this comes at least close to DX 1. The story is quite good, the overall atmosphere especially in the non hub areas adds to this. However the hubs somehow feel sterile, not as parts of actual cities. Former games weren't neccessarily better but time moves on and so should the worldbuilding. The upgrade system is better than in DX 2 but worse in comparison to the masterpiece that was DX. I can't put my finger on it, but as cool as some mechanics are (hacking, dialogue system) they hinder the game to feel more organic. E.g. the game somewhat pushes you to stealth fight enemies to get as many points as possible. The knockout/kill sequences are cool at first, but wear off later in the game. Same goes for hacking: Cool mini game but at some point kills the imersion and takes too long. Bosses are not great but I don't mind. The missing link (Ship): I don't like, how new enemies suddenly reappear. Otherwise it's good but not outstanding. Just more of the same. Overall I'd say that while some mechanics are more fun at first, they finally wear off and even kill some of the imersion. Therefore the world might still be good and the story sometimes even better, but the first Deus Ex just feels more organic. Deutsch: Ansich ein würdiges Deus Ex Spiel (viel eher als DX2). Die Story sowie deren Präsentation passen super zusammen. Abseits der Hub Welten fand ich das Spiel am überzeugendsten, während die Hubs selbst etwas steril wirken. Versteckte Pfade sind ma gut integriert, mal wirken sie wie in die Welt hinein gepresst. Manche Mechaniken (takedowns, hacken) machen anfangs mehr Spaß, reißen aber ab einem gewissen Punkt aus dem Spielfluss. Deus Ex ist da klar das bessere Spiel, weil die Welt an sich das wichtigste war und das Gameplay sich daran organischer angefügt hat. Dazu gibt es bei HR ein schlechteres Upgrade System und es wirkt insgesamt casualisierter als DX 1 (z.B. durch Takedowns).