Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Director’s Cut

Human Revolution is a fantastic game. It's reputation since it's release has been positive, but the re-release (and the only version of the game you can buy digitally) has brought the game down. The only major aspect of the game I take issue with, before the Director's Cut gets involved, is with movement. Controlling Jensen can feel blocky at times. I believe movement in this game was tuned so well for confined interiors (much of the game's interior spaces are actually quite open), that when given the opportunity to move around a much larger space, movement tends to feel unnatural. Depending on your play style, inventory management could be a non-issue or your worst enemy. Levels (or "praxis kits") are attained at a steady and useful pace throughout the game when completing side-quests. I'm not a completionist but I'm close to it, so I can't speak on the availability of praxis kits for someone only interested in completing the main story. If you're interested in playing the game as a pacifist, you'll still need to carry weapons and ammunition. Bosses cannot be dealt with non-violently. You will need to kill them. Once you've played the game, if you can remember when the boss battles take place you can choose to only stock up when you're getting close to one. I'm writing this review at ten hours, before finishing the game, as I have actually played the game before. I used to own it on my Xbox 360 back when I was a kid. I remember it fondly. My largest issues with the game are brought on by the Director's Cut, the re-release I mentioned. Lighting is worse in this version than the original. Visual glitches with cloth sims and animations that weren't in the original are everywhere in this version. Not to mention the stuttering. If you want to play this version of the game use trilinear filtering, set ssao to low or disable it, and download a tool online to re-enable the game's old gold filter. You'll have a better experience.

Very stuttery experience on nvidia. Ruins the experience. Bring back the original. Maybe it runs better.

This game is a gem. The atmosphere, the variety of ways you can progress through level, the story. And this yellow-ish art style everywhere. Gosh this game is really fun. You can play it the way you want at every particular moment - you can hide in air shafts and disarm enemies from hideouts, or you can storm the places with guns & granades. Even though I'm not a fan at all of the first Deus Ex games, I do really love this one.

Having played through the game twice now, it has proved itself to be a title worthy of the Deus Ex name. From the story threads, the great soundtrack, the variety in approaches to objectives and exploration, to the refinement of the combat when compared to the first one, DX:HR has succeeded in being a successful, and more importantly, a thoroughly enjoyable cyberpunk RPG that has, in my eyes, stood the test of time and cemented its place in the annals of gaming history. The two most important things that I think made DX:HR a good DX game are the fact that they nailed both the atmosphere and the freedom of choice that defined the original game. The soundtrack composed by Michael McCann, the amazing architecture and interior design being displayed in places like Adam's apartment and Hengsha as well as the sidequests in the major hubs all serve to immerse you in the world. The game has a ton to offer when it comes to style and I love all the different ways the designers managed to express themselves and their vision of the 'near-future' aesthetic. All the ways you can approach mission objectives give the player a way to choose what kind of Adam Jensen they want to be, whether that be a blood-thirsty augmented cyberninja who cuts with his blades, blows people up with rockets and typhoon explosives and goes through walls, or a stealthy professional who avoids unnecessary conflict and achieves his goals by finding alternatives routes and shuffling through vents for half the game. The player is given many choices, some easy and inconsequential, some that are morally or mechanically difficult and have a lasting impact on your playthrough. The Director's Cut bonuses are also great, I'm looking forward to trying out the commentary and the new game plus. As far as I am concerned, this game is a must-play for anyone into Deus Ex, the cyberpunk genre or the immersive sim genre of games.

Human Revolution is pretty damn solid. It’s successful in what it tries to achieve, and overall a fine entry in the legendary Deus Ex franchise. The gameplay is pretty good. The controls are smooth enough, and as expected from a Deus Ex game, your playstyle is very customizable: there is a satisfying variety of weapons and items to exploit, and the multiple cybernetic augmentations seem mostly well-balanced and all find a use in the game world. You can use many different ways to go through levels: using back entries to sneak up is as valid an approach as blowing up locked doors and shooting everyone in sight. The plot and writing are really solid: it’s a cyberpunk conspiracy thriller full of twists, imagination, and interesting reflections about our bond to technology. The world drips with atmosphere, the characters are well-written and the voice acting is on point: you often feel like interacting with living, breathing people. It’s arguably more compelling in that regard than the first Deus Ex – although the themes it tackles are not as deep and well-handled. In fact, DE:HR’s only real problem is that it suffers from the comparison with the original cult classic. Sure, it is clearly sleeker and more modern in its presentation, but there is arguably little-to-no emergent gameplay, less environmental interactivity, and the level design offers fewer and more obvious alternate paths. The experience gains and the level design also tend to make it so that there is one way to play DE:HR correctly, and that’s to be stealthy, non-lethal, and hack everything you can. These are not big issues, but I think they diminish the appeal of the game compared to its more open-ended predecessor. It’s also worth noting that this “Director’s Cut”, which is a console-to-PC port, may present performance issues, such as stuttering, or crashes in the last level – something that by now should definitely be fixed. Still, DE:HR is a good game, and probably worth replaying from time to time.