Deus Ex™ GOTY Edition

Deus Ex is one of the early immersive sims, and well-known to be one of its best. You play as an augmented anti-terrorism agent JC Denton, who along with his agency, tried to stop a terrorist attack, but discovers a conspiracy that complicates things. Are the "terrorists" right after all? Is his agency actually working for the bad guys? Either way, JC must follow this mystery to its end. He is assisted by his friends, both inside and outside the agency, as well as his augmentations, which makes him more than the average human. Like most imsim and RPGs, you'll have multiple ways to complete objectives. Do you wanna help other characters? Go the direct path swarming with enemies, or choose a less direct, but quieter route? Each route has its own pluses and minuses, but overall exploration is encouraged, you should look around before deciding what to do. Going lethal/nonlethal doesn't really have an impact on the story other than some dialogue changes early in the game, but I do find going nonlethal more satisfying. If you come after playing the newer, prequel Deus Ex games, the gameplay might feel a bit outdated, but story-wise its just as fun as those games. It's basically a continuation of the story as well, and the behind-the-scenes villain takes a more active role here. If you like those games, imsims, or cyberpunk-themed games, be sure to give this old but gold title a try.

Deus Ex is a classic for a reason, it contributed to to the Cyberpunk genre and the Immersive Sim (2 reasons then). I clearly underestimated it, knowing its reputation but seeing the visuals before playing it, I was afraid of a old janky experience, oh boy was I wrong. Okay well it can be clunky, but damn, it still holds up amazingly well, even in vanilla, in which I played. the different playstyles and choices are amazing and so well incorporated in the game that the gameplay just feels right. However, I would not recommend an up front playstyle where you gun down everyone and everything you see. The stealth playstyle with the different augmentations is very satisfying, you have to wait, here the steps of your enemies around the corner, before striking their back, peak gameplay in my book. I can only imagine what it was to play it on day one in 2000. I'm currently going through the four major games in the Deux Ex series so I won't be replaying this one right now, even though I'm keen to go through it again and make different choices and picking different augmentations. I strongly recommend it to play the vanilla version for a first playthrough, and don't worry, I played it on GOG, using a patch to play it in 2560x1440 on Windows 11 and it ran like a charm. Go for it!

The gameplay has aged terribly but the story and atmosphere need to be experienced.

But this series still has its old charm. Im sure I dont need to type up a review to convince you to get it. Its not some forgotten virtue like honesty thats worth at least twenty credits. Its Deus Ex, You get a modern masterpiece for less than a dollar during a sale. Dont pass up the chance to try a new blade. The game will need fixing however, just so it could keep up with modern hardware. Luckily the game has a huge dedicated fanbase constantly improving the game since its release, intensifying to the point that the mods are spilling into the schools and churches. Eventually it's not about the game itself but upgrades... versions... functionality... But if you're like me and want keep your vision augmented only to experience the game as close to vanilla as possible. I highly recommend the "Vanilla Matters" Mod. It pretty much has all the necessary modernizations and fixes. It also has mods support for it as well, tho i havent tried it myself as the game is really fun as hell as it is.

No game ever made has ever come close to the amazing quality that this game has. One of the most amazing stories ever with a great combat system. You like fighting? go ahead and kill every one in New York then. You like to hack computers and talk your way through problems? go ahead and do that too. This game gives you the ability to do many different things that all lead you down a path to multiple endings. Virtually every decision that you make has an impact on the story somewhere down the line. I am so happy that this game is added on gog.com because this is seriously the grand daddy of good old games!