Deus Ex™ GOTY Edition

good replay value, one of the best level designs, immersive , the music stays with you

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 If you come after playing the newer, prequel Deus Ex games, the gameplay might feel a bit outdated, but story-wise its just as fun as those games.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.

Once in a lifetime game

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.