GameplayEdit
Deus Ex incorporates elements from fourvideo game genres: role-playing, first-person shooter, adventure, and “immersivesimulation“, the last of which being a game where “nothing reminds you that you’re just playing a game”.[9] For example, the game uses a first-person camera during gameplay and includes exploration and character interaction as primary features.[9]
The player assumes the role of JC Denton, ananotech-augmented operative of the United Nations Anti-Terrorist Coalition (UNATCO).[10]This nanotechnology is a central gameplay mechanism, and allows players to performsuperhuman feats.
Role-playing elementsEdit
As the player accomplishes objectives, theplayer character is rewarded with “skill points”. Skill points are used to enhance a character’s abilities in eleven different areas, and were designed to provide players with a way to customize their characters;[9] a player might create a combat-focused character by increasing proficiency with pistols or rifles, while a more furtive character can be created by focusing on lock picking and computer hacking abilities. There are four different levels of proficiency in each skill, with the skill point cost increasing for each successive level.[11][12]
Weapons may be customized through “weapon modifications”, which can be found or purchased throughout the game. The player might add scopes, silencers, or laser sights; increase the weapon’s range,accuracy, or magazine size; or decrease itsrecoil and reload time. Not all modifications are available to all weapons; for example, arocket launcher cannot be silenced, and recoil cannot be reduced on a flamethrower.
Players are further encouraged to customize their characters through nano-augmentations—cybernetic devices that grant characters superhuman powers. While the game contains eighteen different nano-augmentations, the player can install a maximum of nine, as each must be used on a certain part of the body: one in the arms, legs, eyes, and head; two underneath the skin; and three in the torso.[13] This forces the player to choose carefully between the benefits offered by each augmentation. For example, the arm augmentation requires the player to decide between boosting their character’s skill in hand-to-hand combat or his ability to lift heavy objects.
Interaction with non-player characters (NPCs) was a large design focus.[9] When the player interacts with a non-player character, the game will enter a cutscene-like conversation mode where the player advances the conversation by selecting from a list of dialogue options. The player’s choices often have a substantial effect on both gameplay and plot, as non-player characters will react in different ways depending on the selected answer (e.g. rudeness makes them less likely to provide assistance).
Combat elementsEdit
Deus Ex features combat similar to first-person shooters, with real-time action, a first-person perspective, and reflex-based gameplay.[9] As the player will often encounter enemies in groups, combat often tends toward a tactical approach, including the use of cover, strafing, and “hit-and-run“. AUSA Today reviewer found “At the easiest difficulty setting, your character is puréed again and again by an onslaught of human and robotic terrorists until you learn the value of stealth.”[14] However, through the game’s role-playing systems, it is possible to develop a character’s skills and augmentations to create a tank-like combat specialist with the ability to deal and absorb large amounts of damage.[15] Non-player characters will praise or criticize the main character depending on his use of force, incorporating a moral element into the gameplay.[16]
Deus Ex features a head-up display crosshair, whose size dynamically shows where shots will fall based on movement, aim, and the weapon in use; the reticle expands while the player is moving or shifting his or her aim, and slowly shrinks to its original size while no actions are taken.[10] How quickly the reticle shrinks depends on the character’s proficiency with the equipped weapon, the number of accuracy modifications added to the weapon, and the level of the “targeting” nano-augmentation.
Deus Ex features twenty-four weapons, ranging from crowbars, electroshock weapons, and riot baton, to laser guided anti-tank rockets and assault rifles;[10] both lethal and non-lethal weapons are available. The player can also make use of several weapons of opportunity, such as fire extinguishers.
Player choiceEdit
Players are given multiple ways to traverse obstacles, from lockpicking to armed combat.
Gameplay in Deus Ex emphasizes player choice. Objectives can be completed in numerous ways, including stealth, sniping, heavy frontal assault, dialogue, or engineering and computer hacking. This level of freedom requires that levels, characters, and puzzles be designed with significant redundancy, as a single play-through of the game will miss large sections of dialogue, areas, and other content. In some missions the player is encouraged to avoid using deadly force, and certain aspects of the story may change depending on how violent or non-violent the player chooses to be. The game is also unusual in that two of its boss villains can be killed off early in the game, or left alive to be defeated later, and this too affects how other characters interact with the player.
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