Rose Tints and Progress

Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition is my favorite video game. Everything about it appeals to me in a way other games don't. Sure, I have an affinity for a large variety of games both new and old, but when I think about the idea of player choice, progression, and player agency, no other games hold a candle to Deus Ex, even 16 years after its initial release.

I've played Deus Ex: Human Revolution and really enjoyed the way it brought the 'feel' of Deus Ex into the newer generation, but I feel it lacked something. Upon seeing the newest footage of the upcoming Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, I became excited to step back into the world, but was also a bit bummed out. Yet again, while the looks and vibe of this newer title are a big hit for me in the cyberpunk department, they still lack the fundamental reason I loved the original so much.

Subtlety.

If you ask people what 'cyberpunk' means to them, you'll get a variety of answers that all share similar themes: Technology infringing on human development, corporations and conspiracy infringing on human rights, and a clear class structure across a society that is doomed to topple in on itself. Not exactly the most high-brow stuff, and definitely a vessel that wears its agendas on its sleeve, but there's a certain charm to it.

The holy grail of cyberpunk for me (as well as many others) is Blade Runner. The original book "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" by Philip K. Dick talked about some pretty heavy themes for its time and really spoke to people, myself included. However, it was the magic of masters like Syd Mead and Ridley Scott that brought that vision to life, and arguably invented the way we think of motion picture science fiction. Dirty streets, dense movement, highly blown out colors set to the backdrop of smog and darkness; it sets a mood of beautiful disaster, and that is the beauty of cyberpunk. Somewhere you need to stay away from, but secretly dream of living.

The film is notoriously slow. In fact, the first few times I watched it, I fell asleep. Only on the third or fourth viewing did everything finally click for me, and it has become my favorite film. I can watch it on repeat for a month, and notice something new every time. There's a sense of discovery to the work that will forever influence me, and it's something I think the original Deus Ex really latched on to.

You needed to discover the world around you, and there weren't many things to hold your hand. Every little bit of exploration was important, as you were constantly peeling the proverbial onion, finding layers upon layers of depth you had no idea even existed. The general writing of the game was a bit blunt, but world-building situations showed a dissonance in what you were being told. Combat and gameplay mechanics took time to really make sense, the dated inventory system had you make difficult choices about how you would handle future objectives, and your ethics would shape the way situations were handled. Depending on who was playing the game, you would have vastly different stories to tell one another.

While all of those structures are seemingly in the newer Deus Ex titles, it seems to be a bit more on-the-nose. Your choices depend on making the choice of "Will I use my loud gun or soft gun", and "will I enter the room head-on or use the air vents to sneak in". Attacks now have animations and 'kill-cam' style moments, while you're being bombarded with voice-overs talking about "the institution" and constant "we must fight the power" platitudes. Even things as simple as a cover mechanic (where you hit a button and your character takes cover behind a piece of geometry in the world) don't feel like they belong. 

Now, this is probably just me showing my age. Instant feedback and visual reward for your actions is a staple in current game design, and for good reason. You feel fulfilled, and there's a sense of finality to your decisions. We're in an age of speed-running and achievement farming, with people feeling accomplished for beating a game on "hard mode", using it as a badge of honor for online message board superiority. YouTube "Let's Play" projects have to be fast-paced, well-edited, and full of bulbous production values to get attention in the marketplace. People want their feedback, people want their reward, and I can't necessarily blame them.

I think there's an inherit beauty to subtlety though, the quiet whispers and long play sessions where barely anything gets accomplished. I love a good "slow burn" in my media, where I can really dig in and relish in the details. While I feel I can do that in the newer Deus Ex games, it's only in viewing the 'side content', or 'minor details', and not really crucial to playing the game itself. With the original Deus Ex, everything fed into itself, meaning nothing felt like a waste of time. In the newer titles, however, many people's only incentive to go off the beaten path is for achievements, and it's a shame.

I'll buy Deus Ex when it launches in August, as I've bought all Deus Ex titles before. There's a world there that begs to be explored, and I'm looking forward to the details on the outskirts. While I'm hearing elaborate voice-overs and looking at stunning visuals while seeing nonstop action scenes of Adam Jensen being a one-man wrecking crew with incredible weapons and pin-point accuracy, I'll remember JC Denton.

I'll remember how JC Denton had to manually crouch around crummy boxes to act as cover, and time his attacks perfectly because he had terrible aim, but dammit, he meant well. The scopes of the guns never quite worked right, his mobility was stilted and hamfisted, but he grew. He learned his abilities as the player did, and he was given just enough information to start asking questions that could get him into trouble. Things weren't perfect, they weren't flashy, and they definitely weren't automatic. It was clunky, but it was beautiful.

It was cyberpunk. 

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