New Deus Ex 3 info surfaces

PC News | It's a prequel.

The first new details about the eagerly anticipated Deus Ex 3 in almost a year have emerged, with Eidos has confirming that it will be a prequel to the original game.

In an upcoming issue of PC Zone (via CVG), it was revealed that the game's 'powerful, layered' plot will see players take control of Adam Jenson in 2027, a regular bloke who does security at a laboratory that deals with bio-mechanical augmentations, a precursor to the nanotechnology seen in the first game. Naturally, things go all pear-shaped for Adam when black ops break into the office, killing a bunch of people as part of some sort of conspiracy. The writer of the original game, Sheldon Pacotti, is still involved, so expect hijinks aplenty.

"Deus Ex 3's vision of the future sees holographic screens flicker atop ferries moving back and forth in front of the Shanghai skyline, now split into two layers with the rich on the top and the poor in perpetual twilight below," noted the PC Zone preview.

Combat will see a big change, with the accuracy of the player's hand being the sole determining factor, rather than various statistics. That doesn't mean stats go out the window though - they will effect the weapons in the game, which are apparently customisable. 20 player augmentations will also be available to make things more interesting, with the preview mentioning the ability to punch through walls as well as the option of using tentacles as bungee cords.

In a very controversial move, Eidos also revealed that the game will have an auto-healing system, not unlike Halo. In addition, stealth is now cover-based, rather than the shadow system of the first game.

So controversial, even, that Edios Montreal's community monitor has already defended the design decisions.

"Deus Ex 3 is indeed an RPG," the manager told Voodoo Extreme. "It's a hybrid action/RPG just like the first game. There is a skill system where you upgrade your character (Adam) based off experience points you earn and you can do the same thing with weapons.

"It's a game with a very detailed plot with numerous characters you interact with. The gameplay takes the form of a consequence-driven multi-path, multi-solution approach in a non-linear space.

"For stealth, that is another major pillar of gameplay and we do have it. The difference is that it's now cover-based rather than "shadow/light-based" as in the past games."

Finally, Edios says that it is weary of the reception the sequel, Invisible War, received, and will be learning from its mistakes for the third game. Exciting stuff.

Related Deus Ex 3 Content

Deus Ex: Human Revolution gameplay trailer
14 Aug, 2010 The revolution begins.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution trailer
05 Jun, 2010 Conspiracy theorists assemble.

Deus Ex 3 in development
27 Nov, 2007 Under development at new Eidos studio.

23 Comments

pdaddy

3 years ago

I must be getting old, cause the more I hear about games having SO much customisation, the more I am hesitant to pick it up. I always get so worried Im upgrading the wrong attribute and just making the game harder for myself..

That being said, I really enjoyed the first Deus Ex (skipped number 2) so it'll be interesting to watch this game progress..

While the first one was brilliant for its time, it faces much more competition in the market in 2008/2009..

G3ck0

3 years ago

I hate games with heaps of moves and I know I can never unlock them all, or upgrade them all, especially Diablo 2. Anyway, I have never really played a Dues Ex game, other than about 10 minutes of each of the games. And how do you say the name? Whenever I say it it sounds like Do Sex.

Jaws

3 years ago

"Juice Ex"

The first was brilliant and I dont know if they will be able to top it.

G3ck0

3 years ago

But if you say Juice Ex, it still sounds like ju sex or something.

Onyx_Mirror

3 years ago

I've always said it 'Day-us A' (The name of the letter 'A' not the a- sound) although my latin pretty much stinks. I believe (again, bad latin) it translates to something like 'God Is' or, more poetically, 'There is a God'.

I really enjoyed the first one, but found the second one hard to enjoy. I ended up watching the various endings direct from the disk rather than playing them though.

Jarrod

3 years ago

Cover system and regenerating health should be alarm bells that the combat wont play anything like the original, which is a huge shame.

A regenerating health system wouldnâ€™t have any reason to exist unless combat involves a large amount of enemies, or at least consistent waves. The old DX usually involved tactically taking out enemies, taking cover, luring individual enemies into areas. A regenerating health system would make that style of play super easy.

Same goes for a cover system, but that will depend on how they implement it and whether or not its largely stealth orientated or used often in combat too.

I look forward to what happens since I loved Deus Ex, but Iâ€™m very cautiously optimistic. I wouldnâ€™t at all be surprised if Edios decided to alter the pow-pow factor and make it more of an ACTION rpg-lite than like the original, to appeal to the masses and make-a-the-money.

GooberMan

3 years ago

GooberMan's pronounciation guide!

De - like Day.
us - imagine it's üs and I'm sure you internetians won't have a problem.

Nice and simple. Even your mother could learn it.

EDIT: the frontend comment box submits characters in UTF-8, yet the forum appears to be ASCII encoded. Fix please?

Mr Waffle

3 years ago

I have no problems with auto-healing, as long as there is still death if you act like a fool, but not punish you for 'doing it wrong' (from the designer's point of view). Dying too often leads to trigger-happy quicksaving and quickloading, which is an absolute immersion-killer and should be avoided at all costs.

We're past the days where death in games existed to keep kids pumping coins into an arcade machine... people who want death = punishment should go play Mega Man 9 and let modern games do what they do best, immerse the player in a world and tell them a story.

notsofat

3 years ago

"Juice ex" made me a gamer in grade 6.

My main worry will be if Deus Ex 3 is dumbed down although im pretty sure :

PALGN wrote

Finally, Edios says that it is weary of the reception the sequel, Invisible War, received, and will be learning from its mistakes for the third game. Exciting stuff.

means it wont be developed simultaneously for console.

its interesting that you arent controlling a JC, and being a prequel makes it just that much more interesting.

sooo keennn

Jarrod

3 years ago

Mr Waffle wrote

We're past the days where death in games existed to keep kids pumping coins into an arcade machine... people who want death = punishment should go play Mega Man 9 and let modern games do what they do best, immerse the player in a world and tell them a story.

Says you. Without the sense of challenge and emergency I feel my time is wasted and my skills are worthless. I don’t like constantly dying, but I want the game to provide me with challenges that require me to think and react.

BioShock was very close to being wrecked, for me, by the ridiculous VitaChamber respawn. I love the game to bits, but when I run into combat with the knowledge the moment I die I'll respawn with ZERO penalty it suddenly makes taking down that Big Daddy about as frightening and tense as squashing a ****.

Mr Waffle

3 years ago

So you rely on the game punishing you, instead of exerting some self control- not WANTING to die? I think if it affected your game that much you might want to re-think the way you play games, because I tend to avoid death at all costs despite the lack of penalties for the simple fact that I don't want to die in games...

GooberMan

3 years ago

Mr Waffle wrote

So you rely on the game punishing you, instead of exerting some self control- not WANTING to die?

What initiative do you have for not wanting to die if there's no penalty? The "game" word is key here. If there are no penalty rules for games where you can die, then the game becomes less exciting. Death then becomes just a convenient distraction. You could easilly melee a Big Daddy to death in Bioshock if you could be bothered. Where's the fun or challenge in that?

If developers are going to treat death as an outdated concept from the arcade era, they should at least put some effort in to finding a suitable replacement concept.

benspyda

3 years ago

I think the left for dead concept is a good idea with difficulty. If you are having difficulty it counters that, so it is always a challenge but never frustrating.

I like a challenge but I hate games that try to extend their length by making you constantly die. I think that's the difference between modern games and retro. Retro games were really short so they needed some draw to keep you playing.

Well anyway, I never played a Deus Ex game but this game does look like something I could get into. I love action RPG's.

Jaws

3 years ago

benspyda wrote

Then you should do yourself a favour and grab a copy. Best $9.95AUD you'll ever spend!

benspyda

3 years ago

S.Jaworski, I think I will. Steam here I come.

Jarrod

3 years ago

Mr Waffle wrote

I don’t want to die in games, but I want the fear of dying to exist in order for there to be a challenge, and I want to die if I don't play things right.

I don’t want my games to be so hard that no matter what I do I’m continuously punished. THAT annoys me a great deal. But I do want the sense of emergency. This is especially true in action games and shooters. As immersive and atmospheric a game like Resident Evil 4 is, part of that atmosphere comes from the fear of dying. When I hear Dr. Salvador start up his chainsaw I know if he hits me it’s a 1-hit-kill. I LIKE that, despite it being brutal and challenging, as it makes the whole situation even more atmospheric and exciting.

Games that have no difficulty challenge end up boring me. Like I said with BioShock; when the game’s atmosphere is all about being trapped in an underwater crumbling utopia, surrounded by psychotic murdering lunatics, I loose a lot of that tension, fear, and atmosphere when I know no matter how insane, powerful, angry, or well equipped the enemy is I’m just going to respawn unpunished 50 meters away.

Imagine survival horrors without the fear of death or the challenge. Talk about boring!

Sin Ogaris

3 years ago

Prey is a perfect example, I didn't care about dying because I knew I just had to shoot a couple dudes and then fall down a hole to be right back where I was, no harm no foul, right?

rufati

3 years ago

EatChildren wrote

I donâ€™t want to die in games, but I want the fear of dying to exist in order for there to be a challenge, and I want to die if I don't play things right.

I can't seem to find anything in the article about not being able to die, or the game being super-easy.

Cover system? Auto healing? Sounds like it's taking a page or two from modern shooters, and good ones at that. Why all the whining?

Jarrod

3 years ago

rufati wrote

EatChildren wrote

I donâ€™t want to die in games, but I want the fear of dying to exist in order for there to be a challenge, and I want to die if I don't play things right.

That’s because the your quote was based on a discussion between Mr Waffle and myself in regards to the difficulty of modern games compared to older games, and what purpose dying and challenge might have. It was really unrelated and off-topic.

However, my previously mentioned issues with the auto-healing is that it’s got no place in the Deus Ex gameplay design. Have you actually played the original?

Auto-healing encourages slow/coward style playing. Lure enemies, take out one, take cover until you’ve healed, repeat. It exploits the feature in order to make the game super easy. Auto-healing only successfully works when the actual process of auto-healing is a risk. Call of Duty? Yep, it works, because when you take cover to heal you might still get shot to bits due to the massive amount of enemies.

Deus Ex was never like that. The gameplay never revolved around massive waves or huge groups of enemies ambushing you. It was about making strategic decisions in regards to combat and making sure you never get into a position where you’ll be gunned down.

Including auto-healing says one of two things. Either; A) The combat has taken on a different design to the original and is now more action based, or B) It’s included to make the game easier for casual players.

Saying they are staples of modern shooters simple isn’t true. Plenty of shooters have neither of these things, and Deus Ex plays vastly different from modern shooters anyway.

Sin Ogaris

3 years ago

@rufati: Need we remind you that Deus Ex is NOT a FPS game? So taking aspects of modern FPS title is largely a detriment in the grand scheme of things. Deus Ex allows for each given situation to be approached in a multitude of ways, whether it be all on assault, sneak by, hack into the system to turn the enemies own defenses against them, Hell there were even situations where you could bribe your way through gunfights.

If the developers implement an auto heal system it effectively means that an character who isn't action oriented will always be at max health, sure a stealth character might get hit once or twice, but they'll go back to whatever they were doing and be at full health for the next time they get hit once or twice. Rather than being a stealth character and sneaking around getting caught for a moment, shot a couple times and being in that injured state until you can manage to find a medkit (which on higher difficulties were few and far between).

Yes, auto heal can work for shooters but, like I said, this ain't no shooter. It'd be like Thief having auto-heal (oh man would I be ropable if they did that), it just doesn't work.

rufati

3 years ago

Sin Ogaris wrote

So taking aspects of modern FPS title is largely a detriment in the grand scheme of things.

It's hardly a pure FPS game mechanic. In games like WoW you auto heal (very slowly) while not in combat. In Golden Sun you would regain mana by just walking around. Even Ninja Gaiden 2 heals you (partially) once all enemies in the immediate area are dead (and it's not at all an easy game).

Sin Ogaris wrote

... it just doesn't work.

Either that's a baseless assumption, or you've been hands-on with Deus Ex 3. Although I'm not about to make assumptions about a game in development until I get to see it in action.

Jaws

3 years ago

I see your point rufati in not being quick to judge, but they might as well call this title something else if they are going to change the single pinnacle that made the original title so great.

You'll see what we mean if you ever try Deus Ex, which allowed you to tackle a level in 40 different ways. All of them kept your suspense up because you were faced with death - with a very possible sense of losing your foothold in the progress you made. This self regeneration business on the other hand, just has no place in that game.

Sin Ogaris

3 years ago

I said if Thief had an auto heal, it simply would not work. Referencing that as a basis for if you play a stealth based character in Deus Ex that the auto heal is a detriment to the gaming experience.

Oh, and regaining mana is a very different thing to regaining health, however I did find the health system in NG2 to be a good trade off, it saved the need for constantly having to heal, especially given the brutal nature of the title, but still punished recklessness. Can't comment on WoW as I haven't played it, but other MMO titles allow you to slowly regain health, which is a far cry from the FPS system where a second allows you to get full health, whereas a second in an MMO (of the ones I've played) might give you 2 points out of a total 100.

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