Jean-François Dugas, lead game designer for Deus Ex: Human Revolution, explains how the cult series is being rebooted on PS3.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a series with a rich heritage and is due on PlayStation 3 in 2011.
Set in 2027, you play as Adam Jensen, a private security specialist for biotech corporation Sarif Industries. Following an attack on the company, Jensen is badly injured and, as he comes back from the dead, starts on a quest to discover who was responsible for the attack as well as uncovering the bigger conspiracy that surrounds it.
“We see Deus Ex: Human Revolution as a reboot of the franchise,” says Dugas. “We approach it from a new IP perspective because it’s a cult game that is really appreciated by a small community while most people don’t know what Deus Ex is. So our approach is that there are some new characters, including a new main character, so that you don’t need to be a Deus Ex fan to appreciate this one. At the same time, there will be some tie-ins with the previous games so for those that know the old games, there are some connections.”
In a live demo at E3 2010, two levels were shown with the focus very much on a mix of combat, stealth, exploration and social gameplay. In each of the levels shown, the concept of choice was key, with multiple paths available to complete each mission.
“For us the role-playing game component is really important; it’s about making sure the player has the right tools to play one way or another,” explains Dugas. “If he wants to be very aggressive he can be, while if he wants to be very sneaky and low-key he has the tools to be this as well. You can talk to all the characters, buy and upgrade weapons, pick up experience points and unlock further abilities; all those things together help shape your character to suit your playing style. As you play through the game, as you meet characters and depending on how you interact with them, there might be consequences later in the game. What’s really important to us is that whether you choose to go for combat or stealth, either route is really rewarding.”
Key to the Deus Ex series is the concept of transhumanism, the idea that science and technology can be used to improve human mental and physical characteristics. This runs as a thread throughout the visual style of the title, as well as being apparent in the gameplay as you pick up augmentations, or special abilities, as you progress through the game.
“With the art direction we really wanted to add our own flavour and, when we started building the game and researched transhumanity, we discovered a lot of sketches from Leonardo Da Vinci that made us jump back to the Renaissance area,” says Dugas. “With the technology of today, we’re starting to see computers integrated into our bodies so that the transhumanity era is already happening. We see it as the next step in our evolution and it’s not happening in 2027, it’s happening today in 2010.”
It was clear from the levels shown ay E3 2010 that the developer had drawn huge inspiration from a number of science fiction classics, such as Blade Runner and Ghost in the Shell. “We’re not hiding those inspirations because we think they’re awesome starting points,” says Dugas. “At the same time, our game has its own flavour. We tried to anticipate the future as much as possible while with some things, such as the double-decker city, we just went crazy because it’s a game, it needs to be fun, sitting somewhere in-between reality and fantasy.”
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