Classic Comeback - Games of 2011 | Deus Ex: Human Revolution
It’s been almost a decade since Deus Ex: Human Revolution shared its vision of the world in 2027, yet the game—and its dream of a cybernetic renaissance—doesn’t feel dated. From the moment you launch the game, and the first notes of the soundtrack hit, it sucks you in. The world in Human Revolution is a dark, but beautiful, reflection of our own—similar and detailed enough to suspend disbelief, but with a story and tangible history that just begs you to investigate and try to uncover the truth. Everything—from the music to the gold-tinted visuals, to the core mechanics themselves—adds to the atmosphere, and as a result, the game holds up to modern standards remarkably well.
1. Don’t smoke kids.
2. Damn, Adam Jensen is cool.
The game feels sleek and unbloated, with most unnecessary additions left on the cutting room floor. The resulting game left distilled to keep the gameplay experience tight and focused. In 2021 comparisons to Cyberpunk 2077 are inevitable, and Human Revolution manages to shine next to CD Projekt Red’s foray into the genre. Cyberpunk’s world is massive, with hundreds of side quests and locations which are immensely fun, but ultimately don’t add much to the world. The rogue Delamaine Cab reminiscent of the Portal franchise’s GLaDOS is a neat little reference, but more immersion-breaking than immersion-making. Eidos Montréal on the other hand kept Human Revolution’s maps small, with only a few side missions per quest hub. But Detroit and Hengsha don’t feel smaller than Night City. They feel dense and real. Everything in the game—every apartment, every computer, every overheard conversation—has a purpose. No side quests feel unnecessary, with each acting as its own mini conspiracy within the larger web of Human Revolution’s plot. On top of all this, players are rewarded for taking an interest in the world—the game gives XP for exploring and reading ebooks scattered around while snooping around can uncover new ways to complete missions.
The game’s combat is relatively simple, and outside of the infamous boss fights, fighting is entirely optional—it’s possible even on the hardest difficulty to finish the entire game stealthily, and nonlethally. It’s great that a game that’s premise is ‘secret Illuminati conspiracy’ can be completed like this. Sure, you can walk into a room and gun down half a dozen enemies using assault rifles and the waist-high cover. But the game is much more rewarding to silently take them out, or sneak around them entirely so they never even know you were there.
This boss might be the lowest low any triple-A game has reached compared to the rest of its consistent quality.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution suffers when it takes away those options. Nowhere is this more the case than with the boss battles. Even the game’s developers called the fights a disappointment., this is because they didn’t reflect the rest of the game’s design. If you specced into hacking, stealth, or anything else that isn’t brute force then good luck. You can’t use any of those skills in the boss fights. All the mystique and heavy atmosphere Human Revolution works to build up throughout the rest of the game evaporates the moment the pre-fight cinematics fade to black—it’s just you and one heavily armoured opponent (who always knows where you are) in a confined, arena-like room, dooming you to run and gun until one of your health bars’ reaches zero. It’s frustrating, it doesn’t fit with the rest of the game, and it takes away from a story and experience built on player expression.
The best thing about Jensen is he does not stand for bad music.
But even during these poor fights, one of Human Revolution’s strongest features still shines. The soundtrack—a fusion of cyberpunk electronic beats and old school acoustics and vocals—is the highlight of the game. There isn’t a moment of silence from start to finish, but despite always being there the music never feels obtrusive. It’s always in the background, giving even the smallest side quest conversation a cinematic feel and heightening the overall game’s tension.
That is until the game decides to ramp things up and really pull you in. There are key moments where the music steps it up a gear and you know things just got seriously important. The transition between the tracks is smooth, to the point you may not notice it until your pulse is pounding or you find yourself suddenly on edge. It helps that both the ambient and combat music have the same dark and dramatic energy.
Human Revolution’s music is the glue that seals everything else into place. The story, the mechanics, and the gorgeous visuals create a world that composer Michael McCann gives depth to with the soundtrack. Whether sneaking through underground sewers in Detroit or traversing the Hengsha skyline, Deus Ex: Human Revolution even today never fails to draw you into the world and keep you there.
Good news: a killer artstyle doesn’t age.
For a sci-fi game so firmly rooted in the potential of 2011’s technology and its exploitation, it can be surprising how much of Human Revolution holds up a decade later. But it shouldn’t be. It’s an intelligently written game that isn’t pretentious enough to be inaccessible. While the graphics and animations might look wooden compared to a newer release today, the core elements of Human Revolution—the story, music, and overall atmosphere of the game world—are as impressive today as they were ten years ago.
