Forethoughts on Deus Ex: Human Revolution

When I first played Deus Ex, (in 2008) I was awed by how much stuff there was and how little I was actually capable of doing on the first run. It embodied the greatness of what made 90's games fun and did a good job of minimizing the crap of the 90's... kinda.

Initially, I was entirely skeptical of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. For one, I don't like what Squenix has turned Eidos into. For two, I don't like Squenix.

Let me clarify and say the game will not be bad. It will be a serviceable experience, but would have been better off as a spiritual precursor to Deus Ex, not a direct prequel.

What I primarily don't t like is the philosophy. For one, that whole live action viral campaign thing about drugs was just patronizingly dumb. Why?

Corporations use drugs to control the people whom they sell artificial limbs to.

If people cannot afford the drug, their mechanical components malfunction and the people become useless. It's good for shock value, but in the face of any school of logic, it just makes no sense. What is the value of people being removed from the workforce like that? If you lose customers, you lose business. If you lose business, you lose profit. Even if the total costs of the drug are miniscule in comparison to the actual augmentation process, I would imagine that since everyone needs the drug, the costs build up over time into a huge pile of money some guy can roll around in.

Yeah, I know it was supposed to be from some Human Liberation Front or some shit like that. I don't care. I have full confidence that it's just going to overplay the whole "corporations are evil" trope without any kind of tangible counterargument by the corporations themselves. At best, some guy will give a serious explanation of why the drugs are necessary, but he'll get glossed over by the protagonist as just being another puppet.

But this will all get swept under the rug because the gameplay is probably going to be good and the choices refreshing from the modern concept of "shoot everything to get to your objective." I doubt highly that the game will let you go through without killing anyone or at least will make you kill by proxy, but still, some stealth would be nice. As well, the social boss fights kind of seem interesting, but I don't think they'll have the impact they could potentially have. Can you imagine a seven minute conversation in which you have to vigorously debate a hostage taker and actually have to listen to the antagonist's words?

At first I was irritated by the thought of my precious Deus Ex in the hands of gross Canadian Frenchies, but now I'm just sad. It'll be decent, but it won't be the gem of the 21st century that Deus Ex was. With all the power at their fingertips, Eidos will only push the bounds ever so slightly and do so with the widest grins at their achievement.

Who we are is not a stepping stone to what we may become. We are our choices. We can choose to lead ourselves away from darkness.