Deus Ex: Human Revolution Consequences

IGN AU brings us a two-page editorial that focuses on the consequences some of your actions can have when playing through Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Tardiness is not acceptable, at least in this case:

The receptionist at Sarif HQ gives you several options. You can head over to see Francis Pritchard, a scientist who will fix that nasty flickering HUD in your retinal display, you can go to the boss’ office and have a conversation, you can head directly to the chopper so that pilot Malik can take you to the manufacturing plant, or you can loiter around the headquarters and explore every corner. How you choose to spend your time in this section will have direct consequences in the next level, and likely the rest of the game.

I chose to quickly go and get my display fixed, then proceeded straight to the chopper. Malik gave me a bit of lip about taking my sweet-ass time but luckily I wasn’t too slow. Taking too long at Sarif HQ would’ve had dire consequences – by the time Adam arrives at the manufacturing plant all the hostages would be dead, and you’d be greeted at the site by a hostile SWAT team that was forced to wait for you to clear the area before going in. The knock-on? You’ll have a bad reputation amongst the cops and a number of other people, which means they’re less likely to help you out in future.

Because I explored as many of the employee offices as I could on all three floors of Sarif Industries, the hostages were already dead when I arrived at the warehouse. During my second playthrough, I moved a little faster :).