Deus Ex: Human Revolution Interview

Atomic Gamer interviews Deus Ex: Human Revolution’s lead writer Mary Demarly about the writing in the upcoming FPSRPG, covering setting, the player character and choice and consequence.

AG: The game offers multiple ways to solve every problem how different can the story become based on your choices?

MD: To answer that question, I first need to point out that stories in games really break into 2 parts: the overall, high-level narrative (or plot), and the immediate-level, player-driven experience of plot. From a high-level perspective, Human Revolution’s plot is mostly linear, in that we have a very strong narrative that you need to progress through from beginning to end. There are multiple endings, of course, and along the way certain characters and/or events may get removed or unfold differently depending on decisions you make during key moments. How the story really plays out differently, though, is in each player’s immediate-level experience of it. You get to choose how certain conversations play out, and what kind of information you get from them. We also have side-missions that can reveal additional layers of details about Adam, the world he lives in, the underlying conspiracy, and important story characters — if you choose to accept them. The story information and details you’ll pick up as you choose whether to play combat or stealth during a mission, whether to engage in conversations with various characters, or use hacking skills to open up new exploration possibilities — these decisions can make your story experience in Deus Ex very different from someone else’s.