Deus Ex: Human Revolution Interview

1UP brings us a two-page, article-style interview with Deus Ex: Human Revolution’s Jean-Francois Dugas about how the game stacks up to other RPGs, the challenges involved with giving players “free will”, the amount of non-linearity they’re injecting into the game, and more.

“Deus Ex is a lot more open than Mass Effect, and I respect that it’s less open than Fallout,” observes Jean-Francois Dugas, director of the upcoming Deus Ex sequel Human Revolution. “At the same time, our characters and our stories are more present than Fallout’s. We’re not necessarily digging as much as in all the depth and characters as in Mass Effect, though. [Human Revolution] is kind of the in-between.”

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“We really wanted to retain the RPG elements that all have to do with customizing your character’s abilities,” says Dugas. “Did you want to make him a combat guy? A stealth guy? A techie guy? It all depends on the weapons and the upgrades. What kind of player do you want to be? It’s about walking that thin line all the time and trying to find the sweet spot.”

The process of integrating multiple forms of choice and player control into a game as complex as Human Revolution has required careful trial-and-error effort from the start, says Dugas. The team went into the game with the intent of expanding on the classic Deus Ex structure, and they’re been committed to fine-tuning the design as necessary, even if that means stepping back and admitting that a particularly beloved idea has led to a dead end.