Deus Ex: Human Revolution Magazine Preview Details

PC Gamer UK is running a six-page spread on Deus Ex: Human Revolution in their July issue, and scans of the preview have already made their way online. Judging by this article alone, the game really sounds like it’s shaping up to be exactly the type of FPS/RPG hybrid we’ve been hoping for. On character progression:

Other than the trenchcoat, the obvious thing Adam Jensen and JC Denton have in common is enhancements. Deus Ex I let you tailor your agent with upgrades to his sneaking, shooting, hacking, strength, and versatility. It worked, but the abilities were split awkwardly between RPG-style skills and power-up style augmentations.

In Human Revolution, augmentations are mechanical replacements for bits of your body that you buy from a Limb Clinic, whenever you have the cash. Your arms are already cybernetic, but there are 19 other augs that you can get installed in various parts of your body. The twist is that they only come with basic functionality, such as lifting heavy objects with your robo-arms. After that, you spend experience points to unlock one of four or five other functions that aug’s capable of. It’s a metaphor for Jensen getting used to his enhancements, and figuring out what they’re good for. And it gives you more freedom than waiting until you stumble on the right aug canister, as you did in Deus Ex.

And here’s something on the dialogue system:

At each stage, you’re presented with a few tacks like ‘Insist’, ‘Advise’, and ‘Pinpoint’, and each leads to a new line of dialogue – even if you’ve used it before. You have to judge by the person’s tone and words whether your approach is working, and push on with it or try a different one accordingly. After some lengthy back and forth, your verbal sparring partner will either be convinced (success), unconvinced (try again), or so pissed off he’ll never speak to you ever again. The branching of options is so intricate that Szczepkowski says that in dialogue terms it takes “roughly six to eight hours for one of those.”

Watching this in action is an unusual thing. Jensen’s argument with a mobster was longer and far more heated than we’ve come to expect game dialogue to be. Usually the only time someone talks for more than a few lines is when they’re making a peech or spooling out exposition. In both cases, there’s little emotion or interaction. Here, there’s a real reaction from the mobster when he sees through Jensen’s attempt to overplay his usefulness. And there’s a real tension for the player, knowing he can permanently screw this up. In other words, ‘verbal fight’ is right.