Deus Ex Strengthened By Thief’s Weaknesses

The latest issue of Xbox World 360 magazine contains a “100 Secrets of Gaming” feature, with one such secret being that Deus Ex lead designer Warren Spector set out to prove to the world that a game could be developed in such a way that both combat and non-combat approaches were viable options. As CVG reports, this stemmed from his frustration over how Thief turned out:

The exec told Xbox World 360 that he was “so frustrated by Thief” and the way it forced players into combat, that it motivated him to create a game where sneaking and fighting were both viable ways to deal with a situation.

“Deus Ex exists today because I said, ‘I’m going to show these guys that I can make a game where you can sneak and fight and make it work'” said Spector.

Spector’s defiance eventually extended to the purpose behind Deus Ex, which he says he created with the intention of shaming other devs.

“One of my goals for Deus Ex was – and I used to think about it this way – ‘I want to shame developers; I want to shame my peers and force them to make different kinds of games'”.