Game of the year, more like game of the century.

Deus Ex has to be the most engrossing game I have ever played. The environments really give off a sense of place which I haven’t really experienced elsewhere. Paired with an open ended gameplay system where the player has multiple options, this makes Deus Ex a game which respects the player and often reacts to the player. Even exploiting game mechanics (using LAM ladders) past their breaking points is acknowledged and allowed.

However, I do feel the need to warn about the fact that Deus Ex does have some jank, and that its introduction on liberty island can be a tough sell. I would say that the game really only endears itself once you make it to the hell’s kitchen levels.

One of the major selling points of Deus Ex to me is the sheer scale of content available. There are at least 6 major total conversion mods which follow the Deus Ex philosophy, and each of them are worth it. (Note: most of these mods are out of the steam client, and as such I have played more than 42 hours of Deus Ex.) The most affluent of the bunch is “The Nameless Mod” (TNM), which has to be the biggest inside joke ever constructed. It is literally a game about a digital construct of an internet forum which serves as a discussion board for Deus Ex. Even if you don’t like the mechanics of Deus Ex, playing TMN is worth it out of curiosity alone. There is nothing else like it.