Deus Ex: The Human Revolution Details emerge

[Firis]

Deus Ex: The Human Revolution Details emerge

IGN source
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March 13, 2010 - If you watched the latest teaser trailer for Deus Ex: Human Revolution, you know it's a conspiratorial tale of futuristic intrigue with a Renaissance twist (there must be something in the Montreal water supply). But the long-awaited third installment in the Deus Ex franchise goes much deeper than its dreamlike surface.

Deus Ex was a legendary PC action-RPG that broke genre conventions and wowed gamers with its scope, detail and innovation when it was released to critical acclaim in 2000. A follow-up, Deus Ex: Invisible War, continued the complex sci-fi storyline but failed to win the universal adoration of its predecessor. With Deus Ex: Human Revolution, the new Eidos Montreal development team (sans series creator Warren Spector) is going back to the original game's roots, both in terms of gameplay and setting.

Human Revolution is set 25 years before the events of Deus Ex, and players will be forced to make tough decisions about how they behave in the game world. Will they hack, sneak and cajole their way around obstacles? Will they turn their bodies into weapons?



One of the central themes of Deus Ex: Human Revolutuion is transhumanism, the concept of using biotechnology, nanotechnology, cybernetics and other emerging fields of research to extend and augment human life. The teaser trailer shows the main character, Adam Jensen, recovering from surgery. His body has various mechanical enhancements, which he says he "never asked for."

That conflict between the benefits of augmented humanity and its drawbacks is central to the storyline and feel of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. It's in the dialogue, level design and even the environmental art. I sat down with art director Jonathan-Jaques Belletete at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco to talk in more detail about the game's setting, style and direction.

"If you liked what you saw [in the trailer], yesterday was just a tease," said Belletete. "The art is not just about making it pretty. It's about communicating."

Belletete said his art team sits next to the game's writers, headed by Mary DeMarle, and they consult frequently on how to tell the story both visually and literally. Belletete said the environments in Deus Ex: Human Revolution will be very detailed and that the teaser trailer holds tantalizing clues about the game world (take a closer look at the items sitting on Jensen's table).

"In Adam's apartment, there are so many details. We decided he really likes breakfast cereal. So we spent so much time just designed these cereal boxes," Said Belletete.

Adam's surroundings help tell the Deus Ex story, but the tale will also have plenty of help from cinematic sequences, all of which are rendered in-game. We don't know exactly how many cutscenes will be in Human Revolution (or how long they will be). Belletete said simply, "There will be a lot. The game needs it."



Adam will see the world through an augmented reality system that uses ocular machines to project a heads-up display onto the environment, which happens to be Detroit in 2027. In Deus Ex's imagined future, Detroit has rebounded from its long, slow slide into decay. The security company Adam Jensen works for is based there, and its owner was instrumental in bringing the city back to life. He purchased a number of the dormant automobile plants and converted them to cybernetics manufacturing facilities.

As seen in the trailer, the Detroit of the future is now a lively metropolis lit up by a sprawl of animated billboards and skyscrapers. Belletete said he and his team were inspired by cyberpunk and sci-fi masterpieces like Ghost In the Shell and Bladerunner but are not looking to mimic them.

"We can literally make something that looks just like Bladerunner," said Belletete. "But what would that create, really?"

Rather than take a photorealistic approach that attempts to approximate a sci-fi film, the developers are using tones of black and gold to paint a unique picture of the future. The harsh metallic materials of the characters' cybernetic augmentations are juxtaposed with soft tones and fabrics inspired by the Renaissance. Like that historical period, the world of Human Revolution is both a golden age of discovery and a time of great political and religious upheaval. There are those who welcome progress, and those who oppose it.

The economist and bioethicist Francis Fukuyama named transhumanism the most dangerous idea in the world in the middle of the last decade. A debate continues today about how far human modification should go and when it becomes dangerous.

"It's a viepoint that's in the game," said Belletete. "But we're making sure that we're representing both sides."

Game Director Jean-Francois Dugas has said that a player can make his or her way through the entirety of Deus Ex: Human Revolution without killing a single person. Belletete added that players can also choose to not augment their bodies if they wish.

"There's a lot of choice in the game. You can handle it like you want," he said.

We don't have a release date for Deus Ex: Human Revolution just yet, although it's scheduled to hit stores sometime this year. Make sure to head over to our in-depth Deus Ex Q&A to find out more about Eidos Montreal's latest.