Eidos Montreal
Deus Ex: Human Revolution

The cyberpunk universe proposed in a video game key. The basic idea cannot be called original (at least not in 2011), but never before has a video game offered its quintessence without slipping into gaudy mech battles or the firework scenes of a poor man's Matrix.

A step back, a couple of decades. In 2000, during the PC video game market boom, before the trend of online gaming and long after tabletop role-playing games, the progenitor of a decidedly unprolific saga timidly made its appearance: Deus Ex is the "silent revolution" of RPGs (Role-Playing Games) that stirred developers in the field, even though the game itself failed to stand out among Baldur's Gate and various Final Fantasy titles.

Too different, too crossbred with a shooter, too many serious themes (advanced technology, multinationals, drugs). But such an attempt was not ignored, remaining still a benchmark for any similar or comparable video game.

Without wasting words on the insignificant sequel of a few years later, we have returned to 2011. Still without much fanfare, Deus Ex: Human Revolution has arrived, a prequel to the first aforementioned work.

This time, the near future is 2027, ravaged by crime, oppressive and corrupt governments, ruthless monopolies, and technology in full expansion: we are in the future imagined in classic SF (Science Fiction) novels, where man seeks to improve his existence through electronic and cybernetic implants, to the delight of companies involved in the new business. But with protests from the "purists," those who reject certain aberrations to keep their humanity intact.

The protagonist moves within this framework, roaming between cities divided into sparkling districts and devastated ghettos, among rich snobs and vagrants fleeing society. The basic story will prove complicated, issues will become more significant, while various characters will take turns to make everything more or less clear.

At the level of gameplay, it is on excellent levels, despite being fundamentally based on non-innovative rules and mechanics: stealth actions, hiding in a corridor corner ready to take down some annoying guard; eloquence tests to avoid unnecessary bloodshed; experience accumulation to become an increasingly efficient agent; hacking electronic systems to open yet another cursed sealed door...

What is the real difference from other futuristic RPG representatives (indeed few)? The exceptional depth of the plot, which puts the protagonist to the test with moral or opportunistic choices, addressing difficult topics for the 15-year-old fantasy enthusiast or the online Call Of Duty fanatic: is invasive biotechnology a necessary evil? Is resorting to violence inevitable to maintain the order of things? In a society adrift, is it better to fend for oneself surviving on the streets or to submit to the will of the few? Not that these themes haven't been heard before, but it's one thing to watch yet another film or read an SF book, it's another to actively try to navigate the plot crafted by Eidos Montreal.

All this is framed by a perfect and functional graphic aspect, presenting us with towering buildings, decadent architecture, and clothing in full cyber-punk style, without excess. The source of inspiration that immediately comes to mind is the cinematic masterpiece "Blade Runner" (who cannot feel this sensation the first time the protagonist enters his apartment, with light filtering obliquely from the window and cutting through the dusty air).

One of the main advantages will turn out to be the good freedom of action and choice offered to the player. Staying on the video game path, you can choose many things to do or not, how to do them, in what order, to reach the end, deciding the story's ending, which will surely be influenced by the decisions made.

In a direct comparison with the first Deus Ex, this new chapter may suffer from the lack of the surprise effect, but it gains in freedom of action and (obviously) in visual impact.

Finally, we have a new milestone, a great episode in the history of RPGs, which certainly will not have the same market impact as other titles in the genre (the new Elder Scrolls, in its heroic stories of magic, will always come first), but finally, it can be considered an interesting and adult experience: as finally the 18+ rating does not mean the splatter scenes that worry mothers so much, but it indicates a set of difficult topics that, within the limits of the gaming experience, also encourage thinking, not just wielding the machine gun and firing indiscriminately at person-height. Indeed, it's possible to do this too, but it is only one-tenth of the whole. Certainly the least interesting part.