Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by guntherhermann 996 days ago
Deus Ex for me is the greatest game of all time. I played it when I was around 12 years old, it had just come out. The graphics already looked 'old' in 2000, but it didn't matter. The sequels are actually pretty good too, IMO, but can't touch the original.

I still go back to play it from time to time, although I always play the sneak-thief kind of character, it just seems so much more fun!
3 comments
Sharlin 996 days ago
Username checks out.

But yeah, a sneak-thief has the opportunity to enjoy the most of the game's writing, in the form of emails, data cubes and overheard conversations, and they just make the world so much richer and more alive. And all the allusions and pop culture references, the excerpts of the (real) novel The Man Who Was Thursday, exploring several themes common with the game, as well as the (fictional) thriller Jacob's Shadow, whose plot seems to reflect the player's progression in the game. No doubt Deus Ex is one of the most intellectual, literary video games of all time.

For a trip down the memory lane, I recommend Stephan Lavavej's¹ Deus Ex page which, among other things, contains an annotated copy of all the non-dialogue text in the game: https://nuwen.net/dx.html

¹ Some of us may also recognize his name as the principal maintainer of Microsoft's C++ Standard Library implementation.

link
djur 996 days ago
I think everybody should try a less subtle playthrough at least once, though. Some of the game's funniest dialogue results from playing JC as a big dumb oaf.
link
amalcon 996 days ago
I played Deus Ex because it came with some PC part I was buying at the time -- I forget whether it was a graphics card or a sound card. The part in question came with three other games, but I can't name another one of them. On the other hand, I could probably make a pretty good approximation of Deus Ex's first level map from memory.

I don't know if I'd call it the best game of that era, but I think it's a strong contender for most influential. It goes beyond the obvious homages (e.g. the variety of games that put the code "0451" in a prominent place). Deus Ex blended actual agency with illusory agency in a way that almost every western narrative-driven game since then has tried to replicate, with varying degrees of success. It's one of the few games where I knew I didn't really have much control over the story, but it made me feel like a character in it anyway.

link
justin66 996 days ago
> The graphics already looked 'old' in 2000

Only because Quake III had just come out.

link