I haven't played a lot of FPS, but I think this is a really good one. What I like the most about it is the quality of storytelling in this game from the Deus Ex series. It's a surprisingly well-balanced story, I think, with an almost literary sense of depth of character in the game's roleplaying elements. The gameplay is great too, It all fits together really well.
Not having been familiar with the Deus Ex franchise, my first impression was that the FPS mechanics may have seemed a little clunky - at least, when trying to complete the first session, with [spoiler]a hand-held stun projectile weapon that had no kind of sights[/spoiler] lol. Maybe it was too easy to overthink it though, honestly. After some time in game, it was easy to adapt to. There have been later times when I've wished that that same weapon was in the inventory. [spoiler](I'm not playing for the pacifist achievement, I just like how that style of gameplay works out technically, when not trying to wake all the neighbors lol.)[/spoiler]
After about ten hours in, I'm very well impressed with this Deus Ex game. If I could offer any advice for anyone who hasn't played this one before, my first thought: After entering [spoiler]Derelict Row[/spoiler], be ready for a relentless session. I think that the game's roleplay scripting here is great, although it's quite a long run from there right into the next area with no break in the city. I'm writing this review while still working on getting through the second area of the two.
I love how they handled this area transition though [spoiler]- even capturing details like communications traffic between the VTOL pilot and the Detroit air traffic controller[/spoiler] lol. Maybe it could seem a little corny, I think that it's a surprisingly well-placed sort of literary element though, and the voice acting is great. I appreciate the level of storytelling in this game.
With this edition of the game, there's a video about the game's production, bundled under the Extras menu. I think that this commentary has actually contributed positively to the game experience. I'm glad to see there are these games from developers daring to go outside of the FPS mainstream. They've done so really well with this series.
In one of the details that I find particularly interesting about the gameplay implementation, I think that the radial menu for primary/secondary and consumables selection is really pretty nice. (It was a few hours, before I'd found that feature lol, playing with an 8BitDo X-box style controller with Steam on Linux, audio enhanced using Jamin with PipeWire's JACK audio emulation)
This radial menu doesn't leave the player guessing over loadouts. It's not long before all of the inventory slots can be available, moreover, along with all the primary and secondary alternatives.
Altogether, I think it's been a really positive break from a certain long-running looter shooter series that I won't mention here lol. No hawk-vultures were harmed in the production of this comment. It's also a game that really stands well on its own. Maybe they'll reprise the series sometime. It's a fun play session, meanwhile.
