Deus Ex Machina, Game of the Year, 30th Anniversary Collector’s Edition

And So Begins The Final Judgement. Vladimir Putin has "Artificial" Intelligence on his side now, and his whims will devastate the skies of 1$RA-3L. THE WAR IS OVER.

Not really my thing.

Game good

What a fascinating game. I think I finally understand it now that I've played it 500 times.

The music and audio as a whole goes so hardd

I'm a fertilizing agent. My Brothers are all wiggly.

[h1]Odd. Just odd.[/h1] This is a weird one. It's difficult to define exactly what it is, or who exactly was demanding a remaster of it. But it's maybe not one you should completely write off. [i]Deus Ex Machina, Game of the Year, 30th Anniversary Collector’s Edition[/i] (Unrelated to the [i]Deus Ex[/i] series) is a remaster of a 1984 game of the same name that I had never heard of. At the time, it gained cult success for its avant-garde nature and innovative synchronicity between gameplay and sound. The tone of the game feels like it mirrors the fading ripples of psychedelic aftershock left by the 60s, interwoven with an ambivalence somewhere between paranoia and wonder towards the technology of the future. This version of the game allows you to play through both a port of the original ZX Spectrum edition, and a remastered edition, with more refined graphics. The sound design and music is certainly impressive for the time, bearing an otherworldly feeling to it. Graphically, even in the remastered version, there's not a huge amount to write home about, but the graphical fidelity isn't particularly the focus, as the game thematically functions as a sort of surreal art piece, the concepts it attempts to convey only being represented abstractly anyways. It's difficult to say whether or not constructing a narrative in this manner is obnoxious or pretentious, but it's certainly interesting. The whole experience feels like attending a slam poetry session inside a robot's brain. The game plays through the entire life cycle then death of a being, perhaps a human, perhaps an android. Along the way, your performance at stages defines how complete of a being you eventually become. Each stage plays like a minigame, and often times the objective isn't clearly defined. After a couple of playthroughs, I managed to make it through the game with minimal mistakes, and attained a more desirable ending, but the first couple were almost complete confusion. This is part of the game's charm, and is certainly thematically appropriate. Being tossed out into the world in all of its uncertainty and confusion is daunting enough, let alone for a conscious entity without the guidance of a parent. It's easy to extrapolate and interpret the content of Deus Ex Machina, as it tells a story in such a strange manner. The issue is that this style of narrative may not resonate with everybody, and the gameplay isn't fantastic. The addition of videos explaining the history behind the game were a worthwhile addition, contextualising [i]why[/i] the game gained the following it has, while simultaneously humanising them, in spite of how alien their work feels. Overall, I think this was largely released for the niche audience that enjoyed the original, but that doesn't mean that it can't find new players in modern day. It's a brief, experimental experience that definitely left an impression on me. For its unique tone, I'd say those who enjoy the surreal would get a kick out of Deus Ex Machina. Just don't expect particularly conventional gameplay along the way. 6.5/10

ABSOLUTELY ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ MESMERIZING !!!!!!!!!!!

Very Unorthodox and artsy game that has genuine historical value and can be something nice to play for those who are into experimental boundry pushing titles that take about 45 minutes.

this truly is... the greatest game youve never played......