PARKSIDE: DECAYED SOUL MANIPULATION

if you have been looking for a game to scratch the deus ex itch (god knows i have) this is the closest result yet; it's excellent, the missions are all very open-ended, you can engage with as much or as little as you wish. enemy AI is a little overtuned rn but this may be fixed with patches and the game isn't too hard in spite of that. missions can be cleared in mere minutes or you can spend hours exploring them! buy now, pay l8r!

Although the level and mission design doesn't feel quite as engaging and open ended as the original Deus Ex, and i found myself not really in constant need of expending my experience points besides a few key upgrades, this is a damn good take on the original deus ex formula. The atmosphere and worldbuilding feels very much in line with what the original game tried to do, while also being its own original thing with some really interesting ideas. The gunplay also feels just right, with you not feeling completely unstoppable, but being able to hold your own in most scenarios, again, very much like the original Deus Ex. The one problem i have with the combat is that the enemies are WAY too accurate and relentless at points and vehicles like the choppers are almost impossible to lose or outrun and their presence alone made me rush through any missions where they were present. Another highlight from this game is the soundtrack, it being mainly DNB and jungle music, which helps greatly to make this game feel like it could have come out in the early 2000's, and also adds a surreal yet immersive feel to most missions. While i definitely missed out on many side quests, i still feel like this game could have benefited from a lot more interactivity and miscellaneous events in the world to help make it more lived in, most of the npcs just give the same set of dialogue for that mission when interacted with, which led me to just interacting with them less overall. I also feel like some levels are a bit too open to justify how much you could actually do in them, which is to say the game was at its best in the more limited urban spaces you get to explore. I should clarify a lot of my criticism are more suggestions than gripes, since from what i can tell this is the developer's first published game (which given the quality of it is impressive in its own right), so it would be unreasonable to expect all of those minute aspects to be polished to a shine. Overall, i think this is a game that anyone who's a fan of immersive sims and especially the original Deus Ex should pick up, as its the closest I've seen a game replicate that distinct style and feel