Deus Dead

We didn't ask for this

I love Deus Ex. No, not the original classic that is heralded as both one of the most influential and one of the flat best PC games of all time, because I'm not that based. I liked the original, I'd probably play it again someday- but it's Human Revolution that tickles my turnips. That rugged old pointed goateed GOAT cyberninja who Didn't Ask For This(tm) has haunted my lofty expectations for entertainment for years now. How a video game can tell a great multi-layered narrative with explorative story beats, how multi-faceted playstyle design can work at an impeccable level, and how one can style themselves to unreachable levels of rizz through the use of some quality beard oil and sub-dermal indoor shades- Human Revolution taught it all and did it with that subtle over-the-shoulder wink and smile that said "Yeah, I can do this all day. You'd like that, wouldn't you?" But they did not end up doing it all day.

Because you see, Deus Ex is a dead franchise. It is no more. Caput. Donezo. Or at least, the Deus Ex that we were getting to know over the past decade and a bit is. I suppose the very concept of Deus Ex will never and can ever die, probably being cooked up into some sort of ill-fated mobile management game at some point soon- but the Adam Jensen saga- as started by Human Revolutions and royally cocked up in Mankind Divided? The story that was going to give us a direct line into the formation of the Illumanti from the first game: presumably whilst giving us a direct tie to some of the core members to make them all that more interesting come next playthrough? Yeah, he's gone. And we've got confirmation from none other than the man himself.

Elias Toufexis is one of those well beloved actors largely for that one iconic role that is probably now so small a part of his resume that he has to remind himself why people still remind him of it on the street. But we can provide that context for free whenever such a query is raised. It's because of that innate lure that the weathered and beaten crusader who doggedly pursues an unassailable foe with enviable passion and a smooth-as-rocks attitude beneath it all. That an Elias has one of those voices you can just picture. Throw him behind the highly detailed and angularly stylised model of Adam Jensen or the considerable more potato-y face of Cole from Starfield and you can picture their entire person from the moment those characters open their mouth. His has a voice for character, that man does. Which is why when a talent like that is so intrinsically linked to a character, their bad news is the communities bad news. 

Bad news such as the fact that Elias seems to be the sole member of the original team publicly talking about Deus Ex, to such a point that a while back Eidos had to reach out to ask him to stop so that they could perhaps whittle down some of the Deus Ex begging all of their newer products get hounded by. And Elias? Well, he can't live off hope and fan expectation forever. The man himself seems to have thrown in the towel and publicly urged people to put out their candles- their strapping goateed macho man is never coming home and even if there is a future for the Deus Ex brand, it most likely will not continue the story which fascinated me and so many newer Deus Ex fans all those years ago. That timeline is lost to the ethos.

And that has become more apparent from the fact that Eidos is currently owned by the absolute grinder of potential video games known as, wouldn't you know it, the Embracer Group! Oh, what do you know! The company I've been saying for months sound like the proto-religious gated commune accepting all the lost and weary that, in the third act, turns out to be a people-trafficking organ farm run by a governmental shadow cabal in a Dan Brown novel- turns out they're not the safe haven of wayward developers that everyone else was building them up to be all these years! Turns out they're something of a convalescence house within which development studios struggle under an unyielding producer as they slowly stagnate. Turns out- Nominative determinism is a thing!

For Eidos specifically? Embracer has been the foot stamping out the embers of every possible Deus Ex project before it can be born. In fact, Embracer have been reported as cancelling somewhere close to 15 projects before announcement from all over the place- and personally I've yet to see their logo printed in the producer credits of any video game. Looking at a list of their biggest franchises, the only one's I can say I know is Destroy All Humans- for which they produced remakes, not the originals- and Homefront. Which was one of the worst shooter franchises ever made. So not exactly what I'd call a shining beacon of success. But Embracer have been embracing across the industry gobbling up every studio under the sun- almost like a Megacorporation might- wait... has Deus Ex been killed by a company who would look bad under the messaging? (Food for thought.)

Right now let's be honest with one another- you'd have to be an actual moron not to see the market for a Deus Ex game. After Cyberpunk 2077 managed to redeem itself with one final big content update, the genre is wide open for something to fill the gap whilst CDPR fumble about with The Witcher 4 and Project Orion at the same time- and Deus Ex could have ridden that expectation to glory. They could have revived another go around as that 'Deus Ex Universe' thing they wanted to do. They could have dusted off the old angular trench-coat and got us grumbly cyber-daddy back in his airvents. And instead- during the best opportunity window- we have silence. And if Deus Ex isn't in the cards now- they'll never be a better time to make one. So until Eidos can wiggle free from under the amorphous mass of the love-craftian abomination sitting on their back- Deus is Ex-communicado.