Deus Ex

"Deus ex machina," is a plot device in stories, films or games where the unexpected power or unlikely event saves the protagonist from a seemingly hopeless situation. Its literal translation is "god from the machine," indicating divine intervention in an artificial way.

Deus Ex is arguably one of the best games ever. It was developed by Ion Storm and released in 2000, which was perfect timing as people all over the world were worried that the changing of the millennium would cause computers to go haywire; fear of the Year 2000 problem, Millennium Bug or Y2K glitch was much exaggerated though and we entered the new millennium with little problems, and a great game to boot. Deus Ex was an "immersive sim," a role playing game focused on immersing players in the story by giving them a lot of freedom, enabling them to approach any situation in a way they see fit. The flip-side was that the game had its share of bugs, but that didn't take away much from the ability to come up with highly original solutions to problems that even the game's designers never imagined.

What distinguished the game for me though, as well as for many others, was that it gave voice to that feeling of not being in control over our own lives. It's funny that the game that gave players so much control related a story about how normal people like you and me aren't in control at all. Instead it tells the story of a world in which everything, including the opinions and behavior of normal people, is controlled by mysterious powers pulling the strings of everyone from behind the curtain. Let me quote some of the dialogue from the below linked video:

"Deus Ex used to be a series that criticized the bizarre machinations of corporations so big no one knows who they're working for, where intellectual property and brand management mattered more than people, a world where one company can own more than half of your childhood, a system governed more by tax incentives and corporate subsidies than people, it asked important questions about the future of mankind, about who wielded power over others and what their interests really were. A story sometimes so accurate in its guesses it seems less fictitious now than ever."

That about says it all if you ask me. That's Deus Ex in a nutshell. The video is about the fairly recent sequel to the iconic classic: "Deus Ex: Human Revolution." I had a lot of fun playing that game, and it retained much of the sinister and conspiratorial atmosphere of the original game. But it also took away much of the freedom players had in the original, and presented a much more streamlined and cinematic experience in which players had no control whatsoever over the progression of the main plot. The game was dumbed-down and, much like in real live, choices are predominantly fake choices that don't really influence the outcome. In that sense Human Revolution is true to developments in our real lives; normal people still are largely controlled by corporate powers behind the scenes, choices (mainly political choices) still don't make a difference, and there are less (mainly political)of them.

I would still recommend all of the Deus Ex games though. And also watching the below linked video, even if it's three and a half hours long. But only do so after you've played "Deus Ex: Human Revolution," the game it focuses on, if you're at all of the gaming kind.

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