The Best Deus Ex Augmentations

By Tom Bramwell Published 29 August, 2011

The ones we use the most and why.

If you could upgrade your senses by having a chip inserted into your brain, or make yourself stronger by having your arms upgraded or your back covered in armour, would you do it? What if it meant you were dependent on a lifetime of expensive drugs to stop your body rejecting the changes? And what if it meant you had to fly around the world hiding behind boxes and hacking into people's email?

For Adam Jensen, head of security at Sarif Industries and the protagonist of the excellent Deus Ex: Human Revolution, this isn't even a choice. He's brutally attacked at the start of the game and has to be augmented to save his life, and spends most of the rest of the game investigating why. (He doesn't have to hack into everyone's email, actually, but in our hands he couldn't help himself.)

By now you've probably made a good deal of headway in Human Revolution, if not actually completed it, and you've probably acquired up a bunch of augmentations using Praxis Points earned by gathering XP or bought at LIMB clinics. Having finished it several times through, we've used pretty much all of them, so we thought we'd run through our favourites and what they brought to the email-hacking party.

Cloaking System

1

You earn Praxis Points when you hit certain XP thresholds, but you can also buy them from LIMB clinics.

When we first started playing Human Revolution, we refused to get our hands dirty. We refused even to be seen. As such, we became very familiar with the game's loading screen, and spent a lot of time sat bathed in its orange glow, waiting to respawn behind a fridge and have another go at sneaking through a Chinese gangster's apartment without being detected.

Stealth feels like the purest way to play the game, and if you want to get good at it you probably want the obvious tools first, like being able to see enemy cones of vision. But rather than max all those out - wasting Praxis Points on being able to see your last-known-position during an alarm state, for example - get yourself a cloak.

A fully upgraded invisibility shield gives you nearly 10 seconds of total anonymity per segment of your energy bar, allowing you to move almost freely across large areas. By the time you're crawling through some of Heng Sha's nastier districts that could be the difference between perfect stealth and - gnrnrngh - raising Suspicion among cameras, robots and henchmen.

Hacking: Capture - Robot Domination

2

Direct action is great. Using robots is better.

Then again, there's a difference between being seen in plain sight - clearly a badge of dishonour - and making your presence felt from the shadows. You'll probably hack into a fair few computers that let you deactivate security cameras and after a while they will also include references to security robots and turrets, but you won't be able to do anything with them.

As well as sounding like a late-generation PS2 game in a Japanese RPG series, "Hacking: Capture - Robot Domination" changes that. Robots in Human Revolution can be the little droid guys who look a bit like mobility scooters with mounted machineguns, but they can also be massive, stompy adversaries who look like Arsenal Gear from Metal Gear Solid and will kill you in seconds, so being able to disable them, and knowing that being spotted won't mean auto-death, is a boon.

The other option, of course, is to change their targeting from "Default" to "Enemies", altering their priorities somewhat. Then all you have to do is stride past them and pick up the pieces of anyone who is left over.

Icarus Landing System

According to the Human Revolution augmentation menus, the Icarus Landing System is "an EMF decelerator generating a fixed-focus electromagnetic lensing field, projected downward along the plane of the drop, which pushes against the Earth's magnetosphere and slows the user's descent to a manageable velocity". All of which means that a) someone at Eidos Montreal has done some fine reading on Wikipedia and b) you can jump from tall buildings and take no falling damage.

Coupled with one of the stealth augmentations that lets you land silently, and the jumping augmentation that sends you up to 3m into the air, this can really save you time all over the place. Never again will you have to watch the stupid ladder animation to descend a fire escape or enter a sewer.

One mission in particular, about halfway through the game, sees you ambushed in a hotel complex with a big central courtyard and three rings of walkways. You're on the top walkway skulking around and the exit is tantalising, just a few metres away as the crow flies but hundreds of metres away in terms of all the sneaking you'll have to do to evade the dozen or more guards stalking staircases, walkways and corridors below. So: scoff some energy pills, activate the cloak, activate silent running, and take a running jump. With a bit of skill and a flashy Icarus-assisted descent, you can be out the back door without anyone noticing your hilarious parabolic antics.

Typhoon Explosive System

3

If rooms like this don't get your stealth glands throbbing then this is probably the wrong game for you.

We put off getting the Typhoon for ages. It's the first augmentation you see anyone use in the game - Vasily Sevchenko demos it for a US General in Sarif's labs before the initial attack takes place - but even though it looks really exciting, it just seems so at odds with the way we wanted to play the game.

Sometimes it helps to be pragmatic though. To be more specific, it helps during the unavoidable boss fights that turn up to blight your experience every six hours or so. There's no way to play these other than direct confrontation, and being able to fire powerful explosives in a 360-degree arc for the cost of a single energy segment is much better than having to use a bunch of rifles and launchers that you haven't previously bothered with.

Social Enhancer

If the Typhoon is the side of the game we didn't imagine we'd want much to do with, then the Social Enhancer - our fifth and favourite augmentation on this list - is one we'd happily spend a lot more time with. It allows you to analyse people and persuade them to follow certain courses of action.

4

Sometimes arguments have to be settled with weapons. For everything else there's Social Enhancement.

To help with that you get an "optical polygraph", a wavy line that indicates how persuasive you're being; a "personality analyser", a list of character traits; and a "synthetic pheromones proagator", which tells you their personality type and lets you target them with an appropriate pheromone.

Between them, it allows you to tangibly affect the outcome of a conversation. You can have debates with your boss about the semantics of company security and clearly out-argue him, and you can convince guards to give you the full run of their facilities without having to hide your presence.

Rockstar's L.A. Noire was rightly celebrated earlier this year for its amazing facial animation and the way you could read suspects' mannerisms and responses, but it fell down constantly because of inconsistencies and gaps in information or logic. With the Social Enhancer on your side, Human Revolution is quite the opposite: a logical, rewarding game of verbal jousting backed up by sharp but hammy writing and a great sense of personal decision-making.

All the things we wanted from Deus Ex: Human Revolution, encapsulated in one handy augmentation. Would you sacrifice your essential humanity to hack a few more inboxes, then? Absolutely.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000. Follow him on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (59) Latest comment 9 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • BBIAJ #1 9 months ago

    Someone augmented the article!

    404 Article Not Found: 1393517

  • Enzeru #2 9 months ago

    Some kind of Deus Ex invasion on EG.

    Not a bad thing though!

  • ruddiger7 #3 9 months ago

    Wow i only really used about half of these. Icarus landing system works wonders in singapore

  • OliverH #4 9 months ago

    I just don't believe that anyone would buy landing system that's called "Icarus". Not exactly a trust-instilling name when it comes to landings..

  • Jonny5Alive7 #5 9 months ago

    Is this Deus Ex week? I think you can tell there hasn't been a decent game out for a while. Not complaining, im really enjoying it so far.

  • Shinetop #6 9 months ago

    Seriously, guys. I understand that business is business and the heavy ad campaign pays, but these constant Deus Ex articles are kind of pushing it.

    Deus Ex Video talkthrough
    Game of the week: Deus Ex
    Deus Ex inspired article on choice-and-consequence games.
    Face-Off: Deus Ex.
    Retrospective: Deus Ex.
    The Best Deus Ex augmentations.
    Deus Ex: real Human Augmentation vid.

    This is just the front page. Honestly, at least try to come across as something than an advertising mouthpiece. At this point I'm starting to have more respect for IGN and Gamespot who at least blatantly admit that they let the game publishers dictate their content.
    Edited by Shinetop at 29/08/11 @ 09:40

  • riceNpea #7 9 months ago

    I want the unmentioned augment Adam has, the bottomless bladder. All those toilets in the game and not once has he needed a piss. Hell, even the NPCs can be seen pissing up walls.

  • zegerman1942 #8 9 months ago

    Too many augments, not enough Praxis!! Argh, must find more side missions, gain more experience and more credits to buy Praxis points!

  • EVERYGAMER #9 9 months ago

    I'm rationing my playing to make this game last and realy savour it. so I am still pretty much at the beginning and not bought many augs but as soon as I saw the Social echancer I knew that was the first one I wanted and then moved on to the hacking augs! I always did a similar thing with Oblivion and Fallout when I'd put almost all my points into charisma so I could talk my way out of fights and get people on my side. I like to play the games as close to using my own personality so I'm no super soldier or ninja but I have always been good at talking so it fits that I'd make up for my own physical limitations by using my brain and getting others help me or do my dirty work for me :)
    Edited by EVERYGAMER at 29/08/11 @ 09:26

  • Retro_ #10 9 months ago

    He's a lover not a fighter

  • enfilade #11 9 months ago

    Well, all of these articles so go some way to explaining why the actual review was so obviously rushed.

    Still, it's good to be finally seeing the content a game of this scale and with this history deserves. EG had me worried by this time on Thursday!

  • riceNpea #12 9 months ago

    Shinetop editing your post to list the articles is just turd polishing. Why complain? Don't read them. So what if you think it's advertising. Some of us own the game and are enjoying the articles.

  • Slamhound #13 9 months ago

    No love for the Reflex Booster? Some of the double takedowns are absolutely hilarious.

    For instance, while sneaking about on the roof near an apartment I was supposed to be infiltrating I found two Belltower mooks discussing the shoot-on-sight policy towards infiltrators such as myself. So I casually walked up behind them and tapped the takedown key. Result: Jensen smacks both grunts on the head, then while they're staggering he crouches down and grabs a leg each before viciously pulling up and flipping them around so hard their heads smack into the ground.

    Non-lethal? Apparently.

    Needlessly cruel? No doubt.

    Had me in stitches for the next five minutes? You bet.

  • ubergine #14 9 months ago

    Does Jenson have genitals?

  • zegerman1942 #15 9 months ago

    @Slamhound: did the same! Brilliant takedown for sure!

  • EVERYGAMER #16 9 months ago

    @slamhound

    you sir have just convinced me that reflex booster has a place in my augmentations :D

    I love the take downs. Sneaking into the sarif factory I performed a non-lethal takedown on a guard only to have the alrms sound and cause me to scuttle back into my airduct. the other guard came and awoke his fallen companion and walked away. At which point I came straight back out of my duct and puched the same guard out again. Just made me chuckle at the fericoity of the punch animation and how this poor guy just wasnt having a good day :D

  • marmaduke #17 9 months ago

    You could at least wait a couple of weeks to give people a chance to finish the game.

  • Ferral #18 9 months ago

    I'm 20 hours in and about halfway through now. Really enjoying the game. Just recently finished the second boss, she is a nightmare to kill if you dont have the right augments.

    **Watch out possible spoiler in lower paragraph!**

    So to add to the list I would say the Dermal Armour is a must, especially the EMP / Electricity (Primarily for the second boss and a few areas that have electric in water puddles etc). Its a Godsend though during the battle as you can shoot the generators which makes the floor charged, stops the woman in her tracks as she doesnt have the dermal armour and you can kill her quite easily with the heavy weapon that is lying about.

  • CaptainKid #19 9 months ago

    I still can't fanthom why there are bosses in the game..
    Forcing you to spend points/practice killing instead of stealth, hacking, social.

  • DUFFKING #20 9 months ago

    Hacking capture to level 5 and max hacking stealth is so useful, constant source of XP. Even if I have the door codes I hack anyway for the xp.

  • Paulie_P #21 9 months ago

    These articles are pure torture - my preorder still hasn't arrived :'(

  • andywilkie35 #22 9 months ago

    What a game Jeff!

  • Slamhound #23 9 months ago

    I agree with Duffking. By the time I was due to leave Detroit I had an infovault full of passwords and keycodes that I never used because hacking was so much more profitable and fun. Okay, poking around and searching for the codes and passwords was also fun, but when it actually came to using the fruits of my searching I would always click on the shiny "Hack" button.

    Besides, the hacking minigame is actually fun; or at least more fun than Deus Ex's "press Alt-H and do whatever you need to do before the green bar runs out" system. The only time passwords are actually superior to hacking is situations where you have to access computers in full view of people who are at least tolerant of your presence. If they see you hacking then you're in trouble. Oh how I laughed when I started hacking through a computer in the police station office pool that I already had the password for only to get shot in the head without warning by a trigger-happy cop.

    My current Jensen is a somewhat moral character. I get the feeling that my next Jensen will be leaving a lot of dead cops behind.

  • trip919 #24 9 months ago

    Is it humanly possible to pimp this game any more?

  • EVERYGAMER #25 9 months ago

    How can I get negged for talking about punching a guy in a game lol :D
    Its not like I gave away spoilers, Even this article has given more away on what happens in later levels. If you dont want spoilers you really shouldnt have read the article and certainly shouldnt be looking through the comments thread!

  • Prox #26 9 months ago

    Awesome article: I'm in the early game, overwhelmed by choices from which I know I wont have enough praxis and not enough context to work out the best to get. So a spoiler-free aug recommendation article is perfect!

  • CaptainTrips #27 9 months ago

    Ferral - the second boss is actually the easiest in the game. I killed her without taking a single hit on the hardest difficulty:

    Tase the bitch. As soon as she runs for you shoot her with the taser, and don't stop until it kills her. She won't get a hit off. Electricity and water don't mix well! :p

  • Nephirion #28 9 months ago

    Another day, another Deus Ex article ...

  • Nephirion #29 9 months ago

    @andywilkie35 Where did you preorder from, the Moon?

  • Shikasama #30 9 months ago

    Really enjoying the game but I have on major criticism.

    The character models are SHIT and the jerky animaitons in conversation are really annoying. It's like talking to a plastic dummy being held by string by someone with late stage Parkinsons.

    Great game in general but fuck me, the person responsible for those animations should never work in gaming again.

  • raion #31 9 months ago


    @CaptainKid
    While I agree that there should have been options to deal with bosses in a non-violent manner, I can tell you that the boss fights in "give me deus ex" were quite exhilarating. I didn't spend any points on skin/armor augments so a couple of shots or being anywhere near an explosion pretty much had me, but I still enjoyed a game of cat and mouse, using the optical camouflage, cover and an upgraded sniper rifle as a weapon (my youth spent playing various unreal tournaments taught me that the sniper rifle can/should be used in any situation). They were fun and fairly doable even with a stealth/hack build.
    And don't worry too much about wasting points: if you do the side missions, and buy them whenever they're available, you'll have plenty to play with. I was extremely stingy with mine, always second guessing my choices before actually spending them, and I reached the end of the game with plenty unused. Sure, seeing through walls is hardly necessary, but it can be helpful, so when I finally wasted them all before the end I was all like "d'aww... look how fun all these augmentations are".

    Social augmentation, on the other hand, is pretty useless. You can tell how to lead a conversation even without it, and only once I found it useful to force someone to give me a code for a safe I didn't have a high enough level to hack.
    Edited by raion at 29/08/11 @ 12:01

  • Hantheman #32 9 months ago

    My first playthrough I'm going pure stealth, but not taking the invis aug. I've gone for the explorer ones and hacking, so extra strength and jumping to get to hard to reach places. My favourite game so far this gen I think.

  • Engineerly #33 9 months ago

    Did you know the turrets are wirelessly networked and use batteries?

    1) Hack turret to target enemies
    2) Pick up turret with strength aug
    3) Carry your new best buddy around until it's eaten by a cutscene or some bugger uses an EMP.

  • butler` #34 9 months ago

    My first playthrough I'm going pure stealth, but not taking the invis aug.

    Yeah I'm the same. I'm going for the ghost xp bonus every mission, but I haven't actually seen/used invis, I get the feeling it will make things too easy, at least on 'normal' difficulty.

    I might pick it up when I play through again on hard.

    +1 for one of my fav games this generation
    Edited by butler` at 29/08/11 @ 12:29

  • Bravestinsane #35 9 months ago

    @ferral

    I died to her loads of times i don't have the immune to electricity augment, so it was a absolute bitch

    but in the end i beat her this way extremely easy on hard

    I basically stood next to the generators that explode and deal shit loads of damage, as she was a split second away from me, i strafed away so she hit it then launched typhoon. Her impact blows it up, deals her shit loads of damage, i am immune from her damage because im in the typhoon cutscene, as a result i am also immune for over half of the duration of the electricity running through the water. The resulting typhoon is confined to a small place as a result she takes shit loads of damage. Combined with a few shotguns from a pimped out shotgun, that fires 2 bullets at once, i killed her only using 2 generators on the hard difficulty setting.

  • TeaFiend #36 9 months ago

    Icarus keeps making me think of the first game, I keep associating it with something other than "safely falling".

  • Ferral #37 9 months ago

    See I used the EMP AUG, then hit the 4 generators 1 by 1 which causes her to freeze and take damage, also while she was frozen just hit her with weapons (machine pistol and heavy machine gun). Took a few mins to do but was pretty easy must admit. I dont have Typhoon as I have been playing stealth and hacking mainly (few firefights which I got myself into occasionally). Dont actually have a stun gun, chose the stun rifle which does squat in this battle!

    At least there are a few different options to play the bosses. Trouble I had initially was that she was rushing me then using her Typhoon and it was hitting the generator and causing the floor to become electric which was what was killing me. Thankfully I noticed I had a praxis point available so put i into the dermal armour EMP protection.

    Its a damned good game regardless, will be going back the the origional Deus Ex once I get through thi one. 23 hours in and loving it just as much as when I started playing it. Just playes so well, damned good game.

    Just gone back to China and trying to save someone at the start, you have to b damned quick to suceed!
    Edited by Ferral at 29/08/11 @ 13:25

  • Miths #38 9 months ago

    I've been wondering if the Social Enhancer gives you extra dialogue choices, or just helps you pick the "correct" ones? I've been in quite a few conversations so far where I felt I won the argument simply by assessing their response and behaviour the old fashioned way, as they often give not so subtle clues as to whether it's a good idea to lean on them hard or back off a bit.

    But there have been some quest based conversations where I got the distinct impression that convincing them strictly through dialogue wasn't an option without the Social Enhancer, so I had to go dig up eg. some incriminating evidence first.

  • dirtysteve #39 9 months ago

    lot of paisley print in this game, is that the style of the future? That and sub-sonic Christian Bale bat-voice?

  • dadrester #40 9 months ago

    Spoiler!

    The first boss. Ugh. Had me reload about 20 times till I decided to use the stun gun. Did it first time with that.

    Also I've had a couple of nasty bugs. One is the side mission where you do for his missus' mum. Once it's done, when you present her with your findings there's a game breaking logic error that forces you to quit and reload.

    The other was quite nasty too. I fully emptied my inventory (which was upgraded to max and full) so I could rearrange my guns etc. I had a really well upgraded handgun with laser sights, armour piercing, faster reload and extra ammo, which I dropped first. When I came out of the menu there was a huge pile of weapons but my prized handgun (at the bottom of the pile) was nowhere to be seen. I think the physics may have forced it out of the world. Worst thing was it was right after the boss fight.

    Kind of wish there was an omnipotent weapon locker like resi 4 has.

  • DiamondIce #41 9 months ago

    I wish I had an augmentation that could zap comment spammers.

    Edit: this was aimed at the short tank woman clothing range, which seems to have now been zapped.

    I feel spoilt for choice when upgrading. The battery one is the only let down so far. I assume it is buggy because the two battery icons do not recharge (just the first) unless I eat an energy bar.

    Edited by DiamondIce at 29/08/11 @ 15:18

  • Miths #42 9 months ago

    @DiamondIce

    That's how it's meant to be. Only the first battery segment will always recharge, although the others will as well if they are only partially drained (using it for cloaking for instance).

  • RawNinjaKid #43 9 months ago

    Enough with this stupid title!

    The action and story are bland and the musical score is more film-like not video game like.

  • AphoticCosmos #44 9 months ago

    @RawNinjaKid

    I don't know what game you're playing, but it's not DE:HR.

    The action is great - it's the first game in a long time to give more than the illusion of choice; you're rewarded however you play the game and it encourages you to experiment.

    The story is second to none. As a transhumanist I found it to be a fascinating exploration of what it means to be human and whether augmentation really would be beneficial for humanity. I can't stop watching the end videos on YouTube - they are beautiful.

    And as something of a connoisseur of game soundtracks, Michael Mann's work here is astounding and ranks up there with Halo and Mass Effect.

    Anyway, my favourite augs had to be ICARUS, for being able to get out of some sticky situations, and the robot/turret domination augs for providing many lulz. There was a great moment on Panchaea when an assault robot I had turned to friendly mowed down a few dozen crazy civilians. >:D

  • RawNinjaKid #45 9 months ago

    I don't know whether people have gone mad or something but what I see and feel when playing this: is a HD unpolished PS2 game with bad graphics!

    @AphoticCosmos ; I disagree about almost all your points, but especially about the soundtrack. Yes, it's good. Good for a movie, not a game!

    Soundtracks for movies and games may interrelate somewhat, but a great video game soundtrack needs to have a more immerse feel to it to create tension and other emotions for the interactive user.
    Edited by RawNinjaKid at 29/08/11 @ 15:22

  • nimzy #46 9 months ago

    Strength aug for increased inventory space. Yes, I carried a max-upgraded rocket launcher throughout the entire game (it takes something on the order of 3x9 inventory squares) and killed every single boss with three rockets to the face. As a backup in case I missed I had a revolver with exploding bullets, a maxed-out combat rifle, a laser rifle, and the two nonlethal guns to get the boss to stand still long enough for me to pull out the rocket launcher (takes about three or four seconds to ready it after swapping weapons).

  • Paulie_P #47 9 months ago

    @Nephirion think you were reffering to me, preordered it from fucking GAME.

    Normally their preorders are sent on Tuesday and arrive day before release but this time I got the despatch e-mail on the Sunday prior and it still hasn't arrived.

    I've tried contacting them but I'm getting no response. Last time I order from them (after I use up the points saved).

  • Dave #48 9 months ago

    The other fun double takedown is the one where you hold the first guy, the second guy tries to take a swing at you, but takes out his buddy after which you take out the second guy. Hilarious. I absolutely love this game. Except the bosses. I mean, what where they thinking?!

  • CaptainKid #49 9 months ago

    @raion

    Thanks for that ellaborate answer. :)

  • CaptainKid #50 9 months ago

    Wouldn't it be cool if you could hack into one of those massive, stompy adversaries (mechs) and control them yourself?

  • Dynasty2021 #51 9 months ago

    I feel sorry for anyone that finds the amount of Deus Ex articles annoying.

    Sheesh, you may want to stay off Eurogamer, or any other site for that matter, when Battlefield 3 comes out. And then again as well when Modern Copy And Paste 3 comes out.

    Deus Ex is legendary among the proper gamers (PC) and this new entry deserves the lime light.

    Now quit whining and go back to your little boxes.

  • Ternon #52 9 months ago

    "Never again will you have to watch the stupid ladder animation"

    Idiotic comment like that can really ruin an entire article.

  • svenjl #53 9 months ago

    Played about 7 hours so far. The best augs to this point have been the social enhancer and upgrading hacking levels. These are cheap and incredibly useful. I got quickly to lvl 4 and it's opened many doors - ho ho ho - that would otherwise remain locked. Choosing augs is a PAIN because there are so many cool and usable options.

  • TechnicPuppet #54 9 months ago

    I actually activated the Icarus Landing System on that exact same level. Of course I didn't have all the other silent perks so I still had some sneaking to do at the bottom.

    This game seems like a next gen version of the original splinter cell to me. The augments add to it obviously but its very similar, which is a good thing.

  • geeza2020 #55 9 months ago

    Dynasty2021 - I agree with what you said about the DE articles, if people dont like them, dont read them. But please stfu with your PC gamer elitist cuntery, it just makes you look ridiculous. Congratulations, you spent more money on your game playing machine than me and millions of others did. Get off your high horse.

    "proper gamers" LOL - what does this even mean!?!? Dick.

  • dragerboy #56 9 months ago

    Just completed this. Maybe the most boring and over hyped game of the year. Can we have an Aug that makes the game enjoyable.

  • geeza2020 #57 9 months ago

    Not enough killstreak rewards for you?

  • Ramesses_ #58 9 months ago

    I'd like an Aug to look through womans clothes!!!

  • azazel_fallenangel #59 9 months ago

    Icarus is a must, kept on falling off things, or mus-judging jumps for ages before getting that. Another personal favorite is the ability to look through walls, really helps when planning a stealthy route past some enemies.