Eidos Montreal: we're responsible for Deus Ex boss fights

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 3 November, 2011

Don't blame Grip, blame us.

Eidos Montreal has claimed responsibility for the divisive Deus Ex: Human Revolution boss battles.

Deus Ex's boss battles were outsourced to little-known developer Grip Entertainment, and were widely criticised for their frustrating difficulty spikes. They also focused on action gameplay when much of the game encouraged the player to use stealth skills.

"The problem was not the supplier, it was what we did with them," Revolution producer David Anfossi told Edge.

"The boss fights were too much for the team to do internally in the time we had. We totally underestimated the effort to do that correctly. We had to work with an external supplier with that, but the design and everything is from the team at Eidos Montreal."

Anfossi described the boss battles as "forced". "We knew that it would be a weakness for the game," he said, "that we had to make a compromise to deliver it [on] two levels. First, the boss fights were forced, which is not the Deus Ex experience. Second, there is no mix [of] solutions to tackle the boss fights, which is not Deus Ex either.

"We knew that before the release of the game, but there had to be some compromise. It [was] our decision."

The development of the game as a "nightmare", Anfossi said, but he insisted he was happy with the way it turned out.

"It took us two years to do it. At the end I'm very proud of that, the stealth, hacking, social and combat within the game - it's well done, I think. I'm very proud of that because it's difficult to do."

The Deus Ex: Human Revolution downloadable content, The Missing Link, includes a new boss fight made entirely in-house by Eidos Montreal.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (31) Latest comment 7 months ago

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

  • Lunatic4ever #1 7 months ago

    blaming you I will! :p enough talk about deus ex boss fights,let's move on now.

  • lockload #2 7 months ago

    Such a shame really enjoyed the game but the boss fights ruined it for me

  • Old_Books #3 7 months ago

    Yeah, after just completing Dark Souls NG+ solo, the furore about Deus Ex's boss fights seems a little silly now! :-)

  • BigNaturals #4 7 months ago

    I appreciate the self-criticism. It is a first step to do it better the next time and to raise the quality of the forthcoming product (which I hope will be a next Deus Ex). In most cases it is advantageous for us gamers. All in one Deus Ex was not a disappointment to me…I had a lot of fun playing it...much more than with Invisible War

  • Genome #5 7 months ago

    We forgive you. Now please go and retcon Invisible War from Deus Ex-history with a true DX sequel.

  • jablonski #6 7 months ago

    The development of the game as a "nightmare"

    WYP - missing a "w"

  • sethsez #7 7 months ago

    @gotyourmoney He's giving a reason, not an excuse.

  • Softie2k #8 7 months ago

    I loved the boss fights. How they ruined the game for some people is staggering...

  • rottingyoda #9 7 months ago

    I only found the first boss fight hard. I used pure stealth and didn't kill anyone so had a lot of ammo and EMP grenades.

    Stealth(invisibility) -> EMP grenade -> Shoot in face several times -> Repeat

    I didn't enjoy any of the boss battles, except if you count trying to escape from Zhao Yun Ru's building after she's escaped. Not killing anybody in that scenario and only using non-lethal force was really challenging.

  • DiamondIce #10 7 months ago

    My most problematic boss fight was the first one. I had been taking the stealth approach but I did keep enough weapons to be able to take him on. I can understand it being a real issue if you hadn't carried anything like this.

    The game wasn't ruined because of them but it did take a bit of a shine off the experience.

  • Djimm #11 7 months ago

    DE:HR boss fights are super easy - even on top difficulty - once you know to kill them (just shooting them really doesn't work very well).

    All Eidos Montreal needed to do was leave hints about how each boss could be killed in pocket secretaries and workstations. If I'd have been able to form effective strategies for each boss simply by piecing together information found in game (rather than looking at walkthroughs online) I wouldn't have had any issue with them at all.

  • KennyLickLick #12 7 months ago

    @Djimm Bang on. In game hints (which could be added post release surely?) would solve the problem.

    I had no problem with the first boss because i had been stealthing it but also hoarding ammo and guns but I had to use a walkthrough for the Rhianna look-a-like.
    Edited by KennyLickLick at 03/11/11 @ 09:40

  • SheffAl #13 7 months ago

    I love deus ex but the boss battles are out of place. You could specialise in sneak the whole game but still need a rocket launcher or heavy gun in the inventory for the bosses!

  • Murton #14 7 months ago

    There's been a lot of talk on the boss fights with Eidos first saying they were outsourced and now saying that although outsourced they were designed internally but the only question Deus Ex fans want answering is why in the name of all that is holy did Eidos think that the game needed boss fights at all?

  • Gimpy_Wonderland #15 7 months ago

    None of the bosses were really hard, even though I played stealth. Just spam stun grenades and the like (gas mines are perfect for the 2nd boss) and then line up some headshots with the magnum. Simples.

  • Syrette #16 7 months ago

    Never understood why so many people went for more complicated methods of downing the bosses when all they really needed was a couple of level 2 Typhoon blasts.

    If anything, the Typhoon made them a bit too easy and pointless.

  • marmaduke #17 7 months ago

    @rottingyoda - if you're doing it by stealth and you've got the cloak, it's easy. 1) Walk down stairs to the right. 2) Get in vent. 3) Travel through vent. 4) Engage cloak and walk out.

    Simple.
    Edited by marmaduke at 03/11/11 @ 11:26

  • Tyronne #18 7 months ago

    `Hey! we are making the prequel to one of the best games ever,what can we do to really fuck over the gamers who decided to play the sly hacker approach and go with non-violent weaponry?`
    `um...I know, how about we fuck them over by just slotting in shitty boss fights and throw their gaming style out the fucking window?`
    `WIN!!`

  • MikeP #19 7 months ago

    Developing the pocket secretary idea further, it would have been much more in keeping with DE if they'd woven a plot thread in that let you discover kill phrases or at least a codeword to weaken them.

    With the amount of double-crossing & concealment that characterises Deus Ex that wouldn't have jarred anywhere nearly as much.

  • Syrette #20 7 months ago

    They sort of fixed this issue with The Missing Link, for the record.

  • Shikasama #21 7 months ago

    So they knew they were rubbish, always would be rubbish and ntohing they could do about it would make it not rubbish.

    Then put them in the game anyway?

  • Alestes #22 7 months ago

    The problem is that they took way too much inspiration from Metal Gear Solid rather than the original Deus Ex.

  • stryker1121 #23 7 months ago

    @MikeP Or make it possible to hack a turret in the room that could be used to assist you against the boss. I'm still playing DX and beat the first boss on default difficulty after about five tries. I kept to the perimiter of the room and used gas grenades to stun him, following up w/ shots from a modded 9MM, rinse and repeat til dead. It helps that the room is laden w/ some grenades and health items, too. Keep moving to avoid the boss's spammy grenade attacks and stick to the corners for cover, you'll be OK.
    Edited by stryker1121 at 03/11/11 @ 12:30

  • 32768Colours #24 7 months ago

    I could sort of see why people were a bit miffed to have to start shooting when they'd spent the rest of the game being all stealthy but if noone had said anything, I don't think I'd have noticed.

    Saying that, I'm a bit crap at being stealthy and - as much as I tried - I usually ended up shooting everything in sight! When I did manage to get through missions without firing a gun, it felt great, so I hope to do a kill-free run through once my game backlog has depleted. Perhaps when I take that approach I'll appreciate people's sentiments a little more. Still, its a fantastic game; for me one of the best this year.

  • Jonny5Alive7 #25 7 months ago

    Who 'forced' them to include them? Or if he means forced for the player and they knew it was a weakness, why include them at all?

  • FortysixterUK #26 7 months ago

    Boss fights in Deus Ex were poor. Make the challenge situational , and it's usually more fun that a confrontational boss fight where the games difficulty spikes to stupid levels, then returns to a normal pace after. As far as I can tell, they were the only badly designed parts of Deus Ex. Still a good game though.

    Now can we have Thief 4 please ?

  • Ternon #27 7 months ago

    I loved the boss fights in Deus Ex HR!

    WTF are people complaining about??

  • TheGuvernor #28 7 months ago

    Are you also responsible for the shite graphics & boring game play?

  • epiazk #29 7 months ago

    @Ternon They were horrendous. Its was so god damn 90s with the small "arenas", metal gear solid which is over a decade old had better boss battles.

  • walidb123 #30 7 months ago

    it's not such a big deal really. when i got to my first boss it was definitely a jarring element b/c i chose to go stealthy and was forced to play aggressive all of a sudden, but the rest of the game is still excellent so i forgive whoever wants forgiveness.

  • Lateralus2001 #31 7 months ago

    The boss fights were really out of place it's true, but DE:HR is still one of my games of the year so far, easily! Hell, it's probably one of my most liked games of this generation. So I can forgive Eidos Montreal. I'd didn't spoil the game IMO.

    And I for one am pleased to see the producer admit they got it wrong. Sometimes when developers refuse to admmit to massive mistakes it can just be PR talk I guess, but I also sometimes wonder if they are actually deluding themselves.

    The fact David Anfossi knows they messed up bodes well for the studio's next game. I don't expect them to make this kind of error again.

    I was already looking forward to Thief 4 quite alot. But TBH after reading this I am looking forward to that game that little bit more.