Deus Ex 3 to get BioShock atmosphere

By Robert Purchese Published 2 February, 2009

Eidos keen to instantly captivate us.

Eidos Montreal wants Deus Ex 3 to be as immediately atmospheric and unique as System Shock and BioShock.

That's according to preview by Czech website Hratelne.cz (translated by a poster on the Eidos forums), which says the cyberpunk style came from a renaissance background and a desire for man to outdo nature. The developer, says the preview, openly admires the Art Deco world of BioShock.

Underneath the visuals there will also be significant gameplay improvements. Groups of opponents will be ordered around by a visually identifiable leader who, once killed, will leave squads in disarray - making leader elimination a key tactic.

Group behaviour will adapt to protagonist Adam Jensen to try and catch him off guard; bosses, too, will scale in difficulty based on previous actions in the game.

Deus Ex 3 acts as a prequel to the revered RPG series, with the action spilling across five metropolises, including Shanghai, Detroit and Montreal - handy.

Hero Adam Jensen finds himself in the middle of a mega-corporation war when his investigation into a black ops raid on his research department opens a wriggly can of worms.

Eidos is apparently attempting to build a strong bond between players and Adam Jensen by opening his apartment for exploration and filling the space with personal artefacts. We're told women will try and seduce or betray Jensen, too.

Combat will be more skill-based and active, and players will use a cover system, as we know. Biological implants return, and Eidos Montreal wants each of these to be visually striking and be upgradeable at least once.

Examples are an X-ray vision claymore ability that causes a crossfire explosion, killing multiple enemies in a very fancy way. There's an even better implant that shoots wires out of Jensen's neck that grapple walls and allow him to scale them. Augmentations are sorted into four areas: combat, stealth, technology and dialogue.

Characters, we're told, will use lots of facial expressions that keen-eyed players will be able to capitalise on and tailor their dialogue options towards.

Deus Ex 3 is in development for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3. There's no release date yet, but we're hounding Eidos to find out more.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (44) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • coolbritannia #1 3 years ago

    Halostyle then, shoot the grunt leader, watch 'em run. Halo - best console FPS series ever.

  • Eraysor #2 3 years ago

    Please, please, please don't suck. Although considering I thought Deus Ex 2 was good, I should be okay.

  • Nabokov #3 3 years ago

    Bioshock? Dumbed down you mean? S.T.A.L.K.E.R. style please.

  • DFawkes #4 3 years ago

    As long as I can hack cash machines, I'll have it.

  • Velios #5 3 years ago

    I still rate the first game as one of my top 20 games of all time. I hope this can come close!

  • OrangeGoblin #6 3 years ago

    Isn't every game promising to be Bioshock these days?

  • the_dudefather #7 3 years ago

    I hope this game is like a lovely can of orange and not lemon and lime

  • Xerx3s #8 3 years ago

    The already said a while back that, while rpg elements are in the game, it will be more about the story than anything else. Either way, can't wait for this. The GitS art style is awesome.

  • agparrot #9 3 years ago

    My silent please-be-good mantra has been running in my head since I heard this existed.

  • TedMoseby #10 3 years ago

    If you're going to have wires shoot out of somewhere on your body to allow you to scale walls, isn't your NECK one of the silliest places to put the technology?? Surely somewhere on the torso would be more: -

    1) Practical
    2) Stable
    3) Safe

    I know there's a whole suspension of disbelief required for games, but putting something like that on your neck really is just asking for trouble....

  • dominalien #11 3 years ago

    I failed my EU law exam because of the first Deus Ex. Looking forward to failing something else due to the 3rd one!

  • Hungus #12 3 years ago

    @ the_dudefather:
    lol!

  • crispyduckman #13 3 years ago

    Weird comments on the basis that Deus Ex was better than Bioshock in the first place.

  • LowEnergyCycle #14 3 years ago

    @coolbritannia
    "Halostyle then, shoot the grunt leader, watch 'em run. Halo - best console FPS series ever."

    I'm pretty sure an affront against gamerkind to compare Deus Ex with Halo :p

  • Evolution #15 3 years ago

    *is affronted*

  • Artemus #16 3 years ago

    Can't possibly live up to the first one. Still I hope it's not as dumbed down as Invisible War.

  • mikeck #17 3 years ago

    *doubly affronted*

  • hiddenranbir #18 3 years ago

    A prequel which is the typical OMG DISCOVERING CONSPIRACY?!

  • Doctor_What #19 3 years ago

    @ coolbritannia: You really need to get past your Halo fixation. Not everything in gaming is related to, or inspired by, Halo.

  • UncleLou #20 3 years ago

    I'd prefer if it had "Deus Ex" atmosphere, to be honest.

  • metalangel #21 3 years ago

    You heard it here first, folks: Gayness Ex 3 to suck even harder than 2 did, dev reveals. I mean, facial expressions to help you choose dialogue?! Have they not played any other games in the last decade? Will there be a button to raise an eyebrow in shock at the shocking... CONSPIRACY! (dun dun DUNNNN!!) They say "cyberpunk" but I am pretty sure it will be more Matrix and less Neuromancer.
    Edited by 1 at 02/02/09 @ 11:17

  • skillian #22 3 years ago

    This should be looking to the original Deus Ex for inspiration, not Bioshock. Seems like they've got it backwards.

    Hopefully the mention of Bioshock is just because they knew it'd be more likely to get the press release covered :/

  • Katsumoto #23 3 years ago

    Worrying.

    /continues "please be good" chant

  • hbunny #24 3 years ago

    As a number of posters have stated, why's the inspiration not coming from the orginal Deus Ex? You just know the chance of this doing the original any justice is slim to none. On the plus side, this means it can either be crap as expected or be pleasantly surprising.

  • sneetch #25 3 years ago

    @Nabokov
    Bioshock? Dumbed down you mean? S.T.A.L.K.E.R. style please.

    How the hell can the atmosphere in a game be "dumbed down"? Methinks you should have read the article.

  • Farfarer #26 3 years ago

    If they can nail a Gibson/Stephenson cyberpunk atmosphere I'll love them forever. The concept art of the cities certainly seems to indicate they know what they're up to, with the loglo and all that.

    I'm still not sold on regenerating health, it's one of the worst conventions to come out of modern gaming, imo. It seems that the cover system is optional, though, which is good.

    But I'm with everyone else in the "please let it be good" crowd. There's the potential to match up to the original but also to be worst than the second installment (which I didn't previously think possible).



    TedMoseby: I think it was a mistranslation. The images show the cables coming from the back/shoulders area.

  • sneetch #27 3 years ago

    @the OMGNOTTEHBIOSHOCKS!!11! crowd
    Why don't people read the articles anymore? I suppose it's more fun to look at the title then make up something you can get decently offended about or disdainful of.

    The inspiration is coming from the original Deus Ex, they simply state that they want the game to be as instantly recognisable and visually unique as BioShock is. Note: that that is not the same as wanting it to look like BioShock, that would be self-defeating.

    "The authors have a difficult goal ahead of them: create a unique style for DX3. Such as the original's, System Shock's, and the latest, Bioshock's.
    In short and atmospheric enviroment, which would instaneously capture the player without even focusing on the plot.

    For this reason the authors are looking back at renaissance, in which they see the bonding between man and nature. However in the world of DX3, people want to exceed nature. It is, however, mainly just a visual style.

    Eidos Montreal doesn't hide that they liked Bioshock's Art Deco, but obviously they can't copy that, so they made their own style. Style which combines the rough style of pessimistic cyberpunk with surprisingly detailed renaissance elements. Rich areas therefore filled with golden colors, whereas darkness rules in the poor areas below."

    "Sure Bioshock has shown it can be done without heavy RPG elements, but nevertheless we expect a different style from DX. Which the authors promise up. Let's hope they will keep their promise, ad DX3 looks fantastic."

    That is all they said on the subject of BioShock.
    Edited by 1 at 02/02/09 @ 12:18

  • TheComedian #28 3 years ago

    @Eraysor

    Yeah, I thought IW was okay as well, and Deus EX is my favourite game of all time! As long as you forced yourself to forget its pedigree, then it was a good game.

    Anyway, I'm not particularly optimistic about this game because I know all of the core mechanics qill have been simplified and I think the idea of a cover system really f**** up the original concept of the game: that you can play the game (including fighting) exactly as you want. I used to set up meticulous traps for the enemies and watch them fall into them, whilst hacking bots and sniping the stragglers.

    Seems like I won't be able to do that here.

    Still, fingers crossed they prove me wrong!

  • Spekingur #29 3 years ago

    Will there be a button to raise an eyebrow in shock at the shocking... CONSPIRACY! (dun dun DUNNNN!!)

    You know, that would be a hilarious thing in a game and I would love it for it. Especially if it would play the dun dun DUNNNN soundtrack as you did the eyebrow-raising :D
    It almost reminds me of Discworld. Which is something we need more of in the gaming world!

  • TPCG_Russ #30 3 years ago

    What's this? Developer wants their game to be as good as another 'good' game? Sacre bleu!

    Stay tuned for the film at 11.

  • metalangel #31 3 years ago

    Don't forget to do a fast zoom-in to the player's face as the eyebrow raises and the dun dun dunnnn plays. They haven't hope, really. They want to make a compelling, instantly cool atmosphere? A shame the best they'll manage will be something not quite as good as Blade Runner; yet painfully obvious in its attempt. Bioshock at least looked unique.

  • coolbritannia #32 3 years ago

    Doctor, my gaming preferences are non of your concern son.

  • anomagnus #33 3 years ago

    why cant they jsut remake deus ex?

    it'd still sell

  • skillian #34 3 years ago

    @sneetch: We remember Deus Ex 2, which instead of drawing inspiration from the brilliance of its predecessor, instead tried to cram in elements of the successful games around at the time.

    You can't really blame us for worrying the same will happen here, especially when they namecheck Bioshock which was itself a watered down version of Deus Ex (I know that's an opinion that's often dismissed as being contrary for the sake of it, but in my case it's truly, truly not).

    It's like FFC saying he'd like to make the Godfather 2 have the atmosphere of Chinatown, when the film is already the sequel to one of the greatest films of all time - your atmosphere and inspiration is right in front of you.

  • sneetch #35 3 years ago

    @skillian
    @sneetch: We remember Deus Ex 2, which instead of drawing inspiration from the brilliance of its predecessor, instead tried to cram in elements of the successful games around at the time.

    You can't really blame us for worrying the same will happen here, especially when they namecheck Bioshock which was itself a watered down version of Deus Ex (I know that's an opinion that's often dismissed as being contrary for the sake of it, but in my case it's truly, truly not).

    It's like FFC saying he'd like to make the Godfather 2 have the atmosphere of Chinatown, when the film is already the sequel to one of the greatest films of all time - your atmosphere and inspiration is right in front of you.

    Oh, believe me, I'm not blaming anyone for feeling uneasy about this, I do appreciate (and also feel) that low level uneasiness whenever someone gets their hands on a beloved franchise and starts talking about the "innovations" they'll put into it, often it reads like a check-list of the features that currently successful games tend to have. As if it's the number of features that makes a game good rather than the implementation and appropriateness of them. That said, I am hopeful that this will turn out well from what I've read.

    "The authors have a difficult goal ahead of them: create a unique style for DX3. Such as the original's, System Shock's, and the latest, Bioshock's."

    They only said that they liked the atmosphere and design style in BioShock and want a similar instantly absorbing atmosphere and recognisably unique design in DE3 which is laudable in itself. Some people in this thread took that to be a statement that the games design was inspired by BioShock which it isn't (the misleading article title doesn't help there) in fact they only mentioned that they "liked Bioshock's Art Deco, but obviously they can't copy that, so they made their own style".

    Their style sounds suitable for this and not just a BioShock knock-off (we'll let BioShock 2 knock that off ;) ), a "tyle which combines the rough style of pessimistic cyberpunk with surprisingly detailed renaissance elements. Rich areas therefore filled with golden colors, whereas darkness rules in the poor areas below" which sounds good, but I'd obviously prefer to see it than read about it. :)

  • Farfarer #36 3 years ago

    They're not making it in BioShock or System Shock style, they just like the fact that those games have an instantly atmospheric atmosphere and hope to have Deus Ex 3 posess a unique and atmospheric environment.

  • jellyhead #37 3 years ago

    I'm hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.

  • dudefella #38 3 years ago

    This game is gonna be awesome. This game is gonna be awesome. This game is gonna be awesome.

    If you believe it hard enough, it will be true!

  • ASHBERY76 #39 3 years ago

    I want the atmosphere of DeuxEx1 and not that overated Bioshock.

  • timberwolf #40 3 years ago

    The chances of DX 3 being as good as DX 1 are about the same chances of people admiting bioshock was average.

  • Bezzy #41 3 years ago

    fuuuck. cover systems? Whhhy?

    Is it because it's fucking jury rigged and hotwired to all epic's tech, now?

  • ThemisB #42 3 years ago

    Leave BioShock alone!

  • metalangel #43 3 years ago

    Much like Minority Report should have ended when Crom Truze shoots the guy after all, Bioshock should have ended immediatel y after you meet Andrew Ryan. Make up another explanation for Atlas, but just end the game there, on the high note.

  • blackbriar101 #44 3 years ago

    I wonder what Jesus Christ Denton would think.Im sure they will do the the series justice,well at least the music from the first one hopefully,more Vangelis bladerunner rather than a french Canadian erotic thriller ha ha