Deus Ex

About

“Deus Ex” is a cyberpunk-themed action role playing video game franchise set in the 21st century, where secret societies are fighting for power and control over world, and various types of body augmentation are being practiced.

History

The original game Deus Ex was developed by Ion Storm and released on June 17th, 2000 for PC. Over the years it has received universal acclaim, being often regarded as one of the best video games of all time. A sequel named Deus Ex: Invisible War was released on December 3rd 2003 for the original Xbox and PC. Even though the game got positive reception, it was criticized for being oversimplified and technically broken.

The series was brought back from the dead with a prequel named Deus Ex: Human Revolution, developed by Eidos Montreal. It was released in August 2011 for both PC and consoles, and received praise for being faithful to the original game. Another game named Deus Ex: The Fall, was released in July 2013 for mobile devices, which closely follows a storyline related to Human Revolution.

On April 8th, 2015, after a three day promotional event on Twitch^[9], a trailer for the sequel to Human Revolution, named Mankind Divided was released.

Online Presence

The series is widely known around the internet’s video gaming communities. It has its own Wikia^[4] and /r/deusex sub-reddit on Reddit^[5]. The original game in particular has a large following, and is often regarded as one of the best games of all time. It has a large modder community, with mods ranging from bugfixes and graphic overhauls to total conversions, to be found on sites such as ModDB^[6].

Related Memes

“My Vision is Augmented”

Anna Navarre: “My new partner, JC Denton. Don’t tell me you’re going to wear those sunglasses during a night operation.”
JC Denton: “My vision is augmented.”

“My Vision is Augmented” is a quote from the original game, which comes from a conversation between JC Denton and a fellow agent Anna Navarre at the UNATCO headquarters after the game’s first mission^[1]. It is used in the comments as a snowclone “My X is Augmented”.

“What a Shame”

Sandra Renton:“Oh my God! Daddy…”
JC Denton:“What a shame…”
Sandra Renton:“He can’t really be… There must be something we can do.”
JC Denton:“He was a good man… What a rotten way to die.”

“What a Shame” is a phrase said by JC Denton after Gilbert Renton, father of Sandra Renton, gets killed in front of her, whenever it is Denton’s fault or not^[2]. It’s probably the most popular and well-known catchphrase of JC Denton.

“A Bomb!”

Jock:“Oh my God! JC! A bomb!”
JC Denton:“A bomb!”

“A Bomb!” is another well-known catchphrase, which is said after JC Denton kills a suspicious mechanic who implanted a bomb into Jock’s helicopter^[3]. The quote has spawned several videos and pieces of artwork.

Deus Ex Recut and the Malkavian Mod

Deus Ex Recut^[8], is a video created by Egger3rd and uploaded on Machinima’s channel on April 2nd, 2009. It features a comedic edit of the original game’s intro and the first level. Over almost 5 years, the video got over 560,000 views, 6,715 thumbs up. On June 7th, 2007, a youtuber MadGangster released a video featuring a Deus Ex mod, named Malkavian Mod^[7], which messes with the original Deus Ex UNATCO level, creating an insane and nonsensical experience. As of March 2014, the original video has over 210,000 views, almost 1000 likes. Both these pieces of content, have spawned numerous quotes and various other fanwork.

“I Never Asked For This”

“I Never Asked For This” is a quote, uttered by Adam Jensen, the protagonist of the third game in the series, Human Revolution. The quote is often associated with Jensen, similarly how “What A Shame” is with JC Denton.