Deus Ex 3 gets the green light

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Nov 26th 2007 at 2:30PM }

Though plans for a return to the world of Deus Ex were revealed back in May, Gamasutra brings further confirmation that gamers will frolic through post-apocalyptic sci-punk landscapes once more. Perhaps frolic isn't the best word ("Behave like a professional, JC!"). According to general manager Stéphane D'Astous, Deus Ex 3 has passed proof of concept and will be the inaugural project for the recently established Eidos Montreal studio. "This game was very highly rated at its release in 2000," said D'Astous, "and we have this great huge mandate to do the third one, and everybody is very excited."

We sincerely hope the team also plays great huge disappointment, Deus Ex: Invisible War, and brings the series into the current generation with aplomb. No specific platforms have been announced yet, but the studio intends to churn out "only major AAA games, using only next-gen technology." As it's adopting a 24-month development cycle for its initial titles, don't expect more about the game until next year at the earliest. In the meantime, try to guess how many of the game's fictional technologies will be explained away with nanobots. It's always nanobots.

Tags: BreakingNews, Deus-Ex, Deus-Ex-3, DeusEx, Eidos, Eidos-Montreal, FPS

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

EihBeir @ Nov 26th 2007 2:39PM

Woooooooooooo!

I'm excited, now that the sophomore slump (Invisible War) is behind us.

Arno @ Nov 26th 2007 2:40PM

Please let this one not suck, please let this one not suck, please let this one not suck.

Fernando Rocker @ Nov 26th 2007 2:43PM

Any news about Duke Nukem Forever?

Jeff @ Nov 26th 2007 3:12PM

Secret PS3 exclusive =P

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Nov 26th 2007 4:32PM

ya heard it here first!!!

Sokkratez @ Nov 26th 2007 2:50PM

My pants just got tighter.

And Invisible War was fine.

Marty @ Nov 26th 2007 2:54PM

Letr's hope that they make it a lot more like Deus Ex than Invisible War, and that the "consolification" of the whole thing is reduced. IW was way too clunky, and the text on the screen was like the Reader's Digest Large Print Edition.

Fortyseven @ Nov 26th 2007 3:16PM

Indeed. DX2 was fun in and of itself, but it broke my heart with those XBoxisms, when compared to the first game.

Marty @ Nov 26th 2007 3:22PM

Yeah, I can't say I didn't like IW, but it just didn't feel like Deus Ex to me. Aside from the goofy-huge text and interface, it seemed a lot more linear than DX was. Hopefully DX3 will let let loose on the reigns again.

Vaitork @ Nov 26th 2007 3:06PM

Heck YES.

I hope it has at least some of the extremely high quality of the first Deus Ex. Gotta love the ol' good stuff.

Jeff @ Nov 26th 2007 3:10PM

They should do it in Cryengine 2. A dystopian/steampunk style could be executed so perfectly that I'd soil myself. Here's to modders:

http://www.incrysis.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=14400

Marty @ Nov 26th 2007 3:35PM

Or they should use Unreal engine, and make it a lot more playable than crappy Cryengine 2.

Jeff @ Nov 26th 2007 3:40PM

I don't know about your performance in Cryengine 2, but I find that it performs about equally except the post-processing and shaders are ridiculously demanding. With shaders and post-processing on medium everything else can be on very high around 60 FPS-- roughly the same FPS as Bioshock, but with vastly better visuals. And, if it were small, closed spaces, like I imagine this will be more often than not, performance would vastly increase. High view distance = less performance. That's why Oblivion is still something of a beast to run.

And c'mon dude, I wasn't try to start a debate. Just showing some extremely pretty pictures that could be expanded into some uber badassness.

LaughingTarget @ Nov 26th 2007 3:47PM

CryEngine 2 has vastly superior physics.

Marty @ Nov 26th 2007 3:48PM

I wasn't trying to start a debate either, but so far I have been very much impressed with Unreal Engine 3, and the Unreal Engine is the technology that Deus Ex started on... why not continue that with the power of version 3, while staying away from any licensing agreements with EA?

Jeff @ Nov 26th 2007 4:04PM

I love UE3 as well, but how many post-apocalyptic settings can one engine have? =P

Cryengine 2 also does absolutely beautiful character models/faces, which would be big for Deux Ex. And as LaughingTarget said, the vastly improved physics engine would allow a persistent game world, influenced by what you do, much easier. I'm assuming this is going to be coming out for consoles as well, which would mean it would be graphically-reduced and easier to run-- utilizing the merits of the engine rather than acting as a technical showpiece. And it wouldn't be using DX10-based lies as a selling point =P

SoldOutActivist @ Nov 29th 2007 12:18AM

Has the "CryEngine" been used for anything but a tropical island with military forces and non-human threats? I'm curious.

cybereality @ Nov 26th 2007 3:11PM

Finally, they revive something worth reviving. Deus Ex is one of the top 10 games of all time. The Invisible War... not-so-much. Eidos did do a great job with the new Tomb Raider. I have faith it won't suck this time. Just please, pretty please, do not make it into a team-based first-person-shooter (I'm looking at you FASA).

Shignami @ Nov 26th 2007 3:19PM

Didn't they explain the functions of the automatic doors in MGS with nanobots?

Anwa123 @ Nov 26th 2007 3:57PM

And the music? Oh man, that was the only time I listened to the loading screen just to hear the opening music lol.

Conor @ Nov 26th 2007 4:06PM

By far one of my favorite soundtracks. I still listen to it! Check out how many plays the composer has:

http://www.last.fm/music/Alexander+Brandon

robert @ Nov 26th 2007 3:59PM

nanobots is a logical choice to explain how Enzyte works.

Conor @ Nov 26th 2007 4:03PM

Nanobots are completely win. I can't believe the author spoke ill of nanobots. MAY THEY CONSUME YOUR HEATHEN FLESH.

Synner @ Nov 26th 2007 4:03PM

Oh sweet merciful jesus yes!!!!!! This is the best news EVAR!

ThornedVenom @ Nov 26th 2007 4:07PM

I missed out on the whole Deus Ex phenomena.

That trailer didn't inform me about anything about the game. It's a fanservice of which I am left out. Heck, you could barely recognize what the hell that CG model was.

Synner @ Nov 26th 2007 4:18PM

It's like bioshock with the upgrades and whatnot, but your choices of upgrades can actually affect how you play the game, ie: stealthy, tank, snipers, etc. you can hack into almost anything and bypass security rather than fighting them and so on. Your actions determine how people treat you in the game, and affect the story line. It's totally badass. You can probably get the first one for $5 on ebay and check it out. It uses Unreal engine graphics I think, so don't expect the prettiest.

thenino85 @ Nov 26th 2007 6:35PM

Basically, remember all the hype around Bioshock? That you could do anything, create completely different characters, no two encounters would ever be the same, yada yada?

Deus Ex did it seven years earlier. And did it better. You altered the entire flow of the game based on your actions. It was incredibly non-linear in both gameplay and story. Player choice wasn't reduced to "How do I kill this person?" There were multiple ways to get to your objective, only one of which (usually the suicidal method) was Ramboing. In a way, it was more like a puzzle game than a FPS. Don't get me wrong, it was very actiony. Accuracy was important, even though stats affected your chance to hit/miss. However, every single encounter was more cerebral than twitch. Also, it had a strong investigative edge to it, as you were trying to uncover the conspiracies around you, and there were a lot of conspiracies. Most of it wasn't given to you in narrative format; it was done in e-mail fragments and the memos that you uncovered while hacking. That doesn't sound like such a big deal now, but at the time it was incredible.

The story was incredibly deep as well. Much better than "ZOMG water's everywhere in the city and Ayn Rand's in charge lols." There wasn't "the twist" like is mandatory in every game nowadays. Like the X-Files, the game was nothing more than a long series of twists, but it was well-done. It should also be mentioned that it was really the first game to have an action-meets-RPG mentality, and it pulled off both rather well. I still hold it in almost sacred regard. It did have its flaws, but every game does.

Then came Invisible War. *sigh* The best analogy I've been able to come up with is that Invisible War is like if ID had released a G-rated Doom 2. It just wasn't the true sequel it should have been.

ThornedVenom @ Nov 26th 2007 6:57PM

Thank you everyone for your awesome replies. =) If I ever get the chance, I'll be sure to look out for Deus Ex based on your recommendations. ;)

Jeff @ Nov 26th 2007 4:46PM

Possibly greenlighted as a result of BioShock's success?

animeko @ Nov 26th 2007 5:07PM

Let's not forget Deus Ex won game of the year back in 2000, easily. Sure the graphics are outdated, (if you're snobby about that check out the Deus Ex HDTP project at http://offtopicproductions.com/hdtp/ ) but the game is timeless otherwise. In addition to what Synner said, your actions also affect what ending you get (there are 3 endings, I believe).

Judging by the comment "using only next-gen technology" I think DE3 will be another let down, however. :/ One of my biggest issues with Deus Ex 2 was that the game became more console oriented rather than PC oriented... Dono, either it just wasn't as challenging as the first, or it just didn't feel as Deus Ex-y as it felt generic-shooter-y.
Buuut we'll see.

DP @ Nov 26th 2007 5:17PM

Why is everyone bad mouthing Invisible War? That was a good game. And I never played the oringinal Deus Ex before, is it really that good?

TomCo @ Nov 26th 2007 5:36PM

"And I never played the oringinal Deus Ex before"

There's your problem you see.

DP @ Nov 26th 2007 5:50PM

Few questions: What can it be compared to? On what platform is it on? And where can I get it.

Wubbytoes @ Nov 26th 2007 7:36PM

You can also get the PS2 version at Game Stop for about $5.00 in the bargain bin. Even on PS2 its a really great game.

TomCo @ Nov 26th 2007 10:18PM

Nah, don't get it on PS2.

Get it on PC, where the damn series should have stayed in the first place.

It's hard to make comparisons to Deus Ex, I suppose its somewhat similar to the System Shock series. Hmmm, Vampire: Bloodlines perhaps.

Anyway, its my second favourite game (System Shock 1 & 2 tie for first) of all time.
The story line and the way they tie together the locations really is tops.

Field Anony-mouse @ Nov 27th 2007 10:33AM

Yeah It's hard to understand all the badmouthing of IW without having played the first Deus Ex. The problem was basically that it took everything that made Deus Ex awesome, deep, enthralling, etc, and threw it out the window. Everything was simplified to the point where every single damn gun used the same ammo, and they decided that instead of picking one ending from the first as canon and leaving the others as alternate but "not real" they tried (pathetically if you ask me) to shoehorn all three into one.

On its own IW was not that bad of a game. However it shouldn't have been a sequel to Deus Ex. It should have been something completely new.

All that said, I want this, but I want it to be what I wanted IW to be. The awesome sequel to an awesome game.

animeko @ Nov 26th 2007 5:23PM

It was OK, just.. not even close to what the original was.

giest @ Nov 26th 2007 5:59PM

ok. it omly looked better but it suck in some aspects like the idea that all guns use the same ammo. that was the dumbest idea ever. basically if u run out of ammo for a rocket launcher your out for every other gun as well.

incompleteunit @ Nov 26th 2007 6:59PM

In response to DP - it can be compared to Bioshock, but it would be better compared to Stalker or System Shock. But it was a FPS/RPG hybrid with skills and character upgrades, was open in it's approach to how you completed each level, and had a good deal of story to it.

It's on PC and PS2, and can be gotten on Steam for about $9. Get it. It's awesome.

Joe @ Nov 26th 2007 10:24PM

Now I just need to finish UT3, Portal, HL2:E2, AC, BioShock, Mass Effect, Crysis, Gears of War.

brb.

Jeff @ Nov 26th 2007 10:53PM

You PC game and own a 360? I envy you.

Luckily I beat Bioshock the week it came out, making my summer worthwhile. Beat Portal its release week as well; ignored the rest of the Orange Box. Beat Crysis two days after it came out, was left utterly satisfied... and now I'm absolutely in love with Instant Action... I'm ranked #65 right now lmao. Gears of War for PC was fun, but I regret wasting my money now that so much other stuff is out. I beat the game easily on Insane-- found the story lacking-- played some multiplayer, it was fun, but not up there with Crysis or UT3. And, UT3 I'm actually neglecting right now, to my surprise. The campaign is absolutely terrible, and I'm so addicted to Crysis multiplayer that I barely touch it. The collector's edition case is awesome though.

Assassin's Creed comes out in the spring, and god knows Mass Effect will get a port eventually.

Joel @ Nov 26th 2007 11:08PM

Hmmm...

Ghosthawk @ Nov 29th 2007 10:53PM

That's probably some of the best gaming news I've heard since Fallout 3. I remember getting bot DX and IW when they first came out and killing countless hours on them. I was kind of sad about IW, though, since it took out most of the customization and tweaking that the original DX had. This will definitely be on my 'To-Buy' list for the future.