And that means we have the teaser to a trailer (I kid you not), the first in over a year.
Looks like those screenshots we found earlier ended up being legit after all. Those screenshots are of the official teaser for Deus Ex: Human Revolution, which was revealed at the Game Developer’s Choice Awards and are now available on IGN.
IGN has also got a developer QA going on at their place, which answers questions made by the community as well as answering some extra questions about the trailer. Here’s what they say, in condensed form:
- The game is built around a multi-path, multi-solution approach so you often have more than one way to pass an obstacle, and within that you have tonnes of options for character and weapon customization.
- If your preferred play style revolves around combat, there are plenty of augmentations and weapon customizations to transform you into a killing machine. If you’re a strategist or a pacifist, there are several options as well to avoid confrontation through augmentations and other means. The choice is yours.
- …ultimately, we decided to emulate the first game more; as mentioned, we no longer have unified ammunition and we are returning to an inventory system reminiscent of the first game. We also wanted to ensure that our levels are larger and more open than in Invisible War (i.e. Hong Kong in Deus Ex 1).
- Being a prequel to the original game, our story starts about 25 years before the start of the first game. Although Deus Ex: Human Revolution will end and segue nicely into the start of the first game, and you may meet some familiar characters along the way, the story is self-contained so players new to the franchise won’t have any problem getting into the game and understanding it.
- Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a single-player game only.
- The two primary gameplay styles are combat and stealth. You can basically play the entire game by going “frontal” or by going “sneaky” and/or back and forth as you please. For us, it’s really about letting players express themselves the way they want. You can decide to play the game without killing anyone (minus some critical encounters), for example.
- Some RPG dialogs will be mandatory but most will be available to players in an optional form.
- The main character is Adam Jensen, the character you play throughout the game. Adam is a security specialist who has been handpicked to oversee the defensive needs of one of America’s most experimental biotechnology firms. Adam has a rich back-story and will soon become one of the key ingredients in a vast global conspiracy.
- Adam is nearly killed and must become augmented to save his life. In the world of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, mechanical augmentations are commonplace and can take the form of everything from microchips implanted in the brain to fully replacing limbs. In Adam’s case, he has a host of new augmentations received from a generous donor, some of which are military-grade. When we see Adam in this video, he is resting at home just days after his operation.
- The circumstances of Adam being critically wounded, and the impetus for his life-saving operation, are suspect. Is becoming augmented something Adam was ready for? Or wanted at all? And who supplied him with his military-grade augmentations?
- The beginning of the video is Adam’s dream. In the world of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, society has mixed Renaissance elements with archetypical Cyberpunk stereotypes and the Icarus Myth weaves its way through the story of the game. The Icarus myth dealt with Icarus being given wings to fly. But the wings were made of wax and he was perhaps not ready for such a gift; so in his haste, he flew too close to the sun which melted his wings and he fell to earth and his death. This story parallels our Deus Ex universe where mankind is using mechanical augmentations but there is still much to be determined in terms of their effect on society and the ultimate direction it will lead us in.
- Adam can do a lot of things, but flying is not one of them.
- The city in the trailer is Adam’s hometown, Detroit.
- The soldiers in the trailer are spec ops trailer.
- Deus Ex: Human Revolution takes place in 2027, 25 years before JC Denton and the start of the first game. The writers and development team have been working closely with the lead writer of the first two games, Sheldon Pacotti, and Deus Ex: Human Revolution segues nicely into the start of the first game, meeting some familiar characters along the way…
Finally, the QA ends with the hint that a full-fledged trailer will be coming this E3 and that’s when you can expect more information about the game. While we still have no official release window, it’s speculated for a late 2010 or early-to-mid-2011 release.