Deus Ex: The Fall is easily one of the worst games I've ever played, and it breaks my heart to write that.

I'm a huge fan of the Deus Ex franchise, having ritually played the original at least once per year for the last decade. I eat up news and announcements about the games like a rabid fanboy, and I was onboard with Human Revolution as soon as they announced it.

What a shame, then, that The Fall (a port of a mobile game) is so terrible in just about every conceivable way. Broken game mechanics, stiff AI and level interaction and an equally lethargic and boring storyline combine to make this one of the worst games released in 2014, system be damned.

To talk about this game, we first need to discuss the expanded universe. When Human Revolution came out, there was a tie-in novel called Icarus Effect that was released too. That novel was a prequel/interquel that had the dual duty of setting up events from the original game and telling its own story within the framework of Human Revolution. A British SAS soldier-turned-mercenary named Ben Saxon allied with a Secret Service agent named Anna Kelso to attempt to stop the Tyrants (the antagonists of HR) and working to expose the Illuminati for their crimes.

The Fall is a pseudo-sequel to that book, and either retcons or reframes certain events so that they fit in line with this game's storyline. It does such a poor job with it that I wondered why they even bothered. The rationale for why Jaron Namir (the leader of the Tyrants) brought Saxon onboard in the book - that he was largely doing it as a way to acknowledge the guilt for all the crimes he's committed over the years - is largely ignored here. Anna Kelso, a level-headed and strong character in the books, becomes a woman who practically stays in the fetal position throughout the whole game. The death of Saxon's friend in the book becomes a retcon where he miraculously survived and became a new member of the Tyrants. Memorable events (like Saxon leaping out of a cargo plane and using his Icarus Landing System to survive a fatal drop into the ocean) are so buggy and half-finished that they become laughably bad.

Nearly every facet of the gameplay is counter to the franchise's design philosophy. Levels are disappointingly linear, with only the barest attention paid to the world-building and characterization that's so famous in other installments. Guns feel like pea-shooters, and the oft-mentioned zoom-in-while-aiming is incredibly frustrating. There's no sense of martialing the story with the gameplay - you can buy extra ammo and guns whenever you feel like it, trivializing the role inventory plays in these games.

The worst part is that this game sets up a sequel hook that will probably never be addressed, concerning characters we have no reason to care or be interested about.

I remember when this game was first announced, and the scorn it reaped on the internet. Incredibly, the final product was even worse than I thought. I still feel like I was ripped off, even after buying the game at 75% off.

Don't waste your time with this. Go back to the original game or Human Revolution for a far better experience.

Deus Ex: Dalek Simulator!

Things I've encountered in the first hour of play:
- A complete inability to climb short knee-height ledges.
- Foes who can see me behind solid objects - "I'VE GOT VISUAL!", even though they clearly don't.
- Riot cops who can magically detect my failed hack attempt, even though it gives no indication that an alarm has been raised.
- The magical ability to purchase weapons out of thin air. It's a game feature, as demonstrated by it being in the tutorial. Doesn't cause it to make any more sense, though. :-/
- Completely uninterested voice-acting. The lady who voices the tutorial instructions clearly wasn't paid enough for the job - she sounds like she'd rather be anywhere else but recording these lines. This, I have no fault with. That this audio made it into a game from a large franchise, made it past review, through playtesting, and out into the public market... it's amazing that nobody thought "hey, maybe this dialogue should be *slightly* more engaging".

As for me, I'm going to leave this game open for a couple hours to get Steam Trading Cards, then promptly forget I ever acquired the thing.

IF you LOVED Deus Ex: Human Revolution, you will be very offended by this prequel to it!!!... I found out after buying it that it was intended to play ON-THE-GO for your tablet, then they brought it over to PC to rip you off money and time. Seriously, not worth your time, unless it's a clearance price of .99 cents... I do not recommend this game, although I did play it all the way through. The game is just --- OKAY! And misses all of the great flavor of the game prior (Deus Ex: HR).

This is not clearly advertised, but this is only Part 1 of the story of Deus Ex: The Fall. You'll complete it within 4 hours, and a message will say "The Story Will Continue", but obviously 7 years later (the mobile version was released in 2013), it won't. The voice acting sucks, the writing is sub-par. Despite what the game tells you, there is no choice/consequence. You can't even kill a gun-runner after completing his quest, he doesn't even react to shotgun blasts. The AI has eagle vision, making a stealth approach only viable using the Cloak augmentation. The game still carries microtransaction legacy (able to buy items such as Autohack and energy snacks from a menu at any time, ruining the challenge). The "Pacifist" achievement is bugged. I killed everyone in the last level and still got it.

Broken mess on release. Button prompts are faulty, but more importantly, the sound for cutscenes and effects will break constantly. Only purchase if you want to miss out on all the lore, happenings, and also get shot in the face repeatedly by people you did not hear.

So while this is definitely the worst entry in the Deus Ex series in just about every way possible, bear with me on this because I actually feel like I would recommend this game, but only to some people.

First, before anything else, lets set out the context of this game's development:
After the success of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Square Enix wanted to expand the series into a large multimedia property, which ended up not really succeeding as we know now. During this time they would also try to expand into the emerging mobile game space and we would see Deus Ex: The Fall released in 2013 as an iOS exclusive primarily designed with tablet touch-screen interfaces in mind, eventually getting ported to Android and then PC. This game was to be the first chapter of a much larger story, one that we will probably never see as the game was not particularly successful and Square Enix likely decided to just cut off development and milk it with a few quick ports to other platforms.

Now as far as FPS games designed for iPads in 2013 goes, it's very surprising how well it's designed and how it plays, and no I'm not being sarcastic. Unfortunately not much care or effort was put into the PC port and it's about as bare-bones as they come, not very stable, and no graphical improvements to take advantage of non-mobile hardware, so yeah on PC it looks and more or less feels like playing an iPad game from 2013, which isn't great.

So, why would I recommend it?
Well I think only those who are particularly interested in the Deus Ex universe might still get something from it as I did. Ben Saxon is a pretty okay main character, one of the few characters with half-decent voice acting and is pretty like-able. The game features familiar faces such as the Tyrants, Janus, and Alex Vega, and is consistent with their lore in the other games. I would also say overall the story presented in this game is actually somewhat interesting and I would have liked to see where it went had they made more. Luckily if you want more Ben Saxon and Anna Kelso action they do have a novel titled Deus Ex: Icarus Effect which serves as a prequel to both The Fall and Human Revolution.
Aside from story and characters the game does actually play like a Deus Ex game, a tiny bite-sized Deus Ex game. As simplified as it is, it still kind-of works and I still found the gameplay somewhat enjoyable, certainly more than I thought I would.

So overall, considering the fact that you can get this game for like $1-2, I think I can justify saying that if you are very into the Deus Ex universe and don't mind playing a clunky mobile port, this game is really not too bad and I would recommend it.

Very lousy port from the mobile version. DON'T BUY IT

Edit: For the people who are interested what kind of bugs or silly ideas are in the game, here are a few examples:

-You can not JUMP. Remember the original Deus Ex or Deus Ex: Human Revolution, which offered you a lot of pathways and a real open-world feeling? Well guess what, they decided to be ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ and changed it to a silly "Jump over object" animation, and even that is limited to some objects.

-You have access to a credit-shop at ANYTIME in the game, not matter what happens. Need some ammo? Sure, you can buy it straight away. Remember the times in Deus Ex when you needed to find medkits to heal your 25/250 HP Torso? Don't worry! Now you simply can buy "Painkillers" at anytime, which obviously makes the entire game way too easy.

-AI in the game is incredibly inpredictable. Sometimes when you are 1 meter in front of their face they don't see you, yet when you're behind a solid object they manage to see you. And no, they don't have "radars".

There are alot more of bugs or silly mistakes, but i'm too lazy to name them all.

TL;DR: It's a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ port-over from the original IOS version. Save your 10 euros/dollars and buy the original Deus Ex or Deus Ex: Human Revolution. If you own both games, buy Dishonored, which is basically Deus Ex, but with swords and magic.

I HAVE PLAYED THE ANDROID APP!
Terrible game in a amazing series.
You can't change key binds
the graphics are terible
the faces of people don't move when they speak to you right in fron of you.
Deus Ex GOTYE is my favorite game of all time, but this? it's a real kick in the guts of my favorite series.
3/10
Oh. and it's a cliff hanger.

Bad mobile port.
Controls are too horrid to keep on playing : Binding not changable, Mouse Sensitivity too low even at max, hacking UI broken, Inventory gone(or casualized for mobile-use), Not-so-reactive AIs and Bodies disappear in 5 seconds.

For that price, you should instead go for Deus Ex HR Director's Cut.

Important : This only offers FIRST CHAPTER. I DON'T KNOW IF LATER CHAPTERS ARE PRICED OR NOT. HOPE THEY DON'T. SERIOUSLY.

モバイル版ベタ移植。操作設定が変更できないわ、マウス感度が低すぎるわ、ハッキングUIでスクロールできないわ、死体は５秒で消えてAIもすぐ忘れるわと言う酷さ。

この値段なら本編ディレクターズカットを買ったほうがずっとマシ。

重要：現状では第１章しかなく、「続く」でスタッフロール入りする。続きの章が無料で遊べるならいいんだが、これはひどすぎる。

After completing a masterpiece Human Revolution and writing review on it, it seemed that there was only Mankind Divided left on the horizon and that’s all, the series is complete! But no! There was one more game that is rarely talked about (like with Invisible War) – Deus Ex: The Fall. Many told me that this is crap, but it is the direct sequel to the Deus Ex: Icarus Effect book, which I liked. So, like with Invisible War, I decided to check myself, what this game is, and… things turned to be no so simple…

Perception of the game greatly is affected by the platform you are playing it on: mobile or PC.

Mobile perception:

Not bad graphics
Interesting gameplay
Replayability
Decent length of 5 hours
Good open world and locations design
Convenient interface and controls
Nice soundtrack

PC perception:

Flawed graphics from 2005
Mediocre gameplay
Bad replayability
Short length of 5 hours
Small and dull locations
Completely unconvenient interface and controls
Nice soundtrack

The main game’s problem is bad PC port. And the problem is not even graphics, there are lots of great games with poor graphics (though they still could add high-resolution textures for PC version). The main problem is the gameplay itself. Locations redesign, yeah, barely anyone would do this but could you connect at least half of them together not to encounter loading screen every 3 minutes? (thanks, that the game does not relaunch at least). Plus controls and interface are unconvenient for PC, was it so hard to change them for mouse-keyboard? Interface icons are too big, long response, moreover, sometimes it doesn’t even happen and you have to click one more time. Only one save slot is available: I know that this is made for saving mobile memory, but, damn it, I am sure that even there you could implement at least 5 slots, and up to 20 on PC all the more. Game’s shop is placed right in your inventory and items can be bought even during missions. The inventory itself is bottomless and we can carry all the weapons and items at the same time. It’s convenient on mobile but feels like total idiocy on PC. Could you just place one vendor and make a normal inventory? Plus, bodies automatically disappear no matter by which way the enemy was neutralized. Yeah, on mobiles it’s used for saving RAM, but on PC it just looks sick. Could you implement a simple body carrying system? The game also does not have jump. No that it is needed here, but the fact itself…

All in all, on PC we get quite a dubious product that is painful to play. Nevertheless, we have mobiles where we can play and enjoy it (and I think the fans will do this), however, there is one big BUT(t) that in the bud erases the point of spending your time on Deus Ex: The Fall…

I think you’ve already noticed that I’ve told no word about the plot. No, it is not bad here, it is… in fact there is no plot. I’ll clarify: in reality it is not a completed Deus Ex: The Fall, it is just a first episode of this game. You only start to dive into the game, meet the known characters, start to unravel the story, ready to leave first location to find the truth and… the game ends with the inscription: “To be continued…” So, there is just no point in playing it. Deus Ex: The Fall is just an unfinished project that’s unlikely to be ever continued.

And one more time I face the problem that Steam implies you to choose negative or positive review. The game even in its current state is not really that bad and depends on your platform. You can claim that the story is abandoned but on the same old mobiles it can be played just for gameplay, cause such projects are rarity for them. But because I am writing review for a PC version… I am gonna choose negative review. It doesn’t worth playing on PC. If by some miracle the game will be updated and story continued I might rethink all of this. But for now, this game is worth neither time nor money, at least on PC.