I have to say I'm shocked at the overwhelming negativity I'm seeing in the reviews so far. I'll explain in a moment but first let me digress.

The first time I ever experienced Deus Ex was at a friend's house. My computer couldn't run Deus Ex. That was during a time when decent computers in a household were not so common. I think I had a 200mhz back then. Anyway, my friend was on the MJ12 prison level and the music immediately captivated me. Then everything else. Flash forward to when my gateway 900mhz computer running windows ME arrived and the first thing I did was install deus ex. Holy crap, I had two speakers *and* a subwoofer. Opening theme turned up to 11. So yeah. I played it 'back then'. And I replay it probably once every year and a half or so. Even as recent as two or so years ago I still came across tiny little details I hadn't seen yet. Like the natural way to unlock J.C's 'stick with unatco' dialogue with Paul in the 'Ton (It goes no further, but you don't need to use code), or the Unatco Troops in Hells Kitchen during the firefight reacting positively ("You shot the guy who got Jones." "You're one of us, J.C" Protip- Go nonlethal up to that point and then take down as many NSF as you can) Hell, there's even a line from a trooper about JC and Anna hooking up.

So. What's the point of all that? I get it - the game is legendary. Despite its age, it can still captivate. And that's just it - how many times have we played it? This conversion does not presume to make the game 'better'. It makes it *different*. And that has been thoroughly enjoyable from what I've played so far. Yeah, the first level is dark. It's a night op. You're a cop. Use your flashlight aug-eyes. But use it smart. There are more enemies and in different places. They *cycle* weapons. I've been getting my ass kicked and I love it. I don't know what's around the corner this time, and it's great. It's making me adopt a new playstyle. I'm having tons of fun.

Alright, one brief note about the music. It goes without saying the original soundtrack is a masterpiece. They give you the option to use it instead of the remixes because they respect the game and its a labor of love. That being said, the remix so far (only on the first level) reminds me of daggerfall, which is pretty cool. Y'know, the rain theme or even the night theme. It's not necessarily better, but it's different. And I'm all for a new Deus Ex experience.

From one long time fan to another, you really should give this a shot. I can't wait to see what else is new.

Edit: For real. Rebind the light aug from F12 to F and play the first level non leathal. You'll have fun.

You`ve got 10 seconds to rate this review as useful before I add you to the list of NSF casualties.

If you are an owner of the Deus EX GOTY on Steam, then I would strongly suggest you click install here.

Pros :
* Free - Adds a standalone entry to your library so you still have access to your vanilla install
* Made with love - Kinda shows - The overhaul makes everything much more moody and nice
* No Hassle Installation - Removal and more options in the menus than the vanilla option for better tweaking
* Some minor bugfixing

Cons :
* Deux ex GOTY is regarded by some as some sort of sacred text that should not be altered lightly. In my case I didnt mind, but some people are very strict about what liberties a modder should take. I personally found that the additions and modifications where in good taste

Conclusion :
It might not be the best mod setup for the original deux ex, but installing mods and keeping track of what you installed, and what order to install it in, and what each mods do, can be a huge pain in the ass and very consuming. This is an easy to use huge overhaul directly implemented into steam. I dont think I will be playing the original version any longer.

When a game is slowly becoming a documentary.

Yeah...

DX: Revision is exactly as the name implies: A remix of the original classic with re-done textures, models, maps, and music. The mapping and music work appear to be the only true work of Revision as the model and textures are from several previous mods for DX, so together Revision is more of mod pack than a seperate stand-alone mod.

I've seen reviewers harping on the remixed music, and while that is understandable I actually quite like it. Since the new music can be easily toggled on and off in-game I ended up listening to each new remixed track in-game and then swapping back to the originals from map to map, just to feel the difference in mood. Frankly, I love the variation here and the overall remixing, but there's definitely a few individual tracks that I prefer in the original style (UNATCO, Hong Kong streets, and the Underworld Tavern themes).

Regarding the new maps, this is by far my most favorite feature of the mod. I've done my fair share of mapping over the last two decades and I can't stop loving how much effort went into making the original's somewhat drab and generic environments into living spaces that feel much more like someplace that could actually exist. Hell's Kitchen and the other "hub" areas (even UNATCO HQ) received the most work and it really makes these urban areas feel more plausible compared to the original maps. However, the greatly increased size of some of these maps has made them much easier to get lost in. I could see players easily getting lost in their first trip to Hell's Kitchen, for example, since that area has more than quadrupled in size. That means it is now much harder to find Smuggler's hideout and there are many more NSF and gangers roaming the streets, so players will have to pay much more attention here.

Overall Revision is a pleasantly acceptable mod of a classic, awesome game. I wish they had put in a little more effort to finish off some of the remaining models that were not updated and that they had taken the time to clean up some of the default mechanics that other mods have already addressed, but Revision does include Shifter and Biomod, so in a way the gameplay mechanics have been upgraded. Still, these additional mechanics mods take the gameplay quite far from the original experience, so it would have been nicer to have had a middle ground option that cleanly incorporated Shifter's fixes to the default mechanics without also including some of its more extreme changes (like completely overhauling all of the weapons so they have rediculous alt-fire modes).

Playing Deus Ex in the year 2000: "Haha! What a silly little game about conspiracy theories."

Playing Deus Ex in the year 2024: ...

While I applaud the dev's efforts to attempt to "re-imagine" the original Deus Ex without a full blown remake I wouldn't recommend it if you played the original. While they did a lot of great things to improve it for running on modern systems they also made numerous changes to the maps that I felt detracted from the original. Sure, they are larger, but there still isn't anything to fill them content wise. They are essentially large to pad the length of the game by making things take twice as long to complete. There is also one "easter egg" area that manages to take an interesting idea and drive it into the dirt by turning it into an obnoxious platforming section.

Given the fact they let you choose the texture pack options and different mods you can use it's unknown why they didn't give the option to use the original maps. This would be the definitive version of Deus Ex if they managed to do that. If you're a veteran of DX and want to experience an "arrange mode", then give it a try, but if you really enjoyed the original and just want to replay it or are new the series I'd recommend to just get the GOTY version and mod it yourself.

Also, if achievements matter to you, know this: They added a New Game + feature but for some maddening reason they disabled achievements on NG+. If you were hoping to replay through the game with all your skills and augs and get some of those harder achievements you won't be able to.

You've got 10 seconds to play this before I add you to the list of NSF casualties

Makes you realize how ♥♥♥♥ modern games are.

I made sure to play through it first and then comment on it, even though half way through I realized they botched a huge section of it, perhaps inadvertently.

Understanding the fact that Caustic Creative does not have the ability to create new gameplay content (i.e new maps/map changes supported by new assets, voice-overs, features, etc. that expand the game in a meaningful way), the question you should be asking is what does Revision really add to DX, and whether these additions really +add to the classic experience as opposed to -detract from it.

Here's what Revision adds:

-Map changes
-Difficulty hike
-Remix of the Deus Ex OST

I'll start with the easiest one - soundtrack remix. As a big fan of the original, I found the remix to be... acceptable. The subtleties are not lost on me, make no mistake it is different, and in some cases the remix tracks completely change the underlying tone of key locations. A more diehard fan would probably rebuke the remix for the reason stated, but I'd let that one be. it is a fan's interpretation, and whether you agree with it or not, ultimately it's not the biggest deal when playing.

...which brings me to gameplay. I played on realistic difficulty from start to finish, and I equate Revision's hike of the difficulty to what a few other mods have done - by simply ramping up a few parameters. A.I. is hyper reactive to player action, and accuracy is needle-thread as if every fresh-faced NSF is a famed western outlaw. Running past a doorway at an extreme angle so as to be exposed only for a split second? Yup, get shot in the head. The result feels mechanical, artificial. You will get raytraced if you play realistic.

Finally, the map changes. During early game, map changes consist of additions to the classic DX maps. More trash on the ground, a new garage with a hence; at times they are furnished with a bit of pickup. Later on, map changes are quite extensive - Hell's Kitchen, Hong Kong, Paris, etc., always with existing DX content intact, but the key locations and their NPCs are reshuffled. Essentially they play the role of interior design - in other words, purely aesthetic. I remember this one time I was wowed quite literally, though not by any fresh gameplay so much as the rearrangement of existing DX assets to create a natural setting.

When combined, the experience is inconistent. You will find changes that you don't agree with, you will find additions of certain readables to be subpar, trite, even stereotyped (an invasion of 2015 internet into the world of Deus Ex circa 2052...). Without a doubt, a lot of effort was put into the Paris maps. The underground terminal with the three MJ12 troopers, security bot, and the lone "shopkeeper" who asks you to take care of them - my favorate location by far. Elsewhere though, the effort is canceled out by a monumental lack of due diligence. Hong Kong, equally as extensive in its modification as Paris, is severely marred by the horrendous gibberish that pass for "signs" everywhere. All the new neon advertising that I can see are spouting complete and meaningless nonsense. I feel 110% justified in wanting to say: "get some help with that for ♥♥♥♥ sake." It makes Caustic Creative looks like a bunch of morons. If I had filled this review with only gibberish, then I deserve to be called nothing less.

In the end, Revision works in a few ingame instances. But others have done Deus Ex real justice in the area of its individual parts. For true original content, there is Deus Ex: Nihilum, Nameless Mod, Redsun 2020, etc. For gameplay tweaks, there's Shifter, BioMod. For an experience overhaul, there is the newly released GMDX v8.0 which I'm currently playing and is vastly superior - simply because it doesn't subtract from the original, only enhances.

I enjoyed Revision's fine display of prop arrangements, but that's not why I play Deus Ex.