Revision

I had played Deus Ex: Revision before, but couldn't get past Liberty Island because I couldn't sneak or run through like I always did in the vanilla game, and one of the reasons is mentioned all way down here. After playing Deus Ex so many times, I decided to give Revision another chance. I played the mod on Realistic difficulty with the default settings, with one exception. I played as female JC Denton (I even reflected that in the pic above), mainly for variety (and to check out the unique LDDP encounters), since I had played as the stoic male many times before and even played as Greasel once. I know that Revision can be configured to be as vanilla as possible, but I wanted to play the mod as the developers intended.

So lets start with changes I did like:

  • Revision attempts to match the aesthetics of the prequels without straying too far from the vanilla.
  • The music can be dull in some cases, but overall its pretty decent, and the original songs are still recognizable in the new remixes.
  • Most levels have either been updated by having some facelift or completely remade. They look beautiful and are still recognizable.
  • Integration with other mods such as Lay D Denton Project, Greasel of the Year, The Nameless Mod (via Workshop mod), Biomod, and Shifter.
  • Achievements. Getting an achievement for playing the Deus Ex theme on the piano or for throwing a body out of a window to gib it made me chuckle.
  • Lasers can be blocked with smoke (cigarettes, pepper spray, or a fire extinguisher). This feature was in the original game, but was sparsely used. In Revision, this feature works more reliably.
  • I'm not sure if this is a good or bad feature, but NPCs throw grenades more often. This usually results in them blowing themselves up.

A bit more detailed about levels:

  • Layout of UNATCO HQ has been changed, the level itself is very detailed and has a few more rooms that adds to the immersion, such as the shooting range, Gunther's and Paul's own offices.
  • Hell's Kitchen is very detailed (as far as Unreal Engine 1 allows) and has some changes in layout. There are even neon signs of companies from Deus Ex prequels and even Cerulean Security from The Nameless Mod. Cute reference.
  • During the second visit to Hell's Kitchen, the road to the warehouse has been expanded, a few points of interest have been added and there's even an alternative exit. Although you can no longer jump off the warehouse roof and break your legs, there are many escape routes, which is a nice change.
  • Wan Chai Market and Luminous Path Compound are now separate maps, the latter has been made from scratch. And they both look absolutely gorgeous for a Deus Ex map.
  • Underground Mall has become more detailed, including the Lucky Money club. In addition to the usual Quick Stop, there is an additional store, which is neat. The music is quite calm until you enter the club, where a remix of the Hong Kong Club theme starts blasting. It reminded me of the moment when I first entered Lucky Money in the vanilla game. It's a nice change.
  • Although the layout of VersaLife Offices hasn't changed much, there are a few things added to flesh out the map a bit, which is cool.
  • Below decks of PRCS Wall Cloud, there are alternative routes you can take, which is nice for a level that was mostly linear.
  • Lower East Side Cemetary has a slightly different layout and one point of interest has been added.
  • Paris Streets have not only become a separate map, but have also changed completely. I don't know what the general opinion is about this map, but I personally like it.
  • I'm not sure if layout of the Paris Catacombs has changed at all (except for the beginning), but I guess that's fine, since the level was already a maze. The Silhouette hideout has been completely redesigned to match the real catacombs, which I think is pretty awesome.
  • Champs-Elysees has been completely redesigned. It looks very beautiful, and it wasn't difficult to sneak past the troops (but not as easy as in vanilla).
  • La Porte de L'Enfer now looks fantastic.
  • DuClare Chateau hasn't changed much, but it looks more detailed with more objects scattered around.
  • Paris Cathedral's exterior has completely changed. It reminds me of screenshots from the beta versions of Deus Ex. Thankfully, the interior of the cathedral remains unchanged, because it was kinda confusing in the original. Everything has become more detailed, which is obvious. The same applies to the metro station. By the way, there is a reference to The Nameless Mod again :D
  • Layout of Morgan Everett's apartment has remained the same, but everything has been detailed to a tee.
  • Vandenberg Air Force Base is more detailed and the exterior became bigger.
  • Everything in Abandoned Gas Station, except for the gas station itself, has been completely redesigned. It looks good, and the level is more challenging than in the original, although it remains fair. Security has been increased, but you can disable the cameras using the terminal in the “new” abandoned building and sneakily deal with the guards.
  • MJ12 Sub Base is very detailed and there are more ways to sneak past the patrols.
  • Level 1 of Ocean Lab is detailed and the new ambient fits in very well.
  • It gets beaten by Level 2, which is not only detailed but also expanded. The dark rooms, which previously only had Greasels trying to kill you, now look as if they had some purpose before everyone died, and it is more of an exploration level, like DuClare Chateau. Visually, its the best level in Revision.
  • In vanilla MJ12 Missile Silo you had to somehow open the gates or sneak across the bridge to get to the bunker. Now in Revision, you can easily slip past the dogs, run up to the entrance, and open the door. I don't know if this is a good or bad change, but I think its okay. Anyway, in the room with the bathroom and stairs, you can sneak past the lasers (using pepper spray or a fire extinguisher) and hide from MJ12 Commando. Other than that, there are basically no changes.
  • Area 51 Exterior has been totally remade. Now it looks like actual ruins after a missile strike. A second tower has been added, which now has that terminal that opens the bunker. I'm not complaining, I actually like this change, because now you can't just rush into the bunker right from the start. Walton Simons is missing, but this is not a bug, because he is inside the bunker.
  • And the final level of the game, Area 51 Bunker. Should I say that again? The level is quite detailed and somewhat expanded. The entire recreation area is a reference to System Shock 2. Even the door to the pool is blocked and you get the cyber modules skill points for hitting the loop. Unless you've never played System Shock 2 before, this may break your immersion, but I really liked this reference, so I let it slide :D. The area with a large number of MJ12 troops has become larger in Revision and now has more security, but the level designer hasn't forgotten about you. You can sneak past the bad guys through ventilation shafts, hide behind crates, and open doors. Other than that, I don't remember any major changes to the level.
  • As always, I chose the Helios ending. The final cutscene looks cool, and the moment when JC takes off her glasses is just badass.

As much as I praise the new levels, not all levels were lucky enough to be overhauled. Levels such as Battery Park, Abandoned Brooklyn Metro Station, LaGuardia Airfield, Hong Kong Helipad, VersaLife MJ12 Labs, VersaLife UC, Brooklyn Naval Yard, Abandoned Paris building have not undergone any changes as far as I can tell, which is a bummer.

Now let's talk about the levels that have been changed, as they also have their flaws:

  • On Liberty Island, when you leave the docks, there is an NSF terrorist sitting on a bench, which is annoying because he can easily spot you and shoot you, even if you try sneaking. This is not how you desing the first level of the game.
  • In Smuggler's Den, its now impossible to stack boxes to jump over the lasers because of an invisible wall under the ceiling. This contradicts what was done in the original game, where there was enough space and boxes to jump over the lasers because it was intentional. At least you can spray the lasers with pepper spray to block them without triggering an alarm, so perhaps there is a trade off here. Still, this is not how you design an immersive sim. When you get closer to the Smuggler, there is an EMP grenade on the ceiling that cannot be defused. You either detonate it by running past it and getting hit by the EMP, or shoot it with a firearm (a bad trick against non-lethal players). Not good.
  • There is a sniper sitting on a chair on the rooftops in the Warehouse District. HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO AVOID YOU WITHOUT TAKING ANOTHER ROUTE?!
  • Second visit to Hell's Kitchen. When you run back to the hotel after doing what you had to do at the warehouse, there are so many troops waiting for you near the Ton Hotel. There are even snipers with terrific accuracy. Why?
  • While escaping from the NYC's MJ12 labs, you may notice that there are even more enemies than in vanilla, which is not very good. This and other changes to the level make it even more difficult to complete if you are trying to sneak through. This is probably my least favorite level in Revision.
  • Hong Kong Helipad has a completely unnecessary cutscene at the beginning, and it's the only level where this happens. It's not immersive at all. Not only has the level remained 99% unchanged, but everyone is on high alert during the cutscene. Combined with the “smart” (more on that at the end) enemies, this is a pain in the ass.
  • Whoever hired the DJ for La Porte de L'Enfer should be fired, the music is truly awful. I would have preferred the cheesy “oh yeah” song from the original to this dull thing.
  • For some reason, the bots in Vandenberg can't leave the hangar as easily as in the vanilla version. Strange.

Now lets get back where I started, but look at the gameplay changes that I didn't like:

  • Hitting enemies in the lower back is now useless. Hitting them in the head is more effective. This wouldn't be a big problem if it weren't for another change made in Revision.
  • Enemies detect you when you bump into them. Everything would be fine if melee attacks were the same as in prequels: you press a button and watch your cool cyborg cop punch the bad guy in the face. But melee attacks in Revision are exactly the same as in the original game, so this is a bad change, because you have to get close to the enemy and hit them with the weapon of your choice, but not too close so as not to alert them, and not too far away to deal normal damage without multipliers. Especially when you have to hit them on the head, which is harder to reach in the game than the enemy's back.
  • Hurting enemies alerts their allies, even if they are not in the same room.
  • Enemies are too aware of the player's presence. Because of this, they can hear you knocking out enemies better, see you a little further away, or sometimes see you in the dark.
  • Due to problems with player detection and enemy placement, stealth may not even be an option in some places.
  • Pre-placed wall grenades explode too quickly (unless the player's “Demolition” skill is leveled up), but the player's wall grenades explode just as slowly as in the vanilla, regardless of how many skill points you've spent on “Demolition”, which is really unfair.
  • Cameras detect bodies. I wouldn't mind this if NPCs did the same, then at least I would have an idea that hiding corpses is mandatory back at Liberty Island or Battery Park.
  • Recharge Cells are more scarce and they give less energy, this makes your augs less useful. What's the point of superpowers if I can only rarely use them?
  • Item drops have been changed in the first few missions, which I think is bad. However, in later levels, this doesn't seem to be a problem. Anyway, this caused some problems in the Area 51 Bunker because when I wanted to return to Helios, I ran out of tranqs, and I suffered a lot because I had no other non-lethal options except to run past the bad guys and lose my HP, whereas in the vanilla I had enough ammo to get to Helios, disable the uplink locks, and return.

If any of the Revision devs reads this (which is unlikely) and wants to return to the project, please don't remove tranquilizers from enemies that have them, and bring back the items to their places (or at least put them somewhere else on the level)! Also, add Transcended and/or Randomizer's Zero Rando as one of the possible gameplay styles, as they are more faithful to the original version than Revision's gameplay changes.

Hum△n Revolution

I never asked for this, but here it is, Deus Ex: Human Revolution gameplay style. At first, everything looks promising: the aug tree is similar to DXHR, you level up by gaining XP, and you no longer have Skills. Unfortunately, that's where the similarities end.

Weapon stats remain the same as before, so unless you improve your accuracy augs (for some reason, there are separate augs for one-handed and two-handed weapons that affect damage and separate augs for two-handed and one-handed accuracy), you'll shoot just as poorly as with Untrained skill.

There's a radar aug, but its too small on the UI.

Melee weapons are still present in the game, but you can't perform takedowns by pressing a button. Come on, even the freaking Unreal Revolution did that, and it's a joke mod.

Grenades still detonate ridiculously fast, but unlike in DXHR, you can't walk slowly to not trigger the explosion.

I won't even complain about the lack of aiming, because I know that would require adding new animations for vanilla and HDTP weapon models. Although there are crude methods, such as faking ADS by reducing the viewmodel's FOV (like in F.E.A.R.), adding an ADS silhouette (like in Unreal Revolution), or shifting the model to fake ADS (since the models are cropped on the right side, this is a bad idea).

Not a biggie, but there's no DXHR-like cover system, like in upcoming Machine God mod, but to be fair, the dev has also changed the player/NPC animations, so I doubt it would be carried over to Revision as it's too big of a change. And this mod also has the UI similar to prequels. If this gameplay style had rebalanced augs and features from Unreal Revolution and Machine God mixed together, it would be just awesome.

Overview

Until reaching Wan Chai Market, playing Revision was miserable, because it wasn't always possible to sneak around, or it was very difficult to do so, due to the “revised” behavior of enemies (which, IMO was just lazily increased awareness of enemies). Starting with Hong Kong, things aren't so bad. Paris is where Revision really shines in the non-lethal stealth playthrough (because Hong Kong is not as action packed anyway). I also tried a lethal playthrough on a few first missions, and it seems more effective than non-lethal stealth (though not as OP as in vanilla).

Is it a good mod?

With the default settings, not really. The start is very rocky, and it doesn't improve until you reach the already mentioned Wan Chai Market. Enemy behavior on Realistic difficulty level is terrible, they shouldn't be that sharp. Something like GMDX: Augmented Edition also changes enemy behavior, but at least the enemies were fairly balanced and got more abilities that makes them seem less dumb.

But is it a bad mod?

Also no, it has its moments. The music is mostly decent, (even approved by Alexander Brandon) and I really liked the new maps (especially Ocean Lab), I'm glad they brought back some cut content, integrated a few mods and added some new stuff like Survival Mode, custom difficulty (like in Dishonored 2), achievements and mutators/challenges, but I think all the maps should have been redesigned to match the style of Revision, not just most of them and Revision's gameplay style should be thrown in the trash bin.

For those who haven't played Deus Ex yet, but are still reading this.

If you've never played Deus Ex before, I can't recommend playing Revision, just install Transcended or Randomizer's Zero Rando. But if you're looking for something new after replaying Deus Ex, you can try Revision, just change the gameplay style in the settings to Vanilla if you don't want to deal with what I've dealt. Or Shifter/BioMod if you're used to them.