Deux Ex, today, is synonymous with the immersive sim genre—paving the way for other games to let you approach a task from all possible angles. A new brand of videogame, unshackled from the straight lines of old school CRPGs, or the hallway trappings of the FPS.
But it didn't start that way. Before John Romero swooped past in 1997 to snap up Deus Ex auteur Warren Spector for Ion Storm, he was trying to get it pitched to his then-current studio Origin Systems as "Troubleshooter", circa 1994.
Speaking to Robert Zak in an upcoming issue of PC Gamer, Spector expressed a ton of frustration with bog-standard RPGs in rich fantasy worlds and FPS with rich fantastical biceps: "I was sick to death of space marines and alien invasions and mages with fireballs and pointy hats. I had made enough of those and wanted to do something different."
But he struggled with the pitch—partially because the lead hero was called "Jake Shooter", but also because his fellow devs at Origin Systems couldn't quite wrap their heads around an immersive sim. An RPG? With guns? But also stealth? Preposterous! You are free to imagine me as an aghast steampunk investor with a big moustache.
"Deus Ex was part shooter, part stealth game, part RPG. I mean, how do you sell that?" says Spector. The answer is, unsuccessfully. "The argument I got from the Thief folks was that if you give players a gun, they won't sneak. I was also asked, 'Why don't you just make a shooter?' I learned the power of the word 'no' when pitching Deus Ex, let me tell you!"
It wouldn't be until 1997 that Spector would have his vision vindicated. Deus Ex is held up as an all-time classic of PC gaming, and rightfully so—it's a game that sent rippling shockwaves through the industry, inspiring waves of games to follow suit in allowing total player freedom. Its stylings keep cropping up in unexpected places, too.
Here, I'll show you something interesting. The two types of RPGs are either Baldur's Gate or Deus Ex. Pillars of Eternity? Baldur's Gate. Skyrim? Deus Ex. Avowed? It's first person, but it's actually Baldur's Gate. Prey? Deus Ex. Despite being a sequel to Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate 3 is Deus Ex (I'm being entirely facetious for a bit, here, please only get into normal amounts of arguments about how I'm wrong).
Point being, it's wild to think about how a completely unthinkable act of game alchemy, blending systems that were thought entirely impossible, could leave such a mark on the industry that we still see Deus Ex DNA popping up in games years later. It turns out, if you give players a gun, they will in fact sneak. Or just stack a bunch of boxes.
If you want to hear some of Spector's other stories, I've got good news: The next issue of PC Gamer, which'll have Zak's whole interview with Spector, is coming to our subscribers July 15.
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