It’s kind of sad that one of the greatest video game series is on hold for now.
Conspiracy theories, multiple ways of solving a mission, game lore hidden in computer inboxes…
Are there any (pre-2010) games that gave you the same feeling or do a similar thing?
I think you might like Deus Ex. You play as this dude named JC Denton and you try to solve who stole the Statue of Liberty’s head. I think. It’s been a couple years. But I rememer the voice acting being top notch, especially in the Hong Kong level
Nothing scratches that Deus Ex itch like Deus Ex.
Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines
PC stuff, multiple choices, conspiracies, all there.
Definitely this. It was one of my most favorite games at the time I played Deus Ex HR, and it’s exactly the game it reminded me of.
Doesn’t check all the boxes, but Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater hits a lot of notes, most notably in the boss fight department.
3rd person, Cold War spy, stealth, action game
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A hunger mechanic that effected performance (stamina and at around 50% would affect aim or have stomach growls that would alert enemies) and could get food via hunting, trapping or stealing and in a few situations could be used offensively
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Camo system
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Majority of the bosses that you could defeat lethally or no lethally
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Medical system was pretty nifty, not fully realistic doing first aid during battle, but had the spirit of battle injury management
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Can get a lot of lore tidbits here and there by being stealthy and eavesdropping either being nearby or using a longe range listening device and by communicating with your operational support
And there is probably other systems I am forgetting ( played it on a ps2 many moons ago). Seems there is a pc version but appears to be a port and with a controller requirement, but otherwise I thought it was a loaded game for its time ( released 2004)
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EYE Divine Cybermancy if you are into weird shit .
You gain brouzouf
That game kind of haunts me to this day. I tried it first when I was too young to understand game mechanics or English. Then, after several years, I tried it again. Got farther, but got stuck on some cryptic shit. Tried it after several more years and I was even more confused how many mechanics the game has.
I tried it first when I was too young to understand game mechanics or English.
Knowing English doesn’t help much in EYE tbh.
it’s likely even a hindrance.
Well, it is from 2010. But I will still recommend Alpha Protocol.
AP is one of the greatest RPGs of all time with amazing mechanics, your choices really matter and the dialogues are amazing. But at the same time the mechanics are janky AF, some skills are bonkers and the graphics are mediocre even for the era.
A must play in my book!
I thought it reviewed badly? Or is it one of those games that bombs on release and then it grows on people?
It reviewed badly, but there’s actually a gem of a game hiding in there. A lot of the gameplay feels clunky, but the RPG aspects are really well done (it’s Obsidian, they’re kind of good at that). It’s a spy game that lets you decide whether you’re James Bond, Jason Bourne, or Jack Bauer, and really respects those choices in the way the story plays out.
I gave it a shot because Bioware, but I didn’t stick with it because dialog choices are timed. I can see why, I think, but I was being picky and put it down for the moment.
It wasn’t by bioware though, it was obsidian, the guys who did New Vegas.
smacks forehead
Quite right.
I’m curious why you’re only interested in pre-2010 games to replace a hypothetical future Deus Ex release.
I love the jankiness of the era. I also played most of the post-2010 games that are similar to it.
It’s not quite as deep down the solving missions without bullets rabbit hole, but STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl is ripe with disturbing mystery and conspiracy. It gets darker and weirder with each abandoned secret lab that you explore, and as you get closer to the center of the Exclusion Zone. I wish I could replay it again for the first time.
Cyberp-
pre-2010
Ah shit.
I’m kinda struggling to think of any that are pre-2010 and not Deus Ex. Dishonored kinda?
Transistor. Not pre-2010 but 2014 and checks several boxes here.
Oh did it get better? I tried it back in the day and had a hard time getting into it.
It was always a great game IMO, nothing fundamentally changed about it. But I also understand what you mean. I bounced off it once or twice because the combat system is very, very different and I wasn’t sure I was getting it. Didn’t quite find a flow.
Eventually I just sat down and beat it, because it’s actually not a very long game. Like 5 to 7 hours. And the story/music/art is just unbelievable.
You don’t need to get great at the combat. Just kind of learn what builds work for you and be a little flexible when they’re not working.
Cool, thanks for the write up. Maybe I’ll install it and give it another try. I have tried it a couple of times and it has been quite a while since my last attempt. It definitely was the combat system I had difficulty with.
If you’re like me, just get over your pride and play on the easiest difficulty/use whatever cheese is effective. It’s a beautiful game worth experiencing and if it requires you to completely leapfrog the combat then so be it.
I wish I had done this for each of Supergiant’s games before Hades. They’ve always had the writing, voice acting, music, and the aesthetic in particular down pat, but I feel it took them a while to get to solid gameplay.
Bastion clicked immediately for me. Pyre is an oddball (hyuk hyuk) but I actually did find a good rhythm there and fell in love with it. I replayed it a year or so ago on True Nightwing mode and it was incredible. They’re just so good at making defeat a part of the game and it makes the stakes feel way more real. I’d spend sometimes 15min before a match planning my team and talismans and have these absolute nail biter matches. I got so emotionally invested in it lol
There are some story-rich RPG shooters that are almost pre-2010 I could recommend, like maybe Dishonored or Fallout 3/New Vegas. But pre-2010 is tough, only ones I can think of are the System Shock or maybe Thief games.
Thief is the only one that comes to mind from that era that holds a candle to Deus Ex’s open-ended level design. Lots of different approaches to take on many of the stages. Well, as long as you didn’t play on high difficulties, anyway.
There still aren’t many games that go quite that hard on it. Open world games have a tendency to keep their set pieces much more simple. Maybe we’ll see more of it now that Baldur’s Gate 3 has made a big splash with the concept.
You should check out System Shock 2, Prey, Dishonored, Ctrl Alt Ego, EYE: Divine Cybermancy, and other Immersive Sims, or “Box Stackers.”
I bounced off both Prey and Dishonored early on specifically because of how linear they were. I’m guessing they open up later?
Dishonored is about as linear as Thief, open-ended level design, generally. Prey is closer to System Shock 2 in that it isn’t quite level based but not quite open world.
If you mean linear in terms of level design, they are both pretty open overall, similar to Deus Ex. If you’re referring to the actual Systemic game design providing new unique emergent solutions, then they actually beat Deus Ex in many ways.
System Shock doesn’t really share anything with Deus Ex except that it’s also cyberpunk.
The original 2 System Shock games are Immersive Sims. They have systemic game design as the core focus of how the player interacts with the challenges presented.
Ctrl Alt Ego is new, but is a fantastic immersive sim. If you want pre-2010 though, you’re limited to System Shock 1 and 2, Thief Gold/2: The Metal Age, Hitman: Blood Money, and the original Deus Ex.
Immersive Sims are coming back, but pre-2010 cuts you to essentially the formative classics of the Immersive Sim genre.
If you want to branch out of the strict boundaries of Immersive Sims, Fallout: New Vegas and Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines are both incredible.
