Review by TheUnbeholden - Deus Ex: Revision mod for Deus Ex

Was it worth the wait? To put it simple, no. Really really was not. This to me seems like a first attempt at improving Deus Ex. Not a final version or full release, but rough around the edges beta that was never meant to be released but kept between the devs as they steadily work on it more. Why spend 7 years improving Deus Ex only to have 70-80% of the levels remain relatively untouched?

-Intro is awkwardly changed. Same level just with tv screens placed in there.
-Batterypark is the same
-CastleClayon is the same
-Osgood and Sons map is the same
-Prison is the same
-Airport is the same as well as the base before it
-Hongkong hanger is the same
-Hongkong maggychow apartment, tunnel and cannal level are basically the same.
-Mole people hideout is basically the same with some small changes
-The Paris Chateau is the same As well as the Cathedral after it
-Naval level is the same as well as the boat
-Everett building is the same
_Vanderberg and the sublevel are the same.
-Wasted opportunity to show us what was in areas that where blocked off before, like Gunthers safe, the do not cross police lines in NY area abandoned building, Paul Denton's secret room.
-Extremely buggy, the team has a Q&A guy and it seems it wasn't properly tested before release, has had some serious game breaking bugs.
-First part of the Ocean lab and is the same and has terrible performance, as does the outside of Everett's place.
-Area 51 is the same in the first part, the burning 2nd part is different but the 3rd part is the same and the last part is a combination of old and new which is alright but I would have preferred more done with the endings. All 3 Endings are a real let down, they are the same looking.

-Realistic difficulty has ridicolously good AI, they can not only spot you a mile away but always land headshots and miss maybe 1/10 of the time. That ruined the game. Also alot of stuff in the realistic difficulty like halving ammo you find on corpses, halving time they are immobilised by pepperspray/gas grenades, or improving their reaction time should have been put into hard difficulty instead since its not 'realistic' it just makes things very difficult. Realistic is supposed to be about upping damage weapons do to you and enemies, and making skill investment much more important by decreasing how much you get from main quests and upping rewards you get for completing side objectives for greater risk vs reward... So that you constantly have to choose whether its worth pursuing something potentially life threatening, hard mode is for people who want fights/stealth to be more challenging overall.

-Orange filter on some maps... why? Human Revolution was its own thing. Have your own style or stick with the original, don't skip between DX:HR and Deus Ex awkwardly.
-I don't like the music although this one is more subjective, moving on.

+Unatco looks pretty good, mostly changed
+NYC hells kitchen is completely different and better
+The HongKong hub is different somewhat and split into 2 sections, I have mixed feelings on it though. Shame the rest of HongKong was barely improved on though or the hanger before it.
+Paris is completely different and better
+Subway level is completely different and better
+Gas station is completely different and better
+Balance wise this was really improved in terms of health/items/ammo found in levels are much more scarce. Big plus for this but I feel like this isn't enough to redeem the mod.

Its a let down overall and not the overhaul it was promised. Its just to damn familiar. I had a similar issue with Black Mesa but atleast Black Mesa remade all the levels, here most levels have been barely touched. What would have been nice instead of giving us a orange filter on some of the earlier maps and throwing remixed tracks from the original was doing what was PROMISED. Remaking/re-imagining levels in a more realistic manner. Trying to overhaul the gameplay on realistic was a extremely bad move that alienated a part of