DEUS EX: HUMAN REVOLUTION - GAINING ACCESS

figure 01: Hengsha – Alice Garden Pods 1st Floor

A game study on Deus Ex: Human Revolution and discussion between the end of the mission "Hunting the Hacker" and the beginning of the mission "Gaining Access to Tai Yong Medical".
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Video Examples:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC4q0XBwPzw - Time Code: 7:00 - End of video
​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyq5tR0wXsM - Time Code: Start of video - 6:17

​Deus Ex: Human Revolution (DXHR) is an action role-playing game (ARPG) with incorporated first-person shooter (FPS) and stealth mechanics. Players take the role of Adam Jensen, a man equipped with mechanical cybernetic implants called ‘augmentations’.

‘Deus Ex: Human Revolution immerses the player inside its cyberpunk womb from the very start.’ (Donatelli 2012). DXHR knows how to pull you in and feel the gritty, unstable world full of futuristic corporate architecture and interiors setting the mood perfectly with dark lighting and a great cyberpunk/Blade Runner inspired soundtrack.

The section being examined is the end sequence of the mission ‘Hunting the Hacker’ and the start of the mission ‘Gaining access to Tai Yong Medical’ which takes place in Hengsha; one of the many places the playable character visits in the game. Specifically starting with entering the Alice Garden Pods in Hengsha (see figure 01) where you go back to meet with a Hacker named Van Bruggen to give him a ‘Tai Yong Medical personnel pass’ you stole. The hacker modifies the pass and hands it back, which gives you access to future levels in the game.

figure 02: Hostile enemies, when enemies spot you they become hostile and the score changes

​In DXHR, all elements of the game fit and connect to each other to produce a memorable world, a memorable experience and brilliant design. DXHR’s aesthetics seem similar, and took inspiration from Blade Runner and Ghost in the Shell. The game has a yellow golden tinge for a screen effect, and goes well with the whole game, which mainly focuses on dark lighting and gold neon lights. During the gameplay in Alice Garden Pods, enemies are alarmed and begin searching for you. The background score has a very fast and frustrating effect as the playable character is in that situation. And as soon as a guard spots you and their status changes from alarmed to hostile (see figure 02), the audio track slightly changes to an action based sound with just a couple of instruments added to the already playing audio. But the two sounds; both the alarmed audio and hostile audio seem like they could still be part of the same song and both work well together as a whole. As soon as enemies lose sight of the playable character, those extra instruments fade away and the original alerted audio continues playing. Every song, and every audio track fit perfectly in the game which makes it’s that more immersive.

figure 03: Multilevel map layout of Alice Garden Pods

Steve Szczepkowski the Audio Director on DXHR didn’t just go his own way and create his own score. Szczepkowski first looked at the concept art that was being developed and saw that the game was focusing on story, and knew that “the story needed to be the priority and needed to be in the forefront” (Phil Lube 2012). Szczepkowski also stated that they used organic instruments to represent the human side of the game and use more electronic instruments to represent the augmentation side of the game. This connects the sound and music to the games story well, with there being organic humans that hate ‘Augs’ (humans with augmentations) and the struggles and tribulations which are happening in the world of Deus Ex. People play Deus Ex games in multiple ways; stealth or guns blazing for example, so they knew early on that the score had to be able to reflect those different styles of gameplay combat.

​DXHR’s levels are semi-open maps (see figure 03), but just because they are small, it doesn’t mean there’s thoughtless level design, quite the opposite in fact. Each level is carefully crafted and contributes to the story and aesthetic of the game. In Alice Garden Pods, after we meet with the Hacker, Belltower Security show up looking for you. Alice Garden Pods is a small section of Hengsha, and the game confines you to that space. You must escape the Alice Garden Pods and continue through the game.
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DXHR uses an illusion technique, which is basically to ‘support multiple-solutions, by having multiple ways to get past an obstacle, but have the same ending for all, as the objectives don’t change’ (Lapikas 2012), Even though you are confined in a small space with only one exit, the way levels are designed in DXHR lets you choose which way you want to get there. This makes the players brain think that it’s making meaningful decisions and choices, but in reality, the game already has laid out a plan for the player.

As you walk out to the open, you can; drop down to the first level by jumping off the rail and shooting guards and escaping, or you can just walk down the stairs shooting guards in the way. If you like a stealthy approach, you can crouch and move quietly hoping that no one sees you escaping Alice Garden Pods. And there’s sure to be other ways to escape that area in your own way.

figure 04: atmosphere and lighting of section

This section of the game is a minor one, nothing big really happens in the story, but the level design doesn’t care that this is the last time you’ll be in this area. Every object is carefully place with meaning, with the player’s choice being considered and the guards positioning being considered too. All this wrapped with the score and soundtrack of the game, and with dark black and the light gold lights (see figure 04). It becomes atmospheric.

​This section of DXHR communicates a lot of information to the player through environmental storytelling. As you ascend the first pair of stairs up to Alice Garden Pods, you are shown a place that is safe, where people live, or rent out, with the shiny gold lighting right in front of you. Even though you have a map and map marker, the light still does its job and lures you to the top centre of Alice Garden Pods to meet with the hacker.

DXHR has a RPG element to it, and because of that, you can end up having skills/augmentations that other players that played the game didn’t chose or didn’t have at the time at arriving at this place. So, the way you escape the area is going to be different from how others played that specific section. This makes every playthrough feel unique, and even more unique, if you play completely differently on your second playthrough.
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After Belltower Guards show up they start searching for the playable character. The UI and map show you the exit, and it’s the way you came in. Just like before, when you entered the Alice Garden Pods you saw the Gold neon lights in front of you. Now if you look the direction where you need to go, the lights are dim and dark indicating the Alice Garden Pods isn’t safe at this moment. The game also shows you which objects are interactable in the world; so, if you see a door with a yellow/gold outline on it, that indicates that its interactable. The playable character Adam Jensen, is an augmented human, and his eyesight is also augmented. Mechanics aren’t just put in without meaning, everything ties back to the story. Mechanics are given to you when you upgrade an augmentation, for instance, a sight augmentation upgrade can give you the ability to see an enemy’s line of sight. So, the map on the bottom left corner would show cones on enemies indicating their line of sight.

DXHR uses both a first person and a third person perspective. Most of the game is played in first person view, but when you use the games cover system, the playable character hides behind an object and the camera switches to third person; to see your surroundings, and what’s ahead of you. There are a lot of mechanics in game that are optional in DXHR, which gives the game more depth and choice for your play style. There a literally dozens of ways of going through and escape through the exit of Alice Garden Pods.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution pulls you into its world, with the great score and atmospheric levels. There isn’t any moment that takes you out of the experience and makes you think “wait, that doesn’t belong here”. Even though DXHR is a story based game first, the gameplay was not forgotten. Mechanics fit together perfectly and not one augmentation overpowered. The level design takes all augmentations you could use in consideration, it’s just up to the player to find out what works best for them. Alice Garden Pods and the missions that take place there are just a small portion of the game, and the elements talked about in this piece translate over to the rest of the games levels.

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References
Donatelli, M 2012, ‘Level Design Review of Deus Ex: Human Revolution’, Gamasutra, viewed 22 November 2017, <https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/MatthewDonatelli/20120118/90927/Level_Design_Review_of_Deus_Ex_Human_Revolution.php>.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution 2011, Square Enix, Eidos Montreal, Deus Ex Wiki, viewed 22 November 2017, <http://deusex.wikia.com/wiki/Deus_Ex:_Human_Revolution>.

Phil Lube 2012, Deus Ex Human Revolution – Dev Diary SOUND DESIGN, YouTube, viewed 22 November 2017, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGiFzS8F8QA>.

Lapikas, F 2012, ‘Reimagining a Classic: Deus Ex: Human Revolution’, GDC, viewed 22 November 2017, <https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1015489/Reimagining-a-Classic-The-Design>.

Videos;
Xtr33mm 2011, Deus Ex: Human Revolution Walkthrough – Part 27 – Meet Van Bruggen, Youtube, viewed 21 November 2017, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC4q0XBwPzw>.

Xtr33mm 2011, Deus Ex: Human Revolution Walkthrough – Part 28 – Escaping The Pods, YouTube, viewed 21 November 2017, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyq5tR0wXsM>.

Images;
Figure 01, Alice Garden Pods 2011, Deus Ex Wiki, viewed 20 November 2017, <http://deusex.wikia.com/wiki/Alice_Garden_Pods>.

Figure 02, Turbin95 2011, Deus Ex Human Revolution Alice Garden Pod Escape, YouTube, viewed 23 November 2017, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0Wj1iNsFKA>.

Figure 03, Alice Garden Pods 2016, GameBanshee, viewed 22 November 2017, <http://www.gamebanshee.com/deusexhumanrevolution/walkthrough/alicegardenpods.php>.

Figure 04, Niliana Bloodbound 2015, “The Nexian Markets” Gole Standt’s Skyplot, Wildstar Forums, viewed 22 November 2017, <https://forums.wildstar-online.com/forums/index.php?/topic/148380-the-nexian-markets-gole-standts-skyplot-another-creation-by-niliana/>.