Deus Ex Almost Failed to Be Made
Deus Ex, considered the pioneer of the immersive sim genre today, was born in the mid-1990s as a rather unusual idea. Warren Spector first presented this project to Origin Systems in 1994 under the name “Troubleshooter”, but it did not find enough support from the team. The fact that it was neither a pure FPS nor a traditional RPG led to no one being able to clearly define the project.
Deus Ex Changed the Game When the Time Came
Warren Spector says in an interview that he was tired of the classic RPGs and typical alien invasion games of the time. However, the new project he presented with the lead character “Jake Shooter” caused great confusion in the team. This hybrid system, which included the use of weapons on one hand, and stealth and role-playing elements on the other, was too innovative for the gaming concept of the time.
Even the Thief developers opposed Spector with arguments such as, “If you give the player a gun, they won’t be able to hide.” Spector states that he received many “No” answers when presenting Deus Ex, but ultimately did not give up on his vision. The project was reshaped when John Romero brought it to Ion Storm in 1997, and the game finally came to life.
Deus Ex, which was released in 2000, quickly became a legend. The freedom granted to the player, the storytelling and the transitions between systems inspired many modern games. As Spector said, when you give the player a gun, they don’t just shoot; sometimes they just stack boxes. This has gone down in history as part of the creative freedom that Deus Ex brought to the gaming world.
