Deus Ex Go
A turn-based puzzle game set in the Deus Ex universe.
Deus Ex Go is a 2016 turn-based puzzle video game in the Deus Ex series, developed by Square Enix Montréal. It follows the format of earlier Go series titles by distilling major series motifs into touchscreen puzzle gameplay, and introduced an in-game story and puzzle creation mode. The game was later removed from app stores in 2023 before being made available again in 2024.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Square Enix Montreal
- Publisher
- Square Enix
- Series
- Deus Ex
- Engine
- Unity
- Platforms
- Android
- iOS
- Windows
- Windows 10 Mobile
- Released
- 18 August 2016
- Genre
- Puzzle
- Modes
- Single-player
Facts from the source article.
Development
Deus Ex Go distills core gameplay from the Deus Ex series for turn-based touchscreen puzzles, following the premise of earlier Go titles. The development team combined employees from Hitman: Sniper and the Go series, aiming to resolve philosophical differences between indie and AAA traditions. The team asked whether Go elements felt like they belonged to Deus Ex, sampled hacking mechanics before settling on terminals that modify puzzles, and added a narrative for the first time in the Go series. Player choice from the main series did not translate well to mobile. Tools for puzzle construction nearly tripled output compared to prior games, enabling post-release puzzles and a player creation mode that launched two months after release. Designer Étienne Giroux compared the daily puzzle release with progressive difficulty to New York Times crossword puzzles. Square Enix stated the puzzles were more difficult than previous Go games, and the grid uses hexagons instead of squares. The game was announced before E3 June 2016, released August 18, 2016 for Android and iOS, later ported to Windows and Windows 10 Mobile, and a documentary video on development was released.
Reception
The game received generally favorable reviews according to Metacritic. Critics wrote that it captured the cybernetic dystopia of Deus Ex and the brain-teasing puzzles of the Go series. Compared to other Go entries, reviewers found the story lackluster, the aesthetic less visually interesting, and the length shorter. Some reviewers tired of the Go series, while others felt it continued high standards. IGN and TouchArcade appreciated the mechanic of determining how to use a hack or drone to slip past enemies. IGN found puzzles somewhat harder than predecessors but resolvable after breaks. Minimalism caused complications: some solutions depended on unintuitive experimentation, such as the invisibility device also serving as a projectile, and visual cues were lost in the presentation. TouchArcade questioned whether the simplified environment was aesthetic or cost-saving. GameSpot was disappointed by paid puzzle solutions in a short game about discovering solutions independently. Compared to the main series, experimentation in Deus Ex Go is limited to finding the right answer rather than multiple routes.
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