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 adapts the cyberpunk-themed series into a touchscreen board game where the player moves protagonist Adam Jensen as a puzzle piece. The game follows the format of Hitman Go and Lara Croft Go, distilling major series motifs into turn-based puzzles, and introduces an in-game story and puzzle creation mode.
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.
Gameplay
The player touches the screen to move Adam Jensen between nodes on a hexagonal grid toward an exit. Jensen can stealthily take down guards, hack computers, and activate augmentations such as invisibility when moved to specific nodes. Enemies that spot Jensen move toward him and eliminate him if they reach his node; Jensen can eliminate enemies by approaching from behind or the side. The story, set before Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, involves Jensen repeatedly trying to save an important person across 54 puzzles. Complexity grows through hackable turrets and platforms, activated by dragging a finger to connect a terminal node to the device. Jensen can store a power-up for two turns of undetected movement, remote terminal activation, or projectile attacks. The main game lasts about three hours, with microtransactions for puzzle solutions. A puzzle design mode lets players create and share single-screen puzzles, with five highlighted weekly. Completing the main story and weekly puzzles unlocks perks in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.
Development
Deus Ex Go was developed by a team split between employees from Hitman: Sniper and the Go series, combining indie and AAA development traditions. The team asked whether Go elements felt like they belonged to the Deus Ex series. They sampled hacking mechanics before settling on terminals that modify puzzles rather than performing single-use kills. A narrative was added, drawing from its importance in the main series. Player choice from the main series did not translate well to mobile. The team invested in tools that nearly tripled puzzle output compared to prior games, enabling post-release puzzles and a player creation tool that launched two months after release. Designer Étienne Giroux compared the daily puzzle release with progressive difficulty peaking on Fridays to The New York Times crossword puzzles. Square Enix stated the puzzles were more difficult than previous Go games, and the game uses a hexagonal grid instead of squares. Deus Ex Go was announced at a press event before the June 2016 Electronic Entertainment Expo and released on August 18, 2016, for Android and iOS. It was later ported to Windows and Windows 10 Mobile, and a documentary video on development was released. Embracer Group, after acquiring Square Enix Montréal, announced the game would be removed from app stores with servers shut down on January 4, 2023.
Reception
Deus Ex Go received generally favorable reviews according to Metacritic. Critics wrote that it captured the cybernetic dystopia of the Deus Ex series and the brain-teasing puzzles of the Go series. Compared to other Go entries, reviewers considered its story lackluster, its aesthetic less visually interesting, and its length shorter. Some reviewers tired of the Go series, while others thought 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 brief breaks. Some solutions depended on unintuitive experimentation, such as realizing the invisibility device also served as a projectile, and visual cues were lost in the presentation. TouchArcade wondered if the simplified environment was an aesthetic choice 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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