Deus Ex Diaries Part Fifty-Five (The Fall)

This is my ongoing exploration of the Deus Ex Universe, in release order. Whether you’re a newcomer or an old-goer, I hope to make this something you can read along with and enjoy. This time I finish Deus Ex: The Fall.

On the trail of some black market Riezene, a Belltower pilot named Alex Vega had sent me to find a W.H.O. inspector to warn that his life was in danger…

Heading downtown to Hotel Etrana, I went inside and cautiously looked around the reception area. The person behind the front desk told me that they were fully booked, and when asked told me that the top floor was a restricted area. I did a quick sweep of the lower floor to check for loot and passed a television with Picus News on it. Some prisoners had escaped during a routine transfer to Rikers Island, one of whom was the noted local hacker Nadine Stollock, known as Widow. I had a feeling that I should note that name down.

Locating an elevator, I went upstairs to try and find a way onto the top floor. In the hallway I spotted a breakable wall, so I punched my way through it. There was an electrified floor in front of me, but the ladder directly to my right took me to a lever which deactivated it. Not that it made any difference, as there was only a vent down there, giving me access to someone’s hotel room. There was a safe inside, however, so I hacked it open and grabbed the Rate of Fire upgrade and credits from it.

Heading back to the ladder from earlier, I snuck behind some boxes and overheard a couple of men complaining about having to be here. A ventilation shaft gave me easy access to my target’s room, allowing me to speak to W.H.O. Inspector Stuart St. John without any issues.

St. John was more angry than surprised to see me, then even angrier that I was telling him what he already knew. He had written reports about Reizene being flawed, Belltower was covering it up and disposing of the evidence. However, he revealed that he was being stonewalled from higher up the chain, unable to even get approval to check out Zaaphire Biotech’s Australian facility. So, he was going to send everything over to Picus, for Eliza Cassan to reveal everything on the news.

Suddenly, the window behind him exploded knocking us both off of our feet. Someone dropped into the room and shot St. John before noticing me — and calling me by name. It was Sam Duarte, the man that Saxon had been trying to avenge the death of all this time! He hesitated to shoot me for a moment too long and was told to exfiltrate. He grabbed something from the floor and hopped onto the aircraft as it hovered at the window, leaving me to deal with the bodyguards…

I hid while Saxon called the pilot, Vega, to give her the bad news. Rather than get into a firefight, I decided to sneak out using the ventilation shaft in the bathroom and managed to return to the elevator without being spotted. I used it to reach the ground floor where nobody was after me, so I strolled out the front door. Though Saxon did also call Kelso to warn that the Tyrants were in Panama City and that she should make herself scarce.

I returned to Vega in the Nightshades nightclub where she told me that she was probably going to be somehow framed for this by Belltower. Saxon told her to get in her VTOL and run, but she explained that it was under heavy guard in a Belltower blacksite, hidden in the XNG Data Processing Facility near the L.I.M.B. clinic. Saxon offered to disable surveillance in exchange for a free lift somewhere non-specific. The instant Vega agreed, we overheard someone asking about me and being pointed in our direction.

Since there was a ventilation shaft right next to me, I ducked inside. Someone spotted me before I’d even left the other side of the shaft, so I retreated while they swarmed that end, figuring I could get into another ventilation shaft a short distance away. Except that was the only way I could go, so I had to shoot them all and then get into the shaft… It took me to the basement level which reminded me that there was an office I’d wanted to gain access to earlier, so I broke into it and hacked a safe for a Praxis Kit. Then I hacked a computer which had an email suggesting that the club owner and someone at XNG were in cahoots to “supply” something.

I exited the club through the rear and headed over to XNG. Someone stopped me as soon as I entered and told me to leave. So, instead, I went to the bathroom and found a ventilation shaft. It ended in a large box, but I had the augmentation to move it. However, there were two guards standing nearby who had no intention of moving.

So, I opened up my menu and upgraded my legs with the Movement Speed Enhancer, and my back with the Multiple Take-Down augmentation. I still had one Praxis point left but decided to leave that for now just in case. I knocked out both guards and then hacked a door terminal which took me into an office area. A camera and two more guards posed an obstacle, but I managed to dodge from wall to wall and avoid detection.

The next area was a hallway outside of the security manager’s office, patrolled by multiple guards. I rolled from behind one wall to another one, remaining unseen, and hacked the door in front of me. A security bot waited to be activated, so I had to think about it for a moment. Seeing no alternative, I threw an EMP grenade at its wheels and prepared to shoot people.

After a bit of a firefight, I was free to access the security terminal and deactivate the cameras. Not that it mattered at all, as I had to go through a flickering laser detection grid to access an elevator, and go down into the Belltower base below ground.

My radar showed that there were multiple enemies, and there was a camera directly opposite me as the door opened. Managing to stay hidden, I accessed a storage room which had a ventilation shaft inside. It took me through to the security room with a lone guard who I knocked out. On a whim, I upgraded myself with the Robot Domination augmentation, but the security terminal only let me deactivate the cameras…

Upon leaving the room I knocked out two guards without any hassle, then used another ventilation shaft to get behind a third guard to knock him out too! I unlocked a door marked “Restricted” with the code 4319 that I had found on a computer and noticed some more marks on my radar. Luckily, there was a crate to my right that I could move and gave me access to a ventilation shaft leading into the sleeping quarters. Unfortunately, nobody was sleeping, they were patrolling. And while trying to work out how to knock them out I was spotted, so I had to shoot them all…

Once the coast was clear, I used a nearby security terminal to deactivate the cameras and turn a turret friendly. It killed a final guard in the next hallway, giving me free access to find whatever I could before going through a door past the turret to the helipad area.

Breaking into an office on the left with an Automatic Unlocking Device, I used a security terminal to turn a security bot friendly. Once it had killed everyone, I had a look around finding a firing range and a computer with an email showing the armoury door code, 6006. I made my way there and grabbed some ammo, a grenade, and a weapon upgrade.

Heading into the next area I could see multiple hostiles on my radar, as well as a security bot. I somehow managed to survive shooting all of the men without the bot becoming hostile and attacking me! It took a good few minutes and a number of shotgun shells, but I was finally able to sneak past the bot and into the control room at the far end. A security terminal let me disable the bot and cameras, and the server room next door allowed me to disable security.

Vega told me that she’d pick me up on the roof of Hotel Etana and I went up the elevator. I was able to leave the XNG building without issue and as I walked to the hotel I called Kelso to update her — I was on my way to Australia. I had to discover what Zaaphire Biotech was up to with the Riezene.

As I entered the hotel, Vega called to warn that it had been evacuated. While she was talking, a security guard was telling me that I couldn’t be there. So I hurried past, getting shot once before I could get around a corner. Luckily, I’d accidentally taken some painkillers earlier which had increased my health by over 100, so I was perfectly safe as I entered the elevator and went to one of the upper floors.

Unfortunately, there were plenty of guards as Vega had warned. In fact, she called again as I knocked out a guard and then climbed a ladder. There was a big BoxGuard security bot on the roof, so she was having to circle while I cleared it out. Annoyingly, there was a mine at the top of the ladder which took off some more of my extra health, but nobody was alerted by the big explosion. I managed to silently take down everyone between me and the door leading out to the roof, much to my amusement!

The BoxGuard was on the far end of the roof, and between us were a bunch of Blackwater personnel. I headed to the right and moved a large crate out of my way, then jumped over the barrier so that I was safely behind a fenced-off area. Sneaking along to the far end I was stopped by an electrified floor. Seeing no way to avoid it without getting shot, I opened up my menu and augmented myself a bit more, choosing the Armor Level 2 and EMP Shielding upgrades.

This cleared me to right across the electrified floor and to a security terminal. I turned off the cameras and turned the BoxGuard friendly, then sat back while it shot and blew up the humans. Once the coast was clear Vega could land, and I boarded the VTOL: we were heading for Canberra, Australia. A distance of almost 8,900 miles, commercial flight time of 17 hours…

As Saxon and Vega left Panama City, we got a peek at Bob Page speaking with Jaron Namir, warning that Saxon needed to be eliminated. Sam Duarte stepped forward and promised “Ben Saxon…will die.”...

To Be Continued…

FINAL THOUGHTS

Except not, because that was it! The whole game! It took me just over four and a half hours, and apart from one mention in a book and a line that I might miss in the next game, that’s it for Saxon and Kelso.

Honestly, the game isn’t terrible and is a lot closer to the original Deus Ex than people care to admit. The limited open areas, simplified interface, too-complicated controls, dodgy voice acting, wooden character models… But yeah, clearly I had issues.

All of the cast have been in other things, so I’ve no idea why nobody could act. I know that audio quality can affect file sizes, but acting quality doesn’t affect it one way or the other. Even the tutorial voiceover was robotic, and it wasn’t meant to be! Nobody was apparently coached on pronunciations either.

Also, firing weapons never feels impactful, and I was sure I’d never noticed that sort of thing before. I don’t think the screen shook, now that I think about it…

Anyway, I look forward to the next diary entry, as should you, as I’ll be talking about Deus Ex: Mankind Divided…