Give Me Deus Ex is a large-scale modification for Deus Ex. It updates and refines nearly every aspect of the game with the goal of retaining its core design philosophy. Rated 9.5/10 on ModDB and winning the site’s Mod of the Year award in 2014, GMDX is considered by many to give players the “Definitive Deus Ex Experience”.
GMDX offers new player mechanics, refined AI behavior, reworked weapon mechanics, balanced RPG elements, enhanced artistic direction, expanded level design, overhauled audio design, new interactions and simulated effects, improved user interface, and hundreds of bug fixes. All changes are made in deep consideration of Ion Storm’s vision for the game. A brief overview of features is given below, which is by no means exhaustive.
Features
Artificial Intelligence
Extensive improvements are made to NPC behavior, with consideration to stealth, combat, and believability
Variable NPC senses and reactions based on difficulty. On higher difficulties, NPCs will seek out the player’s location and react to distant sights and sounds
An NPC lays down suppressive fire, a new combat behavior
New alarm dynamics – enemies sound the alarm if dead/unconscious allies are spotted, and some NPCs go straight for the alarm when they spot the player
Greatly improved NPC pathfinding, hazard avoidance, and tactics
Smarter combat behavior, such as shooting destructible cover, laying down suppressive fire, flushing out the player with grenades, and strafing around corners
Expanded behaviors for particular enemies – human enemies have a new melee swipe attack, helmets deflect bullets and can be shot off, dogs aggressively bite and bark to signal their masters, elite MJ12 soldiers employ cloaking, and more
Enhanced Artistic Direction and Level Design
New aesthetic details, textures, and effects breathe life into the world of Deus Ex without changing its artistic identity. Most changes are subtle, enhancing the look and feel of barren locations to bring them up to par
Expansions to the levels are grounded in realism and occasionally offer new paths through levels to increase the value of various skills (e.g. lockpicking, swimming, environmental training)
New Vision textures are employed to increase visual fidelity (optional), as well as a majority of HDTP’s weapon and object models.
Audio Design and New Effects
New ambient sounds enhance the believability of the world
New walk sounds for various surfaces, as well as ladder-climbing sounds and sounds for falling from height
NPCs and JC no longer scream “YARRRGHHH” at every available opportunity
Augmentations, such as Cloaking and Vision Enhancement feature new activation sounds and impressive visual effects
Expanded object physics and simulation details to increase immersion. Breaking objects spawns realistic fragments, shooting water creates splashes, and explosions feature new visceral effects, to name a few
The player can interact with and break objects in real time
New Mechanics
The player can mantle up ledges, making traversal through the game world more natural
The player can assign secondary weapons (e.g. grenades) to
The scope modification allows GEP rockets to be steered remotely, and the laser mod allows them to be guided directly
Holding the left and right lean keys together allows the player to peek over cover
Weaponry
A new weapon description menu displays all applied weapon mods
Overhauled recoil behavior to enhance gameplay and realism
Extensive rebalancing of weapon statistics and attributes
Expanded weapon modding system, with new damage, full-auto, and rate-of-fire mods and weapons accepting a greater variety of mods
New ammo types such as rubber shotgun pellets, armor-piercing pistol ammo, and taser darts
New firing sounds and unique sounds to simulate reloading, dry-firing, etc.
Melee hitboxes are improved to aid takedowns, and ranges are more forgiving for stealth KOs
Tranquilizer darts apply an instant KO effect when hitting enemies in the head
RPG Systems
Perks offer additional depth to Skills
Perks add depth to the skills system. Examples include long-range multitooling, reduced scope sway, shortfuse grenades, and the ability to neutralize poison with medkits.
Revised augmentations to better empower the player. Some augmentations are now passive, requiring no activation, and Synthetic Heart and Power Recirculator activate on a contextual basis. Augs are tweaked where needed, but otherwise retain the core design with meaningful player choice
Rebalanced skills to increase build viability. Swimming is replaced with Athletics, tied to the new stamina system. The new stealth skill helps the player manage the upgraded AI. Environmental Training is tied to a fully-fledged armor system, which enables the player to use and reuse wearable equipment, which has seen a considerable overhaul
Tweakable User Experience
Deeply overhauled difficulty modes offer a range of experiences and challenges. Easy mode features low enemy weapon damage and AI with senses on par with vanilla Deus Ex, as well as a more forgiving weapon accuracy system and more available resources for the player. Realistic mode features punishing damage and robust, perceptive AI. GMDX is designed for new players and veterans of Deus Ex, and players of all skill levels.
A new Hardcore mode offers additional challenge through new AI behavior (e.g. cameras noticing bodies, NPCs reacting when cameras are alerted, heightened awareness and combat ability), a hunger system, higher lockpick/multitool strengths, and forced checkpoint saving
New menu options include real-time inventory, first-person death perspective, autosaving, custom color themes, the ability to reject combat knives when looting enemies, and the ability to disable many of GMDX’s new features (e.g. mantling, new stamina system, reworked headbob effects)
