Deus Ex: Human Revolution lead writer discusses cut content

Posted January 29, 2012 by Joannes Truyens in News.

Mary DeMerle, lead writer on the successful Deus Ex: Human Revolution, has shed some light on the content that had to be cut due to time constraints.

Do you know who the two people up there are? They are Jaron Namir and Yelena Fedorova, two of the antagonists in Deus Ex: Human Revolution. The game’s boss fights were universally disliked because they didn’t offer the same breadth of choice that the rest of the game did (they weren’t developed by Eidos Montréal but outsourced to a different developer), but a less-heard critique was the lack of information and characterisation that was available on the people you were actually fighting.

For all intents and purposes, they were simply ‘bad guys’ whose characterisation was shooting protagonist Adam Jensen in the face. But who are they really? What motivates them? What are their flaws? Besides getting their asses handed to them by even a stealth-focused Jensen, I mean. Did you even know they called themselves ‘the Tyrants’? Did you know their names?

Lots of it was left unexplained, but this wasn’t intended by Eidos Montréal. On the studio’s Tumblr page, where fans can directly ask questions, lead writer Mary DeMerle has offered some insights.

One question involves the lack of information on the Tyrants, to which DeMerle answers: “Our original intention was to enable players to learn more about [them] by exploring specific locations and finding books, emails, and/or characters who might be able to tell you more about them.”

This included a mission set inside the Belltower headquarters (a mercenary organisation of which the Tyrants were a part) and a complete hub level in Montréal. “Unfortunately, late in production we realized we had to scale back, and both of these locations got axed. By then it was difficult to find places where it made sense to uncover this information, so it ended up getting cut,” says DeMerle.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution featured two fully explorable hub levels set in Detroit and Hengsha. Montréal was supposed to be a third hub, but ended up being reduced to a single level set around newscaster Eliza Cassan (pictured below). “We also planned a more extensive mission in the city of Montréal, where you would discover a lot more information about Eliza,” DeMerle adds.

It’s worth noting that ‘Deus Ex: Icarus Effect’, a tie-in novel penned by one of the game’s writers, offers a lot more information on the Tyrants and characterisations of each member. It’s a great read if you’re looking to soak up every bit of information on the Deus Ex lore.

Perhaps some of this content may return in later DLC releases. People assumed that such was the case for ‘The Missing Link’ DLC (which our own Greg Giddens awarded an 8.3 out of 10), but Eidos Montréal have stated that it was entirely original and not simply content that was left on the cutting room floor.

If any more news or insights become available on Deus Ex: Human Revolution, you can read about it here at BeefJack!

Tagged as Cut Content, Deus Ex, Deus Ex : Human Revolution, DLC, Eidos Montreal, Mary DeMerle, Writer