Deus Ex (2000) is an iconic PC game, and (along with System Shock and Thief) is responsible for establishing the underrated immersive sim genre of games.
The original was followed by the less popular Deus Ex: Invisible War in 2003, before Eidos-Montreal revived the series after an 8-year hiatus with Human Revolution in 2011. The duology was completed with Mankind Divided in 2016, and the series has since been dormant, aside from current media development.
In a world where many publishers consider new intellectual property too risky, it's strange that the series with Deus Ex's name recognition hasn't been dusted off for a 2020 reboot. the reason? Well, according to Elias Toufexis – the actor behind Human Revolution / Mankind Split hero Adam Jensen – it's because the owners of the license are “psychopaths” (thanks, FRVR).
No love lost for the Embracer group
This came about when Toufexis posted a preview of the projects he sees in 2026. The image showed Bungie's marathon and three projects currently under NDA, leading one respondent to speculate that Toufexis might appear in the new Deus Ex. The actor's reaction was strong.
“… No Deux Ex because the people responsible are psychopaths,” the actor wrote. Eidos-Montréal owns Deus Ex, and the studio is in turn owned by the mega-holding company Embracer Group. The latter is controversial in the industry for rapidly buying up studios, implementing cost-cutting measures and producing very little final product despite the resources available to the company.
Ranking the surprisingly small number of existing Deus games
The back is quite small with immersive seams on it.
Between 2002 and 2004 Eidos-Montreal had a new Deus Ex project in development, although Toufexis (and consequently Adam Jensen) was not involved. The project was eventually canceled by Embracer, resulting in 172 people being fired from the studio in the following months.
In a Reddit post in 2024, Toufexis gave his outside perspective on the canceled project, writing, “I'm relatively certain the game that was canceled wasn't Adam Jensen's story, so the cancellation annoys me more than anything else because the guys at Eidos got fired. Video game companies are in a weird place right now. I hope it works out.”
The layoffs likely contributed to Toufexis' feelings toward Embracer, and he's not alone in harboring resentment toward the company.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
- issued
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August 23, 2011
- ESRB
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M for Mature: Blood, drug references, intense violence, sexual content, strong language, use of alcohol
- developer(s)
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Eidos Montreal
- Engine
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Crystal Engine
