"Sometimes, you just have to let go, and embrace what you've become."
— Adam Jensen
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Trailers
- In summary, everything Jensen does in the trailer. The man is a walking moment of awesome.
- Upon witnessing a group of cops brutally beating an augmented man in of the segregated ghettos- the man's pleas for help triggering memories of Megan and the assault on Sarif Industries two years prior- Adam decides to intervene, flicking his cigarette to the pavement and stamping it out as he goes invisible. Everything after that is just Adam utterly curbstomping these assholes.
- He arrives by sending one flying before decloaking, then hoists another officer by the neck and tosses him into one of his pals, blocks several punches from two more while stabbing them in key muscles with his nano-ceramic blades, takes out two hovering security drones, and then KOs the previous guys' reinforcements with a P.E.P.S. gun mounted in one of his cyberarms. He then stands up, silhouetted by a structure in the background that makes him look like a guardian angel (or Icarus), punctuated by the above quote.
- What's even better is that he could have killed the offending officers in question, but he didn't. You look at how he dispatches them, and it's clear he uses non-lethal tactics throughout the fight, only taking out his firearm to destroy the security drones. He's a walking death-machine, but he knows that killing them won't solve anything, and that it will only reflect badly on the transhuman population in general. It's as though, by not killing them he's saying, "You're not worth it. We're better than this, better than you."
- His assault on the terrorist cell is another moment that deserves mention. He infiltrates their hideout using the stealthy approach at first, showing off another new augmentation- his knuckle-mounted taser darts- that takes out one of the sentries (again, using non-lethal tactics). Upon presumably being spotted, he takes down the resistance swiftly and decisively, using his arm-blades, silenced pistol, and a new augmentation for the aforementioned blades to pin a terrorist to a wall from a distance.
- And then he takes the fight directly to the terrorist leader, Viktor Marchenko- who is in the middle of a long-winded monologue at the time- by charging at him in a halo of electromagnetic energy and slamming into him like an augmented freight-train, with enough force to send him flying. Then he whips out his blades and starts hacking the surrounding terrorists to pieces with swift, fierce, brutality.
- Even more impressive is how he accomplishes the aforementioned feat, which has even more awesome implications should this be a potential gameplay mechanic. By presumably using his Icarus Landing System augmentation to charge up an artificially generated electromagnetic energy field, and then releasing it behind him in a burst (rather than directing it beneath him as is its intended use for slowing his descent), he effectively turns himself into a human cannonball. And yes, this will be usable in the game itself. We have just witnessed the Deus Ex variation of the Biotic Charge (or perhaps more accurately, the Nova Strike).
- The part where Ivan Berk, who doesn't look older than maybe 27, walks through a crowd of people, quickly looks back and grins as an explosion sets off. Just who is this guy?
- At the end of the trailer, Jensen activates nano-armor for the first time. It might have just been a cool moment for new players or those who only played Human Revolution, but for fans of the original Deus Ex, it was a Wham Shot, showing just how far technology has come since HR and how close it's getting to the first game.
- To celebrate the occasion of the original game's 15 anniversary Eidos Montreal released an animated trailer
which shows the most memorable scenes from each of the games before. From the destroyed Statue of Liberty from the first game to the destruction of Chicago from IW and the riots outside Sarif Industries from HR you get to see it all, and all of it topped off by Michael McCann's epic score and a voiceover narration which explains just how series works:Adam: The opportunists of the new world controlled and manipulated us, preying on our desire to be extraordinary and free. God, they claimed, was a dream of good government; a dream distorted by insatiable greed. Ever watchful, theirs is the invisible hands, tugging at the threads of fate, clouding the truth in a smokescreen of lies. Against such power, we may feel insignificant, but with open eyes, we are not defenseless. In the chaos of this rising conflict, every action has consequence. There are countless ways to fight those who wield influence as their weapon of choice. - There is also a 101 trailer that has Adam performing many awesome feats:
- Like utterly destroying enemy mooks while searching for Talos Rucker both lethally and non-lethally.
- Or intimidating a taskforce member that tries to intimidate him:
MacReady: Not gonna go all wonky on us now, hanzer. Are ya?
Adam: Well, if I do, MacReady... *draws a nanblade and harmlessly pokes MacReady in the shoulder* I guarantee you'll never see it coming.- Or performing Leap of Faith from a helicopter! Icarus Landing System must have taken an upgrade in between the games.
- Or shooting down a grenade mid-flight!
- And the very premise of trailer — Adam is hunting for truth on his own. He is not Sarif's lap dog anymore, he is not chasing dead ends and dead scientists, he is taking the fight back to Illuminati and he is not going to stop.
- And a bit of Fridge Brilliance as an icing on the cake? It turns out Adam Jensen possesses «a full set of cutting-edge experimental Augs» hidden within military enhancements he got installed in the first game. And there was only person that could install these Augs into Adam without him knowing... Man, David Sarif must have really enjoyed augmenting Jensen beyond what was necessary.
- In game however, it really is Jossed that David Sarif was involved in giving Jensen his new augmentations as it was hinted at being experimentation done by the Illuminati sometime after his retrieval from Panchaea, but it isn't made any less awesome because it comes off as more of a Hoist by His Own Petard moment given that Adam now uses their technology gifted to him against them.
The Game
- The fact that Adam Jensen and David Sarif both survived the events of the previous game.
- A retroactive one for Deus Ex: The Missing Link where Adam gathers a bunch of information on Belltower to deliver to the authorities. Given Belltower is the Illuminati's go-to Private Military Contractors, you'd think the Council of Five would cover for them. In fact, as confirmed by Deus Ex: Black Light, Belltower was destroyed by the scandal. It is one of the few clear victories Adam has had against the Illuminati.
- Undermined somewhat when you find out that, by "destroyed", they really just fired all of their aug personnel, sold off their shady Special Ops division wholesale to a private buyer (to become the Illuminati's dedicated Shadow Operatives) and re-branded what was left as "Tarvos Security Services". And while Tarvos does everything it can to distance itself from its past life as Belltower, it is very much a case of "New name, same 'friendly' service" with them. The Illuminati may have been beaten, even dented, but definitely not slowed.
- Combined with a Heartwarming Moment, it's canon that Adam saved Faridah Malik's life.
- In the older sense of the term, there's a moment after the bombing where Adam tries and fails to save some kid's mom buried in the rubble. All we see is her grabbing his hand, and then she goes limp. As Adam slowly rises, his shades snap closed, and he looks like he wants to kill someone.
- Jensen's new experimental augs are as awesome as they are devastating. Shooting electrodes at enemies, turning your left arm into an Arm Cannon, or shooting the blades out of your forearms into enemies to impale them are awesome, as are the agility-based Icarus Run aug and the defensive Titan Armor that covers you in digitally-created metallic shells.
- Calling the cops on Drahomir in The Golden Ticket. There's something incredibly satisfying and ironic about his Karmic Death, watching the police slaughter his gang.
- The nonviolent ending to the Last Harvester questline. Admittedly this is listed under the page for heartwarming moments, but it deserves a special mention for how awesome it feels. You've made your way to a sweet young woman severely hurt by Tai Yong Medical and turned into a monster. Sure, there's a boss fight if you choose the violent path, but it feels so awesome if you manage to convince Cipra to get off his lying ass and give you the shutdown phrase, then talk down The Harvester. Nobody else dies, Montag doesn't try to kill you after suspecting you of being The Harvester, (this happens if you kill or knock out the Harvester) and the Harvester just might be on the road to recovery. And you can get payback against Tai Yong Medical and The Illuminati. While there's many missions that end in satisfying violence, (i.e, calling the cops on Drahomir) this one truly does prove that the best vengeance is living well, and make you feel like a Badass Pacifist.
- The side mission 01011000, a strange mix of Heartwarming/Tear Jerking/Awesome. Basically, you come in contact with AI that was formed out of digital leftovers of Hyron drones and Eliza Cassan. Not the Picus replacement of Eliza — your Eliza. Following the sidequest, you get to help her by dealing with Morgan Everett's henchmen, getting the tools she needs to reach integrity and giving her some advice on what should she do in the world.
- Even better? The last part of this quest is one of the most emotional moments in the entire game.
- Eliza gets a chance to return Adam's favor during the curfew by blowing up a few police cars to clear his way through the blockade. Pretty impressive for her, considering she originally wasn't designed for anything more than spinning the news, and even Helios never did much more than "change some codes and turn out the lights."
- In the final mission, you can save Miller, Brown, and the UN delegates as well as stop Marchenko from bombing hundreds of innocents - all you need to save Miller is the Orchid antidote, but getting to the delegates and stopping Marchenko requires that you get to both fast. Bonus points if you do this without any of the ordinary convention goers becoming aware that something is amiss.
- Relatedly, this is one of the few times in the whole series where you can earn an unambiguously happy ending. Sure, the Illuminati are still out there and the course is still set for the first game, but victory sure is sweet while it lasts.
- While the game's plot was deemed by many to be somewhat disappointing, people have discovered some unmarked plotlines in-game; you probably won't even realize that they exist on the first playthrough. First, there is the Jensen Clone theory, which relies heavily on a barely visible body inside an unmarked container in a mission you may never play. Second, there's a garage full of pictures of Adam and his allies hidden in the city. Third, an unnamed red-haired woman appears in several locations throughout the story. Why is she watching over Adam? Why is there a Room Full of Crazy hidden inside a garage? Are the previous two related? Why are there 2 Adam Jensens, one of whom is dead and possibly the original? The devs manage to add a ton of Paranoia Fuel, which fits the world of Deus Ex perfectly.
DLC
- In System Rift, Adam can break into the most secure data storage facility in the world and pull off an information heist equivalent to raiding Fort Knox. This includes not only defeating their top notch security (some of which can defeat stealth techniques) but also rescuing Pritchard when he gets captured by the system. The after result? Exposing all of the organization's many secrets to the world and potentially weakening the Illuminati as a whole.
- In A Criminal Past we find out when Adam went undercover in a maximum security prison for Augs. Despite being stripped of his Augmentations, Adam is able to not only discover the undercover operative there but navigate a Prison Riot, solve a murder, and crack an Organ Theft harvester ring in the process. The fact Adam is able to do all of this with an army of security personnel, robots, and drones plus an angry prison population means he's a rival to Solid Snake in terms of skillful maneuvering.
- Solving the murder is especially noteworthy as Adam gathers evidence throughout his journey through the prison and successfully interrogates the killer while poking holes in his story while breaking him out of solitary confinement. There's even an Achievement for this, called "Objection!" after the Ace Attorney series.
- In the course of the mission, Adam is presented with a couple of means of at least partially restoring the functionality of his augmentations - a pill concocted by a doctor-turned-inmatenote and a specially modified biocellnote . Finding the operative and escaping the prison alive amidst all that is going on inside is impressive enough with functioning but compromised augmentations. Doing so without taking either opportunity, without any functioning augmentations at all? That's a feat worthy of its own achievement - "Winners Don't Use Drugs (or Biocells)".
