14 DAY TRIAL // As I have previously chronicled in this series of Gamer Diaries about Deus Ex: Human Revolution, the game seems to nudge players towards playing a stealthy and hacking oriented versions of the main character, one which moves around without being noticed, finds out all information from computers and executes non-lethal attacks on all those (be they friendlies or enemies) who happen to see what the main character is up to.
My Adam Jensen tends to be a lethal, walking suit of derma armor and high powered weaponry, and he often gets mocked for lacking any subtlety by my colleagues here at Softpedia, who often take the time to argue while using those super-arms for non-lethal takedowns, with some help from tranquilizers and stun guns, is the superior approach.
And then I took the time to enter a building and, in a controlled environment, try out the various animations that are associated with the non-lethal takedowns (meaning those who do not involve Adam Jensen pulling out those awesome blades).
I must confess that most of them looked pretty serious and, if applied in the real world by a half cyborg who has arms that can actually punch through walls, would result in the death of those affected or them living their entire life with a handicap.
Add to this the fact that most non-lethal attacks are just the first step in a process which also involves dragging corpses in ventilation space or behind dumpsters in urban areas, pretty much guaranteeing that no one will find them too soon.
The bottom line is that, despite what Deus Ex: Human Revolution tells the player, the so called non-lethal takedowns are just as violent and could have the same results (aka death) of using firearms or other assault means.
I started playing Deus Ex a bit ashamed of my violent, intrusive ways but a little theoretical thought about non-lethal takedowns has quickly shown me that the game makes little difference between violence and its absence.