Living up to fan expectations was hard but rewarding

Nov 3, 2011 22:31 GMT  ·  By

Deus Ex: Human Revolution managed to be one of the most interesting launches of the fall, despite the complex gameplay and the need to measure up to its classic predecessor, and one developer says that success was sweet for the team that created the title because of the effort put into its creation.

David Anfossi, who is one of the producers who worked on Deus Ex: Human Revolution, has told EDGE in a post launch evaluation of the game that, “It has been a nightmare, to be honest. We started from scratch. From recruitment to release date, it’s been a nightmare.”

He believes that the game has managed to achieve its goals but that the development process was one of the most complex he was involved with.

Anfossi also addressed the problem of the much criticized boss fights, saying, “We knew that it would be a weakness for the game, that we had to make a compromise to deliver it two levels. First, the boss fights were forced, which is not the Deus Ex experience. Second, there is no mix solutions to tackle the boss fights, which is not Deus Ex either.”

The producer says that the need for compromise led the team to externalize the development of boss fights and says that it will not to do so again and will struggle to find the time to create them in-house.

Deus Ex has long been one of the most revered franchises in the video game world and when the Eidos Montreal studio announced that it was created a prequel a lot of people believed that the game could not measure up to the original.

The producer has not said whether the team is working on more downloadable content for Deus Ex: Human Revolution or whether they are working on a true sequel at the moment.

The game has been very well received critically, getting a Metacritic average which currently sits at 90, and has also managed to sell well.