Games often try to address philosophical issues; the good ones manage to achieve some degree of nuance or subtlety in the questions they pose while the bad ones beat players over the head with an ideological mallet. Often, the questions that games pose aren’t really that interesting – they’re simplistic examinations of morality on par with what Robert Fulghum learned in kindergarten or elementary school or while sitting on the toilet (which is not to say that they’re wrong, but rather somewhat obvious). And then there’s Eidos’ recent Deus Ex: Human Revolution, a prequel to Deus Ex which offers more complex questions about what it means to be human.

Human Revolution puts players in the augmented skin of Adam Jensen, a former police officer now in charge of corporate security for a company building cybernetic enhancements for human use. After suffering terrible injuries in a terrorist attack on his employer’s headquarters, nearly all of Adam’s body is replaced with mechanical limbs and organs simply to keep him alive. Once Jensen is able to return to work, he’s a man with a mission – to find the people responsible for the attack and bring them to justice … or bring justice to them.

Overall, Human Revolution feels like a familiar game – it’s a first-person shooter with cover and stealth mechanics set in a dystopian future. It plays like the Rainbow Six Vegas or Mass Effect games – players will need to use cover both for protection during combat and stealth, and avoiding combat using less obvious routes to an objective is often the best course of action. The game world seems both oddly prescient and curiously archaic, as imagined futures often do – an early reference to SCSI is a jarring reminder that science fiction set in the near future (Human Revolution occurs in 2027) is often mired in technologies that likely won’t exist or be in common use by then. Likewise, the idea of gangs robbing people specifically to steal their augmentations is entirely plausible – it’s a reasonable extrapolation of behavior we already see.

What makes Human Revolution unique is that it speaks directly to disabled people as it ponders what it means to be human – part of the ongoing in-game debate about augmentations and cybernetically enhancing people is the benefit to disabled folks. Some characters in the game argue that optical implants which restore vision to blind people and cybernetic limb replacements for amputees offer a dramatically improved quality of life for disabled people. Others suggest that the ethical and moral cost of these augmentations reduces people who received them to something less than human, regardless of the reason or motivation. Human Revolution even includes characters for whom being augmented became a disability so severe that they opted to have those devices removed.

Human Revolution looks at this issue from many sides and with many differences and degrees in opinions about the subject. Perhaps more importantly, all Human Revolution does is put ideas forward – it never suggests that one path is better than another. For every example of a social concern that augmentations address, there’s an example of how augmentations may result in something worse. Ultimately, the question boils down to something simple – how much of the human body can be replaced and still be considered human? And this too is an extrapolation – implanted medical devices are common and often save and preserve life, so it’s a future which has already arrived. The question Human Revolution asks is where we draw the line – between human and something else, between a benefit and a disability, between leveraging technology to maximize human potential and abusing technology to become a monster in the process. And that’s if we draw it at all.

Interesting philosophical questions aside, Deus Ex: Human Revolution presents a number of significant accessibility concerns for disabled gamers, which – especially considering that the game specifically discusses disabilities in the debate over augmentation – seems somewhat ironic.



Accessibility Issues / Concerns

Gamers with precision concerns will likely find Human Revolution to be an extraordinarily difficult game at times, even on the easiest difficulty level. Fundamentally, the game relies on cover and stealth mechanics and may require these as part of a mission. In the case of at least one side quest, even being seen by an enemy results in failing an objective. While that doesn’t affect the main storyline and players can complete the game without finishing that mission, it demonstrates how much the game values stealth and using cover.

However, gamers with precision concerns will almost certainly run into trouble with the boss fights. Even on the easiest difficulty, even knowing what gear to take into the fight, even watching instructional YouTube videos, even being on my second playthrough didn’t make those fights any easier or more accessible because they depend entirely on twitch reflexes and precise aiming. The damage that bosses can dish out both in ranged and melee combat simply makes matters worse. And just to add a final bit of injury to insult, the third boss fight occurs after the game instructs players to get a free upgrade to mitigate glitches in an implant. Getting that upgrade makes that fight vastly more complicated because the heads-up display effectively disappears during combat – players don’t get information about ammo or health, and their display makes it harder to see the target (see this YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASvxiOYd6h0).

Keep in mind, each boss fight is especially problematic for gamers with precision concerns – the fight above is just one exceptionally frustrating example. Any or all of these fights may present an insurmountable obstacle for one-handed gamers or gamers with precision concerns and in a year when L.A. Noire focused on the narrative structure of a game to such an extent that Rockstar allowed players to skip failed action sequences, it’s unfortunate that Eidos – even on the Tell Me A Story difficulty setting – did not include a similar accommodation.

While those are the most obvious and critical examples, the rest of Human Revolution is also problematic. In any area where NPCs are hostile, players must use precise timing and motions to avoid detection by cameras, sentry turrets, robots or patrolling NPCs. The hacking mini-game always begins as an untimed event, but when the system detects an intrusion attempt, it becomes a race against time, meaning that players will need to move the cursor over nodes and select them while the system is making nodes take longer to hack, further reducing the available time. Players can select augmentations to reduce the chance of detection and carry software to automatically capture nodes without detection and temporarily stop the system from trying to halt the attack, but it will not eliminate the concern.

Gamers with use of only one hand will likely find many of the precision concerns applicable as well, but Human Revolution offers a few interesting control options which may make this game more accessible than similar titles. Foremost, all aiming is toggled by pressing the right stick. Players don’t have to hold it down, it’s one click to activate it and another to deactivate it. The right trigger controls firing while the right bumper throws grenades or mines. While it should be common sense to either place similar controls on the same side of the controller or allow players to do so, it seems novel that Human Revolution offers only one controller layout, but places those controls on one side of the controller.

Likewise, entering and leaving cover is toggled using the left trigger. Moving while in cover doesn’t pull players out of cover, and players can turn corners or dive to another object by holding or pressing A. Players can blind fire from cover simply by placing the reticle over a target and pulling the right trigger, and can aim from cover by pressing left, right or up on the stick (which can also alert enemies to the player’s presence). While the controller layout is most beneficial to gamers with use of their right hand, it’s somewhat possible – if very awkward – for gamers with use of only their left hand to play the game. Most importantly, the controller layout does not require using every single button all the time. Some augmented abilities are activated using the direction pad, but if players don’t select those abilities, the pad’s controls remain unused. As a general rule, Human Revolution requires using controls in sequence (such as moving behind an enemy and pressing B to initiate a non-lethal takedown, or pressing the right stick to toggle aim, the right trigger to fire and the right stick to toggle aiming off), not pressing buttons and bumpers and triggers at the same time.

Deaf gamers shouldn’t encounter many problems with Human Revolution. The subtitles are letterboxed and displayed in a reasonably-sized sans serif font using white text. The letterbox is gray, so the subtitles don’t have maximum contrast, but it’s more than sufficient. Speakers are not identified in subtitles, but the game typically displays who is speaking and switches to another character when the speaker changes. The game is not closed captioned, but visual cues typically accompany meaningful noises. As one example, mines make a beeping sound but also flash as a warning. In the hacking mini-game, Human Revolution displays a number of visual warnings in addition to audio cues. If the player made patrolling enemies suspicious or alerted them, the radar HUD in the lower left corner of the screen displays their status as well as highlighting the alerted hostiles as yellow icons instead of gray icons. It is difficult to think of an audio element in the game which is not accompanied by a visual warning displayed on-screen in some noticeable way.

Gamers with a form of color blindness will likely encounter some difficulties with Human Revolution since it makes use of the common reticle color change from green to red when targeting friendlies and hostiles. The hacking mini-game uses reds and blues, and most objects are outlined in a yellow-orange color. Cameras have a green ring around them when they aren’t in a suspicious or alerted state and have a red ring around them. Alerted NPCs appear on the radar in yellow-orange and turn red when they have seen the player; NPCs who are not alerted are displayed in gray. This use of color is fairly consistent and can be challenging for players with red-green color blindness.





Mobility: 1.5
Visual: 3
Hearing: 8

My original purchase price: $34.99
Recommended purchase price: $34.99

At A Glance

Precision: Players with precision concerns will need a stun gun in their inventory to have a chance with boss fights, and will need to be aware that quick weapon swapping will likely be necessary. Precise timing and motions are required throughout the game as part of the cover and stealth mechanics which help players avoid taking damage. Aiming and taking cover are toggled options. Recommend rating of 1 out of 10.

Deaf Gamers: The game should not present many obstacles to deaf gamers. Speakers are not identified in subtitles, but it is difficult to think of an audio element in the game which is not accompanied by an on-screen visual cue. Recommend rating of 8 out of 10.

One-handed: The game only offers one controller layout. Players can toggle aiming down iron sights or through a scope by pressing the right stick, while firing is controlled using the right trigger. Players with use of only one hand will likely have many of the same challenges as players with precision concerns. Aiming and taking cover are toggled options which makes it slightly accommodating for gamers with use of only one hand. Recommend rating of 2 out of 10.

Subtitled: The game is not closed captioned. Subtitles are displayed in white text in a dark gray letterbox in a reasonably-sized sans serif font. Audio alerts in the game are typically displayed on-screen, but do not always appear as text. As one example, mines make a beeping sound and flash, but the beeping sound is not noted. Players must see and recognize the visual cue. Recommend rating of 8 out of 10.

Color Blind: The targeting reticle appears green over friendlies and red over hostiles. Hostiles on the radar HUD appear in yellow-orange if alerted and red if they will attack on sight. Security cameras also change from green to red depending on their alert status. Recommend rating of 3 out of 10.

Checkpoint / Save System: The game allows saves on demand at any time and returns players to the exact location where they saved. In addition, Human Revolution periodically autosaves progress upon reaching a certain location in a zone or checkpoint in a quest. Recommend rating of 10 out of 10.