Rock, Paper, Shotgun

(Thi4f? 4FS.) The giant rumour-phone they call the Internet has been a-rumbling with Thief 4 noises for many months now, and so it seemed certain the announcement was imminent. Naturally RPS’ enormous BFG-like ears had long ago picked up concrete information, but we couldn’t confirm it. Now we can. Confirmed. The press release (in full below) reports that the game is still at a very early stage, and is being developed by Eidos Montreal, who are also handling Deus Ex 3. They’re looking for new staff, too. Talk about labouring under the weight of expectations, eh readers?
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As three-quarters of RPS quietly recover from the Thinkosium, this brought a smile to our collective faces as we tried to work out how to remove cheese from the floor our of my oven. In a move which I have to assume will be rejected as another half-baked notion by AIMs, Eidos Montreal send Bethesda a cake to congratulate them on shipping Fallout 3. Bless.

More on the Thinkosium in a bit. In short: THIS WAS A TRIUMPH, etc.

God bless Future Publishing’s bizarre self-cannibalisation. PC Zone might be currently carrying the world exclusive first Deus Ex 3 preview, but CVG has kindly summarised the most important bits for everyone to see. Hooway!

As widely speculated, it’s a prequel, which may mean the arguably over-exposed Denton lineage is left well alone. Or alternatively that its backstory is further filled in, as the protagonist’s forename ‘Adam’ is unlikely to have been one chosen lightly. Here’s the basic plot setup:

You’re cast as average joe Adam Jensen, who works as a private security officer at a technology lab specialising in biomechanical augmentations, a forerunner to the sort of nanotechnology shown in the original Deus Ex. One day the path of his life is unexpectedly altered as a team of black ops commandos break into his company’s HQ, and using a security plan from Jensen’s own hand, a mass slaughter ensues and the conspiracy begins.

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Robert Farr forwarded this to me, thinking it interesting, but not RPS worthy. He has fatally over-estimated our standards. Eidos Montreal’s Senior Character Artist gave a presentation at SIGGRAPH (No, me neither) which included two slides with Deus Ex 3 relevant details. A gun and a building. We can exclusively reveal that Deus Ex 3 will include guns and buildings. You heard it here first, unless you read it on the Eidos Forums. Then you heard it here second.

This reminds me of the time when I wrote a PC Gamer six page cover feature about Deus Ex: Invisible War, and the only game-assets we had to illustrate it was a render of a toilet.

Another interesting one. As well as joining the Thief 4 speculations, the French-Language site Denis-Talbot has scooped the world by showing the first Deus Ex 3 concept art. Well, strictly speaking, there was art in the teaser trailer, but this is a stand-alone image of some kind of future-lab. More analysis beneath the cut.
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Okay, this is an interesting one. A couple of days ago Eidos Montreal lobbed up a notice they were now recruiting staff to work on their new game. To quote the statement from their site: “Eidos-Montréal is proud to announce the recruitment for our 2nd “AAA” project. … A hint! The title begins with the letter “ T”.” Which doesn’t mean much until you notice – as a forumite of theirs did – the previously existing line on their site here: “The first two games we develop will revive successful franchises.” With the Montreal Studio already at work on Deus Ex 3, it’s an easy leap to the further adventures of Mr Stealy rather than the further adventures of the-also-Eidos-Owned-Terracide. Or, less facetiously, they could be Tomb Raider… but that franchise doesn’t need reviving. Let’s be honest: It’s almost certainly Thief. They wouldn’t have said the teasing “T” otherwise.

[Thanks to Comrade Larington for the heads up]

1UP have the first proper interview with Eidos Montreal about Deus Ex 3. Phillip Collar talks to their General Manager Stephane D’Astous about the project. It’s an interesting interview, with much to think about. I’m sure the details will be picked over by Deus Ex fans. For example, this is fascinating…

And just one more example of how we’re trying to be transparent: this Saturday in Montreal, we’re opening our doors to do an Open House. We’re inviting the public, the families of the employees, and even the competition to come walk through our studios and see what we’re all about. In the future, if there are some fans that would like to come down to Montreal for whatever reason and go through our studio, it would be our pleasure to organize something. We really want to work closely, not behind closed doors.

Alas, that’s the Saturday that’s just gone otherwise we’d have worked out if any RPSites were in Montreal and sent an agent.

So, we’re going to have a Deus Ex 3 then. As our hefty thread suggests, it’s something we’re all going to be interested in. In fact, with Bioshock 2 at least a couple of years away, this is the next hope for a hefty immersive sim. And we don’t know anything about it.

Except that’s not true. There’s clues out there and I thought a post which actually drags everything together in one place could be useful. From what I can see, there’s three major areas, and we’ll explore each beneath the cut. One, the absolute surface level. Second, the stuff which is buried a little. And thirdly, what we actually know about the developers – which is more than you may expect.

All beneath the cut, obviously. I suspect this may ramble. Oh – some spoilers for the first two games too.
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