The soundtrack really shines, however, in those moments when it becomes clear that the movie has become a video game. There’s certainly a sense of playing a game that’s trying to be a movie, and the soundtrack is appropriately movie-like even with the electronic elements that are introduced. None of the extra elements seem out of place, but they’re not surprising, either this isn’t like hearing Bastion‘s soundtrack for the first time and realizing your were playing a game that features raga alongside metal guitars and you didn’t even realize it. Loads and loads of string instruments playing slow, extended passages in appropriately minor key signatures make up the majority of what’s here, with the occasional splash of drums for the sake of modernization or vaguely world-music vocalisations for the sake of globalization. Perhaps it’s too obvious to say that the soundtrack for Human Revolution sounds, um, soundtracky, but that’s the immediate impression. Still, it’s nice to be able to listen to the soundtrack without the distraction of all that pesky, you know, gameplay.
This is a stealth game, after all, so the music can’t get in the way of the environment still, it is certainly present, and if you press yourself to hear it, it’s pretty impressive. Mostly, the music of Human Revolution slips by, increasing in intensity as the action gets heavier, content to lie still in the moments of quiet. Its sense of tension was so great that you’d be forgiven for not having noticed the music. It inspired tension like few games before it, and the vast majority of it bore the prestigious Deus Ex name surprisingly well for a 2011 triple-A title. Set in a dystopian world in which an ongoing controversy over the ethics of human augmentation is the driving political and populist force, Human Revolution had a knack for instilling a quiet sense of dread and fear in the player, with the odd moment of pulse-pounding sprinting or gunplay. The majority of the game was brilliantly done, however - the stealth mechanics required patience and skill, and the quickness of death once the player was spotted actually meant that a baddie with a pistol could be intimidating. You know you’re doing something right when you can make an audio track called “Main Menu” a riveting, touching piece of music.ĭeus Ex: Human Revolution was one of the most talked about gaming experiences of last year, an exercise in stealth whose fatal flaw was its willingness to abandon that mechanic for three excruciating boss fights.
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