The Subtle Charm of Deus Ex: Invisible War
We do not speak of Deus Ex Invisible War.
This is what you will be hearing most of the people who have played the franchise say. I’m one of the rare few people who actually love the game. So much that I decided to replay it recently, after more than two years. However, I’m not writing here the love of my game, rather how it makes me feel that I keep coming back to it.
DX:IW has always felt very bleak and dreary to me. The world feels very lonely, the nights gloomy and then there’s always the impending threats from opposing factions. Impending threats to the magnitude of entire city of Chicago getting decimated at the start of the game.
The events of Deus Ex triggers a social and economical depression. Something which was so significant that ‘The Collapse’ is something you hear every other person say. It leads to a massive divide among the rich and the poor. The Illuminati rises to power by forming two groups with opposing ideas and beliefs.
Deus Ex IW addressed religion in a very interesting way. It’s certain that we cannot rid the world of religion. Mankind is curious by nature and begs for a higher power. Religion is something which will always stay with us. Even if we find the answers to the all the unanswered questions in the universe, religion will not go away because of the political power it holds. Here is where the Order Church comes in. Overseen by the Illuminati from the shadows, The Order unifies all the religion to one. In hindsight, it’s a very brilliant move and even in real life, this is what could actually happen. Although it’d take something as catastrophic as the The Collapse to trigger it.
Air traffic is non existent in the post-collapse world. Instead of commercial flights, there are only chartered flights. Weapons utilize universal ammo where one type of ammo can fit multiple weapons. The arms industry is led by Mako Ballistics with zero competition. There is a universal police system called the SSC with units deployed throughout the world.
The society in DX:IW feels like it has reached it’s peak, but with the feeling that something is wrong. Can mankind progress after this? It feels like we have formed the perfect government but still poverty and suffering continues to exist.
The only solution the game sees is society being ruled by an all-power all-seeing AI. At the end of the game, if you choose the Helios ending, JC Denton infuses the world with biomods enabling him to oversee each and every single person in the world. A post-human civilization where privacy ceases to exist.
DX:IW shows JC Denton as a metaphor for God. When you see JC frozen in stasis, he is not stored in some pod, rather he is frozen inside a glass monolith surrounded by white light. As a ruler, he does what a hypothetical God is supposed to do. Just like a benevolent God, he is overseeing. Unlike the other factions who wanted to seize power, he does not want to eliminate any of them, like he says in game
‘I have no enemies, merely topographies of ignorance ’
I like to believe that mankind reaches it’s peak after choosing the Helios ending. Throughout history we have seen the countless murders, genocides, pain and suffering.
‘The old answers to tyranny are inadequate.’
The world needs a benevolent ruler who is free from all the flaws of mankind. Once it has that, we can only have limitless progress.
