Despite it undergoing more changes and hardships than a typical Adam Jensen tune-up over the past decade, Deus Ex is still very much in the minds of its studio. In particular, Eidos Montreal’s Head of Studio, David Anfossi, has been unequivocal about reports of the franchise’s demise.
“Deus Ex is not dead. I confirm that,” Anfossi tells PCGamesN, before laying down the studio’s plans for the foreseeable future: “Deus Ex, of course, it’s the brand of the studio. We are all attached to this franchise, but we cannot do everything, you know? So, we have Shadow of the Tomb Raider, we have this co-development with Crystal [Dynamics] on The Avengers, and we have a third game in development,” Anfossi mysteriously teases.
Deus Ex Mankind Divided and its stellar gameplay did little to augment the lacklustre sales, failing to better or even match Human Revolution and its launch successes. Inevitably, whispers followed and Eurogamer had even reported back in 2017 on the game being “put on hiatus” for the time being.
Though the Deus Ex series may still be on ice – three games is a lot of plates for a studio to spin without having everything come crashing down – it’s nice to see that Deus Ex is still in the thoughts of many. Deus Ex is almost certainly going to get a trilogy-capper to finish off Adam Jensen’s story, one that was left so curiously hanging at the conclusion of Mankind Divided.
As for that mysterious third game that Eidos Montreal are working on. Who knows? It definitely won’t be anything surrounding the Thief series, as Anfossi explains, “For the moment there is no plan around that franchise.” That’s probably for the best. The Dishonored series seems to have stealthily swiped the mantle of sneak-‘em-up king from under the noses of Thief, so some time warming on the bench to build up anticipation can only do it some good.
