Before I move onto something new I thought I’d go back and look at the other 2 Deus Ex endings. First off Tracer Tongs. In this ending I have to shut down one of these blue reactors by entering the code I’ve been given, then shut down the reactor coolant, then trek all the way back to the reactors to overload them.

This is arguably a slightly harder endgame than the first one as I need to find a couple of locations while Page is constantly sending creatures and bots at me. It’s not too bad though. I push this button just down the corridor from the blue reactor then start the long trek back.

Page offers me Europe on the way but it’s not very tempting.

The walk back to the reactors goes without incident. I have to climb down to the bottom of each and press a button to stop the fail safes. It’s seriously radioactive down here but my healing skill keeps me alive and I don’t need to conserve energy now.

Then it’s up to the control room and I press every button I see to overload the reactors and blow them up. The mechanic up here takes issue with this and tries to shoot me but I can deal with him easily enough.

The reactors build up power and the end sequence starts.

The net goes down and the new dark age starts. I’m running away from the explosion at the end but there is no indication of whether I survive or not.

This isn’t as satisfying as the first ending and doesn’t feel like much of a solution to the world’s problems to me. How are we supposed to get the cure to people if we can’t talk to anyone. It’s onto the final ending.

In this ending I’ll be joining up with Everett and the Illuminati by killing Page but leaving everything else intact. As the only ending where I actually get to go after Page rather than just leaving him here it’s already got something going for it. I have to shut down all 4 blue reactors this time. After shutting down the second Helios starts sending security bots after me to make life difficult but I have a few EMP grenades left.

The final two reactors are a bit easier. I have a few greys to deal with at #3 but have no problems. Page offers me a place in his company this time around.

The final reactor is in a radioactive area so I activate my healing again before I go in. Now I just have to reroute the power.

Page is still trying to talk me out of it but he’s wasting his time. It’s curious that I don’t get to choose the evil route and support Page with all these endings. I suppose this ties in more with the sort of choices that you would have seen in the Ultima series. You have to make a moral decision but as you are supposed to be a good person you don’t get to take the immoral option if there is one.

To reroute the power I just have to press this button on a panel near Page. That starts the final sequence.

Page dies and the Illuminati take over once again controlling the world with an invisible hand. Everett genuinely seems to have the right motives actually as he talks to Denton in this final sequence and he talks about distributing the cure and guiding the world to the light. Given this the final quote seems a bit out of place as the world is a lot better off than it was before. There is clearly still corruption however as the cure is still being controlled.

I think I picked the right ending the first time around but none of these were bad either. They all have me curious as to what happens next in Deus Ex 2. I seem to remember it picked the Tracer Tong ending to follow on from which is my least favourite of the 3. Since its been sat on my Steam account for about a year unplayed, Deus Ex 2 will be the next game I play on here anyway. I gather it’s much shorter than this which isn’t such a bad thing as you could argue that Deus Ex was a bit too long.

I’ll be finishing Serious Sam HD first which I picked up cheap last week but that doesn’t look like it will take more than a day or two as I’m over halfway through it already. It’s a nice game for £6 but I wouldn’t want to have paid full price.

I’ve been a while getting there but I put in a long session last night and managed to finish Deus Ex. I start out being dropped at the petrol station by Jock. Tiffany is being held hostage here by MJ12 so I need to make a silent approach to ensure her safety.

Some bums are loitering around outside having been kicked out of the station when MJ12 took it over. One of them gives me the sewer key which sounds like a good way to get in. Improbably, Sandra Renton is out here also after a series of misadventures.

The station is on the top of a hill. Unless there is a super jump ability I’ve missed I can’t see any way up there other than the sewers which I now take.

I have to carefully plan my route through the station to get to Tiffany without alerting the guards. I end up climbing onto the roof of the adjacent building and jumping over to the next one so I can drop through a hole in the roof.

I drop into the middle of Tiffany’s guards and take them out in a brief fight before rescuing Tiffany. She gives me directions and plans for the ocean base which will be my next stop. Before then I need to clear any remaining guards so that we can get Tiffany out of here safely.

The plan works and we drop Tiffany off at the air base before I head for the ocean lab.

I find myself at a submarine base. I need to work my way through here to reach a mini sub and take this to get to the labs themselves.

All the time I’m down here I keep getting messages from Helios who also appears to want me to get the UC plans.

A bit of exploring later and I take a long lift down to the crew level.

The UC schematics are guarded by a giant spider bot which I entirely fail to get a screenshot of but I do destroy it at close range with my sword. The trail of bodies around here suggest how dangerous it is but Deus Ex doesn’t appear to concentrate too heavily on combat and by this stage of the game a combination of sniper, assault rifle and nano sword is absolutely lethal in nearly all circumstances. I upload the schematics and we should now be able to build our cure.

Page pops up on the handy communication system and lets me know that Helios intercepted the schematic so they can now fix their own UC. He also points out that he can adapt the virus easily so we would have to keep adjusting the cure.

I’ve got to get all the way out now to meet Jock but I’m going to be entertained on the way by the return of Simons who has just come in on a sub of his own.

I meet up with Simons on the way out of the base. It’s a tough but brief fight. I use the assault rifle on him as he is using a plasma rifle which is far too dangerous for me to attack him at close range. I have to withdraw and use my healing ability after his initial attack but I take him out in the end.

Unlike all the mechs he doesn’t explode but he doesn’t have anything too interesting on him other than his gun which I leave behind. I’ve not invested any skill in heavy weapons so it would probably be wasted if I took this.

I have to take out a diver on the way out. This is the first and only one of these I’ll see in Deus Ex.

I make it to the helicopter but Page has taken desperate measures and is launching a nuclear missile at the Vandenberg base. I have to get out there and stop the launch sequence.

The base is a lot smaller than I was expecting and using the code Page provides me with, I’m quickly in place to abort the launch. After that I then reprogram the missile to point it at Area 51.

Page comes on the air to say we are celebrating prematurely. I get sent to the missile itself to make sure no one interferes with the launch. If Page had just kept his mouth shut he would have been a lot better off.

I’m ambushed on the way to the missile in a long corridor. This is no real challenge as the hoard of troops just rush straight at me. I back off round the corner, toss in a LAM and it takes out all but one of the troops crowded together in the small area. It’s a short walk to the missile bunker from here. There is a guy on a cherry picker who I need to snipe to stop him aborting the missile launch.

Page is still safe in his underground bunker and doesn’t appear to be too worried about Area 51. I meet up with Jock and decide to go straight there to take him out. He takes off as the missile launches behind us.

I’m dropped off at Area 51. Tong is back on my communications and is recovering from the virus. The bunker is protected by as sniper who is very easily taken out and a few bots who are more trouble. The bunker itself has massive blast doors and I’ll need to find a way through these.

I blow up one bot and sneak past another to make my way to a large warehouse. There are a few agents in here around a burning barrel. I snipe two of them quickly and use my sword on the third. This nets me a tower key and I also find and talk to a hiding soldier. He tells me the logon details to open the blast door and that I’ll need to use these at the top of the tower.

I make my way up the tower. The biggest problem here is a cunningly place LAM on the wall near the bottom of the ladder. I can just deactivate it if I jump up but climbing the ladder is certain death otherwise. I use the computer at the top open the blast doors and make my way into the bunker.

When I get in the bunker I have a branching path with a bot on each branch. I have some LAM’s left to deal with the bots, then take the right branch to activate the elevator and go back down the other to ride the elevator down into the bunker. The bunker is huge and I’m going to have to make my way to sector 4 in order to find Page.

I start making my way there and get a talk from Everett via one of the communications systems. I’ll be getting more of these as the game offers me some choices of endings. Everett wants me to destroy Page but save the facility and basically put the Illuminati (with me as a part) back in charge of humanity. This isn’t the most tempting of offers as I don’t know enough about Everett. He doesn’t strike me as entirely selfless. On the other hand he could probably do a better job of running things than the likes of Gordon Brown.

Page is looking a bit different these days and is still confident about my failure. He tells me that he had my parents killed and sends up the guy who did the job in a lift. This is just a standard fight rather than anything unusual.

Tong is the next one who tries to talk me over to his side. He wants me to destroy the entire facility, destroying all world communications in the process. This would lead to a new dark age of sorts but also a chance to rebuild with local government. I’m unclear as to why we would be so unable to communicate just by destroying this facility and it doesn’t bear close scrutiny but the idea is an interesting one. This is a more tempting offer than Everett’s.

I would have to use the reactors to destroy the facility by overloading them and then stopping the coolant flow. I find the coolant pumps but I’d need to do this stage last.

There are aliens with have been grown from DNA from Roswell running around here. They are the alien equivalent of monkeys with no intelligence/education and attack on sight. They die with a single headshot but are quite dangerous in the meanwhile.

Helios wants me to meet with him next. I have no choice as he won’t open the doors until I speak to him so I have to make my way to his location.

The various sides try to talk me over to their viewpoint while I head up to see Helios.

Helios wants to take over the job of governing humanity and is already starting to do it. He wants me to join with his systems so he is able to do the job properly. This is another interesting offer and a dispassionate and rational system to govern may be the best solution on offer. I have to deactivate the router uplink locks if I’m going to go for this option.

This is the option that Page wants for himself so that he merges and rules the world but Helios is adamant about choosing me instead.

Savage is the next one to talk to me as I make my way closer to Page. He is supporting Helios. He says that Helios has already outlawed the Triads and started improving things in Hong Kong and people are actually following its orders. This pretty much makes up my mind that this is the option I’m going to go for.

I get to Sector 4 and find a curious sight of some bodies floating in tanks. One of them is a Denton and Page comes on and says that this is where I was created. I speculated about being created in a tank at the start of a game and it certainly seems to be the case yet there has been a load of talk about my parents, etc. I never really do learn the exact truth of this but these guys in the tanks are fully grown so I think its safe to assume I never had a childhood.

I discover Page, but rather than the expected boss battle, he is hiding himself behind a force field while he prepares himself to merge with Helios. This leaves me free to try to follow whichever of the 3 routes I want but he does have himself tapped into the local UC systems and sends a constant stream of bots and alien hybrids at me while I’m down here.

There is a lot of this level to explore although most of it is optional depending on which of the choices I’m going for. I make my way to the uplink locks and activate them both. There isn’t much resistance once I figure out where they are but I do have to get through a very dangerous electrified area which takes a few attempts.

I now just have to make it back to Helios. The other factions try to talk me out of it on the way but they can’t send any resistance to stop me. I make it to Helios for the final cutscene.

I merge with Helios forming a new life form. I was expecting to be swallowed and lose my physical form but instead I keep my body but gain the power of Helios. I walk out of the chamber ready to rule the world. The game then ends with a very appropriate quote from Voltaire.

It’s an extremely satisfying ending, and the whole later stages of the game have been superb. The levels have been on a much larger scale than anything previously and the choice at the end is genuinely interesting and very much open to debate as to which is the best alternative. This has been a game that started shakily but has grown throughout with every new area being an improvement on what went before. The abilities system also allowed me to adapt the game to suit my style of play. Being able to do this is an impressive feat in itself, especially in a game of this age. The problem with the system is that it just took too long to get going and I might have lost interest in the game early on. The plot certainly got better as I got further but some of the “philosophical” conversations were a joke. You might just about be able to get away with this dialog if its written but having it read out by dodgy actors makes it painfully obvious how real people simply don’t talk like that.

The dialog perhaps tried a little too hard to be serious then, without the writing skill to carry it off. The actual plot was reasonable and above average for a game especially the ending. At no point was I hooked to Deus Ex though and as much as I’ve enjoyed playing through it but it hasn’t grabbed my attention and made me want to play for hours. I’ve also found myself skipping dialog at times or just reading it rather than waiting for people to finish speaking the lines.

The level design improved along with the plot which is what kept me going in this game. While the graphics were never ugly, they really do show their age now but some of the later levels still looked reasonable and were a lot more interesting to explore with loads of routes alternative areas and plenty of people and systems to interact with.

Overall, I can see why this game was regarded as a classic. Time hasn’t been especially kind to it though and it suffers from dodgy dialog, technical limitations and a very slow start. Both Underworlds, System Shock 1 + 2 and Bioforge were all better games and I’d recommend any of them before this. On the other hand I’ve never played a game that went out of its way quite so much to offer alternatives to the player and it’s a crying shame we don’t see more of this sort of thing in modern games as it works extremely well here. I’d really like to see this sort of gameplay with a more modern engine and I’ve got Deus Ex 2 on Steam so I’m tempted to play that next. I gather from some that it didn’t compare well to the original but I’d like to judge for myself as I’m suspicious that people might remember Deus Ex as being a better game than it actually was.

I’m going to hold off on any more posts or games now until I’ve figured out what I’m doing with my ISP and webspace. There are a few things to sort out yet but I’m almost definitely moving to FTTC and changing my ISP. If I have a limited amount of webspace which is also looking likely, my priority is going to be to keep up my scummvm hacks page rather than this blog. I’ll keep a backup of everything here at the very least. I can only see 2000 files in any folder due to a server limit so I’m going to have to move images out and then re-upload them afterwards to be able to get at the files. I’ll be getting on with that at some point in the next few weeks.

So this could be my last post and I’ve still not even played Lazarus. If that is the case then, I’d like to say a big thank you to anyone who has been following my ramblings for all this time and an extra special thank you to Origin and their ex-employees for all the games, which have been been so much fun to play through years after their release. Hopefully I’ll be back soon in a new place and if this blog is still around to post on I’ll stick the new address on here when I have it.

The chapel is well guarded. The number of enemies I’m facing is definitely growing in each mission and there are bots all over the place. I take out this big one with my usual back attack. The little ones rotate too fast for this to work and are more dangerous though.

I blow up the door to the chapel and take cover while the bots are elsewhere. Everett is now taking over Tong’s role as tour guide.

I also get a message from Gunther who appears to be around here somewhere. This showdown has been coming for a while.

The cathedral is a confusing maze of stairs and corridors. I climb up and down a couple of towers, then make my way into a central vault where a woman in black is keeping all the door codes.

The first of these opens up another nearby vault which contains the missing Templar gold. This was one of my subquests.

The other code gets me to Gunther who is waiting next to the computer I need to access. He has been upgraded for this mission but I take him down very quickly with my assault rifle. I’ve upgraded my rifle weapons skill to maximum and it’s absolutely lethal now, with no wait for the crosshairs at all and far more damage done. It appears to be better to master a weapon than to put skill into several as the damage I can dish out went through the roof with the last upgrade.

I upload the data to Everett and Simons appears in the holographic rig behind me. He points out that we still need a universal constructor and have nothing. He also threatens me with the prospect of facing someone with my own abilities next time.

Everett has his data and agrees to meet me in person. I have to go the metro station just outside and meet up with one of his allies. On the way I get another message from someone or something called Icarus. Everett tells me that it is a MJ12 AI but he can protect me for another day or so.

I also get a message from Page who claims that I was a prototype for him. That will be the boss fight at the end of the game then…..

Everett’s associate meets me, then gasses me (after I sort of give consent) so that I won’t know how to get to Everett’s house. I wake up there anyway but have to wander around the house on my own to find Everett.

My old buddy Alex is working here now. He quietly confesses to be keeping an eye on Everett as Tong doesn’t trust him. The good news is that Everett has managed to design a cure though so he is more on the right side than the likes of Simons at least. I also learn that Tong has left Hong Kong and it sounds like he has caught the Grey Death.

I meet up with Everett. He does seem to have plans to take over but to what ends I don’t know. For now we need to get hold of a constructor. I need to meet up with Gary Savage who is holed out at the Vandenburg air base. He has been busy trying to construct one. While I’m there I also need to do help out Daedalus who is in danger of being destroyed by Icarus. I’ll need to use the main computer in the base to do this. It turns out that Daedalus is an MJ12 AI that rebelled when it classified MJ12 as another terrorist group. It’s not exactly on the same side as the Illuminati but it has the same goals for now.

He sends me off to the helipad with a new key but first I raid his room for upgrades including a fancy visual targetting system.

There is clearly something up at the helipad as there is a dead mechanic at my feet the moment I enter and a very nervous but still alive mechanic hiding round the back. I don’t take any chances and chop him down with my sword. I find a stealth pistol on him which isn’t standard equipment I’m sure.

I mention it to Jock and he finds and disarms a bomb on his helicopter before flying me off to the air base.

The air base is under siege from MJ12 with snipers and more importantly 4 bots. I won’t be able to get in without destroying these bots. A guy who meets me on the roof suggests that I release the bases own bots by overriding a couple of systems.

The base is well guarded and sneaking past the defenses is not going to be easy. I do find another upgrade which allows me to cloak myself from bots which will help out later.

First I need to find the override switches. There are two of these near the entrance to the base. They are easily located but I then need to sneak past all the enemy bots to release the doors and let the good bots out.

I use some thermoptic camo armor I’ve been carrying around which just about gets me to the building with the bots without been seen. Once here I just press a few buttons, let the bots go and watch the show from a safe distance.

The new bots make short work of the opposition and the base comes out of lockdown, so I can get into the command censtre.

I head straight there and get sent through the maintenance tunnels to try to locate Savage. They already sent someone before me but he vanished.

This is a highly radioactive area but I manage to avoid most of it by taking a high route crawling along some pipes. I locate the body of the last guy that was sent this way and take the key he was carrying.

I use my new key in the command building and bump into General Carter who has gone over to our side after all. That makes near enough all of UNATCO then.

The bloke I really want to see is Dr. Savage. He hasn’t quite managed to complete his UC and needs a containment unit. He has sent his daughter to an ocean lab to pick this up but she hasn’t returned.

Before we worry about that, I have to upload Daedalus to the systems here. This means going through a heavily electrified room but I just work quickly and take the damage. There is a recharging bot outside so I don’t need to worry about using up all my energy.

I get to the terminal but Page has a surprise. The 2 AI’s are merged forming a new entity, Helios. God knows whos side this new AI will take. Page seems to be pleased with himself but it won’t necessarily take his side I’m thinking.

Page also has an announcement he wants to make to the group. He has captured Page’s daughter and demands all his equipment within the hour. We aren’t about to negotitate so I’m going to have to go in and perform a rescure, while getting the containment unit at the same time.

Jock lands at the entrance to the base along with a very sick Tracer Tong who has come along in the hopes of us making a grey death cure in time to use it himself.

Jock flies me off to an abanoned gas station. I’m guessing this is somewhere near the ocean labs but will find out soon.

I’m clearly getting somewhere near the end of the game now but it doesn’t look like I’ll finish it by the end of the week after all. I’ll get another couple of hours in tonight anyway and see how far that gets me. I know the game has multiple endings and I can see the plot being set up for these with several sides for me to choose from. The plot still hasn’t exactly grabbed my full attention but at least it’s settled down into something a bit more interesting and less laughable than in the early stages and I’m looking forward to seeing how this ends up.

The gameplay has continued in the same form as ever. There are always multiple options for ways to do things and by this stage with the amount of upgrades I guess you can be playing the game any way you want. I’ve been combat heavy with my skills but if I’d wanted to go the sneaking or the hacking routes I’m sure I could still get through the game. Some skills like swimming would be of little use though and would be the equivalent of playing Ultima as a shepherd.

The gatekeeper lets me in to the cemetery and I’m to meet Dowd in his family mausoleum.

Dowd tells me that looking at the virus schematics I found, he has determined that the virus is based on work done by Everett which was subsequently modified by a guy called Bob Page. Page used to be in the Illuminati but broke off to form MJ12. Everett was the real genius and it should be possible for him to reverse Page’s work to find a cure. I need to speak to this Duclare in Paris next to find Everett. She is a member of the French resistance group silhouette who are hiding out in the Paris catacombs.

When I leave the crypt a load of troops have appeared and I also have to take out a field generator which is interfering with Jocks helicopter. I draw the troops into the crypt where I can get them at close range and use the sword on them.

The gatekeeper also attacks me but is no problem. I find the energy generator hidden behind a bookcase door in his little guard building. I chuck in a LAM then Jock flies in to pick me up.

Jock drops me off on the roof of an abandoned building in Paris. I have to make my way down to the streets of Paris by jumping down an elevator shaft and attempting to break my fall with sticking out beams and the like on the way down.

I run into a strange woman who collects cats by the looks of it. She wants me to kill off four greasels (whatever they are) and gives me an access code.

The code gets me into a seriously radioactive room. Even with the hazmat suit I picked up on the other side it nearly kills me off going through it. There is a bot on the other side which I use to recharge so I’m good as new for the next section.

The greasels which are strange little green things attack on sight in the next area. I take them out with no problems at all. Of more interest is someone called Icarus who tells me he now has full access to my systems and then proceeds to offer me discouraging advice throughout the rest of the days play. He’s a bit of a Shodan type figure it seems and an opposite to Daedalus. I’m expecting them both to be AI’s but could be way off. I can’t help but notice that Daedalus is the root node for all the terminals I log onto though which is a bit of a clue.

After crawling through the Greasel’s tunnels I emerge onto the streets of Paris.

I find the catacombs very quickly. Tong turns into some sort of tour guide at this point and tells me the history of the catacombs as I wander about trying to find Silhouette.

Tong informs me that they have barricaded themselves in to keep out MJ12 but when I get there the front door is wide open.

I speak to the leader who could help me but I have to help him out first. Some of the group members have been captured and he wants me to go and rescue them, wiping out a troop of MJ12 troops in the process. He is helpful enough to give me a map so I head off straight to the MJ12 HQ in another of the old WW2 bunkers.

The place is well guarded but my sword does the job as ever and I free the hostages who then run back to base.

The group leader is true to his word and suggests I go to the local nightclub to find Duclare. I have to go through the sewers to get there which connect to the catacombs.

It’s a quick trip through the sewers then I pick the lock of a grate and get back to the streets which are far more dangerous. Paris is under martial law and MJ12 troops are everywhere as well as some enormous bots. I’m reduced to sneaking around to start with but I find a computer which I hack into to deactivate the bots.

With the bots out of the way, I find the club quickly enough but I need 300 credits to enter and I’ve got nothing. This leaves me searching around Paris for cash.

There are a load of shops, hostels and the like which I can break and enter, or I can hack the bank terminals. There is an impressive amount of unnecessary detail with all these buildings which I’d potentially have missed altogether if I’d had the money on me. I pillage a few of them until I have the 300.

The club is huge but I ask everyone I see and eventually a woman who is blatantly Nicolette Duclare and not admitting it says she will talk to her “friend” and perhaps arrange a meeting outside.

She admits who she is when we meet up and tells me that we need to go to her dead mother’s chateau and search for her secret lab if we are going to contact Everett. She also says that Everett is the one person Page fears.

Jock flies us off and someone who looks very much like Gunther runs in below afterwards. Maybe I’ll be seeing more of him later.

Tong continues to act as tour guide while we search the old house for clues. This is a different sort of level with no combat to worry about. It’s just about exploring and finding keys.

A bit of searching and I find a few messages from Nicolette’s mother giving passcodes and the like and a key to the cellar where there is a secret area used to hide Jew’s during the war.

This is clearly the spot and the computer in here has a very useful “Contact Everett” button which I press.

Everett immediately appears over my communications systems and wants me to help him out by hacking into MJ12’s systems so he can complete his cure. He sends me out through the crypt at the back of the house into a cathedral.

The cathedral belonged to the Knights Templar until they were slaughtered by MJ12 for their gold reserves. I might have known the Knights Templar would make an appearance as they seemed to be in a load of games around this time. Exploring their cathedral looking for the info Everett wants will be tomorrows first task.

I’ve made some real progress today and I can’t help but notice that I’m collecting skill points a lot faster than previously suggesting that I’m closing in on the end game. I expect I’ve got 2 or 3 days worth left yet though. The levels have been getting bigger and less restrictive the further I’ve gone in this game. It’s so much less restrictive than New York that it feels almost as though those levels were put together when Ion Storm was still figuring out the engine. It’s definitely a game that improves as you play it so it’s worth pushing on past the first few levels which I may not have done if I wasn’t blogging it.

I’m dropped off on a roof near the submarine base and crawl in through a service grate. I’m going to need to make my way through the base to get to the container ship.

The guards outside the base let me straight in. Something I didn’t mention yesterday was that I spoke to a man in the bar called Vinny who was on leave from the military and he used to work in this base before FEMA took over. He wanted me to take a look around and sent a message to his buddies who still guard the perimeter but are not allowed in the base itself to let me in. They conveniently give me the key to the gate now and I don’t have to kill them off.

Daedalus is already planning what we do after this and says that Dowd will be sending me to Paris. He wants me to get the name of one of his associates who I need to meet up with.

I make my way through the facility. It’s not massively well guarded although there are a few bots. I try a new strategy of running right up to them and hacking with my sword. This works quite well as I can always stay behind them while they are attempting to rotate and face me. The only snag is the explosion damage I take at the end but this isn’t so bad as I have my fully upgraded regeneration skill now. Tracer has me go up onto a crane, then lower its arm and climb along it to get access to the main building.

The ventilation system here is crawling with spiderbots + has this psychedelic room with flashing lights and rotating walls. I run through as quick as possible ignoring the bots and shut the door at the end behind me to keep them out.

This brings me to the ship I’ve been looking for. It’s a fair size and will take a bit of exploring. I climb out on a gantry and jump down to it.

The ship is full of sailors who don’t take well to my presence. A quick sword chop takes them out and in the confined spaces of the ship the sword is the perfect weapon.

The bridge seems to be the place to go so I make my way up there by climbing another crane on the ship itself and jumping down. In the Captains quarters I find a message from Simons instructing the seeding of the virus using helicopters.

I make my way to the bilge pumps which I’m told to reverse for whatever reason by Tong. He also tells me that the last of the welds that I need to blow up is in here. I’d forgotten about this until now and haven’t been looking for them.

Before I can start, I get another message from Daedalus who wants me to meet with Nicolette Duclare who is the last Illuminati leadership link remaining.

Before I can do that, I need to blow up these welds. I find the one in this room, its a small square on the wall which blows with a single LAM. I’ve got the map telling me where the others are, I know what to look for now + most of the ship has been cleared of sailors so in theory this should be easy but it ends up taking quite a while.

The biggest problem I face is a metal bridge which is being electrified by a broken electrical system that needs shutting down. I need 4 multitools to do the job myself and only have 3 which means scouring the ship for the last one. I find one eventually, fix the bridge and this leads to a helicopter landing pad + one of the welds.

The remaining welds are simple enough except to find except for one that I can’t seem to get to but I locate where the map says it is and toss a LAM up there and it does the trick.

That gives me 30 minutes to get off the ship before it falls apart. I only really need 2 or 3 so its very comfortable. I have to jump off the ship and climb up a maintenance ladder back out the way I came in (past the spiderbots again). On the way out I run into another of Vinny’s mates who gives me the code for the ships ramp which would have been an alternative route in but it doesn’t help me now. The jump down certainly hurt my legs though and I could have lived without it.

Jock is waiting outside on the roof. I notice he can always get to me after a mission but at the start drops me off miles away.

I’m flown back to New York yet again although to a different map at least this time. I find myself in a cemetery where I’m hopefully going to be meeting up with Dowd again.

I’ve given in on the idea that I’m nearing the end of this game and it looks like there is a load still to go. You couldn’t accuse Deus Ex of being small and I guess I can forgive it for the slow start given how long it is taking. It sounds like it will be Paris next after I meet up with Dowd in this cemetery.