Comment by morsch

1 day ago

There's a lot to cover with the game, so I'm not surprised he doesn't cover the music. But the soundtrack is great! I still listen to it regularly. I like the UNATCO music best. Each track has a regular theme, and switches to variations on the theme for combat and other situations. Pretty unusual in 2000 and even today.

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morsch

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filoleg  1 day ago

UNATCO theme is absolutely legendary, and so are many other tracks in the original.

I actually got chills during the surprise post-credits scene in Deus Ex: Human Revolution when the og Deus Ex theme started playing.

  • glenstein  1 day ago

    Same for the DX:HR game that weaves the song in! Before the shine wore off as you play through the whole game.

    • filoleg  1 day ago

      100%. DX:HR soundtrack was very much fitting the game, and tracks built upon variations of the tracks from the original DX worked so well there (and so did the brand new original tracks, with Icarus[0] specifically coming to mind). The visual aesthetic was perfect as well.

      Shame what happened to the series after DX:HR (with Mankind Divided feeling rather unfinished and ending on an abrupt cliffhanger with no follow-up on the horizon, despite the game itself being great otherwise). But at least we got some really good crumbs (HR and MD) out of it, and I am very much thankful for that.

      0. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=402asYLG_b0

      2 replies →

zelphirkalt  21 hours ago

Unatco and HK, of course, but much later while giving each track another more complete hearing, I discovered one of the NYC streets tracks has a long time building up, like >1min, and then gets really great too. And I love how in later Deus Ex parts random radios throughout the levels will start playing familiar tunes. Makes it all more epic and nostalgic.

davidjhall  1 day ago

Hong Kong Streets FTW! I remember having it on a playlist with my kids in the car.

I loved the theme changes on them -- I remember HK Streets had explore, combat and death scene; transitions felt seamless in the game.

  • glenstein  1 day ago

    Goodness, the introduction to Hong Kong and the music cast a new vibe on the game at a perfectly timed moment, when you've just about had enough of NYC. And it was seeded with all these little scripted moments you could happen upon. Talks in tea shops, gang fights in tunnels, overhearing convos in bars, the little newspaper boy who relayed threats to a newsstand vendor and leads you to a gang HQ if you follow him (and he even turns around and tells you not to follow him. In a 90s game!).

    And the discoverability of all kinds of stuff in the canals. The cityscape building hopping and secret back entrances to the duplicitous Maggie Chow's apartment. It just had everything. You truly felt like you were discovering every inch of it and like it wasn't just on rails or procedurally generated.

  • tomaskafka  1 day ago

    That’s what Unreal engine had built in from start, these transitions were amazing even in first OG Unreal (leaving the ship for the first time into the planets jungle and waterfalls, oooh!)

    • paulryanrogers  18 hours ago

      Yeah. I'm revisiting for WindowsGameClub.com this quarter, and I had forgotten how many scripted sequences Unreal (1998) included. Enjoying the light puzzling as well.

zengineer  1 day ago

oh yes the soundtracks! I remember even my mom saying back then "I don't really like you playing all the time, but I have to agree, the music is really good".