Style: Video game music
Primary Emotions/Themes: An update to one of the best video game soundtracks to ever be created. Science fiction incarnate.
Thoughts: Deus Ex is one of the finest games ever created. Nothing you say will convince me otherwise. The ability to choose your play style with such variety and every. single. one. of. them. being viable was something unheard of in the 90's when this came out... even now it's praised as a monumental achievement when games fully embrace this style of play. Well this is where I first experienced that, and my taste in games was forever changed because of it.
The game takes place in the near future where the world has become ruled by corporations, and humans sell their bodies as experiments to make ends meat. Terrorists run rampant at the blatant corruption in the government, and behind it all is the Illuminati.
When you have such a dystopian future you need some good music to go with it right? Well that's where this soundtrack comes in. Conspiravision is a remix/re-imagining of the soundtrack from the original composers. I'm glad that this was done by the people who originally penned the songs, a move like that always helps inspire confidence in me that any updates will be done correctly... or at least in the spirit of the original.
The music in Deus Ex was a combination of beat driven electronic music that resembled a slower version of drum and bass (jungle at the time), ambient, and slower more melodic mood pieces. Everything was done with synths (as it should be), and it elevated the feeling of the game's most important moments.
Walking around the streets of Hong Kong feel like it was meant to be with the pulse of the music guiding me. It slowly fades away as I explore the slums or the upper regions for hidden items. The tension builds as a mission commences and I'm low on ammo, the music's slow pulse helps drive home the fact that I have limited resources and need to be more creative to get through this alive. The music explodes as I take on another android in a huge firefight, only one of us is going to come out of this alive and it damn well better be me.
Deus Ex remains a game that I enjoy playing to this day. While I don't have the original soundtrack, this is the next best thing. In some cases the synths are updated so well that I don't miss the original and all it's compressed glory. Now if you'll excuse me I need to go install the game again so I can play it for the eightieth time.
Written July 30th 2024
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