Aspyr’s remaster of *Deus Ex* earned a fair bit of opprobrium (including from me) when it was revealed in September, and that criticism looks set to continue. Jerry O’Flaherty, art director on the original *Deus Ex*, shared his reaction to the remaster during a recent sit-down with FRVR—and it was not positive.
“Oh, what the fuck,” said O’Flaherty. “No. This did not need to happen. Sorry whoever was involved in this. Oh man, yeah, no.” So, not exactly a thumbs-up there.
Still, O’Flaherty does—sort of—get a bit more positive. “If you’re gonna do it, yeah, alright, why not? Why am I judging?” This is less approval and more resignation to the whims of fate. And honestly, I can’t fault the guy.
*Deus Ex* was never a graphical powerhouse, but it had a vibe and a cohesive aesthetic all the way back in 2000. “You wanted to lean into what the engine did well and don’t do the shit that it doesn’t do well,” O’Flaherty explained.
The remaster, as we’ve seen it so far, trades all that in for a slapdash up-rezzing of everything—making the game too bright, too bulky, and strangely even more archaic-looking than it did originally.
O’Flaherty recalls that a lot of the hand-crafted work that went into the original *Deus Ex* wasn’t trying to achieve the kind of high-fidelity, ‘realistic’ look that so many remasters and remakes aim for. “You’re not trying for efficiency, you’re trying for reality. And sometimes reality just isn’t exactly what you want. This is why Hollywood lights the shit out of their movies. It’s why they put a big screen up and then they light it like it’s sunlight. They want it to be exactly what they want.”
That, however, doesn’t seem to be the approach taken with the *Deus Ex* remaster.
“They really turned those 1999 graphics into 2003 graphics,” wrote one disgruntled fan in the immediate aftermath of the game’s reveal. “How did someone not realise how awful those visuals look?” asked another.
Clearly, the remaster has its work cut out for it if it wants to win over fans of the original.
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/deus-exs-og-art-director-has-seen-the-remaster-oh-what-the-f-no-this-did-not-need-to-happen/