Re:Deus Ex
by morsch on Friday November 06, 2026 @11:20AM
(#50394396)
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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UNATCO theme is absolutely legendary. I actually got chills during the surprise post-credits scene in Deus Ex: Human Revolution when the theme started playing.
One of my favorite pieces of music for programming: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OSpsAauvEXU
Looks like I am not alone in this. A youtube playlist consisting of the entire soundtrack of the game used to be my go-to for programming/working/studying during undergrad.
Same for the DX:HR game that weaves the song in! Before the shine wore off as you play through the whole game.
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. The 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.
Re:Deus Ex
by zelphirkalt on Friday November 06, 2026 @01:56PM
(#50396703)
I felt like MD was kinda the refined version of HR. Most things felt just a little bit improved, polished. Story was great, but I very much want to know what's next and I don't know, if we will ever get another great one in the series.
It's funny, I appreciate DX and HR because they are still obviously video games at their core, jank and affordances galore. MD just felt like they wanted to go all in on realism and inverse-kinematics and cover mechanics and such so it felt like any other hyper-realistic modern shooter.
I loved the gold filter for HR, for another example. I know I am probably in the minority.
I’m on a metal discord server where the soundtrack regularly shows up in people’s weekly/monthly charts. Amazing music.
I can recommend the HD remix.
Is this what you mean by "HD remix"?
https://open.spotify.com/album/2gC3Ecmd6SuSSvdtpa30zP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVcg5pk0Hy0
Remaster, I guess. Which also makes more sense ;)
Re:Deus Ex
by davidjhall on Friday November 06, 2026 @11:49AM
(#50394838)
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.
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 the discoverability of all kinds of stuff in the canals. The cityscape building hopping, it had everything. You truly felt like you were discovering every inch of it and like it wasn't just on rails or procedurally generated.
The Synapse. Marvelous one.
Re:Deus Ex
by tomaskafka on Friday November 06, 2026 @01:39PM
(#50396437)
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!)
Re:Deus Ex
by paulryanrogers on Friday November 06, 2026 @05:40PM
(#50399469)
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.
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".
Re:Deus Ex
by zelphirkalt on Friday November 06, 2026 @01:45PM
(#50396545)
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.
Michiel von den Bos was involved in the production of the original music, I understand he published a modern remix [1] in 2020, I believe to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the game [2].
[1] https://open.spotify.com/album/2gC3Ecmd6SuSSvdtpa30zP
[2] https://web.archive.org/web/20221225103900/https://www.pcgam...
Best game soundtrack ever made IMHO. I still listen to it all the time. Well, the modern version anyway[0]
[0]:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5YdnLKkg2U&list=PLczA8pMWxl...
Re:Deus Ex
by samplifier on Friday November 06, 2026 @03:57PM
(#50398428)
Of course Unreal Tournament did this too. Same legends. I love the Necto Ulin remixes.
Re:Deus Ex
by protocolture on Friday November 06, 2026 @06:48PM
(#50400089)
The music came unbidden into my brain as I looked at the images in the article.
Not only is the music legendary, but being the same fractal of amazing as the rest of the game, even the fan remixes it inspired stand apart from the those of other games, IMHO.
Cases in point: