Deus Ex: Human Revolution The Missing Link DLC Previews

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Written by WorstUsernameEver on September 24th, 2011

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The DLC begins with a bloody and shirtless Adam Jensen being restrained in a specially designed chair. Zapping Jensen with an EMP to wake him up is a clever trick; the restraints are designed to reset his augmentations back to "factory defaults." He begins to piece together what happened by listening to the guards, and they describe Jensing taking out eight guards before he was finally subdued.

You see a conversation log in one of the computers later in the DLC, and two people are arguing via text about whether the security measures seen here are overkill. "Are you kidding? That son of a bitch is loaded with Tier-1 augs. His fucking arms turn into swords for Christ's sake," is the answer. This is a very compelling point.

Since this section of the game is self-contained even if it does fit into the larger story you're given a good excuse to try out different combinations of augmentations and play styles. I became a straight-up killer, while I played it much cooler during the core game. The DLC will be launched from the game's menu, and you can play at any time.

The opportunity to build a new Jensen with no effect on the rest of the game (and the trophies and achievements you might be going for) was one of the highlights of the DLC for me. Because I played the main game as a stealthy, non-killing Jensen, I chose all combat augmentations and heavy fire-power for the DLC.

Not worrying about setting off alarms and being spotted was incredibly liberating, and I was practically ecstatic to just blast guards in the face with a shotgun instead of spending hours crouching behind crates, waiting for them to stop their dumb conversations. Although, listening a bit is a good idea. A lot of the story is told through enemies' reactions to you. It's cool to hear what innocent, unsuspecting sailors think of impossibly auged-out madman Jensen.

Once you're all geared and augmented, it's time to escape the ship. The DLC really shines when you step out onto the deck of the boat itself. Work was obviously done on the game's lighting and environmental effects. The deck of the Belltower ship feels wet and cold, like an actual ship at night, and is a nice change from the main game's slick, techno, Blade Runner landscapes. I especially enjoyed the water effects of the sea sloshing onto the deck. It was very atmospheric and effective.

As you make your way around the mysterious Belltower container ship and its sleeping human cargo, avoiding (or taking on) enemy patrols, you'll have to figure out which of Adam's many potential skills you'll take, and you won't have the world full of hackable terminals on which to grind experience. In that way, "The Missing Link" might actually be more in line with Eidos Montreal's original goals for Deus Ex: Human Revolution, where players had to really commit to certain augments over others. As I stood at the top of a 40-foot drop, I agonized over spending the pair of points to unlock the Icarus Landing System augmentation for a good minute or two, knowing that I might not get many more chances to upgrade.

And that lends to a different feel to things. There are other subtle differences in "The Missing Link" as well; the lighting has been improved from a technical standpoint, and it's used to show off an entirely new setting. Belltower's ship has its own unique aesthetic, retaining the requisite crawlspaces and side passages of the main game but adding new, more exposed kinds of shortcuts and stealth-routes.

The opening section of Missing Link is tough: you have nothing except your augmented arms and level 1 hacking, and the place is crawling with guards. It's hard to get any of them alone, and if you're going non-lethal, it's harder still to knock one out with time to nab his weapon before his friends show up and revive him. You do have to improvise: I liked to find alternate routes, make a lot of noise going through one, then double back and take the other while the guards rushed away to investigate.

Once you get out on deck, the level opens up significantly: you've got free roam of a large section of the ship while the waters churn nauseatingly around you. I had an achingly tense moment on a high balcony, crouching behind a patrolling guard and praying he wouldn't turn around before the security camera above looked away.

Because you're stuck without high-level hacking abilities, there's more focus on finding the right keycodes for locked doors. It's never the only way forward, but often knocking out a guard and reading his improbably convenient pocket secretary is the short route to a new area.

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