Abstract

The chapter discusses the Deus Ex computer game series, consisting of four main titles: Deus Ex and Deus Ex: Invisible War, developed by Ion Storm, and Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, developed by Eidos Montréal. The games are located in the cyberpunk mode in terms of aesthetic and themes, as they deal with the fusion of human and machine, along with urban dystopia, corporate dominance, and countercultural resistance. In addition to the cyberpunk mode, however, the chapter also identifies paranoid conspiracy narratives as a key influence for the Deus Ex series, and argues that technology and conspiracy act as competing forces in the Deus Ex world, leading human civilization toward political repression, a transhuman state, or a posthuman state.