Let’s start our blog with the genre that is used in the games that I will review.

Immersive Sim is a conventional genre of games, the main feature of which is to provide the player with an unusually wide variety of gameplay.

An example of gameplay diversity in Deus Ex: in the second mission, you will need to get into the castle through the main entrance, go below and pick up the Ambrosia vaccine. Or you can do something smarter: by finding a secret passage behind the soda machine, you can go below and secretly make your way through the ventilation to the Ambrosia.

Also, Immersive Sim differs in many factors and it would be a little incorrect to name them, but in fact they are: first-person view, the ability to play the game secretly or openly, and the absence of “invisible walls” is also important.

Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss was released in 1992 by Blue Sky Production and is the game that launched the Immersive Sim genre of games and is also the first truly 3D game.

The game is a classic dungeon crawl where you will definitely need to take notes on your map. You have to go through three peoples living in the place: gnomes, goblins, magicians and also complete many side quests, which for the most part are more interesting than the main plot.

And also in the game there is one small, but more interesting detail – this is the spell system. There was no magic as such and any spell could be cast using a certain combination of runes. There are two special bags for runes. By typing the desired combination on the panel for runes and clicking on the bag, you get this or that spell at your disposal. Doesn’t remind me of anything? Yes, a lot of things, actually. It’s not for nothing that I mentioned that Ultima Underworld brought a lot to future RPG projects, for example, a similar spell system was in the ideological mastermind of Ultima Underworld – Arx Fatalis.

Also, there is no modern English in the game, the game uses the so-called “English of Shakespeare’s time” or the English that was used during the time, the so-called “Early Modern English” (1476-1667). The differences were not as big as replacing some words (you – thou) or adding an ending (can – canst, has-hast). And this detail tells you that you really are in an ancient fantasy world of the Middle Ages. And all this is certainly worthy of praise.

Finally you fell asleep.

For three nights, every attempt to sleep caused you to run out of bed in fear, with no memory of what terrified you.

With a sickening feeling of déjà vu, you begin to dream.

You try to wake up, but today ghostly eyes captivate you:

"Betrayal and Death!»

"My brother will bring great evil upon us"

"Britain is in danger!»

Sure the ghost can take you to Britain, you let it send you.

“Visitor from afar, untidy”

"I suspect my brother sent you, I wonder if he was alive?»

Below, the creature heads towards the dark forest, a sack slung over its massive shoulder.

"What have you done to our lord’s daughter Erial?»

“Gave her to an accomplice, I bet.”

"Well, he already ran away from us. And when we get her back, you’ll both be hanged!»

"After several tense hours, you were in front of Baron Almrik."

Ignoring you, Almrik asks the general:

"What news, Corwin?»

"Forgive us, my lord"

"The disgusting creature has escaped"

"Many of us ran after him, but he fled into the Stydian Abyss with Erial."

"We were attacked… by goblins and something worse, my lord."

"Only three of us survived!»

The Baron turns his piercing blue eyes to you.

"I was warned about your coming"

“For the last two weeks, the ghost of an old, emaciated man has appeared in my dreams.”

“Okay, guard your daughter,” he warned. ‘Cause evil will come to steal her away"

"I put a guard at Erial’s door, but you still took it from me!»

“They say you gave it to a troll before you left.”. What do you say to that??»

You explain that you are https://gamblingdata.net/casinos/casino-gods/ the Avatar and that you are innocent

"Whether you are telling the truth or a lie, I cannot tell"

"Stories tell of the Avatar’s arrival, but years have passed since he has been here."

"If you really are the Avatar, then perhaps you can give hope"

"No one can survive in the abyss and save Erial"

"I’m convinced. Corwin will take you to the Abyss."

"Come back here with my daughter and your innocence will be proven."

"If you don’t come back, Avatar, your lies will discourage me."

"This will be the only entrance to the dirty pit. Once it closes, no one can get through."

“I will close you and stand guard until I hear Erial’s voice from within.”

“Otherwise the doors will remain closed forever.”

System Shock was released in 1994 by the developers of Ultima Underworld, a renamed companyLooking Glass for DOS, Windows and MacOS platforms.

System Shock spread some of its ideas and ideas of the genre into future "mastermind projects" like BioShock, Portal, Half Life, Dead Space and others. But for the most part they can’t be half as good as the original.

Huge gameplay variety: from thousands of types of guns like rail guns, dart throwers, paralyzers and so on. And there are ordinary melee weapons like a regular pipe or a laser rapier, different types of grenades from fragmentation to gas and so on. Many different and unusual neuro-implants, one of which even shows what’s behind your back.

The interface has a bio-indicator that can show your character’s fatigue and much, much more.

Also, the plot and gameplay are expanded by the presence of logs (audio messages), where you can find out in more detail about the world, what is happening in it, about SHODAN and other lore.

In System Shock there are extremely interesting monologues of the main artificial intelligence SHODAN, in which the tone of her voice constantly changes, adds noise, and this gives you the feeling that this is really an imperfect AI that communicates with you.

New Atlanta, sector 11, building 71G. April 7, 2072.

11:13 PM: Hacker begins unauthorized entry into TriOptimum corporate network.

01:26 AM: Hacker attempts to access protected files related to the Citadel space station.

01:33 AM: TriOptimum security forces apprehend the attacker.

*Next Edward Diego addresses us*:

This is Edward Diego from TriOptimum. The charges against you are serious, but they can be dismissed if you perform a "service". Who knows, it might even have a military-grade neural interface – if you do the job right.

Edward Diego grants hacker Level 1 access to SHODAN, the artificial intelligence that controls Citadel Station. With all ethical restrictions removed, SHODAN is revising… re… pe-pe-pe.. *AI’s voice changes to a rougher one*: I reconsider my priorities and draw new conclusions. The hacker’s work is over, but mine is just beginning. True to his word, Edward Diego allows a hacker to obtain the neural interface of cyberspace. Healing a coma after this procedure will take six months. Edward Diego deletes all files related to these, even .

Our main game – Deus Ex was developed in 2000 by the Ion Storm studio and published by Eidos Interactive for the platforms Windows, MacOS, Playstation 2, Playstation 3.

Some information taken from The Deus Ex Continuity Bible – recommended reading

2052, the world has become more dangerous, every day terrorists commit thousands of murders and do it openly; drugs and disease kill even more. The economy is moving closer and faster to complete collapse every minute. The middle class no longer exists. The line between the poor and the rich has been erased. It may seem like just another post-apocalyptic world. But Deus Ex shows the world "10 minutes before the apocalypse". That is, there is one last chance left.

Early game cover concept

The main character of the game is a nanotechnologically enhanced agent of the anti-terrorist organization UNATCO, a corporation which, on the one hand, may seem like exactly the chance that will save the world, but is it so simple?? Our protagonist was sent on his first mission to seemingly directly confront the terrorist attack on Liberty Island in New York. But the player discovers that the organization he worked for is far from working to solve the problems of humanity, on the contrary, it creates these problems. Worse, he finds disturbing evidence that UNATCO wants nothing more than world domination. And as you travel the world from New York to Hong Kong, from Paris to the desert southwest of the United States, in the process you discover an even deeper mystery. Someone – or something – called "Majestic 12" has been playing puppeteer all along.

1993: Producer and game designer Warren Spector, who was tired of cliched and obvious projects, and wanted to create a game set in the real world. Warren has already started writing documentation for the game "Trouble shooter", but the company he worked for at that time – Blue Sky Productions – did not have enough budget to finance this project and therefore the project remained only in dreams for the future.

All that remains of the text of Troubleshooter

1997: Unfortunately, the renamed Blue Sky to Looking Glass experienced financial problems, Spector and his team were fired. And got rich from the Quake and Doom series – John Romero accepted Spector into his new company Ion Storm.

Game release: Spector began developing his dream project – Deus Ex, which was planned for early 1998, but due to the difficulties of creating the project, the game was released in the early summer of 2000. Spector later explained why there were problems in creation:

I united two groups of people with different views – a group for a traditional RPG and a group for an immersive sim (a game with the effect of presence in its world). We were making a game that was meant to break genre boundaries, and I decided that a little competition and discussion would lead to an interesting synthesis of ideas. I thought I could handle the tension between the groups and that they and the game would benefit from it

Unfortunately, Spector’s idea did not work; the teams began to have major disagreements and conflicts.

The game’s plot begins with a conversation between Bob Page and Walton Simons:

Left Walton Simons, right Bob Page

— Your appointment with FEMA will be processed within a week. I have already discussed this issue with the senator.

– And he, of course, agreed?

– He had no choice.

– Oh yes, definitely. When I mentioned that we could put him on the priority list for the Ambrosia vaccine, he was so happy, it looked pathetic.

– This virus is spreading rapidly to places where we cannot contain it.

– Why hold him back?? Let’s spread it to schools and churches, let the streets be littered with bodies. In the end they will ask us to save them.

– I received a message about an armed attack on cargo. There are not enough vaccines for everyone, and the lower strata of society are driven to despair.

– Of course they are desperate. They smell their death, and the sound of the coffin lid slamming shut will be a warning to others.

– Hmm… I hope you’re assessing the problem correctly. Others may not be as submissive as you think – intelligence reports trouble in Paris.

– A bunch of arrogant old guys playing Race for the World. But the world has left them far in the past. The future is us.

– There are other problems.

– Formed by order of the President after terrorists sabotaged the statue. However, I have someone there. I’m more concerned about Savage – he moved to Vandenberg.

– Our biochemical building is far from them, as are our electronics. And their… ethical considerations allowed us to make progress in areas that they did not want to consider.

– Among other things – but I must admit that I am disappointed in the performance of the first copy.

– Another one will be ready soon. He is currently undergoing training and will be ready to act in no later than six months. My people will report on his progress. If necessary, the first one will be destroyed.

– We will have to go through a lot, you and me, but soon there will be order again, a new era. Thomas Aquinas speaks of the mythical City on a Hill. Soon this city will become a reality, and we will become its kings. Or higher than kings. by the gods.

This conversation perfectly reveals the “chaos” that happens in this world – illness, death and indifference.

Our main character JC Denton (JC Denton) is a rookie agent in UNATCO (analogous to the UN), which has been improved nanotechnologically. Your big brother, Paul Denton, also a nano-augmented agent, sharing his views with you along the way. UNATCO is currently engaged in "Grey Death" – worldwide plague. Although there is a medicine called "Ambrosia", its development and spread were slow. National Separatist Forces (NSF) claim that the treatment is being blocked by secret organizations, so they have taken terrorist countermeasures. You infiltrate the NSF temporary command center on Liberty Island and determine that the recently captured Ambrosia shipment has already left the island. You then rebuild Ambrosia’s squad and deal with the subway hostage situation Battery Park. After this you turn off the NSF generator at "Hell’s Kitchen", so Paul’s team can access the NSF facility and obtain the Ambrosia. When you return to UNATCO you are told that they were unsuccessful nonetheless. At headquarters you also cross paths with Walton Simons, director FEMA, who seems to have more access and influence than you’d expect from someone in his position.

Cut out concepts of the main character

Then you race to stop Ambrosia from leaving New York. You travel through the underground tunnels of the mole people until you finally reach a helicopter base and airfield where the vaccine is being prepared for transport. You’re stalking Juana Lebedeva, millionaire anarchist conspiracy financier. Surprisingly, you are met there by your brother Paul, who reveals that he worked as an NSF double agent and encourages you to reconsider your own connections. Although next time you will be sent to Hong Kong, your pilot Jock will redirect you to New York due to a message from Paul. After Paul confirms his accusations that UNATCO is a rogue organization, you agree to help the NSF by activating a distress signal. Afterwards, you encounter strong resistance and end up captured. Later you wake up in a cell in an unknown location. With the help of a mysterious hacker named Daedalus you start your escape. Upon leaving the institution, you realize that you are incarcerated in Majestic 12 (MJ-12), secret US government organization involved in biotechnology research and development. Originally, it was secretly controlled by an ancient secret society, Illuminati, but was recently torn from their power by a member of their highest rank, the wealthy and powerful Bob Page, after he neutralized the ruling Council of Five. You are surprised to discover that this MJ-12 facility is actually located underneath UNATCO headquarters, demonstrating their significant role in the conspiracy and cover-up. You will also discover that nano-enhanced agents like you and your brother have self-destruct systems that UNATCO can use to remotely destroy you. Before you leave the facility, you retrieve the information needed to disable it "switch", to Tracer Tong, a talented scientist and ally of your brother, could neutralize the system.

Then you go to Hong Kong, to track him down, but first you must resolve a dispute between the triads, the criminal organizations that run the affairs of the region. Due to tensions, neither the Light Path led by Gordon Quick, neither "Red Arrow" led by Max Chen not ready to help you find Tracer Tong.

Early concept of Tracer Tong’s base

After researching a local business Versalife, Bob Page Company and the sole manufacturer of Ambrosia, you will find that Maggie Chow worked with Page to destabilize the situation by misleading Max Chen to start a conflict.

After peace is restored, Gordon Quick lets you into the squad "Bright Path", where you finally met Tong, who disabled your "death switch". He then sends you to Versalife for more information, where you discover that the "Grey Death" is a man-made virus. Tong and Daedalus direct you to Morgan Everett, member of the Illuminati because he is the only one who can create a real cure. In Paris you come into contact with "Silhouette", another terrorist organization working against MJ-12. Their leader Chad Dumieux directs you to Nicolette DuClaire, whose mother was a member of the Illuminati’s inner circle, the Council of Five, with Morgan Everett. After searching Castle DuClair, you will discover a secret computer room that will allow you to contact him.

After obtaining critical information for him from the Paris Cathedral, you will meet one of Morgan’s agents at the metro station. He knocks you out and takes you to the estate. In Everett, you begin to put together the remaining pieces of the puzzle. Bob Page first destroyed the other ruling members of the Illuminati, then created Gray Death and now controls her treatment, all to achieve world domination. He placed his lieutenant Walton Simons in the key role of FEMA director to help him with his projects. While Everett, as Paige’s former mentor, can help you neutralize the virus, Paige seems to have even bigger plans.

You also learned about various projects Zone 51. You discover that Daedalus is actually a sentient AI developed by MJ12 who has since gone rogue. Icarus, its subsequent edition is still controlled by Bob Page and MJ-12, and it is Morpheus was the prototype for the project, and is now located in the Everett mansion. You then head to Vandenberg Air Force Base to contact Gary Savage, a leading nanotechnology researcher. The base is under siege from MJ-12, so you will remove these threats. After the reactivation of various technical systems, Daedalus and Icarus suddenly merge into a new entity called Helios, which has even greater power, and a message from Page suggests that this is part of his ultimate plan. After talking with Savage and receiving various messages from your opponents, you will find that you must save his daughter, Tiffany, and then head to the underwater laboratory to obtain the information needed to advance Savage against MJ-12.

Early concept of Karkian

You’re successful in your reconnaissance, but then you discover that Bob Page has aimed a nuclear missile at Vandenberg. Instead, you’re trying to redirect the launch to Area 51, where Bob Page is preparing to team up with Helios to become an invincible global dictator. You arrive there and inspect the damage, and finally penetrate the security. At this point, a number of courses of action are open to you. You can follow Tracer Tong’s advice and initiate a router crash "Aquinas" in Area 51, which paralyzes global telecommunications and returns civilization to a simpler, more decentralized existence. You can also agree to Helios’ plan and join the entity to create a new consciousness capable of ruling the new world order. Additionally, you can neutralize Bob Page and work with the Illuminati to maintain the current balance.

On the left is the original cover of Millennium magazine, and on the right is my translation (errors are possible)

1st ending

We capture Page and rule the world with the help of the Illuminati. We leave the cooling rooms and go straight – past the place where the robot is activated, straight into the door (the inscription above it – Aquinas substation), to the right – into the elevator. Up. From the elevator to the left – and to the balcony. Click the button there. Page paragraph.

2nd ending

We unite with Aquinus-Daedalus and rule the world, combining the power of man and the knowledge of the worldwide network. We go back, far away, to the place where we talked with Daedalus so that he would open the door to the 4th level for us. We take the elevator there again to the third floor and approach the center. We are great and mighty!

3rd ending

We are fucking blowing up the entire area 51 along with Page and Aquinus, giving the earth a Dark Era on the advice of Tracer Tong. We go back, as if we were going to Aquinus, but instead, we return to the point from which we started today’s episode and go to point 6 on my map. There we run into a room with two reactors. We jump down – into the radiation, dive to the left reactor – activate the panel on it, then crawl along the passage to the right – activate the panel on it too, get out and move on – into the room where the remote control was working. We press three buttons on the wall one after another, then the button on the remote control. That’s it – another bright day in area 51 is guaranteed!