Still the game is so irresistibly addictive that it had me playing into the wee hours of the morning, just to see what's around the corner. Deus Ex presents a gloomy extrapolation of our status quo, similar to movies such as Blade Runner. The world of 2070 has been shaped by rapid technological progress provided by global corporations. Security forces deploy patrol robots and enhance the performance of their human soldiers with electro-mechanical implants. Just like today.
Business is conducted in a single global currency.
National governments still exist but their influence is waning. This megalomaniac sculpture shows what the bad guys are up to. While Deus Ex certainly has its share of those, the title is really a play on words. As the quest for knowledge keeps pushing the bounds of technology, secret societies attempt to create a god out of their own machines and machinations, ruling the ignorant plebs either as ruthless dictators or as benevolent teachers. On the other side there are those who seek freedom from global control, even at the price of a new age of darkness.