An interesting question posted by an anonymous user over at Edios Montreal’s Tumblr seemed to really hit home, getting a response from the devs that sheds some light on the gameplay of their upcoming shooter. The question was:
Have you considered increasing the amounts of ammo throughout the game? I mean, finding 1 bullet per weapon and 2~3 bullets per ammo pack seems ridiculous to me.
A great question. The devs seemed to agree as well. Most shooters nowadays rely heavily on scripted events, non stop firing, and action packed movie sequences. Weapons of dead enemies would refill your current magazine capacity, letting you spray to your heart’s content. However, Deus Ex has always been toted as a game where excessive violence and gun play took a back seat to stealth, critical thinking, and an award winning plot. Here’s what the Devs had to say about all this:
Early playtesters wound up with hundred of bullets in their inventory and never felt the need to scrounge for ammunition. That was around the time the game was reported to be too easy.
So we did a loot pass for the whole game, drastically reducing the amount of ammo in the game.
When our next playtest session came around, two things occurred:
- People were bitching and moaning about the lack of ammo.
- The fun factor went up. Drastically.
Turns out that reducing the amount of ammo in the game forced people to stop and think. People started to “get” what Deus Ex was about. We saw a lot more exploration and creative problem solving.
The developers then claimed to have went through other solutions in lieu of tiny ammo pickups, such as a smaller chance of ammo actually dropping to begin with. Either way, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is sounding better and better by the day, even if you overlook the stellar reviews it’s been receiving. You can check out the Eidos Montreal Tumblr post here.
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