Pining for HD
I don’t know what exactly got me thinking about Deus Ex (the second best game of all time) this morning. I think it may have been an advert for the Game of the Year Edition on Steam (on sale for $10). Perhaps it was a link to the now deceased Planet Deus Ex in my bookmarks. Who knows? The point is that when I thought about Deus Ex I naturally thought of playing it as soon as possible.
Then I thought about the Deus Ex High Definition Texture Project (HDTP), currently in development. I realised I hadn’t heard anything from the HDTP team in a while, so I took a look at their website, and discovered that it (the site) has undergone a visual reboot. There are some new screenshots (one of a high def model for the knife that I love), and a video (below) showing off some of the team’s work.
What I can’t find is a progress report on the mod, which was present on the previous website, in the form of a list of the various areas of the game that were being worked on, and how much more work (as a percentage) needed to be done. As a result I now have no idea how close the mod is to completion. It’s been a long time (certainly more than a year if not two) since I last played Deus Ex, and the visual kick that I hope will come from the release of the HDTP project is the reason for the delay. My logic is that when I do return to the game, a graphical overhaul will go a long way toward making it feel like a new and more exciting experience.
The HDTP project is now in my RSS reader, so I’ll be keeping tabs on it from now on. For the time being though, I have plenty to play. I have a single player game going on with Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl, which is proving to be hardcore but extremely atmospheric.
I’m playing through the final act of Diablo II on normal difficulty (with the expansion Lord of Destruction) as a barbarian, not (funnily enough) because of the recent announcement of Diablo III - not that that’s a bad reason to start playing Diablo II (if there even is such a thing).
At level 34 on the slopes of Harrogath, we’re on our (I’m playing with a friend, MozzerV12) way to kill the last of the surviving prime evils, Baal, before restarting the whole story on nightmare difficulty. We’ve been wiping the floor with every demon we’ve fought, even beating down the bosses (including the usually horrific Duriel and Diablo) thanks to my friend’s crippling curses (notably decrepify). I’m building my character to be a beserker, dealing massive damage that’s hard to resist, but at the same time leaving myself more vulnerable. That’s just how I roll.
I haven’t played any Civ for a week or so now. Pigmental has gone on holiday (you can trawl through his illiterate dribblings on his new blog World Hop if you’re masochistically inclined) and a new game with MozzerV12 certainly isn’t rocketing forward. Sins of a Solar Empire has resurfaced with a new patch and we’re playing a game of that as well.
I’m spreading myself too thin. At this rate I’ll finish Stalker in September.
- Chris
