Deus Ex

This page details pre-release information and/or media for Deus Ex.

This page is a good article. Deus Ex: The game that was seemingly made from recycled levels cobbled together and somehow made to work.

To do:
http://www.deusex-machina.com/articles/makingofdeusex.asp

Timeline#

Troubleshooter#

Deus Ex started life possibly in late 1992/early 1993 by Warren Spector.¹

Deus Ex is a game I've been thinking about since right around the time UNDERWORLD 2 shipped.

By 1994 it was named as 'Troubleshooter'² and proposed to Origin as a concept, where Spector worked at the time. The concepts of this game started making their way into Looking Glass' MMO, Junction Point³.

You're an ex-cop turned "security specialist." That just means you get all the dirty jobs no one else has the guts to do. When the government or the police or business can't handle a problem, they call on you. Bomb threats? You get to check 'em out. Hijackers threaten to take over a plane? You end up on board. Some radical group takes a millionaire's daughter hostage? You get the call to go in and get her out.

You scope out the situation, checking maps and photos, walking around the site, probing for the best way in, the way that will put the fewest innocent people at risk. You try to talk a madman into surrendering before he blows himself and his hostages to kingdom come. You crawl through air ducts and sewers hoping you don't attract the attention of the bad guys with all the guns. You shoot it out with terrorists wielding enough firepower to take on a third world army.

Troubleshooter is a mission-oriented action simulation with no huge plot -- just get in and get out of each mission. Maybe 10-30 minutes of action per scenario. None of this 100 hours to finish the game and get your reward stuff. Like a flight sim, but it's just you, on the ground, with a gun.

I originally envisioned this as all new technology, but I could probably leach off of Bounty Hunter, once that project gets going. In game play, I see it being like Underworld in the richness of its world simulation, but like Wolfenstein in its emphasis on action over roleplaying and inventory manipulation. Ideally, I'd like to incorporate a head-to-head modem/network option, allowing one player to be the bad guy and the other to be the troubleshooter.

Shooterː Majestic Revelations#

By 1997 the concept was redesigned and renamed to Shooterː Majestic Revelations⁴, laying out most of the ground work for the later Deus Ex idea.

Shooter is the near-future, science fiction, roleplaying game that asks, is it better to live free in a world of chaos or live safely in an ordered world of someone else's design?

Ultimately, you will make that decision for all mankind as you uncover the secrets of an ages-old conspiracy and fight to stop their plan for world domination. But each layer of conspiracy you peel back reveals
another plan, more subtle, more diabolical than the last.

At the deepest level, a mysterious, soulless machine, plays a deadly game with humanity as its pawns. The machine offers an end to war, poverty, hunger and disease, but at a terrible price. You alone can see this.
You alone can stop it. But can you defeat an enemy that sees everything you see, knows everything you know and controls an army of deadly augmented humans who will stop at nothing to ensure your failure?

Set in a world very much like our own (if the conspiracy buffs are right), Shooter combines the action of a Bruce Willis or Arnold Schwarzenegger action film with the over-the-top flavor of the best of the James Bond stories leavened by the dark, mysterious, conspiratorial tone of The X-Files.

The Denton brothers were named after Warren Spector's friends, Brad and Barb Denton⁵. The J.C. name was chosen as a unisex name as it "flowed nicely"⁶.

Deus Ex#

By 1998-1999 the game had moved its title over to Deus Ex, a name of unknown origin but embraced by Spector. An updated design document copyrighted between 1997-1999 details the more familiar Deus Ex that became the final build. As this document was rewritten between 1997 and 1999, some of this information might contradict itself while being true at one point.

1998#

December:

Harvey Smith works on Paris and Liberty Island maps.
Harvey Smith and Russell Hughes work on the Chateau. Steve Powers works on Kong Kong, Bob White works on New York City levels.
Harvey Smith works on the Paris catacombs.⁷

1999#

January:

Image of the Hong Kong temple is published.⁸
Demo of the inventory system and conversation logging is produced.
Development for programming items and objects. Animating characters and modelling objects.
Mention of a test hub to travel to maps.
Claims that raw map work was done and NPC and scripting began.

March:

Chapters 1 and 2 playable with NPCs.
Lockpicks, skills, and augs implemented.⁹

April:

6th: Game hits alpha with a disc being made and distributed.¹⁰

May:

e3 and mentions of working on missions "03 through 18".¹¹

August:

Mission 03 and some later ones playable.¹²

2000#

January:

AI tweaking, music implementation, weapon behaviour.¹³
Redoing infolink images.
Books, newspapers, emails being written.
Plans to record all audio in three languages.

June:

26th: Game releases.¹⁴

Old LAW Design#

The old LAW used to be called the "Light Anti-Armor Weapon" vs "Light Anti-Tank Weapon". The weapon would go through a redesign, losing its gray color for green, losing its sights and getting a scope instead (that was likely made non-functional later). The LAW can be seen firing in this e3 1999 footage from 0:47 to 0:50. However, it is possible this is an old GEP Gun as the design is still similar to that as shown in the Majestic Revelations v6.4 document, the homing info can be seen in the lower left, the weapon doesn't seem to be discarded after use, simply put away and a pack of rockets can be seen on the belt. Watch on YouTube

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Images#

Shooter: Majestic Revelations Design Document#

Deus Ex Design Document#

Earliest known images of the conversation system.

Concept Art#

The MJ12 Commando, formerly an augmented riot cop.

Weapon sketches, including cut spear gun.

The Light Anti-Tank Weapon, previously known as the Light Anti-Armor Weapon.

A poster with JC, Anna, and MiBs with red sunglasses.

Ditto, with edits to give JC his final blue eyes, sunglasses, and chest texture.

Early art for Deus Ex, showing the early design for JC.

Promotional art for Deus Ex, parodying The Matrix.

Development document showing early JC designs and implying that the player could've got a skullgun augmentation.

Development Images#

Ion Storm offices with Deus Ex beta poster.

Development of Liberty Island in house, likely April 3rd, 2000.

Developer image of the White House in construction, with the file URL "MAPS\??_Washington_WhiteHouse.dx"

Pre-release Renders#

Pre-release Poster#

A pre-release poster for the game. A layered version can be found on the Deus Ex - Digital Press Kit (2000-02-01) disc. Interesting layers include:

The in-game version of the Statue of Liberty

Pre-release Images#

Chapter 1#

A clear look at the old conversation font.

Very old image of Liberty Island with crude statue model. A keycard can be seen in the inventory and the World Trade Centers repeated in the background.

Liberty Island, a view of the flare icon.

Liberty Island, possible alternate TNT crate texture in the background.

Liberty Island, alternate crate placement for the back entrance. A large fence can be seen at the top of the statue, which only appears on non-playable versions of this area.

Ditto, talking to Paul, different dialogue.

Liberty Island, with two keyrings in the belt?

Liberty Island, with red napalm canister flamethrower.

Liberty Island, old prod, battery, and UI graphics.

Walton Simons' bodyguard at the helipad with cut line; "Leave us alone. We have enough to worry about as it is.".

Chapter 2#

Anna Navarre at the Battery Park dock, with possible testing supplies in the background.

A man walks in early Battery Park, no wall exists. Man may possibly be white Smuggler.

Battery Park subway, with crude benches in background.

Battery Park, with non-stacking medkits in the belt.

Battery Park, with the keyring called "NANOKEY".

Hell's Kitchen with old icons for weapons, including shuriken.

Hell's Kitchen subway, unknown characters.

Paul talking to the player outside of the Ton.

UNATCO and NSF fighting in old Hell's Kitchen.

Hell's Kitchen sewers. The flamethrower's old effect on full display, the flamethrower's icon still uses the red graphic while now being green.

New York, possibly Ton Hotel, possibly Smuggler's lair.

Old JC Denton talking to Jock in the Underworld Tavern.

Chapter 3#

Harley Filben in Battery Park with his old generic bum model. A trashcan also has a different model.

Brooklyn Bridge station, with possible old camera model above El Rey.

Brooklyn Bridge station with different designs for the stairs and ladders to climb off the tracks.

Unknown location, likely mole tunnels. Different bum model and fire barrel texture.

Mole People tunnels, with pigeons underground?

Mole tunnels, a bum crouches which does not normally happen with unarmed NPCs.

Mole tunnels, "If the rebels really believed in local government, they'd leave me alone.".

Chapter 6#

Hong Kong helibase, the old flamethrower effect seen in the background.

Ditto, seemingly corrupt textures on the top left.

Hong Kong helibase, with old Jock model and old directional damage indicator.

Hong Kong canals, possibly staged as civilians never crouch in final. Also different tuktuk texture.

Tonnochi Road, once the same level as the canals. A Red Arrow member stands with a pistol equipped.

Queen's Tower, no numbers on the cameras.

Denton holding an assault rifle one-handed.

Maggie Chow shooting a Red Arrow member who's in her apartment, for some reason.

Hong Kong temple, the two triad leaders stand with vastly different models. Cut MP5 weapon seen on the belt.

Hong Kong canals freezer, a seemingly different death pose on the ground.

VersaLife with workers in suits. The world trade centers in the background as possible placeholders. The text on the monitor says "Welcome. 1:06:43. 02.09.99".

Chapter 9#

Brooklyn shipyard, with MJ12 troops instead of soldiers and an odd camera design.

Likely the area seen on the top right of the old Image09_NYC_Ship_Bttm image. Cut door texture in background.

Graveyard, with Jock's old helicopter model.

A cop in the graveyard, this does not happen in final.

Chapter 10#

A man, possibly Jock, walks in Paris with alternate HUD visible.

Catacombs with a different entrance to bunker 1.

Chapter 11#

Cathedral, close to final, ammo text still missing from weapon icons, sniper rifles can not be used by AI while crouching in final.

Clear image of the old IFF, displaying "Foe" above an enemy's head.

Rockets with unused fire texture and creating light, likely removed for performance.

Paris, under what later became Everett's home. This area and the vehicle were cut.

Paris, an MJ12 trooper with red beret and goggles walks by while similarly dressed UNATCO do in the background. This area is to the right of the previous image and can be seen out of Everett's windows.

Chapter 12#

Vandenberg, robots standing in place where commandos normally do.

Ditto, camera titles missing, turret status "sleeping".

Vandenberg, with another look at the shuriken icon. Grenades also show "1 RD" on them instead of "COUNT: 1".

Vandenberg entrance with dogs. The large wall is missing and the Brooklyn submarine pen graphics are used on a sign.

Vandenberg again, sans wall. UNATCO troopers wandering around for some reason.

Vandenberg computer, with old baton icon.

Gas Station, no ammo displayed on the weapon on the belt and incorrect aug order.

Chapter 14#

Ocean Lab, view of the old multitool and biocell icons.

Ocean Lab, with sniper instead of GEP gunner.

Ocean Lab UC, the giant spiderbots possibly had flame weapons at one point.

Missile silo. One-handed animation for assault rifle reload, a cut chair model, and a more brown paper look on the credits.

Missile silo, with alternate Howard Strong design.

Missile silo, missing textures on background pillars.

Chapter 15#

Misc#

Character creation and a "mini-crowssbow" typo.

High quality view of the inventory, with old prod battery design and 4x2 LAW. The LAW was still an anti-armor weapon at this point and not anti-tank.

Modern inventory, with ammo still taking room.

From the manual, the word "FOE" would appear above enemies when looked at.

Leaflet, states it uses Quake II's engine, but possibly a carryover from the similar Daikatana leaflet or a misunderstanding of "UE".

In-game Images#

Pre-release versions of in-game images. Note that the pre-release versions have a resolution of a power of two, while the final versions are all 400x400, with a buffer mask to make them reach 512x512. Also note that the final images shown here are made from four 256x256 images combined into one image while the pre-release ones are as-is.

Image01_LibertyIsland

When comparing the images it becomes obvious that the additional walls were edited in. Perhaps they were added later in development to help rendering?

Prototype	Final

Image06_HK_WanChai

Different text. The Underworld/Lucky Money is called the Underground. Queens Tower vs Queen Towers.

Prototype	Final

WanChai Inset Image Comparisons
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto" |- ! Prototype !! Final ! rowspan="4" | ! Prototype !! Final ! rowspan="4" | ! Prototype !! Final |- |

| |

| |- |

| |

| |- |

| |

| |}

Image09_NYC_Ship_Top

The entire level is different. No mess hall exists in the final design. The sick bay is made of two rooms. The ship has 5 levels compared to the 3 in the final version.

Prototype	Final

Image09_NYC_Ship_Bttm

Completely different design. The area seems to be made of 3 rooms and a circular hallway.

Prototype	Final

Image10_Paris_Catacombs

Nothing different other than the changed text font and "subject" removed.

Prototype	Final

Image10_Paris_CatacombsTunnels Different layout at the top left. Agent Hela's room isn't near the hostages in bunker 3 but is instead seemingly required to go through to get to the exit. The old layout is clearly seen to be poorly edited out of the final version. The "to sewer tunnels" text wasn't moved to the correct location in the final version.

Prototype	Final

Image11_Paris_Cathedral

Mainly different fonts. The compass was removed and the lower part of the image extended to fit 400px. This might've been rushed as the pink mask at the can be seen in game.

Prototype	Final

Image12_Vandenberg_Command

Image likely stretched from 256x256 to 400x400 for final version. The text has a different font and the internal view is missing.

Prototype	Final

Image12_Vandenberg_Sub

The "divers entrance" text was removed. The "U.V.B bay" was renamed to the "URV bay".

Prototype	Final

Image14_Schematic

Changed font and loss of text detail, possibly due to the reduced space.

Prototype	Final

Beta Images#

Images dated from approximately May 16th¹⁵, maybe early May¹⁶, a month before release. These images have the text "BETA VERSION" in each corner.

Ammo is now listed on weapon icons. "Foe" text still appears above enemy heads.

What seems to be the unused Blast! texture for soda.

Red and black strips for LAM button instead of pure red.

Red crosshair despite looking at a friendly.

Two viewports using the same camera for some reason, possibly multiple turrets?

(Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20000815072944/http://www.avault.com/featured/deus_ex/)

Inventory Item Comparisons#

Belt Icons
Item	Prerelease	Notes
Low-Tech
Baton		Source Note
Combat Knife		Source
Crowbar		Source
Dragon's Tooth	[N/A]	Note
Pepper Gun		Source
Riot Prod		Source
Sword	[N/A]	Note
Throwing Knives		Source
Throwing Knives		Source Note
Pistols
Mini-Crossbow		Source
Pistol		Source
PS20	[N/A]	Note
Stealth Pistol		Source
Rifles
Assault Rifle		Source
Assault Shotgun		Source
Sawed-off Shotgun		Source
Sniper Rifle		Source
Heavy
Flamethrower		Source
GEP Gun		Source
LAW		Source
Plasma Rifle	[N/A]	Note
Demolitions
EMP Grenade		Source
Gas Grenade		Source
LAM		Source
Scramble Grenade	[N/A]	Note
Consumables
Biocell		Source
Candybar	[N/A]	Note
Cigarettes	[N/A]	Note
Forty		Source
Liquor	[N/A]	Note
Medkit		Source
Soda		Source
Soyfood	[N/A]	Note
Wine	[N/A]	Note
Zyme	[N/A]	Note
Equippables
Ballistic Armor	[N/A]	Note
Binoculars		Source
Hazmat Suit	[N/A]	Note
Rebreather	[N/A]	Note
Tech Goggles	[N/A]	Note
Thermoptic Camo	[N/A]	Note
Tools
Lockpick		Source
Multitool		Source
Multitool		Source
Keyring		Source
Misc
Aug Canister	[N/A]	Note
Aug Upgrade	[N/A]	Note
Ambrosia	[N/A]	Note
Fire Extinguisher	[N/A]	Note
Flare		Source
Weapon Mods
Accuracy	[N/A]	Note
Clip	[N/A]	Note
Laser	[N/A]	Note
Range	[N/A]	Note
Recoil	[N/A]	Note
Reload	[N/A]	Note
Scope	[N/A]	Note
Silencer	[N/A]	Note
Ammo
10mm		Source
10mm		Source Note
20mm	[N/A]	Note
7.62mm		Source
3006		Source
Flare Darts	[N/A]	Note
Darts	[N/A]	Note
Tranq Darts	[N/A]	Note
Napalm		Source
Pepper		Source
Plasma	[N/A]	Note
Prod Charger		Source
Rockets		Source
Sabot	[N/A]	Note
Buckshot		Source
WP Rockets	[N/A]	Note

Inventory Icons
Item	Prerelease	Notes
Low-Tech
Baton	[N/A]	Note
Combat Knife		Source
Crowbar		Source Note
Dragon's Tooth	[N/A]	Note
Pepper Gun	[N/A]	Note
Riot Prod		Source
Sword	[N/A]	Note
Throwing Knives	[N/A]	Note
Pistols
Mini-Crossbow	[N/A]	Note
Pistol		Source
PS20	[N/A]	Note
Stealth Pistol		Source Note
Rifles
Assault Rifle	[N/A]	Note
Assault Shotgun	[N/A]	Note
Sawed-off Shotgun	[N/A]	Note
Sniper Rifle		Source
Heavy
Flamethrower	[N/A]	Note
GEP Gun	[N/A]	Note
LAW		Source Note
Plasma Rifle	[N/A]	Note
Demolitions
EMP Grenade		Source
Gas Grenade	[N/A]	Source
LAM		Source
Scramble Grenade	[N/A]	Note
Consumables
Biocell		Source
Candybar	[N/A]	Note
Cigarettes		Source
Forty		Source
Liquor	[N/A]	Note
Medkit		Source
Soda		Source
Soyfood		Source
Wine	[N/A]	Note
Zyme	[N/A]	Note
Equippables
Ballistic Armor	[N/A]	Note
Binoculars		Source
Hazmat Suit	[N/A]	Note
Rebreather	[N/A]	Note
Tech Goggles	[N/A]	Note
Thermoptic Camo	[N/A]	Note
Tools
Lockpick		Source
Multitool		Source
Multitool		Source
Keyring		Source
Misc
Aug Canister	[N/A]	Note
Aug Upgrade	[N/A]	Note
Ambrosia	[N/A]	Note
Fire Extinguisher		Source Note
Flare		Source
Weapon Mods
Accuracy	[N/A]	Note
Clip	[N/A]	Note
Laser	[N/A]	Note
Range	[N/A]	Note
Recoil	[N/A]	Note
Reload	[N/A]	Note
Scope	[N/A]	Note
Silencer	[N/A]	Note
Ammo
10mm		Source
20mm	[N/A]	Note
7.62mm		Source
3006		Source
Flare Darts	[N/A]	Note
Darts	[N/A]	Note
Tranq Darts	[N/A]	Note
Napalm	[N/A]	Note
Pepper		Source
Plasma	[N/A]	Note
Prod Charger		Source
Rockets	[N/A]	Note
Sabot	[N/A]	Note
Buckshot		Source
WP Rockets	[N/A]	Note

Cut Item Icons
Item	Final	Notes
Headset	[N/A]	Source
Flashlight	[N/A]	Source
Keycard?	[N/A]	Source
Keycard	[N/A]	Source
Sniper rifle	[N/A]	Source
MP5	[N/A]	Source Full res

Videos#

E3 1999 Interview#

From May 14th, 1999, an interview with Chris Norden. Originally for download and streaming on Ion Storm's website. The video was originally 9:47 long however the Wayback Machine only archived the first megabyte, resulting in the footage ending at 4:00. First 3:33 is the interview, the rest is footage of the character creation screen before being cut off.

(Source: https://web.archive.org/web/19991010230246/http://www.ionstorm.com/e3/)

E3 1999 Footage#

This prototype is documented on Hidden Palace.

Watch on YouTube

00:10 A look at an old HUD and no wall around the Liberty head.

00:27 A large texture on the corners of the floors that was cut.

01:06 Railings on the outer sides of the statue, possibly turned into walls for performance reasons.

02:10 A large cut out of the left wall, this remains in the final version, but only in the levels where this area isn't accessible.

02:35 A flat faced character, possibly the bum seen in the GameSpot TV footage below.

02:45 A look at the old texture for the small crates, matching the large ones.

06:16 A helicopter with individually modeled rotors, black helicopter instead of green.

07:11 UNATCO front doors, much more business-like than military bunker.

07:14 UNATCO entrance, smaller and straight underground.

07:31 An infolink from cut character Diane Tisdale.

07:33 Ditto. "Welcome to UNATCO headquarters. Make it a point to meet everybody. Remember, these are some of the top agents in the field. They'll be watching you as intently as you watch them. Out."

07:42 Ditto. "Your office is located on level two at the end of the hall, look for the room packed with crates."

07:55 A UNATCO trooper wearing goggles/glasses and a military beret.

08:01 Sam Carter with his prosthetic leg model.

08:16 Anna Navarre's old model, including arm cannon.

08:33 A cut medical decoration, no dead terrorist.

08:40 Another cut medical decoration on the shelf (right) and a laptop (left).

08:46 Conversation with Jaime Reyes. "Bueno das, Jaime. Que tal?"

08:46 Ditto. "Have you reported to Mr. Manderley yet?"

08:46 Ditto. "No, I thought I'd catch up on old times and all that stuff."

08:46 Ditto. "I need to catch up in here, unpacking and all. You'd better go see Manderley before we start reminiscing about the good ol' days"

08:47 Ditto. "I feel like a human pachinko ball. 'Go here, stop there...'"

08:47 Ditto. "Welcome to UNATCO. Now amscray."

08:55 A large box, possibly cut, this might be the medium sized breakable crate used for cover mentioned in the design document.

09:03 Alex Jacobson's room, with pillars.

09:05 Another laptop, these seemed to be the norm instead of PCs.

10:49 Another infolink from Diane Tisdale. "Welcome to the UNATCO Obstacle Course. Though you should have no trouble navigating the area, I'll be here to assist you just in case. Good luck."

11:55 More cut box textures and the old assault rifle model with noticeable grenade launcher.

12:03 Cut maps, mentioned in the cut levels section.

14:56 The old sniper rifle model, with stand.

21:02 Cut skills "Brawling", "Communication", and "Stealth". Tech skill was the old "Electronics" and "Intermediate" skill level instead of trained.

25:40 The old Pasadena Ocean Lab, built on a cliff rather than a developed area.

26:54 The open rocket in the missile silo, showing seats. This possibly could've taken the player to the ISS/moon levels before being repurposed into a nuclear missile.

27:44 An old UI for the keypad, not showing how many digits it uses. Also two keypads on the silo elevator rather than buttons.

28:32 Jordan Shea (male) with two arm prosthetics. These prosthetics may make the "heavy augmentation" conversation make more sense.

1999 GameSpot TV - E3 Special#

GameSpot's video of E3 1999, showing some Deus Ex footage. Watch on YouTube

02:10 Conversation with the old bum model.

1999 Preview Video#

A 1999 preview video of Deus Ex.

00:17 Different text: "Any way for me to get in there without fighting an army?".

00:19 Different text: "You might be able to make your way around the back side and up into the Statue that way. This would let you avoid the bulk of the NSF troops.".

00:33 Very old UI for hacking computers at Liberty Island.

01:00 Objects have to be viewed for a few seconds before showing their name, in this case the class name, "CrateBreakableMedGeneral".

01:10 Old pre-hacking UI. Daedalus' old name, Daedelus, can be seen in the top left as per the design document.

01:21 Old inventory, with a 3x1 crowbar.

01:22 Old augmentations, with a new IFF augmentation with placeholder graphics.

01:34 Tracer Tong's infolink image, all infolink images were forward facing.

01:40 Character creation with full body skin changes.

01:47 The old multitool in-hand, world model and belt icon.

02:29 Alex Jacobson's infolink image, no spaces between names.

03:02 A different augmentation HUD, it's possible only active augmentations were displayed. "AUGMENTATIONS" can be seen in the top right.

03:13 Different text: "Anything I can help you with?" "I want to snuff some rebels.".

03:13 Different text: "I'd like to rescue Agent Hermann with minimal use of force.".

03:27 A "bioelectric energy cell" restoring 250 energy.

03:44 Old augmentations and their icons, including a superman augmentation, a different icon for ballistic protection, speed enhancement, cloak/radar transparency, and an unknown cranial augmentation.

03:48 The speed enhancement augmentation showing a drain rate of 1000 units/minute, implying energy was capped at 1000 instead of 100.

Cybernet Preview#

Not 100% if this is Cybernet.

In general older UI, weapon icons, and level geometry.
JC uses his old skin and shades.
Much longer detonation time for the LAM.
Fire extinguisher placed on slab above LAM instead of in a wall mount.
Different model for cameras.
Cameras can be destroyed with the pistol.
Large metal crate next to the pepper gun.
Assault rifle usable on Liberty Island.
Different sound for assault rifle firing.
Text above enemies shows "FOE", text above allies shows "FRIEND".
Different desk design outside of Gunther's cell.
Weapon mod on table may or may not be accuracy.
Camera in said room also potentially missing.
Mirrors broken or disabled.
Higher lock strength for statue doors (25%).
Pillar in Gunther's cell with a different ceiling.
A LAM placed in the hallway between the stairs, with a large proximity radius.
Different datacube design and able to be moved.
Large metal crate next to breakable ones on dock, no brush crates.
No name for highlighted object until hit, then shows ADS lines to it.

Transcript of Gunther's conversation:

Prototype

Final

[JC] Denton
[Gl]ad you're not hurt, agent.

[Gun]ther Hermann
[I h]ave taken little damage. Please give me a weapon and move out of the way.

JC Denton
Glad you're not hurt, agent.

Gunther Hermann
Command should not have left us to be surrounded.

JC Denton
Risk is part of the job. I think you lucked out this time.

Gunther Hermann
Agent Navarre and I were ready to go in, but for no reason they said pull back. I do not retreat. Please give me a weapon and move out of the way.

Ion Storm Marketing Tape#

A marketing tape showing Daikatana, Deus Ex, and Anachronox footage. Watch on YouTube

01:29 A look inside the Hong Kong temple, with the two old models for the triad leaders.

01:39 Inside VersaLife, two secretaries and no security at the window, man looking outside instead

01:44 Paul Denton sitting at the old UNATCO break room.

01:46 Battery Park subway with multiple crates.

01:51 Hell's Kitchen with a completely different design.

02:00 Luminous Path member running to fight Red Arrow.

02:02 Hong Kong canals with a completely different advertising style, including one for "Cherry Coke"?

02:04 A different fire effect for the burning barrels.

02:05 Enfant Terrible with a large window design.

02:06 Paris Metro with a different sign.

02:14 Majestic 12 troopers using assault rifles one-handed.

02:21 Dobermen on what appears to be Liberty Island.

02:25 Jock's helicopter with yellow tipped rotors and what appears to be a shark mouth nose design.

02:28 Additional grates at the missile silo elevator, which opened on arrival.

02:34 Assassinating what appears to be Jaime Reyes in Hong Kong.

1999 Computec Preview#

Watch on YouTube

01:04 Only footage of the cut card reader in game. "SECURITY" wrote on the security console?

01:27 4x2 LAW and 1x2 fire extinguisher.

01:40 Slightly different LAW with spokes at the end.

01:57 Public computer UI. including cut bulletins, possibly the framework for the "Know Your Enemy" ones.

02:42 The old augmentation menu, with another speed aug icon.

1999 PC Action Preview#

A German trailer for Deus Ex, found on the German section of the Eidos France FTP site¹⁷. Watch on YouTube

01:20 A unique look to the health menu, with boxes above the health bars.

01:50 Another look at Jock's helicopter with the yellow tipped rotors.

02:01 A different flamethrower burning effect from final, the entire body is covered in fire.

02:14 The old look for Leo Gold, possibly Toby Atanwe's model. This model was changed but the text wasn't, leading to "Hair: None" remaining.

2000 Gamestar Preview#

Watch on YouTube2000 preview, by German gaming magazine Gamestar.

00:31 Battery Park subway with crates and large multitool icon.

01:45 Old inventory, with 3x1 crowbar and 2x1 stealth pistol.

01:49 The light augmentation, with 20 energy/minute drain rate.

2000 PCPlayer Preview#

Watch on YouTube

00:56 Old character creation image and lower skill costs.

01:30 Old character design. Characters would idly animate while in conversation.

01:48 "I think this is a test, JC. Someone high up wants to see how you handle this."

02:28 Jock: "That is the compound..." Monk: "Take off your shoes."

02:58 Metal bars and a glass window blocking the back of the catacombs entrance.

Incite Games Preview#

Watch on YouTubeA minute long video of Deus Ex from gaming magazine Incite. A possible placeholder sound for the robot can be heard at 00:10.

00:20 "You found a soy food product" rather than "You found some soyfood".

00:26 A different texture for the burning barrel.

00:39 A different starting location for Battery Park.

00:41 Different text: "No excuses. The riot police have the NSF completely surrounded, it won't get any easier than this.".

00:43 Different text: "I said lead the way.".

00:47 Tracer Tong's infolink and Bunker 1 in the catacombs not hidden.

00:53 Very old UI for hacking computers at Liberty Island.

DeusEx.avi#

Unknown video, likely official due to the logos at the end. Watch on YouTube

00:38 Talking to Harley Filben on Liberty Island with his old model.

01:14 Talking to Mercedes with her old model.

01:54 A hostile terrorist on the 747. Perhaps the NSF were still hostile at this point?

01:26 Ditto, this terrorist was cut from final and was meant to have the key to Lebedev's room.

Deus_Ex_Apr.mov#

A promotional video distributed before release, found on the UK section of the Eidos France FTP site¹⁸, but also some other gaming news sites¹⁹. Possibly recorded in April 2000?

00:28 The UNATCO comvan and a slightly different design for the datacube.

00:43 The augmentation upgrade canister out in the open instead of locked up.

00:55 The modern inventory, ammo still taking space and weapons not displaying what ammo they use.

01:00 Paul's painting code being 1234 vs 4321 ("count from 1 to 4").

01:00 A different conversation with the troops outside the hotel (see below).

03:28 A heavy blue tint on the logo.

UNATCO grenade troops transcript:

Prototype

Final

UNATCO Troop
You want these?

JC Denton
What?

UNATCO Troop
Denton! Hey, it's Denton!

JC Denton
What do you want?

UNATCO Troop
Give'm the grenades!

UNATCO Troop


UNATCO Troop
Denton! Hey, it's Denton!

UNATCO Troop
You want these?

JC Denton
What?

UNATCO Troop
Give'm the grenades!

UNATCO Troop

Cuts#

Cut Audio#

NYCBar.mp3
An old version of the NYC bar theme, found on the German section of the Eidos France FTP site²⁰ or alternatively on the official Deus Ex site²¹.

Cut Levels#

Space Station#

A level was planned to take place on the ruins of the International Space Station, but was cut for being too similar to System Shock.

Moon Base#

After the space station was cut focus was put on a lunar mining base, the level would deal with low gravity, lack of oxygen, and a fight between a UN base and a Chinese base. The level was cut as the gameplay and setting would be too different to the rest of the game. Though the level was cut the Chinese lunar mining base can still be found mentioned in news articles in game.

White House#

The White House was the first level designed for the game, as it was believed to be the hardest to make. It was designed as a place "people would just enjoy poking around in ways they couldn't in the real world". One reason it was cut was because "there was no way any then-current renderer was going to allow us to do all that [exploring the entire White House]". Large areas such as the White House had speed issues, and knowing that they would have to be cut into smaller levels, the decision was taken to cut them entirely. Little is known about the levels, but a groundskeeper/gardener may have been a character that could be interacted with²² ²³. The characters and decorations (at least some) for this level still survive in the final game. President Mead, the First Lady, and their daughter can be found in the intro cinematic.

The White House level was shown at the e3 1999 demo²⁴. There was a rumor that Spector was visited by the Secret Service due to the level of accuracy in the White House map. When asked about this in 1999, he replied²⁵:

So detailed were the plans, in fact, that rumour has it there was even a spot of bother with the White House security team due to the places within the building that the player was allowed to enter. We put it to Warren at the time, but he was quick to quash our rumours. "No, no, no, no" said he, looking suddenly shifty. "In fact," he says, "the scary thing is.. no, I'd better not tell you that…" And so, the mystery went unsolved.

Harvey Smith was also asked about the White House mission on June 14th, 2000²⁶:

OnlyOne: The rumors are flying about multinational conspiracies, some ambiguous covert-op called Project Eagle Hunter, rednecks being abducted in Wyoming, and government cover-ups, tell us, what's the real deal on this 'White House level' issue?

Harvey 'Witchboy' Smith: I've been asked not to comment on this subject.

In 2020, Sheldon Pacotti said in an interview²⁷:

There was a White House mission that seemed pretty pivotal at the time. The president was a puppet of the Illuminati – he’d been replaced with a clone, and you rescued his daughter.

"Pirate Island"#

In 2020, Sheldon Pacotti said in an interview:

A lot of locations and missions got cut as we tried to make the date. I wrote dialogue for rescuing people who had been taken out to a pirate island.

Misc#

Some cut levels can be seen in the E3 footage:

00_HongKong_TongJunk - Likely remade into HongKong_TongBase, as the design document shows Tong's base as a ship, a junk.
00_HongKong_Xijiang - Unknown.
00_NYC_Helibase - Prefix 00 unlike the final's 03, possibly for faster testing.
01_NYC_UNATCOObstacle - The UNATCO obstacle course, back when the training section was much larger and attached to the UNATCO building.
03_NYC_Drugwarehouse - Possibly reused as 02_NYC_Warehouse as it's missing.

Cut Skills#

The E3 footage shows three cut skills: brawling, communication, and stealth. The brawling skill was likely for the cut fist weapons, while the communication skill was used to unlock choices in conversations, the coding of which still exists in the final game.

Cut Augmentations#

AugAudioAnalysis and AugHearing were mentioned in the list of augmentations in the design document, but no other information was given. Anna Navarre has cochlear implants to hear LAMs, which may be related.
The skullgun is mentioned as an augmentation in this image of the 1997 documentation. The skullgun would later go on to only be mentioned and requested by Gunther Hermann.

Cut Enemies#

A cut robot can be seen in the E3 footage. This is likely the missing "SecurityBot1" class, as 2-4 remain in the final game.

A female variant of the UNATCO trooper was cut in development; quote from Mission03.UNATCOTroop.TroopBarks1:

I toggle back-and-forth between conversations TroopBarks1 and TroopBark2 by using the flag M03TrooperBarkHack.  TroopBarks2 were for UNATCOTroopFemale. 
When the model was cut, I thought it would be easier to switch between conversations than to copy everything together one Event at a time.

Cut Characters#

Jerry Wildman, Nikolai Gusarov, and Oscar Lemiuex all have concept art, but no other information available.

The Majestic Revelations document lists additional UNATCO agents, Diane Tisdale and Nick Baldo. Diane Tisdale can be seen in the e3 1999 footage sending infolinks to the player in UNATCO and may have been the old Alex Jacobson as he isn't mentioned in the document until chapter 15. Nick Baldo was possibly renamed to Nick Baldwin, as a UNATCO office nameplate exists in the final game with that name, but otherwise no other evidence exists.

Thomas Dieter exists in the final scripts as a character that would appear to meet the player and arrange the meeting with Stanton Dowd if Harley Filben was dead. This character would use the "janitor" model, same as the gatekeeper at the graveyard in the final game. In the final game Filben cannot be killed, which may be why this character was cut.

Cut Items#

Access Card#

The access card is likely meant to be combined with the cut cardreader to open doors. The access card is mentioned in an interview with Spector here²⁸:

"Now, you see, this is a computer room" he explains. "I don't know how familiar you are with these, but we have the raised floors so you can run plumbing and stuff down through here… and so if I know about this, I can go down here by crouching and, look, here's an access card. So if you know about how the real world works, you'll know more about how this game works."

PS10#

The PS10 and PS20 are both mentioned in the design document. While there's no specific info on the PS10 (at least detached from the PS20), it was a one-shot pistol type weapon that shot a single low damage round at a target (the sound for which still exists in final).

MP5#

An MP5 can be seen on belt of one image and in the weapon collage. Interestingly this image is reused for a poster in Invisible War where it's called the "M-22 HotShot".

Above, original Invisible War image. Below, MP5 from collage downscaled and overlaid.

Shuriken#

The shuriken can be seen in images and the design document, this was redesigned later into the throwing knives, which are still called shuriken internally.

Favored weapon among HK fighters. In the future, shuriken are made of non-metallic carbon-fiber and are virtually undetectable.

AmmoRocketHE#

The design document mentions an AmmoRocketHE, while AmmoRocketWP is missing. The WP still uses meshes and textures with the HE suffix instead of WP.

Misc Items#

In these old screenshots a headset, keycard, access card, and torch can be seen. The headset was likely redesigned into the infolink augmentation, the torch into the light augmentation, and the white card for the White House.