Ion Storm’s genre-defining immersive sim Deus Ex is coming back in a new remaster for modern platforms, and it’s one that has not gone down well with fans. Set to release on March 5, 2026, the new Deus Ex Remastered takes more than a few liberties with the source material.
Alongside the expected revamped controls and bug fixes, Aspyr Media’s upcoming remake takes some major swings with the game’s iconic visuals, and the vast majority of fans are unhappy. Following the remaster’s reveal, many fans took to social media to voice their complaints with one fan asking: “can you un-augment my vision, please?”
In an upcoming episode of the FRVR Podcast, which will release in the coming weeks, we sat down with Deus Ex art director Jerry O’Flaherty to discuss the breadth of his career. While the iconic video game artist—who also worked on Gears of War—was more of a hands-off art manager for the Deus Ex team, he was taken aback by the new look of the game after we introduced him to the remaster.
“Oh, what the f*ck,” the art director exclaimed. “No. This did not need to happen. Sorry whoever was involved in this. Oh man, yeah, no. If you’re gonna do it, yeah, alright, why not? Why am I judging?”
O’Flaherty explained that the original Deus Ex is a very special project that—while they didn’t have much experience in the creation of it—came down to a very specific vision by a very specific group of people that worked together to create something more spectacular than anyone really expected.
One part of that is, of course, the look, which lead artist Jay Lee and his team designed around the very specific features of the then-new original Unreal Engine while the rest of Ion Storm were working with Id Tech.
“It’s just one of those rare projects, and until you’ve been on one you just don’t understand, where the right group of people come together.”
Deus Ex art director Jerry O’Flaherty on the iconic immersive sim
“You wanted to lean into what the engine did well and don’t do the sh*t that it doesn’t do well,” O’Flaherty said. “And so, you know, I don’t know the decision to go with that dramatic [lighting]… I was very much a ‘swoop in and make sure sure sh*t isn’t going wrong, and just let them go. And they were doing an amazing job.
“It’s just one of those rare projects, and until you’ve been on one you just don’t understand, where the right group of people come together. They drive [each other] in a way that is just so specific. I mean, Warren [Spector] is one of those amazing guys. I love working with designers like this, [they] just have a million ideas and they want to go in this direction and that direction, tempered with the right team around them [that] knows how to go: ‘that’s a great idea. Let’s do this, and this, and this.’”
One of the major pain points of the new remaster is just how much it changes in an attempt to look more modern. O’Flaherty, who spent decades working in early 3D, explains that there was a lot of hand-crafted work to make things look “realistic” and, while you can slap modern rendering on top, there an intent there.
“I always talk about the nose and it’s just like you paint the nose and then paint this one little spot of white, and suddenly it’s got specularity.” they explained, “the actual kind of specular properties, you just know? And now it’s freaking looks real. And I feel like the further down the path that we’ve gotten, with people realistic rendering, it does all of that work. And so now what you do is to get to, there’s less efficiency. You’re not trying for efficiency, you’re trying for reality. And sometimes reality just isn’t exactly what you want. You want that slight push. This is why Hollywood lights the sh*t out of their movies. It’s why they put a big screen up and then they light it like it’s sunlight. they want it to be exactly what they want.”
This is an almost constant discussion with remakes: do they match the intent? Halo Studios’ upcoming remake of Halo: Combat Evolved has also drawn the ire of some fans for its shiny Unreal Engine 5 visuals, although this has been calmed by original art director Marcus Lehto publicly stating: “I absolutely love where this is going. The game looks and feels genuine. It’s gorgeous in a way I wish we could have built it originally back in 2001. It warms my heart to see Halo CE like this.”
Deus Ex is a game that deserves a remaster, it deserves to be brought back to modern gamers with the intent of the original creators. Unfortunately, Aspyr Media’s upcoming project doesn’t seem to be that, and most would simply recommend a number of fan mods instead.
