When comparing Deus Ex: Human Revolution vs Dragon Age: Origins, the Slant community recommends Dragon Age: Origins for most people. In the question“What are the best singleplayer games on Steam?” Dragon Age: Origins is ranked 38th while Deus Ex: Human Revolution is ranked 98th. The most important reason people chose Dragon Age: Origins is:
The story in Dragon Age: Origins is long and expansive with many different parts that are all fit together by the finale. As a Grey Warden, you specialize in killing demon-like darkspawn enemies in order to prevent them from taking over the world in a cataclysmic event known as the Blight. Even with the darkspawn threat, there are many other issues across the country of Ferelden, such as the oppression of mages and elves at the hands of humans, and several displaced dwarves who were nearly wiped out during the Blights in the past. There's plenty of political drama as well, with you and your fellow Grey Wardens caught in the middle of a betrayal at the highest level of Ferelden's monarchy. You play a big part in the culmination of the drama with the choices you make, many of which aren't just black and white. All of these threads come together nicely by the end as you fight against the darkspawn to save the country and all the people that you get to know on your journey.
Specs
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Pros
Pro You can take a lethal or pacifist approach to missions
You have total freedom in how you approach missions, mainly with whether you want to take the silent approach or go in guns blazing. Going with weapons such as stun guns, picking non-lethal knock-outs, and sneaking around through vents and hidden passageways makes up the pacifist methods. The more violent ways of playing include using deadly guns and abilities, killing enemies when you take them down, and generally running head-first into each mission. You don't have to stick with one or the other; if the situation calls for it, you can change things up as needed, keeping things interesting as you go along.
Pro Conversations feel dynamic from your dialog choices
Speaking with major NPCs feels natural thanks to the dialog options you get to make. Each character has their own personalities and worldviews, so selecting certain options gives you the chance to move the conversation forward, make the person hand over something you need, or persuade them during debates.
You can choose to appease someone who has a dominant personality in order to get what you want from them, or you can intimidate someone with a weaker personality. There's even a cool cybernetic implant you can get that lets you read someone's personality and reactions to you to determine the best options to pick. This gives discussions a lot of weight and impact, making sure that your choices matter.
Pro Tons of ways to customize your playstyle
Unlocking and upgrading abilities gives you a great chance to tailor how you approach missions and explorations. There are certain perks that lean more toward stealth, like an invisibility cloak, and others that are more lethal-oriented, like a flashy area of effect ability that lets you take out surrounding enemies all at once. And there are other skills that give you a leg up in exploring levels, like boosting the amount of fall damage you can take to prevent death and reach secret locations. One player's build may be completely different from someone else's, adding replay value to experiment with unlocks.
Pro Amazing futuristic themes and visual style
Deus Ex: Human Revolution has a great aesthetic that fits with its setting and themes. The visuals have plenty of bright golds and harsh blacks, and many recurring instances of hard geometric shapes to match with the prevalence of augmented humans with cybernetics. Along with this rapidly expanding technology, the story delves into the angle of what would happen if corrupt corporations became more influential than the government, bringing up some tough parallels to the current year in the real world. The unique look of the game goes so well with the subjects it tackles, creating a cohesive and stylistic whole.
Pro Cool soundtrack
The music in Human Revolution is an amazing mix of synthwave and other electronic sounds. Each track that plays in the different locations you explore, such as Montreal and Singapore, make you feel like you're in a futuristic version of those places.
Even the more atmospheric tracks go a long way to set the mood in any given place, like the somber yet thoughtful track that plays in the main protagonist's home, giving you a moment to breathe after playing through the game's tense and exciting missions. The soundtrack absolutely does its job of setting the stage for wherever you're at while creating emotional memories of where each song plays.
Pro Epic dark fantasy story
The story in Dragon Age: Origins is long and expansive with many different parts that are all fit together by the finale.
As a Grey Warden, you specialize in killing demon-like darkspawn enemies in order to prevent them from taking over the world in a cataclysmic event known as the Blight. Even with the darkspawn threat, there are many other issues across the country of Ferelden, such as the oppression of mages and elves at the hands of humans, and several displaced dwarves who were nearly wiped out during the Blights in the past. There's plenty of political drama as well, with you and your fellow Grey Wardens caught in the middle of a betrayal at the highest level of Ferelden's monarchy. You play a big part in the culmination of the drama with the choices you make, many of which aren't just black and white.
All of these threads come together nicely by the end as you fight against the darkspawn to save the country and all the people that you get to know on your journey.
Pro Great ways to interact with companions
There are interesting ways to get to know your team members in Dragon Age: Origins. Giving them gifts, talking to them at camp, and listening to party banter are all realistic and fun.
You can increase approval with your favorite characters by figuring out what types of gifts to give them, like general trinkets in the shape of a dragon, or more sentimental items with personal meaning to them like a parent's cherished locket. While resting at a camp, you can chat with anyone about what's on their mind, opening up side quests, and possibly triggering romance options.
Party banter is always insightful and entertaining, with characters giving different lines depending on who you bring along. For instance, if two of your party members don't like each other, you can expect them to snipe insults or make more passive-aggressive backtalk depending on their personalities.
Your companions feel like actual people you can interact with and listen to, each with their own preferences and perspectives.
Pro Your choices can give you vastly different playthroughs
The choices you make affect the gameplay and plot, opening things up for very different playthroughs.
Right from the start, you pick which race and combat class you want for your protagonist -- human, elf, or dwarf -- each with their own playable origin prologue, such as a human mage with noble blood or a dwarf warrior part of the working class. Which origin you pick also has a big impact on how your companions and NPCs react to you, such as people respecting you more if you're a noble or looking down on you if you're an elf.
Once you become a Grey Warden, the choices you make during the story segments determine who will join you for the final battle. You can side with the people whom you know will provide the most support in the finale against the darkspawn, but these characters might be irredeemable and reprehensible, so you might not want to help them after all. Or there may be other groups or people that you absolutely want to help, yet this comes at a great cost that negatively affects others in the world. It's a balancing act where you have to carefully take everything into consideration.
All in all, your choices give you the chance to experience unique playthroughs, with potentially hundreds of hours of gameplay if you want to see how each outcome plays out.
Pro Well-implemented tactical combat with unique playstyles
The combat gameplay is great, featuring various playstyles and a key way for you to control the flow of battle.
The different battle classes -- warrior, mage, and rogue -- have branching specializations with unique abilities. Going with a templar that branches off from the warrior class gives you an edge over enemies who use magic, while duelist rogues have more speed to strike quickly and dodge the most hits. You can also pause the game to bring up a radial menu to pick which abilities to use and specific enemies to target, meaning you can take your time in battle and not get overwhelmed by everything.
Mastering your class specialization and using the radial menu to your advantage gives the combat a lot of strategic depth.
Pro Plenty of mods available
Nexus Mods contains many mods to change just about any aspect of the game such as adding new dungeons, new companion interactions, and ways to save time like with the auto loot mod.
Cons
Con You must be lethal during boss fights, even on a pacifist run
It's really disappointing that the game doesn't let you take a purely pacifist approach. You can sneak around all you want while making sure to only perform silent takedowns, but the moment you step into a boss room, all of that role-playing goes out the window. You have to kill the boss, no questions asked. It would have been nice to have the option to outmaneuver them instead and lead them into non-lethal traps. Thankfully, the devs addressed this issue in the sequel, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, but you still have to deal with it here.
Con Boring main protagonist
Adam is such a dull lead character. He's stereotypically gruff, he barely ever shows any emotion, and he seems quite disaffected by the game's events. Even though most of his arc revolves around his quest to save his ex-girlfriend, it's hard to get invested or care about either of them, since you don't see them interact that much except during the start of the game. Though there is a silver lining to his personality, since his unconcerned attitude leads to one particular line of his that's turned into a running joke online. But other than that, he's not a remarkable protagonist that you find yourself rooting for on a personal level.
Con Stiff character animations during cutscenes
It can be distracting to watch two characters speak during a cutscene. Aside from maybe Adam, everyone has such stiff and repetitive gestures and movements. Mouth movements don't sync up with voiced lines, making it look like the characters are just miming and faking their way through conversations. Depending on your tolerance levels, it's possible to tune out these annoyances and still enjoy the scenes.
Con Silent protagonist even though everyone else has voice acting
It's jarring that your protagonist is the only character in the game who doesn't speak. While everyone else has a voice with their dialogue, it's awkward when you pick your own dialogue options and your character says nothing. When you choose your response, there's a pause between the other person's lines that doesn't quite feel right. It would have been nice if the voice acting were consistent, with voices for everyone or no one, to keep things on the same page.
Con Characters are partially clothed during romance scenes
The romance scenes include characters wearing their undergarments, which ends up looking weird and distracting. Full nudity isn't absolutely necessary, but it just seems off here. Having more creative camera angles to cover things up would have had a better effect without coming off as unrealistic.
Con Too easy to fix relationships with companions who dislike you
It's way too easy to smooth things over with disagreeable party members. Your companions can grow to actively dislike you if you pick certain dialogue options with them, or they can judge you harshly for certain story decisions you make. By giving them gifts, you can greatly improve their approval of you as if nothing had ever happened in the first place. None of your relationships with your companions really have any consequences when it's this simple to make them like you again after disagreements.