Deus Ex: The Fall

Deus Ex: The Fall brings the cyberpunk world of Human Revolution to the touchscreen and tries to preserve the core of the gameplay — the choice between a silent playthrough, hacking, and direct confrontation. The controls rely on a virtual joystick and contextual buttons for cover, hacking terminals, and using weapons, a compromise that works better in the slower stealth sections than in firefights. The player takes on the role of mercenary Ben Saunier and moves through smaller, enclosed locations whose atmosphere and visual style — neon streets, augmentations, corporate darkness — clearly reference the larger console/PC installment.

The game came out in 2013 as a paid title, but later built in microtransactions for the in-game currency needed to upgrade augmentations, which drew criticism from both players and reviewers — the game's pacing sometimes felt designed to make the payments make sense. The story also isn't self-contained and ends mid-plot with a reference to a sequel that was never released, so the experience remains permanently unfinished.

Even with these caveats, it's one of the more ambitious attempts to bring a large action RPG series to mobile without changing the genre into a simpler arcade experience, and for Deus Ex fans it remains an interesting detour thanks to a visual quality that wasn't a given on mobile devices at the time. The sound design, voice acting, and overall production level also matched a console game more than a typical mobile title of its day, which visibly set the game apart from its surrounding competition.

Why play it: Fans of Human Revolution who want to sample the same atmosphere on the go will appreciate it, but should expect a cut-off ending to the story and microtransactions for augmentations.