Every Deus Ex game, ranked
All 4 Deus Ex games we hold, spanning 2000 to 2016: 3 ranked by the GamingPickz Score and plotted below, the rest listed in release order so nothing in the series is missing. Together they carry 60,355 Steam reviews.
Where to start
- For the best-reviewed: Deus Ex (GamingPickz Score 8.2), the highest-rated entry we can score.
- For the money: Deus Ex: Invisible War gives the most score per dollar right now.
The Deus Ex games on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueThe same 3 games, plotted rather than listed. The two axes below are the ones the ranking is built from, so a game sitting high and right is a game the formula placed near the top. Change either axis to see the field a different way. Where we hold a publisher wordmark, the game is drawn as its mark rather than a dot.
3 games have both
Axes are fitted to these 3 games rather than the full 0 to 100 scale, because a filtered list shares a narrow band and would otherwise sit in one corner. End values are marked. A point on the left edge is the lowest of thesegames, not a low score.
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- PC
- PlayStation
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
Every game by critic score
The grid above is built from Steam data, so it can only place the Deus Ex games that were on Steam. This one uses the Metacritic critic aggregate, which the older console-only entries have too, so the whole series lands on a single chart: critic score against release year.
On Steam (also has a GamingPickz Score) Console-only (Metacritic only)
3 best Deus Ex games, ranked
Ordered by GamingPickz Score. Every figure links back to the source that produced it.
Deus Ex at a glance Released 2000 Studio Ion Storm Player sentiment 95% positive of 15,619 Critics 90/100 Price $6.99 Steam Deck playable Install size Not stated Accessibility 1 declared feature Raw 95% shrinks to 94.7 on 15,619 reviews, then blends with the 90 critic aggregate, giving 8.2.
Worth checking first- Flagged for mature content on its store page.
- 2
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Best for: Players who need accessibility options that actually exist
7.2GamingPickz Scorehigh confidenceDeus Ex: Mankind Divided at a glance Released 2016 Studio Eidos Montreal Player sentiment 76% positive of 42,238 Critics 83/100 Price $29.99 Steam Deck playable Install size 45 GB Accessibility 9 declared features Raw 76% shrinks to 76.1 on 42,238 reviews, then blends with the 83 critic aggregate, giving 7.2.
What the data supports- Declares 9 accessibility features, well above the catalogue norm.
Worth checking first- Flagged for mature content on its store page.
- 3
Deus Ex: Invisible War
Best for: A consistently well-received pick in this category
5.9GamingPickz Scoremedium confidenceDeus Ex: Invisible War at a glance Released 2007 Studio Ion Storm Player sentiment 57% positive of 2,498 Critics 80/100 Price $1.74 Steam Deck playable Install size Not stated Accessibility 1 declared feature Raw 57% shrinks to 60.7 on 2,498 reviews, then blends with the 80 critic aggregate, giving 5.9.
Worth checking first- Critics rate it well above players, 80 against 61. Worth reading why before buying.
- Flagged for mature content on its store page.
Only the 3 Deus Ex games with Steam review data can be scored and ranked. The complete series, scored or not, is charted in order below.
Best and worst entry
The best-received Deus Ex game we can score is Deus Ex at 8.2. The lowest is Deus Ex: Invisible War at 5.9, a 2.3-point spread across the series. The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
How the series scored over time
GamingPickz Score against release year, 2000 to 2016. The later entries score lower than the earlier ones: the series has been trending down.
Cheapest way in, and best value
- Cheapest right now: Deus Ex: Invisible War at $1.74. Prices are read live from Steam and move.
- Best value: Deus Ex: Invisible War, the most GamingPickz Score per dollar in the series at its current price.
On a Steam Deck
Valve's own Deck compatibility rating for the Deus Ex entries on Steam:
- Playable: Deus Ex, Deus Ex: Invisible War, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Platforms across the series
Where the 4 Deus Ex games have landed, counting every entry we hold:
| Platform family | Entries |
|---|---|
| PC | 4 of 4 |
| PlayStation | 2 of 4 |
| Xbox | 1 of 4 |
| Nintendo | 1 of 4 |
The Deus Ex series, game by game
Every Deus Ex game we hold, in release order. Each description is the game's own, from Steam where it has a listing and Wikipedia for the older entries, never ours.
- 2000
Deus Ex
8.2The year is 2052. The world's economies are close to collapse and the gap between the insanely wealthy and the desperately poor grows ever wider. Worst of all, an ages old conspiracy bent on world domination has decided that the time is right to emerge from the shadows and take control. (Steam)
Plot
The Deus Ex series is set in a cyberpunk version of the 21st Century; the series chronology spans from the 2020s to the 2070s. The stories of each title follow an augmented lead character investigating a mystery which leads into wider conspiracies, with their in-game actions and final choices leading to multiple endings. A recurring antagonistic faction is a fictionalized version of the Illuminati . (Wikipedia)
Reception
The original Deus Ex and its sequel Invisible War met with strong sales, and had sold a combined total of over two million units combined as of 2009. Human Revolution ranked high in sales charts during 2011, going on to sell over two million units. While no specific figures were given, Mankind Divided was stated to have seen commercial success. (Wikipedia)
- 2007
Approximately 20 years after Deus Ex, the world is only beginning to recover from a catastrophic worldwide depression. In this techno-nightmare, take part in the dark struggle to raise the world from its own ashes. (Steam)
Plot
Setting Invisible War is set in the year 2072, twenty years after the events of the original Deus Ex ; the Deus Ex series is set in a cyberpunk future rife with secret organizations and conspiracies such as the Illuminati and Majestic 12 , an Illuminati splinter faction. During the first game's events in 2052, original protagonist JC Denton —a clone designed to serve Majestic 12—was drawn into a secret war between the Illuminati and Majestic 12, led by… (Wikipedia)
Characters
The main protagonist is "Alex D"; their full name is Alex Denton, a clone from the same program which created JC and Paul Denton. Spirited away shortly before the events of Deus Ex , Alex is raised in Chicago before being inducted into the Tarsus Academy, a group controlled by the Denton-created ApostleCorp. At Tarsus, Alex is trained in the use of biomods. (Wikipedia)
Reception
Sales During its debut week in the United Kingdom, the game reached #3 in the charts, described as a respectable debut. In their financial report in April 2005, Eidos reported that Invisible War was among the titles to have sold between 500,000 and one million copies since release, placing it among their successful titles. As of April 2011, Invisible War has sold over 1. (Wikipedia)
- 2011
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Metacritic 90Deus Ex: Human Revolution is an action role-playing game developed by Eidos-Montréal and published by Square Enix. The game is a prequel to the original Deus Ex (2000) and the third installment in the Deus Ex series. The gameplay combines first-person shooter, stealth, and role-playing elements. It features exploration… (Wikipedia)
Plot
Setting Human Revolution takes place in the year 2027, 25 years prior to the original Deus Ex . The Deus Ex series is set in a cyberpunk future rife with secret organizations and conspiracies: among these forces is the Illuminati . Leading up to Human Revolution , there have been marked improvements in human society, with people actively fighting global warming , finding cures for various diseases, and improving green energy . (Wikipedia)
Characters
The main protagonist is Adam Jensen : coming from a humble background in Detroit , he worked as a leader with the local SWAT squad until he refused to follow a questionable order and was turfed out. After this, he is taken on as a security manager at Sarif Industries, a local company at the leading edge of augmentation technology. A fellow at the company is Megan Reed, a researcher for Sarif and Adam's ex-girlfriend. (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception The game received widespread critical acclaim upon release. Review aggregate site Metacritic gave the game scores of 90/100 for PC, and 89/100 for PS3 and Xbox 360. These were based on 52, 50 and 70 critic reviews respectively. (Wikipedia)
- 2016
You play as Adam Jensen, an experienced covert operative operating in a world that despises his kind: augmented humans. Choose from an arsenal of state-of-the-art weapons and augmentations to build your playstyle, and decide who you'll trust, to unravel a vast worldwide conspiracy. (Steam)
Plot
Setting Mankind Divided is set in 2029, two years after Deus Ex: Human Revolution . The Deus Ex series is set in a cyberpunk future rife with secret organizations and conspiracies, including the Illuminati . Before Human Revolution , advances in biotechnology and cybernetics led to the development of "augmentations", artificial organs capable of enhancing human performance. (Wikipedia)
Characters
Human Revolution protagonist Adam Jensen returns as the lead character. Presumed dead after Panchaea's destruction, he was rescued and secretly implanted with advanced augmentations. Due to a genetic trait which allows augmentations without Neuropozyne, Jensen occupies a middle ground between humans who mistrust augmented people and those whose augmentations are decaying due to a lack of Neuropozyne. (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Deus Ex: Mankind Divided received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic . The PlayStation 4 versions of System Rift and A Criminal Past likewise received "generally favorable" reviews, but the PC version for the latter DLC received "mixed or average" reviews. Nick Plessas of Electronic Gaming Monthly enjoyed the narrative's enclosed nature and how the game gave Adam personality while… (Wikipedia)
Deus Ex, head to head
Two entries side by side on score, price, specs and reception:
Deus Ex vs other series
How Deus Ex stacks up against other series in the same genre, as a whole:
Also: Deus Ex vs Mount & Blade, Deus Ex vs Orcs Must Die!, Deus Ex vs Borderlands, Deus Ex vs Risen, Deus Ex vs The Witcher, Deus Ex vs Torchlight, Deus Ex vs BioShock, Deus Ex vs Dragon's Dogma, Deus Ex vs Dungeon Siege, Deus Ex vs ELDEN RING, Deus Ex vs Gothic, Deus Ex vs Hades, Deus Ex vs Heroes of Hammerwatch, Deus Ex vs Kingdom Come, Deus Ex vs Kingdoms of Amalur, Deus Ex vs Middle-earth, Deus Ex vs S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Deus Ex vs The Surge, Deus Ex vs Two Worlds
Common questions
How many Deus Ex games are there?
We hold 4 Deus Ex games in the catalogue, released between 2000 and 2016. 3 of them carry enough Steam data to rank; the rest are listed in release order below, including console-only entries with no Steam listing.
Which Deus Ex game is best?
By the GamingPickz Score, Deus Ex rates highest at 8.2. That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, computed the same way for every game, not our opinion. The full ranking is above.
What order should I play the Deus Ex games in?
Release order is listed below, from 2000 to 2016. For most series that is also story order, but we list dates rather than telling you a canon; the timeline is read from Wikidata.
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