Deus Ex: The Fall

Deus Ex: The Fall is an action role-playing game with incorporated first-person shooter and stealth mechanics. Players take the role of Ben Saxon, a man equipped with mechanical cybernetic implants called Augmentations. Players navigate the game's environments in first-person perspective, though some actions switch to a third-person view. In these environments, players can perform contextual actions such as climbing ladders, using cover, and talking with non-playable characters (NPCs) that will advance both the main story quest and provide optional side quests. Completing quests, along with other actions such as combat with enemies and environmental interaction, awards experience points (EXP).

There are a variety of ways to approach the game's situations: players can use a violent approach and shoot their way through environments while using cover to hide from enemy fire. Alternately, Saxon can take a stealthy approach, avoiding guards and security devices, again using cover to avoid enemy sight lines. Saxon can move between cover elements and aim around corners while staying hidden from guards and security devices. The melee takedown system offers lethal and non-lethal options, in addition to an assortment of lethal and non-lethal weapons.

The Fall is set during the year 2027, taking place in parallel to the opening sections of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. The Deus Ex series is set in a cyberpunk future rife with secret organizations and conspiracies, including the Illuminati. Advances in biotechnology and cybernetics have led to the development of "augmentations" (artificial organs capable of improving and enhancing the human body's performance) that require doses of a limited and expensive immunosuppressive drug called Neuropozyne to prevent implant rejections. The development of augmentation technology has triggered controversy and divided society between those who use augmentations and those who are either morally opposed, too poor to afford them, or whose bodies actively reject them. The story focuses on events in Panama City, though some scenes occur in Costa Rica and Moscow.

The main protagonist is British-born Ben Saxon, an augmented mercenary and former member of the Tyrants, a group in the employ of private company Belltower and their Illuminati sponsors. Saxon looks after former federal agent Anna Kelso, who, together with Saxon, was one of the protagonists of the spin-off novel Deus Ex: Icarus Effect. They are supported by Janus, the unseen leader of the Juggernaut Collective hacktivist group; and Alejandra "Alex" Vega, a Belltower pilot who later joins Janus for the events of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. Characters from Human Revolution and the wider Deus Ex universe also feature, including Illuminati member Bob Page and news reader Eliza Cassan.

After the success of Human Revolution, publisher Square Enix and developer Eidos-Montréal sought to expand the series into other areas, appealing to both core fans and newcomers. With this in mind, they decided to create a dedicated mobile game that would expand the lore of the series while translating the gameplay elements onto the platform. They decided to work with an external studio with a track record for high-quality mobile games. Approaching N-Fusion Interactive with the concept, N-Fusion pitched a sequel to Icarus Effect. From this point, it was a collaborative process between N-Fusion, Eidos Montréal and the mobile division of Square Enix; while the other two acted as support and provided overall creative control, N-Fusion was in charge of development.

N-Fusion developed the game and came up with the initial concept, working closely with staff from Human Revolution during production; those from Human Revolution included director Jean-François Dugas, lead writer Mary DeMarle, co-writer and Icarus Effect author James Swallow, and art director Jonathan Jacques-Belletête. Human Revolution composer Michael McCann created original music for the game. Production lasted twelve months, with a core team of between twelve and fifteen people assigned to it. Dugas later praised N-Fusion for being both willing to develop the project and able to tell their partners about aspects that were not working or could not be done. N-Fusion CEO and game director Jeffrey Birns remembered The Fall as the studio's most challenging project at the time due to the need to represent the different gameplay and narrative elements from the Deus Ex universe, in addition to adapting the complex control scheme for mobile devices.

The Fall garnered a "mixed or average" reception according to review aggregator site Metacritic, which gave it a score of 69 out of 100 points based on 43 reviews. TouchArcade acknowledged criticism that the game was published on iOS rather than PC or console, but described it as a high-quality and engaging experience: "it reeks of 'console quality' in terms of story, production values and visuals, and it's just straight-up fun to play." Eurogamer's Christian Donlan gave the game a low score, citing game-crashing bugs, awkward combat and controls, repetitive graphics and shaky story and voice acting, but still praised the touchscreen functionality and general atmosphere. He concluded that while it had all the right elements for a Deus Ex game, it lacked energy and execution. Digital Spy said that "Deus Ex: The Fall is a short but sweet spin-off for fans of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, just make sure you double check your iOS device's firmware and hardware before downloading".

IGN's Justin Davis praised the game's story, presentation, exploration and streamlined build, but criticized the awkward combat. He concluded that "frustrating combat aside, it's almost astounding how successful The Fall is at distilling the core Deus Ex experience onto a mobile device. The mysterious and well-told story, steady stream of powerful new augments, and impressive game world all combined to create a mobile experience I didn't want to put down after I started". Reviewing the Android version, Ryan Ballard of Droid Gamers was generally positive about the game, praising the narrative and art design; his greatest criticism with the former was the incomplete nature of the story. He also found the color palette repetitive and some gameplay structures frustrating.