Deus Ex: Human Revolution

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.[7] 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. Alongside this, global megacorporations have come to eclipse government authority in power and influence, while private military forces dwarf the sanctioned armies of First World countries. Advances in biotechnology and cybernetics have led to the development of "augmentations", advanced artificial organs capable of significantly improving and enhancing the human body's performance. The development of augmentation technology has triggered a new social divide: those with augmentations become the world's new upper-class citizenry and are touted as the future of humanity, while normal humans form the majority of the lower-class population.[2][8] Augmentations also require taking Neuropozyne, a limited and expensive immunosuppressive drug that stops the body from rejecting the technology.[9] By the events of Human Revolution, society is being divided between "augs", humans who have accepted augmentation technology, and ordinary humans who are either morally opposed to it, too poor to afford it, or whose bodies actively reject it. The tensions between the two factions begin generating open conflict.[2][8]

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. His employer is company CEO David Sarif, who is instrumental in saving Adam after he was left near-dead at the beginning of the game.[7][9] Adam meets many key characters during his missions between Detroit, Montreal, and the new Shanghai metropolis of Hengsha. These include Sarif's chief pilot Faridah Malik; Sarif systems engineer Frank Pritchard; Eliza Cassan, a media personality and public face of Picus Communications; William Taggart, founder of the anti-augmentation group Humanity Front; Hugh Darrow, who founded augmentation technology but is one of those genetically incapable of using them; Zhao Yun Ru, CEO of the Tai Yong Medical megacorporation; and the "Tyrants" mercenary squad, composed of leader Jaron Namir and his associates Lawrence Barrett and Yelena Fedorova.[9][10][11][12][13]

Note: While the general plot of Human Revolution follows a distinct path, many elements are subject to the player's decisions. The game also offers several subplots that the player may or may not encounter, depending on their actions within the game. This synopsis concentrates on the main, unavoidable plot thread of the game.

On the eve of unveiling a way to end Neuropozyne dependence, Sarif Industries is attacked by a group of augmented terrorists, the Tyrants, who slaughter the staff. Megan Reed and many other scientists are presumed dead in the attack, and Jensen, the head of security, is grievously wounded. Sarif saves Jensen by giving him advanced augmentations.

Six months later, Jensen is summoned to deal with another terrorist attack by a group of anti-augmentation radicals. Jensen finds an augmented terrorist trying to steal information, but he commits suicide before Jensen can capture him. Pritchard discovers that the terrorist was controlled remotely and tracks the hacking signal to an abandoned factory in Highland Park. Jensen discovers the Tyrants guarding a FEMA detention camp, but they are moving out after the Sarif raid failed. Jensen defeats one of the mercenaries, Barrett, who tells him to go to the Hengsha megacity in China before launching a failed suicide attack.

Jensen travels to Hengsha and tracks down the hacker, Arie van Bruggen, who is being hunted by private security company Belltower Associates and hidden by local triad leader Tong Si Hung. Van Bruggen directs Adam to Tai Yong Medical, the world's largest augmentation technology manufacturer and Sarif's main rival. Infiltrating Tai Yong, Jensen finds footage of a call between Namir and Zhao Yun Ru, which confirms that Megan and the other scientists are alive and that Eliza Cassan is involved. Confronting Zhao, he learns she is allied to an organization controlling global interests before she forces him to leave. Jensen tracks down Eliza, who is revealed to be an artificial intelligence construct designed to influence the media, who has begun to question her role and offers to help Jensen. He defeats Fedorova, another Tyrant, and Eliza directs him to Isaias Sandoval, an aide to William Taggart.

In Detroit, Sarif admits that the Illuminati are behind the attacks. Jensen infiltrates a Humanity Front rally and discovers Sandoval's location. Sandoval admits his involvement in the kidnapping and gives Jensen a lead to find the researchers. In Sarif HQ, Jensen meets Hugh Darrow, who is working to stave off global warming with the Panchaea Facility in the Arctic. Jensen and other augmented people start experiencing glitches, with authorities urging them to have a biochip replacement. Pritchard locates the tracking beacon of one of the kidnapped scientists, taking Jensen back to Hengsha, where Belltower ambushes him and Malik. The beacon leads Jensen to Tong Si Hung, who has been implanted with the now-deceased scientist's arm. With Tong's help, Jensen stows away in a stasis pod, waking up in a secret Singapore base days later. He finds the scientists and learns that the biochip malfunctions were staged to distribute a new biochip to control augmented humans. Jensen and the scientists stage a distraction, allowing him to infiltrate the facility's secret bunker. Here he defeats Namir and finds Megan. Megan tells him that she was kidnapped for her research into augmentation rejection and confesses that her research was based on Jensen's DNA.

Moments later, Darrow broadcasts a modified signal that throws any augmented person with the new biochip into a murderous frenzy. Jensen evacuates the scientists and commandeers an orbital flight module to reach Panchaea. He confronts Darrow, who reveals that he wants humanity to abandon augmentation technology, believing it will destroy human identity. Jensen sets out to disable Panchaea's Hyron Project supercomputer and end the broadcast; on the way, he encounters Taggart and Sarif, who each urge him to side with them and further their agendas. At the heart of Panchaea, Jensen confronts Zhao Yun Ru, who tries to hijack the signal, and then Eliza, who offers Jensen four choices. Jensen can either broadcast the truth and distance humanity from augmentations; rig the broadcast, so it blames Humanity Front and allows the development of augmentation technology; send out a report to benefit the Illuminati; or destroy Panchea, leaving no one to "spin the story". Jensen's final narration varies depending on his choice and use of lethal force throughout the game.

In a post-credits scene, Megan meets with Bob Page to discuss her employment in "the nanite virus chimera" and "D project": prior to this, Page instructs his cohort Morgan Everett to search the Hyron Project for salvageable technology for the 'Morpheus Initiative', setting up Deus Ex.[14]

Lapikas was responsible for multiple aspects of the game as lead designer, including the cover system, augmentations, conversations, hacking, combat and stealth AI, interactive objects, and general balancing. When creating the gameplay, the team settled on four pillar concepts: "Combat", "Stealth", "Hacking", and "Social".[18] While gameplay took place primarily in first-person, a feature that had been part of the Deus Ex series since its inception, the camera switched to a third-person view during specific actions. This was because the team wanted to create a connection between players and Adam despite the risk that it might break immersion.[26] Augmentations were designed to be customizable by players depending on playstyle, but unlike the previous two Deus Ex games, mechanical augmentations and switches to third-person view enabled the player to see their changes affect Adam's appearance.[23]

For combat, multiple references were used. These included Rainbow Six: Vegas for the cover system and tactical combat; F.E.A.R. for the design of AI; BioShock for the interlinking of weapon and obstacle types; the Call of Duty series for the regenerating health system; and Resident Evil 4 for multiple aspects including the inventory system, game economy and contextual actions.[18] Regenerating health ended up divisive among the fanbase during the game's run-up to release, despite being seen as a necessary inclusion in the modern gaming market.[27] Combat was intended to be easy to understand and visceral, with enemy types ranging from normal humans to augmented humans to robots, all mixed and matched for different combat situations. For stealth gameplay, the team used Metal Gear Solid as a reference for the AI and alert systems and The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay for the general organic feel of stealth. They had similar precepts to combat, wanting to make this style's rules and rewards clear to players.[18] Interactive hacking was one of the earliest things the team had decided upon, alongside not including quick time events.[27] The Hacking mechanics were inspired by the tabletop role-playing game Shadowrun. They were designed to invoke tension and require a survey of the surroundings and the security system while simultaneously providing rewards. Social interactions followed similar patterns, becoming an extension of the general gameplay with a similar risk-reward system.[18]

The team had initially wanted to create the game's boss battles in-house around the game's similar elements of player choice, with their initial design inspired by the boss fights in Metal Gear Solid.[16][18] As the development of the story and gameplay framework took priority, boss battles became less and less of a focus. It eventually reached a point when the main development team could not complete them in time for the game's release. The team contemplated cutting them, but that would have negatively impacted the story and other areas of the game's design.[16] In the end, the development of the boss battles was outsourced to Grip Entertainment. Having been given access to the game's engine, Grip Entertainment was tasked with creating the boss battles and incorporating them into the framework of Human Revolution. For this, they needed to incorporate their technology into the system, working from Eidos' specifications while bringing their development style to bear on the project. They also attempted to balance the boss fights' action-focused approach with the other elements within Human Revolution so it would be accessible to all players.[28]

The script of Human Revolution was written by Mary DeMarle, the narrative director and main writer.[29] While she acted as chief writer, DeMarle also worked with many others throughout development so that the story could be conveyed through environments and dialogue, along with handling how player choices influenced its progression.[30] Sheldon Pacotti, the main writer for the first two Deus Ex games, was a story consultant during early development and was contacted regularly through production to ensure that the storyline fitted adequately within the series chronology.[31] A total of four writers worked on the game, including author James Swallow.[32] DeMarle was brought onto the project four months into its development after it had been decided that it would be a prequel to the first game, focusing on mechanical rather than nanotechnological enhancement technology. As part of her research, DeMarle looked up multiple subjects, from speculated conspiracy theories to the current level of biotechnology: the final story was largely influenced by her reading of non-fiction and writings concerning transhumanism.[30] DeMarle compared the game's study of transhumanism through the main character, Adam, to that in the 1982 film Blade Runner while also using the video game medium to put questions surrounding the ethics and motivations surrounding transhumanism in a nuanced way. She also stated that Adam being forced to confront these issues in person was the narrative's central irony, which had previously been explored using different narrative elements in Deus Ex.[8] The ending, which was ultimately decided using a choice of buttons, was chosen because of technical and time constraints while retaining player interaction.[21] While the gameplay evolved continually through development and some elements required cutting, the story remained almost unchanged, instead being further refined and improved to work out plot holes.[33]

When creating the character of Adam Jensen, DeMarle wanted to give him a well-defined personality, which necessitated balancing it with the narrative's player-driven nature.[29] One of the biggest challenges was creating the various dialogue choices, as she needed to imagine what a character would say if they were hostile when she might typically portray them as benign. Multiple layers of dialogue were created within these variances to create different atmospheres within the narrative. There was standard dialogue with minor characters, more complex dialogue with major characters in quests, and what DeMarle termed "conversation boss fights", dialogue tied to the gameplay where social skill could help the player reach an objective.[30] When creating characters, the team drew inspiration from the character portrayals in the Metal Gear series.[21] When designing the corporate side, DeMarle particularly cited the backgrounds of Howard Hughes, Richard Branson and Bill Gates as inspiration for the influential CEO figures in the narrative of Human Revolution.[30] She also noted how corporations had gained greater power than governments in the narrative, which paralleled political comments on corporate power at the time.[8]

The world of Human Revolution was designed to parallel the Greek myth of Icarus; in the myth, Icarus was flying with artificial wings, but flew too close to the sun and destroyed his wings, causing his fatal fall. The world's new reliance on and experimentation with augmentation technology mirrored the myth, with the game's narrative taking place at a crucial tipping point, the outcome of which would be decided by the player. The general focus on technology and its effect on human society is also tied into the game's visual themes.[23] The development team used multiple sources as references while creating the world and scenario. The Children of Men was used to capture the setting and resultant chaotic drama; BioShock gave them a reference for handling mature themes, while the television series Rome showed how influential people's ambitions shaped history. The sense of tension between augmented and normal humans was inspired by the similar tension between humans and mutants in the X-Men franchise. For the conspiracy elements of the plot, the team used the novels Deception Point, The Firm, and Frank Herbert's Dune saga as inspiration. The Grand Theft Auto and Mass Effect franchises directly inspired he desired quality of cutscenes and dialogue.[18] DeMarle termed the final product as a study in contrasts, as the implementation of augmentation technology had created a new form of a divided social class system when other social barriers had fallen. Other themes used earlier in Deus Ex, such as exploring a culture of fear; the workings of a surveillance state; and the exploitation created by economic inequality, were paralleled in Human Revolution.[8] The team created supplementary written material such as emails, e-books, and cell phone-like devices called pocket secretaries to add more depth to the world and narrative.[29]

Concept artwork of the city hub of Hengsha. While still carrying cyberpunk themes, the aesthetics and colors drew inspiration from Renaissance-era artwork.[32][34]

Jonathan Jacques-Belletête acted as the game's art director, being in charge of creating its look.[12] The two key visual themes were the Icarus myth and the artwork of the Renaissance: both were woven in on a narrative and visual level.[23][35] In terms of colors, the team drew inspiration from notable Renaissance artists, including Johannes Vermeer and Rembrandt. The color scheme was dominated by black and gold: black represented the game's dystopian aspects, while gold represented humanity and hope for the future.[32] The Renaissance styling originally permeated everything, but they ended up with crates looking like baroque furniture, so they toned it down and blended it with modern and cyberpunk elements. During development, the team coined the term "cyber-renaissance" to define their blending of Renaissance styling, cyberpunk elements, and the Icarus myth.[35][36] An extensive amount of concept art was created for the game: while the majority was handled by artists Richard Dumont and Eric Gagnon, other contributors included Jim Murray, Brian Dugan, Theirry Doizon, Trong Nguyen and Sébastien Larroudé.[34]

While cyberpunk remained a core part of the game, the team were faced with the trouble that no-one really knew what cyberpunk was anymore: the most recent game and film references they had were from the early 2000s, as many works that might have been classed as cyberpunk were now being treated as science fiction. While they could easily have replicated the atmosphere of films like Blade Runner, the team wanted to create something original within the genre.[12][36] Something that concerned the team was about portraying the world of Human Revolution in relation to the original Deus Ex, which chronologically took place 25 years later: while the original Deus Ex used technological elements common at the time it was made such as 4:3 aspect ratio monitors and landline telephones, Human Revolution used mobiles and wide-screen televisions. According to Jacques-Belletête, this separation was ultimately put down to the differing portrayals of the world between the two games: while Deus Ex was set in poor communities and focused on the social impact of new technology, Human Revolution focused on the high end of society and technology's physical impact.[36]

Jacques-Belletête worked on character designs with Murray, whose previous work included artwork for the comic series 2000 AD. Before designing character costumes, Jacques-Belletête looked extensively at modern fashion. As focusing purely on Renaissance styling would have resulted in clothing styles deemed "too allegoric" to work in the game, they redesigned them so they included Renaissance and cyberpunk elements while resembling clothing people would wear in the present day and not appearing clichéd.[35] For Adam's character design, the team looked at multiple protagonist from cyberpunk fiction, from Blade Runner to the original Deus Ex. Their main wishes were to incorporate sunglasses and a trench coat.[23] Jacques-Belletête moderated his design to combine Renaissance aesthetics with the cyberpunk thematics: he defined it as being able to see Adam's augmented state in combat during the brief third-person camera moments while still seeing him having a meal in a high-class restaurant. One design which had him sleeveless throughout the game was scrapped as it made him "look like a douche". Instead, they created two looks: a sleeveless action-oriented look for missions, and a sleeved trench coat with a high collar and geometric patterning to portray the Renaissance elements.[35] In total, it took two years and a half to finalize Adam's design, with multiple designs being rejected as they failed to properly balance the cyberpunk and Renaissance elements.[36]

The team wanted to make the game as consistently realistic as possible, wishing to avoid the situation of realistic character models standing in front of low-resolution backgrounds.[35] They created varying degrees of technical advancement for different locations: the most realistic location they created was the Detroit hub, while the most advanced was the two-level fictional metropolis of Hengsha.[12] Architecture in the Detroit area was inspired by then-modern buildings from Japan and Europe.[32] Jacques-Belletête spent a long time researching furniture designs while creating interiors for in-game environments, joking that they could fill an IKEA catalog with the results.[13] Multiple other hub locations were planned, including the upper levels of Hengsha, and an area of Montreal dubbed "Plateau" that featured "very specific architecture, called tri-plexes, with twirling exterior staircases made of [...] old metal". At the beginning of production, there were even plans to feature a hub location in India. When it became clear how much work it would be, the team cut out what could not be managed. Upper Hengsha was built but never finished before being scrapped.[13]

The music of Human Revolution was composed by Michael McCann, who worked on the score from 2008 to 2011. McCann also handled production, performance, mixing, and arranging. Additional arrangements were done by Francois Arbour and Eric Arvisais. Vocals were provided by Andrea Revel and Courtney Wing.[37] McCann, when comparing Human Revolution with his prior work on Ubisoft's Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent, stated that the latter could be scored more like a feature film due to its linear nature, while Human Revolution's non-linear approach to both gameplay and story made composition more challenging.[38] McCann's music for Human Revolution was focused around the game's multilayered dualistic themes, which he described as "technology/nature, past/future, wealth/poverty", all of which were encompassed by the general transhumanist theme.[39] McCann and sound director Steve Szczepkowski initially started out using dark electronic scoring typical of the cyberpunk genre, but during the three-year period he worked on the game the music gradually became more "organic". He was influenced by the visuals' Renaissance styling, convincing him to blend organic and traditional cyberpunk elements.[38] The electronic elements were influenced by the film music of John Carpenter, Vangelis, and the band Tangerine Dream. The acoustic mood elements were inspired by the work of Lisa Gerrard, Ennio Morricone and Elliot Goldenthal. Outside films, he was strongly influenced by electronic bands and musicians, such as Amon Tobin and the band Massive Attack.[40]

The musical structure was defined by him as "three-sided", mimicking the thematic use of triangles in the game. His three musical elements were acoustics (vocals, strings) representing the past; electronic music representing the future; and the present being a mixture of the two in both style and instrumentation. Vocals also evoked slight religious overtones, which again connected to the use of the number three due to the number's multiple religious associations, in turn suggested and influenced by the Renaissance atmosphere. Another example of three-fold design was the ambient music, which needed to vary between quiet, tense, and active, depending on Adam's situation: each piece was constructed as a standalone cue that would interact with its fellows depending on the flow of gameplay. This presented a challenge to McCann about the handling of themes and melodies, as short cues might grow repetitive over time. Individual environments were also designed to contrast each other musically. An example given by McCann was different areas of the main city hubs: in the wealthy areas of Hengsha, the music evokes light and wealth, while in the poor areas of Detroit, it would be dark to reflect lawlessness and the surrounding decay.[38] This necessity of intertwining music with the environment meant that McCann needed to keep the music minimal enough to be unobtrusive while still being noticeable.[39]

McCann did not design any specific character themes, instead keeping any recurring themes ambiguous. He gave both stylistic and technical reasons for this: technically the music system was too simple to allow for a large number of unique musical cues, and stylistically it worked on a technical and musical level for there to be no specific musical themes influencing the player's judgement of characters and situations. The cues for hacking sequences were created fairly early in the process, and was one of a group of cues McCann created during a break from the project.[39] A piece he commented on in 2010 was "Icarus", the game's main theme. He created special versions for the game's reveal trailer, including a six-minute version broken into five sections for the director's cut of the trailer. He worked on creating the theme for two months, starting out with piano, vocals and minimal synthesizer work before building the full layers onto it. The final layer added were "synth arpeggios" that completed the piece's transformation into a full piece of cyberpunk-themed music. The "Icarus" theme, and by extension the soundtrack, also tied into the game's overall themes and motifs.[40]

A soundtrack disc was included in the limited "Augmented Edition".[41] An official album, Deus Ex: Human Revolution Original Soundtrack, was released on November 15, 2011. It was released through Sumthing Else Music Works as a physical and digital release.[42] The album contained 25 tracks created from 50 out of the 200 pieces created for the game. The tracks included both cues from the game and arranged versions used in trailers. McCann chose the tracks to represent the game's story, drawing on the various styles of the music as a whole.[37] He used the official album release to accentuate what he had been doing for the soundtrack as a whole. He initially wanted the soundtrack to be two discs, but realized that this would lead to repetition, so limited himself to a single disc. The remaining unreleased pieces were left out because of that potential repetition.[39] The soundtrack received praise from multiple music critics:[43][44][45] Original Sound Version's Gideon Dabi, commenting on the game's music prior to the album's commercial release, was highly positive about McCann's work, calling it "a tremendous upgrade over its predecessors" and praising its low-key impact.[43] Simon Elchlepp, writing for Video Game Music Online, gave the album 4/5 stars: he called it "a very satisfying experience", praising the score's connection to the game's themes and overall quality despite some perceived missteps about use of its main theme.[44] RPGFan's Liz Maas said that, while it trended towards being generic, with the track "Barrett Boss Fight" being most guilty of this, it managed to remain consistent with its themes and was worth buying.[45]

A DLC episode set during the main game, Deus Ex: Human Revolution – The Missing Link, released digitally on October 18 for Steam and Xbox Live, and October 19 for PlayStation Network (PSN).[64] It likewise debuted in Japan for the console versions: it released on PSN on March 7, 2012, and March 20 for Xbox Live.[65][66] Set during a transitional event in-game, the plot sees Adam captured and stripped of his augmentations, having to escape and navigate a cargo ship and then a base operated by Belltower.[67]

Plans for DLC were first announced in August 2010, with it being planned as an extension of the game.[68] The developers initially did not plan for DLC, with it beginning development later in the game's production when the visual theme was finalized. Despite using only core team members, development was slow due to the main focus being on Human Revolution. For The Missing Link, the team improved the lighting, gameplay mechanics, player freedom, and character animation. The DLC was developed entirely at Eidos-Montréal, and this gave the team the opportunity of developing a boss fight with multiple solutions, something they regretted not being able to do with the main game.[21][67][69]

A director's cut of Human Revolution, Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Director's Cut, was announced in April 2013. It was co-produced by Eidos-Montréal, Australian developer Straight Right — who had previously handled the Wii U port of Mass Effect 3 — and Canada-based Snowed In Studios.[70][71] Originally announced as a Wii U exclusive, it was later announced that it would also release on its original platforms.[72] One of the major changes was the boss arenas: while they could not create non-lethal options to take down bosses, the team created alternative strategies for players who took a stealthy and otherwise non-lethal path. They also made adjustments to the energy system, improved enemy AI, and upgrades to the lighting and shading systems. These changes were carried over from the development of The Missing Link, which had been developed based on the team's wishes to improve on aspects of the main game. While previous ports of major games for Wii U had been underwhelming in the eyes of the gaming public, Eidos-Montréal saw it as a chance to create the "ultimate" version of Human Revolution.[70]

The Wii U version of Director's Cut was priced higher than the other console versions: according to the staff, this was because of its added features.[73] Console versions included a second screen option for some functions: the Wii U GamePad was used for the Wii U, PlayStation Vita for the PS3 version, Xbox SmartGlass for the Xbox 360 version.[74] When originally developed for the Wii U, it was intended to make playing the game easier, along with evoking some of the early impressions from the initial CGI trailer from 2010.[70] The decision to port Director's Cut to multiple platforms was based on fan feedback requesting a multiplatform release.[72] The Director's Cut included all the additional content alongside the main game, from the added equipment to the DLC episode The Missing Link, here incorporated into the main game. Also included was audio commentary from the developers activated using icons scattered through levels, and a documentary on the game's creation.[70][75] For owners of the original version, a cheap upgrade option was offered, with the price varying depending on how much of the additional content owners possessed.[75][76] It released for Wii U, PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on October 22, 2013.[74] It released on OS X, April 16, 2014. Like the main game, its port was handled by Feral Interactive.[77]

A promotional limited comic series was produced in the run up to the game's release. The comic was written by Robbie Morrison, and drawn by Sergio Sandoval and Trevor Hairsine.[78][79][80] The cover art was handled by Murry, while both McMarle and Jacques-Belletête took supervisory roles for the story and artwork respectively.[80] The comic was published by DC Comics between February 9 and June 20, 2011.[78][79]

A spin-off novel, Deus Ex: Icarus Effect, was written by Swallow.[81] It was a story set around the same time as the main game, following new characters Ben Saxon and Anna Kelso as they uncover a hidden conspiracy.[82] First announced in July 2010, it was published by Titan Books on February 22, 2011.[82][83] A second novel by Swallow, Deus Ex: Fallen Angel, was released as a free online download alongside the release of the Director's Cut: the novel details Malik's early life in Hengsha.[74][84] A film adaptation was also announced, planned by Eidos-Montréal and CBS Films: based on the story of Human Revolution, Scott Derrickson was attached as director and co-writer, C. Robert Cargill as co-writer, and Roy Lee and Adrian Askarieh as producers.[85][86]

Upon its release in North America, despite coming in during the later half of the month, Human Revolution became the top-selling video game in August.[102] It remained in the top ten bestselling games in September, dropping to sixth place.[103] In the United Kingdom, the game likewise debuted in first place in the all-format game software charts, not including digital sales: the majority of sales were on Xbox 360, with a 57% ratio. 31% was sold on PS3, while 13% of sales were for PCs. Its total sales in its first week were nearly one million units, described as "just 26,000 units away from Invisible War's lifetime sales".[104] It was later classed as the second bestselling game of the month behind Zumba Fitness.[105] In the following weeks, it continued to rank high in the top ten bestselling games for the region: it remained the top seller in the second week despite a 47% sales drop, while by late September it had dropped to fifth place.[106][107] It was the UK's 21st bestselling game of 2011.[108] Total sales of Human Revolution, as reported in November 2011, reached 2.18 million copies in North America and Europe: 800,000 were sold in North America, while Europe showed stronger sales of 1.38 million. The positive sales of Human Revolution contributed to publisher Square Enix posting triple its predicted profits for the April–September period, with the publisher calling the sales a "favorable result".[109] By May 2022, Human Revolution (including the Director's cut) and Mankind Divided had sold a combined 12 million units.[110]