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Before you begin to read and make use of this walkthrough, this is just a little word of warning. This is not like most other Deus Ex walkthroughs. The majority that I have come across tend to show you how to complete the mission objectives and ultimately complete the game by pointing out where the critical locations can be found and outlining how to get there, perhaps suggesting alternatives depending on what items and skills you have available. On the other hand, this walkthrough goes into complete detail of exactly which items to pick up from where, how to get all the bonus points and more, all with the purpose of fulfilling certain aims as well as possible. Of course this results in the walkthrough becoming very specific and it often won't help you if you have chosen alternative options earlier in the game. This also means that the walkthrough is very long! Indeed many of the things I tell you to do will have no impact on the storyline, or even acquiring items, but are simply mentioned for total completeness in the playing of the game. The particular aims I have chosen to strive for with this walkthrough are those which comprise my preferred style of playing the game. These objectives are listed below, the first ones taking priority over those below them:

1. Gain as many skill points as possible throughout the game

2. Acquire all the augmentations and their upgrades

3. Use all the weapon modifications available (if your weapons can still use them)

4. Kill all enemies (including any obvious enemies for which the game still displays a green cursor)

5. Save all friendly characters if possible

6. Have as much ammo as possible remaining by the end

7. Have as many credits remaining by the end of the game as possible

8. Use as little ammo and as few items as possible

9. Have as good a selection of skills and augmentations at the end as you can

10. Generally ensure that your inventory contains the best selection of items possible at any given time.

I personally consider these to be a justifiable selection of aims. The other interesting option would be that of minimising the total body count throughout the course of the game. If I feel like it I may have a look at that route some other time. There are many conclusions one can immediately draw from this set of goals before beginning the game (assuming you know how the game works already):

• All of aims 1-6 are just as achievable without upgrading your skill levels at all as they are with various different skill levels (though more effort may be required without the skills to help you). Therefore, the skill levels should first be chosen to achieve aim number 7. In order to take as much money as you can, you will need to take the maximum possible amount out of each ATM that you hack. This requires you to have the highest skill level you can get with computers as soon as possible (at least before you hack the first ATM).

• Anything that contributes to aims 1-6 are worth spending credits on since they are more important than having plenty of credits by the end. In particular, always buy weapon modifications if they are available, as well as ammo of which there is not enough freely available throughout the game to enable you to have maximum ammo by the end without buying any. If you must spend money to get skill points then do so.

• If any of the following are available behind a locked door, it is worth using the necessary means to get at them: a location which gives you skill points, an augmentation, weapon mod, enemy, scarce ammo or a credit chit.

• One major implication of aim number 8 is that the general approach to combat should be that of using the low-tech melee weapons such as the combat knife, baton, sword, dragon tooth sword, etc. (any weapons which don't use consumable ammo). Therefore the best secondary skill to choose to upgrade after computers is that of weapons: low-tech.

• Beyond that, number 9 dictates that skill levels should basically be upgraded to whatever appears to be the best combination, which is clearly open to discussion, but I will choose my own suggestions during the walkthrough. The same goes for which augmentations to install and upgrade, as well as which weapons (other than the main ones) to be carrying.

• Perhaps the aim which could be considered the most unusual is the fourth one. Killing all the enemies. (N.B. The definition of an enemy being anyone that is instantaneously considered to be your enemy at the time you decide whether to kill them or not. For example, the fact that you soon join the NSF does not mean they should not be considered enemies at the start of the game.) The reason why this is included as an aim is for completeness, to play the game with a perfectionist attitude. To be honest I personally go to further extremes and make a point of destroying every single dead body during the game as well, but I won't force you to do that too ;)

Next, a quick note about how this walkthrough has been written. I have tried to highlight important words or phrases with a colour code so that you can easily pick out the information you are looking for without reading whole paragraphs until you find the relevant sentence. The game has been split up into identifiable missions which are placed on separate pages of the walkthrough. Within these missions I have clearly marked where the level goes through the process of loading another map so you can find your way around. Where appropriate there are also screenshots either to illustrate something or just to keep the pages from being an impenetrable mass of text. To view enlarged versions of these screenshots just click on them. Whenever I mention some tactics which are applicable in general throughout the game, I will enclose them in boxes within the main text to stand out. Finally, I decided to also include statistics at the end of each section (and at the end of the whole game) just to compile all the data I spent so long writing down during the walkthrough! Here is a guide to the colour codes I mentioned:

acquisition of skill points

credit increase

weapon modifications

augmentations

datacubes

nanokeys

picking up items

using or dropping items

spending credits

killing someone (or something)

using skill points

One thing which I will not keep mentioning in the walkthrough is that it would be a good idea to read any newspapers, books, public computer terminals, etc. which you find lying around. As well as hacking into other people's e-mail accounts. I will only mention that you should do these things if they are necessary to achieve any of the above goals. However, you gain valuable insight into the plot of the game if you read as much as you can. Of course if you have played the game before and have already read everything there is to read then you probably won't want to read it all again, so that is why I don't mention it in the rest of the text.