Deus Ex: The Fall is a recently-announced mobile title that takes place after the events of the Deus Ex: Icarus Effect novel and just before those of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, (Eidos Montréal's first title, from 2011). The Fall centers around ex-British SAS Ben Saxon, who served as the novel's protagonist. Like Icarus Effect, The Fall also focuses on his mercenary employers (as well as most of Human Revolution's bosses): Lawrence Barrett, Yelena Federova and of course, Jaron Namir.

As evidenced in the screen shots and trailer, much of The Fall's resources by way of environments and gameplay mechanics are more or less directly from Human Revolution... only in touch form. Saxon not only upgrades his augmentations via Praxis Points like HR's Adam Jensen, but he also hacks, fights, picks up items, and moves similarly, in cover-based shooter fashion. The touch controls, however, take a lot of getting used to for a longtime console player such as myself who isn't accustomed to action games on a mobile phone or tablet. Having to imagine my own analog stick (rather than a virtual one appearing on-screen) to maneuver Saxon through areas was odd, and far too often I would shoot (tapping a spot to while iron sights are visible) when I actually intended to move or even just look around — and that blew my cover more than once.

If you've played Human Revolution, the visuals here are exactly what you'd expect: shades of gold and yellow, and the gritty, dark feel of the 2027 urban life. One of the demo's main areas even looked much like Jensen's (admittedly impressive) apartment in HR, but with rearranged furniture, crates strewn about, and some lovely new fixtures like enemies. And I don't remember him owning a turret, come to think of it. Re-used environments or no, the title looks very impressive on an iPad, with about as much detail as you'd have expected if this was on more "traditional" platforms.

There is little to go by in terms of story so far, only that Saxon is in the company of Namir, Federova and Barrett and taking direct orders from Namir. Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing how else Eidos can expand upon the world and characters of 2027-era Deus Ex, which I enjoyed immensely, including (hopefully) another take on the rise of human augmentation and its surrounding ethics. Naturally, Deus Ex: The Fall will likely play much better on a tablet than a smartphone, and it will be easier to appreciate the high-res visuals as well. Will The Fall do Human Revolution's universe some justice? We will find out when the mobile title releases later this summer.