Deus Ex Lore: The Games, the Illuminati and Two Men Named Adam and JC

Timeline#

1. 2027Human Revolution: Adam Jensen is augmented against his will
2. 2029Mankind Divided: Prague, after the Aug Incident
3. 2052Deus Ex: JC Denton and the Gray Death
4. 2072Invisible War: the post-Collapse world

The games, in order#

There are four main games. Ion Storm made the first two, and Eidos-Montreal made the later pair. They fall into two eras of the series. Release order is not story order.

• Deus Ex (2000): Set in 2052. Warren Spector's original: a mix of first-person shooter, stealth and role-playing. It sold a million copies at release and is still named as a model for player-freedom design. A remaster was scheduled for February 2026 and was later delayed with no date.
• Invisible War (2003): Set in 2072, twenty years after the first game and after a global war called the Collapse. Augmentations here run on 'Biomods'.
• Human Revolution (2011): A prequel set in 2027, 25 years before the original. Made by Eidos-Montreal as a restart of the series, and it was a success. Its art direction mixes cyberpunk with the colors of Vermeer and Rembrandt.
• Mankind Divided (2016): Set in 2029, two years after Human Revolution. Most of it takes place in Prague. Half the planned scenario was cut, and there's no sequel.

Augmentations, and the people who refuse them#

Augmentations are artificial organs, machine-built or nanotech, that range from a radio link to cloaking and hacking. The original uses nanotech augmentations earned from canisters. Human Revolution switched to mechanical implants bought with Praxis Kits.

The political point stays the same: an augmented class pulls away from everyone else. By Mankind Divided, a violent incident has led to segregation that the game calls 'mechanical apartheid'. Compare that with cyberpsychosis and the cyberware pages for how Night City treats the same fear.

The Illuminati and Majestic 12#

The series treats conspiracy theories as real. In the original, the Illuminati are an ancient secret society that runs the world from the shadows, and Majestic 12 is the splinter group that used to answer to them. By Human Revolution they look more like a loose club of corporate elites.

The setting has the same themes as the corporate wars of Night City: megacorporations that overshadow governments. See Cyberpunk megacorporations for the Night City version.

JC Denton vs Adam Jensen#

JC Denton is a UNATCO agent in 2052 with nanotech augmentations, working alongside his brother Paul under Joseph Manderley. Adam Jensen is a former SWAT leader from Detroit working security for Sarif Industries in 2027, who is rebuilt with mechanical augmentations after an attack, without having asked for them.

Opinion: they play very differently. JC is a chosen agent who finds out he was a tool. Adam is a man who has already lost his say over his own body and has to decide what to do about it. Pick the one whose problem you'd rather play through.

Fixer's notes: where to start#

Start with Human Revolution (Director's Cut), which is the easier way in and sets up the 2027 world. Play the original second if you can handle 2000-era graphics and want the real thing. Our read: skip Invisible War unless you're a completist.

Mankind Divided ends on a cliffhanger. A writer revealed in 2025 that a direct sequel was planned but canceled, so go in knowing it won't be answered. For the Night City version of the same questions, see Cyberpunk 2077, and the wider list at Best Cyberpunk Games.