The new Deus Ex: Human Revolution trailer shows an augmentations screen, where you can see all 21 of the cybernetic enhancements you can get in the game. Some we know the details of for sure, many are obvious from their icons, and others require a bit of imagination. Here's our analysis of what we think all 21 of them will do.
Augs in Human Revolution are either passive or active: passive ones are always in effect and drain no energy, active ones consume some energy when used. Your first 'pip' of energy regenerates over time, but the rest have to be refilled by consumable items. The interface shows that the augs are split into colour coded categories - we don't know the names of those, but the themes are obvious so we've taken a guess. Each aug has its own tech tree of upgrades that improve or change its function - we won't speculate about each of those, but a few we know, and we'll explain those.
Social Enhancer Aug
Status: Confirmed
Type: Neural, active?
Use: "provides its user with a direct monitor of behavior patterns and likely responses from conversational subjects. In real terms, this means the user can gain an insight into which conversational methods to employ in any situation." You can permanently screw up important conversations by saying the wrong thing, this aug gives you some inkling of what to pick. There's a very brief glimpse of the upgrade tree for this one that just shows a single possible upgrade, a shape that looks like a fractured skull. It may relate to the mind-control stuff the first trailer hinted at.
Map Aug
Status: Speculation
Type: Neural, passive
Use: A few of your basic FPS conventions take the form of augs you have (almost) from the start: we know the Comm Link is one. This one, next to it in the list, looks like it's probably a map. I wouldn't mind if it was a dynamic and useful one this time around.
CommLink
Status: Confirmed
Type: Neural, passive
Use: "Some news, JC." This is just a fancy version of an earpiece for people to deliver exposition and mission objectives to you - same aug you had from the start of Deus Ex 1.
Alert Delay Aug
Status: Speculation
Type: Neural, passive
Use: Not much to go on here, but that looks like someone being alerted. System Shock 2 had powers that increased the lag before security systems recognised you as hostile - this might be something similar. Or maybe the guy's head is just glowing, and it's a light.
Hacking Device
Status: Confirmed
Type: Neural, active
Use: This how you access security terminals to open doors, turn off cameras and switch bots to your side: it lets you play a minigame to bypass their login. We also get to see its full upgrade tree in the trailer, so we know almost everything about how it works:
Presumably, the initial aug only lets you open doors. Then there are three separate upgrades for controlling cameras, turrets and bots, and five that boost its effectiveness, to let you hack higher security terminals. If you want to make a proper hacking character, there's a lot of points to be pumped into this. Also: cutest icon for robots ever.
Security Confusion Aug
Status: Speculation
Type: Neural, active
Use: We know from the hacking aug that the screen symbolises security systems in general. What to make of the question mark? In game iconography, that often represents a 'confuse' power, one that turns enemies against each other. This might be an aug that does something similar to the Scrambler grenade in Deus Ex 1, turning automated security to your side temporarily.
Security Health Aug
Status: Speculation
Type: Neural, passive
Use: This is the most confusing one. A first aid sign, in a security screen? Bwuh? It's unlikely to be something like BioShock's heal-while-you-hack tonic, since the game has regenerating health. So it might be health within the hacking mini-game: it may make it more forgiving if you screw up slightly.
Security Invisibility Aug
Status: Speculation
Type: Neural, passive
Use: Also a tough one, but if the other aug boosts your hacking minigame health, this likely decreases your chances of detection when you capture a node in the hacking game. The game revolves around capturing nodes on your way to the part of the system you're trying to access, and each carries a certain risk of detection. It could be a different kind of cloak system to evade security, but it's not in the same category as the ordinary cloak, and the trailer seems to suggest ordinary cloak works for that.
Smart Vision Aug
Status: Confirmed
Type: Visual, active
Use: We see Jensen use this in the trailer: it's the ability to see through walls with that awesome-looking golden triangle grid effect.
Retinal Prosthesis Aug
Status: Confirmed
Type: Visual, passive
Use: This is another one you start with: it just outlines items in the world you can interact with. A gameism.
Defense Aug
Status: Speculation
Type: Subdermal, passive
Use: This is very likely a passive boost to your defenses, making you tougher in combat. The team have said there are augs for the player who wants to beef himself up and take on threats directly.
Cloak Aug
Status: Confirmed
Type: Subdermal, active
Use: Makes you invisible, which is nice. The trailer seems to show this working for both human enemies and security systems like laser grids - in both the other Deus Ex games, you needed a different cloak aug for that.
Health Boost Aug
Status: Speculation
Type: Torso, passive
Use: Almost certainly an overall boost to your health, and/or how quickly it regenerates after taking damage. Deus Ex 1's health regen aug was ridiculously overpowered, and made you virtually invulnerable once you upgraded it. This is likely to be more measured.
Energy Boost Aug
Status: Confirmed
Type: Torso, passive
Use: Active augs all consume energy pips. We know there's an aug to upgrade your maximum number of them, so this is almost certainly it.
Lung Capacity Aug
Status: Speculation
Type: Torso, passive
Use: There was a lung aug in Deus Ex 1 for increasing your breathing time underwater. Human Revolution also has a sprint button, so this likely increases that duration too.
Typhoon Explosive System
Status: Confirmed
Type: Torso, active
Use: Fires out tiny mines, blowing up everyone around you. We've seen this in an earlier trailer.
Speed Aug
Status: Speculation
Type: Feet, active
Use: Bound to be a speed increase of some form - my guess is that it'll be a temporary one you have to activate, possibly even a charge/dash move.
Icarus Landing System
Status: Confirmed
Type: Feet, active
Use: Prevents all fall damage, and depending on whether you tap or hold the key, lets you choose whether to land softly and silently, or slam down with enough force to stun anyone near you. We see it used both ways in this trailer - they're likely separate upgrades for the aug that the player has unlocked.
Strength Aug
Status: Confirmed
Type: Arms, passive
Use: No need to speculate, we've got the full tech tree for the upgrades you make to this aug here:
So there's an upgrade for throwing things harder, lifting heavier objects, three for increasing your inventory space, two for reducing weapon recoil, and one for punching through the goddamn wall. Prediction: best aug.
Accuracy Aug
Status: Speculation
Type: Arms, passive
Use: This is bound to be an increase to your accuracy with all weapons, being in the same category as Strength. It's maybe a little surprising that recoil reduction isn't part of this one, but accuracy itself is just a very big deal for your overall effectiveness, so it justifies its own aug.
Silent Running Aug
Status: Speculation
Type: Legs, passive
Use: This is probably the aug from Deus Ex 1 that made your footsteps silent - it was a great aug, even when it meant sacrificing Speed in that game. In Human Revolution, no augs are mutually exclusive, so it'd be even better here.
Anyone got a dissenting opinion on what some of these might be?
