Warren Spector was so desperate to make Deus Ex that it almost became a Command & Conquer RPG: 'I was going to find a way to make it one way or another, even if it meant making another damn sci-fi game!'

JC Denton is surprised.

Deus Ex recently celebrated its 25^th birthday. But in a parallel universe, PC gamers with eight arms and two heads are commemorating the 25^th anniversary of a first-person Command & Conquer game to blow C&C Renegade out of the water. That's because Warren Spector's platonic ideal of the immersive sim very nearly became part of Westwood's beloved strategy universe, so desperate was the legendary designer to realise his vision.

This all happened before Deus Ex had a name so frequently mispronounced as "Juice Sex" back when it was little more than a wad of paper with the codename "Troubleshooter". Spector wanted to make an open-ended near-future simulation starring a supercop protagonist known as Jake Shooter, which strayed away from the aliens and fantasy heroes that were so prevalent in the medium.