15 things you need to know about Deus Ex: The Fall

This week, Square Enix announced Deus Ex: The Fall, a new mobile-only entry in its cyberpunk shooter franchise.

It's a full-on first-person shooter, and contains all of the same central tenets of the main series, i.e. action, stealth, dialogue, exploration, choice, consequence, and lots of vents.

You can read our extensive hands-on preview with Deus Ex: The Fall here.

But if you want to get up to speed quickly on The Fall (and want some info that we couldn't quite squeeze into our preview proper), here are 15 things you need to know about this upcoming game...

1. Almost every key name from Deus Ex: Human Revolution has had a hand in this mobile game, including Deus Ex franchise guru Jean-François Dugas; producer David Anfossi; writers Mary DeMarle and James Swallow; art director Jonathan Jacques-Belletete; and composer Mike McCann. 2. The Fall takes place in the same year as Human Revolution, and just after the attack on Sarif Industries has taken place. As such, Adam Jensen won't appear in this mobile game, as he's currently getting patched up (and augmented). 3. The game is tied to the Deus Ex novel The Icarus Effect. It features the same heroes (Ben Saxon and Anna Kelso), and a lot of recurring characters. The Fall story picks up right where the book left off. 4. Throughout the game, Saxon will suffer from neuropozyne attacks. These are debilitating cravings for a drug that augmented people need to survive. The story revolves around a mysterious shortage of the drug and the conspiracy surrounding its disappearance. 5. You control the game through a standard twin-stick setup, but you can also move about the environment by tapping on the ground, and you can get into cover by tapping on the walls. There are loads of options to tweak the controls and the positions of buttons in the settings. 6. The game features 24 augmentations, including social enhancer, radar, run silent, cloak, Icarus Landing System, and punching through walls. Some of the Human Revolution augs have been tweaked, and there are brand-new moves (like stealth dash, which lets you cloak and then tap on an area to quickly dash there). 7. There are 29 weapons, including the stun gun, a crossbow with tranquilliser darts, an assault rifle, a shotgun, and a rocket launcher. You can upgrade your weapons - in my play session, I immediately bought a silencer and a laser sight for my combat rifle. 8. You can buy guns, bullets, and items directly from your inventory. Items include health packs, energy bars, and a kit that revives you when you die. 9. Deus Ex: The Fall will feature in-app purchases. For when you need more currency to afford certain weapons or items. There will be no paywalls or timers, though. 10. You'll be able to read eBooks, pocket secretaries, and emails. You'll also be able to find codes to gain access to locked doors (or you can just hack your way in). 11. The hacking mini-game is practically identical to the one in Human Revolution. You'll be strategically hacking nodes on a network to gain access to a computer or keypad, while fending off the system's defences. You can get augmentations and items that help out when you're hacking. 12. Fear not: this game will have no crappy boss fights that force you to fight a certain way. You can go through The Fall without killing a single person, if you so desire. 13. In the exploration sections, you'll be able to interact with the world by talking to pedestrians, rooting through trash cans, and taking side-quests. 14. The Fall will contain about five to six hours of content, but you'll need to do at least three playthroughs to see everything. There's also a New Game + mode, where you start from the beginning but get to keep all your stuff. 15. The game's heading to iOS this summer, priced £4.99 / $6.99. You'll need at least an iPhone 4, fifth-generation iPod touch, iPad 2, or iPad mini to run it. An Android edition will follow later.