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It’s been more than a decade since the last Deus Ex game, and it’s unlikely we’ll see another one any time soon. Yet while Adam Jensen’s story remains frustratingly unfinished thanks to the cliffhanger ending of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, the indie scene has offered fresh hope for fans of sneaking through moody cyberpunk cityscapes in the form of newly revealed immersive sim Tokyo Walled City.
Unveiled at TGS 2026, Tokyo Walled City is described by developer Grim Ronin as a “stealth action retro-cyberpunk immersive sim with survival horror and RPG elements”. So, Deus Ex with scary bits, basically. You play as Reiko Kimura, a mercenary who is trapped in a dense, fortified district of Japan’s capital, the name of which implies it is inspired by the Internet’s favourite historic enclave Kowloon Walled City. Blade Runner is another clear inspiration, with the opening shot of the game’s trailer showing a cityscape that directly references Blade Runner’s “Coke billboard” scene.
The rest of the trailer offers a montage of all the classic immersive sim tropes. Vent crawling, disabling security cameras, hacking into computers, 0451, shooting out lights, leaning around corners. But TWC isn’t a straight Deus Ex knockoff. There are shades of Dishonored in here too. Reiko is considerably nimbler than JC Denton, able to skip across rooftops with ease and perform drop assassinations with a blade.
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What stands out to me is how sleek the whole thing looks. Making immersive sims as an indie developer is hard, but as I mentioned when writing about the Escape From Butcher Bay-ish Deficit, making indie immersive sims that feel good to play is even harder. And while I think some of Tokyo Walled City’s animations could do with a little tidying up, the general movement and gunplay all seems tightly designed.
On Tokyo Walled City’s Steam Page, Grim Ronin promise the release version will feature a “hand-crafted vertical city full of freeform exploration”, stealth and sound mechanics that “track visibility and noise propagation” and a toolset that includes silent pistols, high-tech traps and grappling hooks. No launch date has been specified, but Tokyo Walled City will be an early access game initially, with a planned public alpha of 18-24 months.
While Tokyo Walled City is likely the closest we’ll get to a new Deus Ex for some time, hope for that series isn’t completely lost. After cancelling a Deus Ex project several years ago, venture capitalist firm Embracer Group said it’s now looking to make a new Deus Ex game earlier this year. But even if Embracer is committed to such a notion, the resulting game would almost certainly be years away.
