Liberty Island

Liberty Island is the first level of the 2000 action role-playing video game Deus Ex, the first game in the Deus Ex franchise. Based on the New York City upbringing of designer Warren Spector and functioning as a tutorial level, it is set on a facsimile of the real-life Liberty Island, where the player character, JC Denton, has been sent to quell an armed insurgency that has seized the headquarters of UNATCO, a fictional United Nations counterterrorist organization. The level was well-regarded by critics for being the player's introduction to the game's immersive sim design and the many potential means to clear the level, and is known as an iconic video game location. It is also notorious for depicting a damaged Statue of Liberty and missing World Trade Center, despite being released prior to the September 11 attacks. Level content JC Denton starts out on the Liberty Island docks, where he is given a brief, but information-dense introduction by his brother, Paul Denton, advising him of both lethal and non-lethal ways of "eliminating resistance". Already equipped with a pistol and stun gun, Denton is allowed to choose from one of three additional weapons – the sniper rifle, mini crossbow, and GEP gun rocket launcher. Of the three, the GEP gun is generally considered the most useful, as it can destroy a patrolling security robot, and the other two can be obtained within the level itself. Ironically, Paul criticizes the player's choice of the less destructive sniper rifle, despite being part of a law enforcement force. The player is given their main objectives after selecting the weapon. Nearby, the player can also use a crowbar to obtain binoculars, a lockpick, a multi-tool, and a bioelectric cell from nearby wooden crates. Upon proceeding into the level, Denton's handler, Alex Jacobsen, advises him to shoot on sight, demonstrating a marked difference between UNATCO's stated policy of non-lethality, as suggested by Paul, and its orders in practice. The player heads to the north dock to meet a UNATCO informant, Harley Filben. Filben gives Denton the key to the statue after the player promises not to kill the NSF commander. The player can either use the front door, or a stack of crates in back to enter the statue. Once inside, the player can free Gunther Hermann, a top UNATCO agent, who is being held in a cell on the compound's lobby level. Finally, the player climbs the statue to interrogate NSF commander Leo Gold.