Across message boards and forums, many hardcore PC gamers and fans of the original Deus Ex game have been voicing concerns over yesterday's disclosure of early details regarding the upcoming sequel, Deus Ex 3.

The three most contentious issues seem to be: the idea of a 'Call of Duty 4' style auto-heal design change for the game; the introduction of a 'Gears of War' style cover system; and the removal of a point-based skill systems (for example, the original game had nine skills, such as lock picking, computers, rifles, and swimming.)

PC gamers are concerned that Deus Ex 3 will go the way of the last sequel to the game, Deus Ex: Invisible War, which had much less depth than the original game, and many found disappointing.

The general perception was that Invisible War was 'dumbed down for consoles' and many of the strongest elements of the original game were abandoned. Likewise, reading many forums, it seems that many gamers are concerned that Deus Ex 3 is destined to become much more focused on action, rather than focused on RPG elements, like in the first game. Auto-healing, the cover system, and augmentations such as 'Multi-Kill' which unleash "a combo of devastating martial arts" seem to support these fears.

However, in the first revealing of details on the game in the print magazine October issue of PC Zone, the Edios Montreal design team behind Deus Ex 3 seemed focused on recreating the critical design elements that made the original Deus Ex winner of many, many awards, and to be now considered one of the best PC games ever made, by many gamers and critics alike. The design team reiterated to the gaming public that the RPG elements in the coming sequel will be strong. Hacking and NPC interaction will also play a big role. Leveling up and experience points will have a "renewed emphasis" in Deus Ex 3.

"We want to make this franchise evolve," lead game designer Jean-Francois Dugas was quoted as saying. "One thing was clear in our minds: we wanted to respect the core values of Deus Ex, to mix genres and ensure that choice and consequence is at the core of the experience."

Fans still might be concerned however -- none of the original team is working on the game, and many of the makers of Deus Ex 3 have strong backgrounds in action games, but not much (if any) RPG experience. For example, lead game designer Jean-Francois Dugas has previously worked on the Far Cry: Instinct, and Francois Lapikas, senior game designer, is coming from the Tom Clany's Splinter Cell series. Furthermore, senior level designer Stephan Carmignani is best known for his work on the third-person shooter Dead to Rights 2.

This isn't to say that these competent and creative people are unable to make a new Deus Ex game live up to the high expectations of fans. But it does seem like those that are concerned that Deus Ex 3 will become merely a cyberpunk, conspiracy themed TBS in same mold as Gears of War, not a RPG-FPS like the much loved original game, do have at least some basis for being concerned.