The code 0451 unlocks the first locked door in Deus Ex games. The number also appears in various other manners in the Deus Ex series.

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Origin Edit

The number first appeared in the game System Shock (as 451) and its sequel System Shock 2 (as 45100) developed by Looking Glass Studios. The number was initially thought to be a reference to Ray Bradbury's dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451, in which it represents "the temperature at which book-paper catches fire and burns". However, Warren Spector later revealed that 0451 was actually just the door code to access the Looking Glass Studios offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

"If you've been playing a lot of Looking Glass and Ion Storm games you know that the code here is 0451, which is first used in System Shock. It showed up in Thief, it showed up in System Shock 2, it showed up in BioShock and Dishonored recently, and in both Deus Ex games. A lot of people think it was a reference to Fahrenheit 451, the Ray Bradbury book, but it was actually just the key code to get into the offices at Looking Glass in Cambridge. But it's in so many games now, it's kind of a defining thing in what we used to call 'immersive simulations.'" — Warren Spector, director of Deus Ex and producer of System Shock[1]

As to the purported reference to Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, Spector subsequently stated that "the Bradbury reference is just a nice bonus".[2] In any event, direct references to Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 have appeared alongside appearances of "451" in Deus Ex games developed by Eidos Montréal.

The code 0451 has since appeared in numerous other games developed by former Looking Glass employees, including BioShock, Dishonored, Prey, and others.

In Deus Ex games and books Edit

In real life Edit

Jonathan Jacques-Belletête, art director of Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided once had a flight number 0451. He wrote about that on Twitter.

See also Edit