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Elon Musk sleeps next to a gun from Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Elon Musk proudly posted a picture of his bedside table featuring four Diet Coke cans, a flintlock, and the Diamond Back handgun from Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Elon Musk Deus Ex gun: Adam Jensen reclines with a cigarette in a room partially lit by sunbeams in the cinematic trailer for Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk posted a photo in the early hours of November 28 of what he said was his bedside table, and it features a weapon that Deus Ex fans should recognise straight away. In addition to a replica flintlock pistol in a Washington Crossing the Delaware display case (and four open Diet Coke cans), the billionaire apparently sleeps next to a replica of Adam Jensen’s Diamond Back .357 handgun, which appeared in the 2011 RPG game Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

A passing glance at the photo might lead one to think that Musk keeps a massive handgun next to his bed for some reason, but a closer look reveals that neither ‘weapon’ would be of much use for home defence. There’s neither powder nor shot visible within reach of the flintlock, for one thing, and the Diamond Back is missing a trigger.

Elon Musk Deus Ex gun: An image of a tweet posted by Elon Musk with a photo of a bedside table that contains two replica guns and four open Diet Coke cans

The dead giveaway that it’s the handgun from Human Revolution, however, is the red and black cylinder: it features squared-off segments that might be where rounds were inserted, but no visible openings for chambers – it’s just a solid block, incapable of holding any kind of ammunition.

The fact that it’s all held together with eight Phillips-head screws is another pretty clear hint that it’s a replica weapon.

Like most cyberpunk stories, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a cautionary tale about the growing power of massive corporations and the unintended consequences of technologies developed to ‘improve’ on human biology.

Square Enix sold Deus Ex developer Eidos-Montreal to Swedish media company The Embracer Group earlier this year, and Embracer says it has “big plans” for the intellectual property it acquired in the deal, including Deus Ex. So we’ll probably be seeing new Deus Ex and Tomb Raider games sometime in the future.