If it at all persuades you, I was barely home from the hospital when the original came out. I played it a couple of years ago as I love DX:HR and DX:MD. It takes a couple hours to get immersed past the technical limitations, but once you are in, it still holds up. I even chose not to use any modern patches to get the original experience. It can be a little wonky especially with 20 years of game development hindsight, but still worth a play through.

But I can completely understand if some people can't get through it (I'm like that with a lot of older games)

I am somewhat of a Deus Ex fanatic (played through the original at least 50 times since it was released, the last playthrough was just a couple of months ago), and I probably wouldn't recommend it to those unfamiliar with it. The AI is too clunky, it feels like you're playing against toddlers: it quickly forgets about you if you stop moving, doesn't care about their comrades' bodies that have appeared out of nowhere (whom they had also been talking to just a minute before), and so on.

Although you could try the unofficial Revision remake (which is free), it has some very significant differences in level design, but the levels themselves are very nice and detailed, so it looks much better. The AI is still stupid by today's measures though.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/397550/Deus_Ex_Revision/

I would play it anyway. I played it for the first time this spring and while the controls are clunky, the level design is still unmatched. The narrative it pushes, things like the homogenization of culture, the tyranny of bureaucracy, corruption of politicians, etc. all feel super relevant. More relevant than when it came out, certainly. It frequently goes on sale on GOG and Steam for about 3 dollars. I recommend the GOG version because its easier to apply Kentie's Launcher which updates the code to work with modern graphics cards better.

I played the original the first time as lockdowns hit.

A. You'll get over the clunkiness, it takes a lot of gameplay ideas way further than HR or MD. You will understand why some say HR & MD don't hold up, even though most think they're impeccable.

B. Hoo Boy, this[0[ was a lot the day lockdowns started to hit.

[0]https://youtu.be/zStn70Ot4r0

It will feel old and clunky in many ways, but that doesn’t detract from the great music, writing, plot and atmosphere.