Developer: Eidos Montreal
Publisher: Square Enix
Platform: PC, Xbox One, PS4
Tested on: Xbox One
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided – Review
Even though the Deus Ex franchise started way back in 2000, there will be many fans who will probably only know the previous game, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, which was released in 2011 and turned out to be rather successful on the previous generation. With the five year break, it’s easy to say that many fans were eagerly awaiting the sequel of the prequel (the original two games situated themselves further in the future), and some perhaps even lost faith in it ever properly happening. That being said, don’t fret, Mankind Divided is finally here, and it’s quite good.
Story
We head into a not so distant future, namely 2029, which is two years after the previous Deus Ex title. The world is seemingly divided into two ‘species’, namely normal human beings like you and me, and augmented humans, which have cybernetic limbs, run certain software inside them, and are in many ways ‘superior’ to our normal ‘meatbag’ selves. While initially there was no struggle between the two, in 2027 the Illuminati caused a conflict, by chipping many of the augmented with malicious software, which, when activated, would turn simple (augmented) human beings into murderous monsters. Due to this, many augmented are being monitored, discriminated and even exiled, while the Illuminati still runs things backstage without the general populace suspecting a single thing.
Just like in the previous game, you’ll be playing as the highly trained operative Adam Jensen, who has received his fair share of augments after a tragic attack. While the world is rather biased towards the augmented, Jensen is still able to go on missions, without that much hassle from his colleagues. Sadly, when meeting up with a fellow agent in Prague, things turn sour after a bombing occurred, which nearly cost his and his partner’s life. From here on out it’s pretty much an investigation on who is responsible, and perhaps even more importantly: why.
Even though the story doesn’t really pack a very big punch, it is enjoyable, well constructed and you have a lot of freedom concerning speech choices. Nonetheless, even with the plot being simple compared to the previous games, the game thrives properly thanks to said story, and perhaps thanks to the story of the previous installment.
Graphics
While the game looks impressive in many areas, there are certain flaws that tend to overshadow the beautiful portions from time to time. The characters don’t really look like the developers went all out, compared to the environments, and the lipsyncing is simply atrocious, making it feel like either the artists weren’t used to this sort of thing, or just gave up halfway through to invest their time in the landscapes and clutter that is spread around this futuristic world.
All of the above aside, the game does look quite spiffy and detailed, even if the throwable items you’ll come across are copy pasted all over the place. You’ll have fun exploring the different areas you’ll roam in, and there are a reasonable amount of extra small roads to explore if you wish to do so.
Sound
Adam Jensen’s persona is pretty much set by his scruffy I-don’t-care-about-anything voice, which you’ll either love, tolerate or hate, but this alone does set a certain mood for this action packed experience. The music itself might be rather subtle, and perhaps unnoticeable when roaming around this modern man vs machine universe, the mood is properly set by all that is going on.
Gameplay
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided tosses itself wholly in the First-Person Action RPG genre, where pretty much anything is possible. If you like a structured game where your path is properly laid out for you, we can immediately state that this game will probably drive you mad, as you’ll constantly be presented with a truckload of different options. Would you rather invade a base and shoot everyone in the face, go ahead, but if you’d rather sneak past everyone or chat and convince them to let you pass, it’s pretty much all possible, except for some of the forced scenes that are preprogrammed. Nonetheless, run, ‘gun and have some fun’ might just be the motto behind this game, and for the most part it works quite well.
Running around, be it for exploring, stealthy tactics or simply to be the brute enforcer, the controls and mechanics happen to work well. You’ll be able to climb up ledges, making it easier to move around , and the new customization function for the weapons allow you to switch easier, as well as add things like silencers to your arsenal. In addition to this you’ll also have your skills, which pretty much have to do with your augments, allowing you to see through objects, invoke ranged abilities, allow you to cloak and so on. Other mechanics, such as hacking, sometimes aren’t all that clear, but it does offer a certain excitement when you start to get the hang of it, and you finally start booking results.
Tossing aside the somewhat clunky controls at times, (which can be finetuned to a scheme of your liking) or the fact that you receive hardly any explanation about some of the skills or are sometimes left to fend for yourself, it’s mainly the cover system in this game that tends to be faulty more than once. When the cover, and cover-to-cover system works, it’s quite fun, but during our many encounters, more than once we did the command to run from cover to cover, just to stand up, in the middle of two sections, making us a sitting duck. Other times it simply did nothing and just made our head pop out of cover, making the entire ordeal rather frustrating.
Conclusion
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided might be rough around the edges at times, it does offer an experience which the player can shape to his liking, to a certain extent. The story of the game, and the freedom you have will define this game, and while some might not give it a second thought, the game is actually awfully relevant to this time and age, as it pretty much puts racism in a modern digitized coating. Nonetheless, if you like games like Fallout 4, this one will certainly keep you occupied for many hours to come.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - Review,
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