Even though game publishers are gigantic entities run by hundreds of people, it’s interesting to see how they’re gradually personified through the way they conduct business. EA may run over twenty development studios, but most people would know them for buying studios, having them put out mediocre sequels, and shutting them down. Square Enix meanwhile is known for situations like Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. Human Revolution revitalized the brand, and Square immediately saw the potential to make Deus Ex into a multimedia franchise. Mobile spinoffs, comics, and sequels would immediately be moved into production, attempting to capitalize on the hype as soon as possible. Mankind Divided itself was going to be the core of this push, being a huge upgrade over the first game with a bigger team and a higher budget. That was a fine plan, at least until Square Enix’s dreams of a franchise got the better of them. The game was essentially cut in half, with the idea being to use its parts for two games instead of one. The multi-hub setup was cut down to just one location, and the runtime was fifteen hours instead of twenty-four. The story comes to an abrupt conclusion halfway through, which can charitably be called a cliffhanger for the planned third installment. Naturally, this didn’t go over well, and Mankind Divided sold well below expectations. Even when the game looks beautiful, has a great city hub to explore, and fun augmentations, getting cut off in the middle of the action was a massive letdown. Instead of Square Enix taking this as a sign that the next Deus Ex should be more fleshed out, they saw it as people losing interest in the franchise, and the DLC was the last Deus Ex media that would release for (at the time of writing) five years. This really is the most painful way for a franchise to end, with the game being good enough to where fans mourn the lost potential, but bad enough to where even an unlikely sequel wouldn’t get the budget it deserves. With how Square followed the same pattern of getting ahead of themselves and killing a franchise before it really began with Avengers though, I’m not holding my breath for Deus Ex to make the comeback I’m hoping for.

This game completely engrossed me into its extremely dense atmosphere and that alone carried me to the end. In between there was great music, innovative combat, a solid story, and did I mention atmosphere? The game is tight-knit with its environments, opting for extreme detail in every one and it works out fantastically to really envelop you into the game’s world. The story/characters weren’t necessarily amazing, the ending can eat my fecal matter, and I never felt super motivated to do any side quests, but I seriously enjoyed this game. I’ll be sure to come back to it after I play its predecessors

Mankind Divided takes place two years after the previous game, the end of the past game had almost all augmented people being taken control of and going into an uncontrollable rage, this event caused mass destruction and the deaths of millions, leading to the way augmented people are looked at and previous course of human history to have changed significantly. The game makes slight improvements on Human Revolution, giving you new enjoyable powers to use and allowing you to use some of the old ones in a nonlethal fashion and making improvements and additions to different areas of gameplay. You are given more open environment to explore (though they still really love having the improbable vents everywhere) and branching paths or alternate ending choices for missions. It can be very impressive when you look around and find only the main entrance and one alternate path towards your objective, only to notice that there were three more on your way back out, ones that can require a different use of items or augmentations to access. The environments are also nicely detailed, there are some interesting sights to see, ads, graffiti, emails, notes, and some thought even clearly went into your apartment. You can find parts to craft useful items such as multitools, ammo for your augmented weapons, and you can use parts to upgrade different stats or firing modes on weapons which can make using or ignoring certain abilities a more viable option. One, often amusing, addition is that you can sometimes hack or login to someone's computer and then use their instant messenger to talk to people. In one side mission you can pretend to be a bank manager and if you have gotten the right code and say the right things you can convince guards to turn off security systems. The social enhancer augmentation also has a new feature, in addition to the previous way where you could possible get through conversations by choosing the correct options or using your augmentation to open different conversation paths, now you also have timed moments where you can interrupt people in different ways to move the conversation in your favor. Finding and selling expensive Neuropozyne removes any need to run back and forth selling guns to buy the things that you want. The way that your battery works, which is what powers your active augmented abilities, has been improved from the previous game, though it will still have you managing an inventory of power cells to recharge. Certain areas will have you going up against other augmented opponents who can shield themselves, dash, cloak, and jump to high positions but this won't end up meaning much if you are going for a stealth playthrough. It would have been nice to see the augmented enemies used to level the playing field and make you not feel so powerful, even letting them use abilities to find you when you are cloaked or hiding.

There are areas that have not seen much improvement though or that have the same problems as the previous game. The AI still isn't very good in combat, you still tend to be very powerful compared to the enemies you face (it's best to put the game on the highest difficulty setting), there are some poor character animations, horrible lip sync and erratic body movement during conversations, dragging bodies is still strange and doesn't work well, jumping and climbing doesn't always work when it should, the double take-down augmentation doesn't always work, and sprinting looks terrible and randomly stops working. Even though the AI might not be the most combat effective and they don't always react to things in a way that makes sense, they do tend to respond well in certain situations such as when they move towards the direction a thrown object came from if they saw the path it took rather than where the sound came from when it hit, how police shouldn't attack you if they didn't see you commit a crime or might even attack other people who are shooting at you if they see them being the hostile one, and search patterns can be random. There are some issues when it comes to civilians who don't care when you hack or steal things but will become suspicious and follow you into restricted areas, sometimes even through security systems. A minor complaint is that it would have been nice if they had subtitles for conversations you hear as you pass by people and for TV and radio programs, as they can be difficult to hear over the game's music and other sounds from the environment. Combat is still something that can use some work with the guns themselves not being that satisfying to shoot, although unarmored targets go down quickly and the way targets react to being hit does make gunfights more satisfying than the previous game.

The writing has some good moments and characters, primarily all from exploration and the side quests, the main plot is rather dull, cliche, doesn't explore the ideas of the setting, and ends suddenly. It makes it feel like they might have planned a more episodic nature like Square did with the new Hitman or they need the DLC (there are two story focused ones coming) and/or the next game to finish the story arc. The narrative has a bit of an odd flow to it, things start with a good tutorial that allows you to try out many of your augmentations then resets all of them shortly after the opening, you are then given a good amount of points to invest in abilities again, as well as gaining access to some new augmentations. This is set up well and allows you to pick with more understanding of how things work after getting the chance to test them in action. You will then likely spend hours doing things around the city only to continue the main story where you will be taught how to fire a gun, a thing you might have been doing for the length of some shorter games. In other parts things seem to be left out or it seems like something was changed, one mission has you talking to your boss and your pilot about how you are supposed to bring a guy in alive and in the next cutscene the pilot is acting like he wasn't there for previous conversation and is asking if you are going to kill him. Later you will gain access to another section of the city and you will tell your pilot the name of it, even though I never heard anyone tell me what the area is called. After the opening mission your boss is sending emails about the lives lost after something goes wrong but you are alive, the guy leading the other team is alive, the undercover agent is alive if you rescued him, and no one mentions anyone being hit or killed in the gunfight so I don't know what they are talking about about anyone dying. One of the first side quests you can do (while still in your starting apartment) will tell you what happened to a character from the last game but then a later story mission will tell you again causing Adam to be surprised. Time is also handled in a very strange way when it comes to side quests and the main mission, the main plot seems like it all could have happened in a day or two while certain side quests would likely have needed more time to go by. There is also a short scene during the credits with an obvious reveal.

Augmented people treated more as a race and there being jim crow/apartheid style environments just isn't done well, and really can't be done well as the parallels don't really exist, it also raises a lot of questions about the world that the game can't answer that well or at least ones it doesn't answer unless you go exploring and finding books and emails. Augmented people almost all have obviously replaced arms/legs (they do have some different designs for them at least), which was not a constant thing in the previous game, this odd need to show who is who makes for poor world design and ignores that there are obviously other kinds of augmentations. It would actually make sense if after the disaster that killed and injured so many people that the "natural" people should be missing limbs, paralyzed, wearing cheap prosthetic, etc because after the augmented people attacked everyone they naturally wouldn't be willing or able to receive augmentations, doing something like this would also give them reason to dislike the augmented people, seeing them as the cause of their injuries while augmented people have fully functioning bodies with some things just done for looks or fashion. Not having a focus on the mental state of the augmented people, many who likely attacked and injured or killed friends, co-workers, or loved ones also seems like a missed opportunity (one of the side quests does have you briefly meeting an older man who you can potentially get to admit that he killed one of his grand-kids). The augmented people might be forced into their own line in the subway and their own train car but no one is ever really there, you will just run through through the area with nothing stopping you, maybe upset a guard if you take the wrong train. You might be stopped two or three times in the game while someone asks to see your papers, you says they are wasting your time, you be a smart ass, and then you are on your way in seconds. You might also see posters of movies or magazines trying to market towards people's fears about augmented people in the way you can see media do with Muslims. There's the generic racist politician (the game calls hating augmented people racism even though they aren't a race and augmentations aren't even connected to a culture or ideology normally associated with any race) who hates augmented people, complains about SJWs being the real problem, and says that he has a friend who is augmented. As part of a side quest you find that an anti aug politician has been paying augmented women to have sex with him, like the usual cliche anti gay politician. You have checkpoints that make it difficult for augs to travel, a wall to keep them out of areas, and attempts to relocate them which is similar to Israel. Other things you read are basically just an exact copy of problems another race/gender/sexuality face, as are certain slogans in the game, they didn't put enough effort into creating anything interesting of their own or discussing anything save for a brief generic statement on the state of the world. There are moments in the side quests or in the scattered e-books that work well with this setting, talking about how people live and that can do a decent job talking about militarized police forces or at least the obvious idea behind them at different moments of the game, but so much of it seems like it's done as an afterthought, something that is quickly moved on from, or possibly done more as a joke which doesn't fit with the marketing or title of the game. It's frequently just a missed chance to do something more interesting and an unneeded element that doesn't fit well with the kind of things that you go around doing in the main quests, such as how you will go around looting everything in front of people during normal play or hacking into all your fellow counter terrorism agent's computers with you in full view of everyone. You would also think that people would react to you turning invisible or using your landing system or dashes in front of them, even more so now that so many people hate you or are scared of you. I hope to see a better job done for Mafia 3 where segregation should fit in much more with the narrative and the actual gameplay mechanics of that game.

The newly added Breach mode gives you the role of a faceless VR hacker and has you choosing from different data nodes on a board to attack, once chosen you can choose your loadout and are put into a VR version of how the main game plays. Completing one area will open connected areas. It's an ok mode with the ability to choose different loadouts and unlock augmentations to help you meet different challenges in each area but it is hurt by the lack of personality of the good looking environments of the main game game thanks to the generic VR setting. You can obtain files that give you more information on the world, corporations, and people but none of it is that interesting. The mode is held back by card pack that you need to buy with in game credits or real money. These cards make up your equipment and ammo, as well as random consumables that can do things like make you move faster, do more damage, take more damage, etc. Up to three of these one use bonuses can be applied to each map but it hurts the balance and competitive nature of trying to beat your friends or trying to reach timed goals. You also need to level up to upgrade your augments (or find praxis kits in rare card drops) and your storage capacity, which allows you to equip more augmentations and upgrades at once. It's not terrible but it is much less interesting than the main game and requires grinding.

Preordering the game or getting the deluxe edition came with an extra mission called Desperate Measures that can be started from the main menu at any time and at any difficulty. Desperate Measures starts you with some basic equipment and points to assign to your augmentations. The plot is linear and moves from scene to scene without needing you to travel between areas, this is actually nice as you would just be going through areas you have seen doing things that won't matter since it is only a short side mission, and has you looking into a recent bombing by infiltrating a Tarvos security building, which is a new location. As expected with a preorder bonus, it is a short mission but it is an enjoyable one. The way the previous game added DLC and the way this worked also make it seem likely that the two future paid add-ons will be accessed from the main menu in the same way.

The PC version launched with some performance issues, but they seem to have been fixed and some I never experienced. Traveling to a new area gave very long load times, but the areas are very large and loading saves in the same area only takes a couple seconds and a recent patch seems to have significantly improved the load times. I did run into a problem with one side quest where a character that I should have been in one area ended up in two different places, it's not a problem as it allows you to see more of the games possibilities without a second playthrough but it is an odd moment if you don't know its a bug. The preorder and season pass DLC was also very poorly handled, with many of the items only allowing you to use them one time and then never again if you start a new game, these items also seem to be things the developer didn't even want in the game in order to keep it balanced.

Mankind Divided's sudden ending, weak narrative, mostly poorly used aug vs natural conflict, me missing Faridah, and dull Breach mode all certainly hurt the game but the fun mechanics, large and very well designed environments that supports a variety of playstyles, entertaining melee takedowns, the way the AI reacts to certain situations, sneaking your way around finding information about people and the world, the well designed and written side quests that help to show more human moments for Adam, and different choices in both the side and main story missions make the game easy to recommend if your love of Deus Ex comes more from those areas rather than an interesting main plot and uncovering conspiracies. The game also supports a new game plus option, where you can play through the game again on the same difficult but with all your augmented abilities and equipment that was in your inventory intact, which is always a nice feature to have, beating the game will also unlock the most difficult setting where you only get one life for those that like ironman runs.

In short, well designed areas and enjoyable gameplay held back somewhat by the main narrative.

Screenshots: https://twitter.com/Legolas_Katarn/status/770649968902152193?s=20

My most recent playthrough made me realize that I had been too hard on this game before when comparing it to Human Revolution.

In terms of the actual gameplay it improved more on Human Revolution than I gave it credit for. Both the stealth and gunplay are much improved and it definitely feels like it gives you many more options to get through areas.

I wish I could say the same about the story but Square's meddling in the development of the game made sure that it ended up being weaker overall even if there are definitely spots that I thought were much improved over HR. I thought the side missions were much more interesting and much more fleshed out than before with more thought put into the story of each of them with and with multiple of them having different stages that occur over your different visits to Prague that all come together at the end of the game where you can see the different people Jensen helped throughout the game joined together under a singular cause. One side mission "thread" I would like to single out is the Harvester missions. Those on their own are much more fleshed out than anything in HR and are some of the best parts of the game.

The main story is a step down from HR but in general is still interesting enough to stay engaging until it completely drops the ball with the ending where instead of having anything actually important happen it just zooms in on a tv while the news tells you about all the things you did.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided received at launch many negative reviews for its lack of a clear cut conclusion to a plotline that definitely couldn’t end with this game – as the first Deus Ex in 2000 still exist apparently – and because of Square Enix egregious policy of shipping the game with an online mode nobody asked for, which turned out to be another cash grab for people with money spending disorders. Also, the onetime use only DLCs. These two latter are probably the worst offenders, as the lack of definitive conclusion could either be justified on the developer part as an intentional choice to respect the series canon or to make Mankind Divided work as a middle chapter much like Mass Effect 2 did already for its own saga. Sure, there are enough reasons to call out on Square Enix for being a greedy company that preys on its brands’ legacy, let’s not push too much stress on the guys at Eidos.

I digress.

Mankind Divided works as a direct sequel to Human Revolution, more or less. What happened in the two years gap between the games is never fully explained, and suddenly the series shifted from being a cyberpunk spy story about mega corps and their wrongdoings to a tale about the problem of racism and social acceptance in the modern and futuristic society. Considering the sci-fi setting, this new premise works beautifully intertwined with renowned cyberpunk thematic, especially in our modern times where it is apparently important to remind people what bring racism to arise and why it is important to actively argument against it. Or maybe, more simply, Square Enix ordered Eidos to remove any reference to massive corporations being evil and all since they have become one themselves in the last decade.

I digress again.

The plotline is more of the same from previous games and the characters aren’t much different or interesting either, they are actually quantifiably less memorable than any previous major titles of the series since there is a lack of significant development for any of them, nor the charisma previous casts had. The gameplay also is almost identical to Human Revolution, except for some new augmentations which are funny to play with but rarely really useful on the long run if the players liked the series for its stealth approach rather than the ability to use a massive plasma cannon or firing explosive blades. Especially since the game actually rewards players the less they raise alarms and kill anyone, so it would be counterproductive to use most of these new destructive gadgets. Shame tho.

What makes the game shine and be worth the purchase, especially now since the prolonged negative responses to it made it terrific cheap to buy, is the magnificent and vast hub of Prague City, full of secrets, quests to be discovered and it generally makes the game into a glorious cyberpunk sandbox stealth game. That’s where hours will be spent, choosing different routes to same objectives, trying to unlock everything before the player is even able to reach that point and just getting lost in the massively and detailed world of the Czech’s futuristic capital. If you think this kind of freedom united with the renowned stealth mechanics are enough to interest you, then the game will be a blast, albeit the replay value will probably be mostly lost if the challenge of higher difficulties or the storyline aren’t of interest, since doing everything from the top again will prove to be quite tedious without the incentive of interesting collectibles, aside from lore related e-books and scarce achievements from doing random stuff and side quests.

These side quests are often times smartly written and integrated with the setting, but many times are either completely disjointed from the plot or feel pointless and just a massive waste of time considering the backtrack involved. They are however a nice distraction and incentive to further explore what might have been missed in the giant hub.

Mankind Divided is on many levels a great upgrade to its previous iteration, for what concerns the technical department – graphic, music, some gameplay mechanic, – but on many others it feels surely incomplete and missing the gripping storytelling the series is famous for. It is still one of the best and rare examples of a modern well-done cyberpunk video game, or a first-person hybrid RPG-stealth video game for that matter.

The closest thing gameplay wise to the original Deus Ex since that game - higher focus on stealth, some truly nail biting sequences, and the amount of options presented to the player make this a highly polished, entertaining affair. The new augs are fantastic as well, and the open world has never felt more alive and looked better.

Shame the story is such a mess, failing to explore any it's themes in interesting ways. Jensen is still interesting thankfully, and the side cast is mostly likable, but the game feels less compelling then prior efforts due to the change in focus and it's ending is abysmal. Still, a solid game and worth playing.