When the first Deus Ex was released, gameplay as a medium was just beginning to express itself, distant from the gameplay focused and highscore focused norm and tropes. Games like Shenmue, resident evil, and Silent Hill were beginning to show the true potential of videogaming, and how its certain amenities could be used for something much more thought provoking. However, in my opinion, nothing changed gaming single-handedly as much as the original Deus Ex.
In an age where you were literally shooting and hitting your obstacles away in videogames, Deus Ex was the first that utilised an even more interesting weapon, a weapon that everyone possesses: speech. Deus Ex was the first game to let you talk your way out of problems, something that was absolutely unheard of back then. Player’s choices and how they interacted with NPCs mattered, going on to perhaps shape major games, most notably the Mass Effect series.
“I hold Deus Ex to a very high standard and judge them so”
I understand that it may feel as if I’m rambling off-topic here when I should be talking about Deus Ex’s latest iteration, but such is not the case. The main reason I pointed out what I did is to ensure the readers that I hold Deus Ex to a very high standard and judge them so, without any exception whatsoever for Mankind Divided. Human Revolution was excellent, and perhaps my favourite in the series, it is left to see how and if the same spark and controversy is present in Mankind Divided.
Luckily, Mankind Divided does not pull its punches, it does not sugarcoat or glorify the theme of apartheid prevalent in it. As a series, Deus Ex has never shied away from creating a platform for debate regarding various issues that plague our world; it is because of that it is attributed as pushing games to do so much more with a serious and respective outlook.
If you haven’t played Human Revolution and wish to do so, it is my duty to warn you that you will come across heavy spoilers for Human Revolution, but rest assured not for Mankind Divided. So, I would advice and highly recommend that you play and experience the prequel first. If not, then it is absolutely fine as the game does a more than adept job of recapping the events of the first game through a 12 minute intro which you can wish to either see or skip, which will make sure you don’t get lost in the second game if you haven’t played the first.
Hugh Darrow Sends A Signal That Drives The Augmented Crazy (Human Revolution)
During the final moments of Human Revolution, people with augments lose control of their artificial limbs and body parts, spiralling out of control and into madness, attacking every non-augmented. This is caused by a powerful terrorist organisation who remotely sabotage the augments, an entity Adam Jensen does not manage to stop in time. The world completely changes and divides in two; people who have augmentations or support those that do, and people traumatised by the event and against it.
The world and its governments stops looking at the augmented as victims and starts shunning them, forcing them to live out of sight or in shame. Major countries change drastically as an effect. For example, Dubai which is currently regarded as one of the most luxurious city takes a plunge in the events of the game, due to its reliance and original support for augments. This is where the first level takes place, its dire state is apparent due to bodies lying around unattended and major hotel constructions and skyscrapers left abandoned. That is one of the many examples of how Mankind Divided excels in world building, giving it a grounded lore which most people will easily relate to. It is easy to create a fantastical world, but tougher to sell it to people in my opinion, a problem which Mankind Divided does not have. Every character and major country has a well written background to it that differs from the description presented in Human Revolution, showcasing how the world has changed after the attack.
As you play through the game as Adam Jensen, a character excellently and iconically voiced by Elias Toufexis who most recently was the lead in Ubisoft’s Far Cry Primal, you will come across acts of hatred towards the augmented, some of which you will have no control over and some which you can interfere in. However, these acts of interference are usually in the form of a dilemma and not a black and white choice. You will get to choose one option, but might not like what ignoring the other will do, and that is what stands out the most about these games, as it feels like the choices I am given have got weight to them.
“Adam takes it on himself to find the people responsible for the terrorist attacks”
Jensen has evolved from where we left him off the last time, and is now working with Interpol as a double agent looking to uncover the overarching conspiracy behind the scene. After a series of terrorist attacks, Adam takes it on himself to find the people responsible and bring them to justice, “his way” (basically how the players want to). The game ends on a cliffhanger, and I think Jensen’s story may be coming to a end, finally leading to the events of the first Deus Ex (2000) game.
The game plays in the framework of a first person cover shooter, not much different from the first game but with all new added abilities in the form of experimental augments that Jensen had no idea he had, a story angle that is told mysteriously well. The way you get to use them is rather interesting as the experimental augments you get to use come at a price, which comes in the form of overheating your system. To prevent that from happening, you have to deactivate an inactive experimental augment (try saying that 5 times fast) which will render them unusable for the duration of the game. This does not border into frustrating territory however as players who have a clear idea of what kind of build they are going on based on their playstyle will find deactivating certain augments easier than others. For example, if like me you are looking to go for a stealthier approach you will be better served getting something non-lethal while discarding one that is lethal.
One interesting question I have been asked quite a few times by some people was, “Do the players have augments from the previous game still available and active?”, an answer to which is neither fully yes or no. Yes, you do have the augments available in the previous game; No, some are inactive and have to be activated once again. Do note however, that the way these augments work is separate from the experimental augments, so you can activate however many you like without deactivating anything provided you have enough Priaxis kits, the game’s form of level up points which help you unlock different abilities.
“Weapon modification is a huge improvement in this game, where you can take and modify weapons depending on your playstyle.”
What truly makes the entire ability system and playstyle work is the game’s level design. Depending on how you wish to approach a confrontation, there will always be a way to either face it inconspicuously or go in guns blazing through the games well structured covers, further helped by the game’s easy to use cover system.
The controls have been overhauled, but players who wish to play the game similar to Human Revolution can do so by changing the control scheme. I used the overhauled control scheme due to its balance but found flaws in the way it executed simple commands. With this control scheme, to holster a weapon, a player has to hold square temporarily and tap on L2. There are other shortcuts similar to this which let you execute commands from changing weapon modifications to switching weapons. They sound great in theory but are easy to forget if you don’t play the game for a while.
Weapon modification is a huge improvement in this game, where you can take and modify weapons depending on your playstyle. I didn’t get to use it much, as I always avoided confrontation but that is the beauty of it, its there for the people who want it, but doesn’t hurt the people who don’t.
“The consoles limit the visual potential due to their low resolution”
The game is really good to look at as well with interestingly designed architecture that blends today’s vision of tomorrow with grounded aesthetics. The developers have introduced HDR in this game, but for some reason I feel as if it is not working due to how it desaturates the colours. One could attribute it to the monitor I am using, but I have also been playing Gears of War 4 on it, a recently released game which also supports and excellently implements HDR, and everything looks so much better. I also feel as if the consoles limit the visual potential due to their low resolution, something that is apparent as the players enter the slums, whose sharp edges and clean lines are the victims of Aliasing. Still, every frame you freeze looks like an artistic painting, which is more than adequate for me.
The main quip I have with this game is regarding the character backstories. As I mentioned before, the game has excellent lore building and character background. However, I would like to access these outside of the game’s loading screens through a dossier or journal of some sort. The Witcher 3 had a bestiary and glossary which I quite liked. It just makes sense to have something to show these if you’ve worked hard on it, which is definitely the case with this.
“The game is both thought-provoking and fun due to its coherent level design, excellent cast of characters and a powerful narrative.”
Lastly, the music is absolutely amazing and both orchestral maestro Michael McCann and electronics expert Sascha Dikiciyan have outdone themselves in creating a powerful and enjoyable piece of work that both complements the world of Mankind Divided and entertains on its own. Unfortunately, the soundtrack to it was recently delayed and I couldn’t hear more of it outside the game.
I could go on and on about why the game excels but that would have me going into politics, an angle I do not wish to pursue in a videogame review. The game is both thought-provoking and fun due to its coherent level design, excellent cast of characters and a powerful narrative. With the amount of choices and methods available, it is a game that begs to be replayed once you’ve put down your controller or have gone away from keyboard. I would without a doubt recommend this game to everyone as it deals with a lot of issues that unfortunately plague our world in the framework of augmentation. However, I do wish that the developers would not strip content from the main game and give it off as DLC, which sadly is the case with System Rift that should be part of the main experience.