Released: 23rd August 2016
Developer: Eidos Montreal
Publisher: Square Enix
Certificate: 18
Formats: PS4, Xbox One and PC
Returning to the masses after a long absence, 2011's Deus Ex: Human Revolution was a stellar modern rendition that introduced the venerable RPG franchise to a wider audience, myself included. Five years later, its follow-up Mankind Divided looked to continue its success, but ended up stumbling into trouble along the way.
Taking place two years after the events of Human Revolution, augmented people are viewed with suspicion and contempt; the aug incident which drove thousands into a violent rage has prompted governments around the world to segregate and brutalise this side of the populous. Tensions hang on a knife edge and as Adam Jensen, now working as an operative for Interpol under Task Force 29, you must investigate the onset of terror attacks in Europe and uncover the masterminds behind the divided world. The so-called "mechanical apartheid" the game presents is rather blatant with little room for debate, but the story's greater issue is its lack of depth. Unlike the well-rounded characters of the first game, Mankind Divided's characters (most of them newly introduced in this game) are very underdeveloped and often don't add much to the greater struggle. Adam's boss Jim Miller is rather basic and the hacker Alex Vega is thrown at the game's opening and rarely makes an impression. More baffling is how the game slowly builds intrigue for specific characters, only to throw them away abruptly; the leader of the Augmented Rights Coalition Talos Rucker is the most glaring example; you want to learn more about this man, how he rallied his augmented brethren into peaceful protest, but the game refuses to develop him properly. The story simply isn't engaging as it was before and by ending on an anticlimactic cliff-hanger, Mankind Divided's story stands as its greatest weakness, something that the series has typically done very well. When you get to the game however, you'll notice a range of welcome refinements.
After an initial prologue that teaches new players the ropes in Dubai, the game begins in earnest within the city of Prague; immediately you'll notice the game's smaller, more tightly woven scale. The central setting is like a maze with multiple districts hiding all sorts of nooks and crannies for exploration; there's a huge amount of options throughout the game, allowing the player to be inventive and rewarding them for doing so. Experience points towards unlocking new augmented abilities are showered on the player, but even if you don't have the appropriate augmentations, the game is still very responsive to the player's creativity. For example one area in the sewers I couldn't access as a heavy trash bin blocked the way; so instead I detonated an exploding barrel to clear the way by force. This freedom means objectives can be completed in a multitude of ways or even out of order. The levels Adam goes through are all fantastically designed sandboxes that encourage the player to switch up their tactics and think three-dimensionally; guns-blazing? stealthy approach? platforming? hacking? All of these options are constantly viable and the way you craft Jensen's abilities will inform your approach and ensures variety is always strong. You could be crawling through the air ducts to infiltrate a bank one moment and blasting your way through an augmented ghetto the next. Like every other game in the series, the makes Mankind Divided incredibly replayable with the game taking at least 12 hours to complete. Comprised of both main and side missions, both objectives leverage the environment brilliantly with the player going to many different locations to complete them. Your choices affect how missions play out and how characters respond, though don't expect any gargantuan changes to the setting you'll explore. On top of that, there's also the permadeath difficulty: "I never asked for this" for an extra challenge. The only elements of Mankind Divided are the breach mode, which are essentially hacking challenges in an abstract virtual world and the infamous praxis kit microtransactions that remain in the game long after it's release. These additions remain egregious and tacked on, taking up valuable resources that should have been spent on the main game.
It doesn't stop at the level design however; Mankind Divided brings with it a slew of gameplay improvements and additions that make its systems far more enjoyable. The cover system is now more precise with a path tracing the direction you want Jensen to take while keeping his head down in a stealthier posture; this is paired with a new set of takedowns where the protaganist pulls his foes out of sight before incapacitating them. On occassion there will be a mispress where you take out the wrong enemy or vault over the wrong cover point but otherwise the system works brilliantly. Gunplay is far stronger than before with a crunchier feel to the weapons alongside better aiming controls; you can customise and upgrade them more this time thanks to the crafting parts system. By finding them in the environment or breaking down materials you don't need, Adam can improve his arsenal's effectiveness. Or even better, you can make items like multi-tools which hack automatically or biocells to ensure your augmentations have enough energy. This addition is easily the best of the bunch because it broadens your choices even more; if you're not into hacking, crafting multiple tools can serve as a workaround and vice versa. Finally we have the new augmentations hidden within Jensen's platform and they're an absolute blast to use; remote hacking is invaluable for handling both the levels and security systems while the titan (despite its high energy cost) provides a massive boost to defense in combat. These new toys are balanced out with the overclock feature; for a good portion of the game, you'll have to be careful not to overload Jensen's systems or risk system glitches in the heat of the moment. Enemy AI is still rather unintelligent, with an easy to exploit suspicious state allowing the player to lure them over for an easy takedown, but for the most part they are capable of navigating the environments well. Just about every aspect of gameplay that was lacking in Revolution has been improved here, but the game's technical details leave much to be desired.
Running on the Dawn Game Engine, you'd think Mankind Divided would be a big step up from its predecessor, adding plenty of bells and whistles to make an even more immersive RPG experience. Unfortunately, while the game doesn't look bad by any means, its technical aspects are hurting to the point they damage the story further. I'm talking about the facial animations; by the standards of both its franchise and the genre, they're awful. Characters talk and move through sentences in an incredibly jarring manner, making it difficult to take what they're saying seriously. It's too bad the strong voice acting isn't complemented by competent animation; Elias Toufexis is again great as Adam Jensen and the dialogue itself is well written, particularly when you enter any of the persuasion sequences. Something also went wrong with the collision and physics system, with moving bodies and stacking objects often being ridiculously clunky; Deus Ex needs to take some inspiration from its contemporaries and allow Adam Jensen to sling enemies over his shoulder for easier transport. I also encountered multiple game crashes and infinite load screens in my first playthrough. There's no doubt that the game needed more time for polish before it released and it's too bad because on an artistic level, the game is just as impressive as the 2011 original. The idealistic golds of Revolution have given way to a grotty, run down look that reflects the chaos of this late 2020s society. There's all kinds of little environmental details that tell the player stories about the people that lived in them; whether it's a poor soul who choked on poison gas or the members of a strange cult underground, the developer's choices to focus on quality over quantity in the open world has paid off well. Finally, the music, once again composed by Michael McCann is excellent, providing a great mix of ambient background music and punchy action throughout the game.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided has all the ingredients to make it an excellent role-playing title and a standout sequel; the level design, wide array of dynamic choices and gameplay improvements are all superb. But it’s held back by its weak story and a general lack of polish all around. With the franchise having been put on ice, it’s a shame the title didn’t reach its full potential.
Rating: 8/10 (Great)
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