“Deus Ex: Mankind Divided” is the fourth entry in the series, which began back in 2000. (Photo courtesy of Square Enix)
Brendan Jacques
Connector Editor
For those unaware, the “Deus Ex” saga is a series of first-person stealth role-playing games set in a near-future world designed to evoke the classic sci-fi film “Blade Runner” with an added black and gold aesthetic (ironic for a series that lets the player “have it their way”). In this world, robotics technology has advanced far enough to allow those who can afford it to “augment” themselves with powerful robotic enhancements, such as robotic arms that can punch through concrete or brain enhancements that improve intelligence and reaction time. The possibilities from a gameplay perspective basically write themselves, but the story is more concerned with showing how society would be affected by this kind of technology, or rather how society is likely to change when this technology comes to exist.
“Deus Ex: Mankind Divided”, the newest game in the series and direct sequel to 2012’s “Deus Ex: Human Revolution”, stars series protagonist Adam Jensen, an augmented super-soldier working as a double agent in Task Force 29, a UN task force created to track down a pro-augmentation terrorist group called A.R.C. At the same time however, Jensen is working on his own to try and expose the members of the Illuminati, who have been orchestrating a series of recent terrorist attacks to their advantage. Without giving too much away, the story of the game is well done for the most part. The “Deus Ex” series has always done better with creating a believable world than writing a gripping story, and that mostly holds true with this entry as well. Despite its prominence and the world-altering implications behind it, the main story is mostly used as an excuse for guiding the player through steadily more interesting hubs filled with infinitely more developed side quests. Which is a perfectly fine approach to take, but it does lead to a main story that feels weirdly have baked.
Thankfully the story still manages to be compelling thanks to an excellent attention to detail and some truly wonderful world-building. The majority of the game is centered around the hub city of Prague, which despite its more compact size is absolutely bursting with side quests and secrets to uncover. And in a stroke of genius, the game is able to keep this area consistently fresh by changing the activities available based on what’s going on in the main story as well as the time of day itself, making the city feel far more alive than you’d initially expect.
It also helps that Prague is the perfect backdrop for the first-person stealth action that the “Deus Ex” series is known for. After a brief introduction, the game gives the player total control over which augmentations Jensen has access to and how they evolve, allowing the player to build him to fit whatever playstyle suits them best or for whatever the situation calls for. While stealth is still the game’s genre of choice and there’s plenty of options for building the ultimate cybernetic ninja (temporary invisibility, the ability to see guards through walls, etc.), it’s entirely possible to play the game as a more tactical first-person shooter. And the game doesn’t discourage or punish the player for choosing either playstyle; in fact, the game’s systems are flexible enough to allow for a good amount of improvisation and mixing playstyles together. For example, it’s entirely possible to break into the center of a heavily-guarded bank by slipping past the guards unnoticed, escape from the building by leaving a trail of blood and bullets in your wake, then vanish into an alleyway before the cops can catch up.
And what’s more, the environment is absolutely packed with alternate ways of completing a single goal. Using the bank as an example again, there are five different and equally plausible ways to break into the building depending on the augmentations you have available, from the secret sewer passageway in the bar next door to the air vent hidden behind a dumpster on the right of the building. And it’s not just the individual levels that are designed like that. Prague itself is a playground of secret passageways, rooftop entrances and apartment buildings with hackable security. There’s enough variety in each zone to accommodate any playstyle brought to the table, which is mightily impressive.
If there’s one major fault the game runs into, besides some slightly glitch climbing mechanics and pretty exploitable guard AI, it’s the game’s core theme. While each game of the series has been concerned with different aspects of how augmentation could change the world, “Deus Ex: Mankind Divided” is most interested in exploring themes of racism and class warfare, with augmented individuals being looked down upon as inferior to natural humans. The intentions behind this choice in direction are admirable, and it does lead to some interesting moral quandaries regarding how society tends to treat minorities in real life, but unfortunately the attempt falls mostly flat. Besides the fact that the world of “Deus Ex” isn’t really designed to accommodate an allegory on racism, the game also attempts to link the plight of augmented people in the story to 1960s segregation laws and the recent Black Lives Matter movement, which ends up feeling strangely insensitive and wrong-headed for a game that gets so much else with its world right.
Even with that oversight, as well as some smaller issues that derail the experience at times, “Deus Ex: Mankind Divided” is a great sequel that gets far more right than it gets wrong. If you’re at all interested, the game is available on PC, Xbox One, and Ps4 for $60. If you’re new to the “Deus Ex” series though, it’s highly recommended you play the previous game, “Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director’s Cut” first. While it isn’t required to understand the plot of this game, it’s still best to play it if you want to get the most out of the main story. That game is available on Xbox 360, Ps3, and Wii U for $30 and on PC for $20.