Photograph: The Guardianīut, despite its terrible non-ending and the uninspiring boss fight that triggers it, the game still frequently finds immense strength in its moment-to-moment play. In others, it results in a game that’s half-baked, especially after proceedings aren’t so much cut short as they are forcefully cauterised, resulting in the most telegraphed setup for a sequel since 2004’s Halo 2.ĭespite an improved control scheme, combat is still the least enjoyable way to play. In some ways, this works in the game’s favour, grounding itself to focus its story. Despite these four locations, each far larger than anything in any Deus Ex previously, Mankind Divided doesn’t feel half the grandiose globe-trotter that Human Revolution was. There are a couple of mainline departures from the Czech capital an infiltration into Golem City – a cramped, higgledy-piggledy ghetto for the augmented that is by far the game’s most interesting setting – as well as a recon mission to a facility in the Swiss Alps and a rescue mission in London. There’s a bank break-in to dig up dodgy info on one of the game’s main mega-corps, and an investigation into an underground cult – finding every possible side story is a completionist dream, and the game makes pursuing these optional plots worthwhile with some great moments that rival the main story. Between the various metro stations that transport you to each corner of the capital, you’ll find multiple side quests that are multi-part branching path adventures in themselves. Prague never imposes the same visual impact as Human Revolution’s depiction of Hengsha or Detroit, but it is explored and revisited several times in different visual states over the game’s 20-25 hours, and it’s a veritable playground of stuff to do. There’s racist graffiti on the walls, slurs get shouted as you walk through the streets, but the overall result is a social commentary that feels, at best, lacking conviction.Īfter a pre-credits mission in Dubai sets up the game’s central conspiracy, you relocate to Prague a rich, multifaceted hub full of apartment blocks, a bank, abandoned theatre and underground anti-terrorism facility. Worse yet, it offers very few notable opinions on its focal prejudices, and the best it seems to do to force home its messaging is interrupt you with annoying documentation checks between metro stations. It was a global catalyst, accelerating the divisions between the human and augmented populations, but as thematically charged a setup as this is, Adam and his world can’t help but feel outdated.Īfter a pre-credits mission in Dubai sets up the game’s central conspiracy, you relocate to Prague. Like many, he’s coming to terms with the devastating aftereffects of The Incident – a cyber-attack that deliberately caused the bio-technologically “augmented” population to turn violent against their will, leaving millions dead. Protagonist Adam Jensen returns – still half-Lagerfeld, half-Motorola Razr – working as a special agent at Interpol two years after the events of Human Revolution. This is a tall order and its makers clearly recognise it, front-ending the game’s campaign with an almost laughably long 12-minute recap to bring you up to speed on everything Deus Ex. After releasing 2011’s Human Revolution – a lavishly depicted near-future thriller – to widespread critical acclaim, developer Eidos Montreal’s follow up, Mankind Divided, picks up the exact same threads that its predecessor left tantalisingly unanswered five years ago. S ince its debut 16 years ago, Deus Ex’s primary weapon has been choice: where to go, how to get there, who to speak to and how to speak to them are all up to you in a series where almost every scenario has multiple outcomes.
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