Part Man, Part Machine
Review
Deus Ex:
Mankind Divided, Eidos Montreal (PS4)
Abstract: Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is a worthy sequel to 2011’s Deus Ex: Human Revolution, but not one
without notable faults. A gripping near-future setting and deft handling of
modern social issues stands in contrast with an overly convoluted narrative
that ends abruptly. Technical problems plague Mankind Divided, from frame drops to wonky animations. Gameplay is at a franchise best, however, with new skills, challenges,
and sandboxes that are better than ever and unapologetically fun. Fans of Deus Ex will get what they want out of Mankind Divided, but it is not a game I
would recommend without a caveat or two.
Sirens
sound in the distance and the heavy steps of mechanized soldiers reverberate
across the cold concrete ground. Drones fly over a world buzzing with
technology. Adam Jensen’s task is simple: get from point A to point B. One
quick glance at the dilapidated building lets you know your path is anything
but straightforward. You have the direct, bloody route in which Jensen will
shoot, heal, frag and punch his way through. But what about the serendipitously
placed ventilation shaft or the door with a hackable entryway? Do you
camouflage and take out enemies silently? Adam Jensen is more than a character,
he is you and defined by your actions. Deus
Ex: Mankind Divided transforms you into an augmented super spy and the
feeling is fantastic.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is the sequel to 2011’s Deus Ex: Human Revolution, itself a
spiritual successor (and prequel) to the hugely influential Deus Ex games of the early 2000’s. Human Revolution received widespread
critical and fan acclaim, transforming it from an off-my-radar title to a must
play. At first I approached the game with hesitance—I’m no huge fan of the
stealth genre and had no attachment to the IP. A brutally punishing first
couple hours all but caused me to completely drop Human Revolution. But then the game shifted, or rather, it finally
clicked. My confidence soared as I dropped soldiers left and right, skillfully
made my way through the environment, and completed side quests. Human Revolution is a game I would not
have expected to like as much as I did.
 |
| Would Mankind Divided improve on an already strong foundation? |
Despite my
adoration for Human Revolution, I
couldn’t bring myself to purchase Mankind
Divided proximal to its release. Maybe it was my fear of another
challenging stealth sandbox; maybe it was the tone-deaf marketing campaign.
After finding
myself in the Upside Down and a friend’s strong recommendation I finally picked up Mankind Divided. Does the game live up
it the high bar set by its predecessor? Yes and no.
Once again
you take control of the cop turned mechanically augmented super spy Adam
Jensen, in a direct continuation of the previous game’s plot. The most resonant
event from Human Revolution is the
aug incident, in which augmented individuals (augs) across the globe were hacked, causing them to enter into a murderous frenzy. This has spawned the world of Mankind Divided, where augs are
marginalized citizens, often viewed as less than human. Groups like the
Augmented Rights Coalition (ARC) advocate for equal rights, but many view their
actions as terroristic. This acts as a backdrop for the adventures of globe
trotting ubermensch Adam Jensen. When a mission in Dubai goes awry, Jensen is
forced to question his loyalties, fight against unknown enemies, and try to drag
into the light those who would do harm from the shadows.
 |
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is a spy thriller in which you never know who to trust.
Probably not that machine gun robot, though. That's a safe bet. |
If it
sounds like I didn’t really detail the plot of Mankind Divided, you would be right. I didn’t. And not because I
didn’t want to, it is because the mainline story isn’t told with a whole lot of
finesse. You're given a jargon-filled world of double agents and hacking. It's nothing new, nor
is its attempt at making a narrative feel more mature by making it overly
complex. I pieced together enough while playing to enjoy the story, broadly
speaking, but it was forgettable. Even worse, the game ends at what
feels like the second of three acts. You take out some big threats and gain a
relatively clear understanding of all the moving pieces, but Jensen doesn’t address the main threat. The
game ends not on a cliffhanger, but on a “to be continued.” Mankind Divided’s plot was more
functional than important or engaging.
What really
concerned me coming into Mankind Divided,
however, was how it would handle its weighty themes. A large part of the game’s
marketing was focused on how Mankind
Divided will act as a lens through which we can view modern issues. A
noble endeavor, sure, but one I quickly soured on after I started seeing “Aug Lives Matter” ads pop up. At best the campaign came across as naïve, and
at worst willfully ignorant and trying to monetize a hot-button issue. It came
as a huge surprise while playing that Mankind
Divided actually handled its serious, real-world parallels with tact. Played out through ambient dialogue, side quests, environmental
interactions and more, Mankind Divided portrayed a number of pervasive social issues we face today, like police
brutality and institutionalized discrimination, well. I felt something when I was
forced to take the augs only part of a train or watch as a serial killer of
augs was ignored by a militarized police force.
 |
Heavy handed, sure, but Mankind Divided does a pretty good job with
representing serious issues. |
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided clearly focused on refining its
gameplay, and I’m happy to write that it is better than ever. The series famous
3rd person action stealth gameplay makes its triumphant return,
replete with new abilities, a streamlining of the more clunky elements from past
entries, and delightfully fun sandboxes. Each
discrete part of Mankind Divided’s
robust gameplay suite feels great. The game not only gives players the tools, it
encourages them to play however they want. You can go from guns blazing kick in
the front door to crawling around in vents while invisible to anything in-between.
Jensen’s best augmentations return in Mankind
Divided, like smart vision and high jumps, on top of some spectacular new
ones, like Titan armor that temporarily makes you invulnerable and remote
hacking to disable distant security cameras. Mercifully, Mankind Divided starts with several essential augmentations already
activated, removing that brick wall problem myself and others faced coming into
Human Revolution.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is an elaborate playground. The
moment-to-moment gameplay experience is consistently engaging. You
always, always can approach a problem from multiple angles. The sheer number of weapons,
items, and power-ups at your disposal is staggering, made all the more
impressive when you consider the game’s developers had to keep all of this in
mind while designing Mankind Divided’s
world. The hub world and missions alike are impeccably designed. In any given
moment you could hack, stealth, shoot, run, jump, block, or boost your way
around the same problem. Scouring the world for items and paths never stopped
being fun. The design felt far more organic this time around. I never felt as
if I was abruptly plopped into a ‘stealth’ section. Enemy A.I. is better too,
making moving around environments both more challenging and more rewarding.
Difficult
gameplay decisions are built into the foundation of Mankind Divided. You’ll die early and often if you’re not thinking
while playing. Resources, though relatively plentiful, need to be thoughtfully
allocated. Limited inventory space means you need to be decisive about what
weapons, ammo, and healing items you have equipped at any given moment. Praxis
points, used to power up Jensen’s augmentations, cannot cover the full range of
Jensen’s abilities without serious grinding. This means that you have to make
tough decisions about what you boost and when—should I get the high jump aug to
explore better now or it is more important I increase my body’s battery
recharge rate so I can do more in combat? Every augmented action requires
energy. Consume it, and you’re unable to use abilities again until it
recharges. This includes melee takedowns, a vital element of any mission. I
enjoyed having to always think about my actions, whether it was in quiet
moments or as a half dozen armed goons charged me with
guns blazing.
 |
Decisions, decisions. You should always think before you act,
inside or outside of combat. |
On the
PlayStation 4 Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
is riddled with some serious performance problems. I’m not a particularly
technically minded person, nor am I a guy who gets up in arms about frame rates,
resolution, or graphics. But Mankind
Divided’s technical issues were hard to overlook. Stuttering and dropped
frames occurred with relative frequency, resulting in gameplay than fell below 30
FPS. Textures and geography would pop in abruptly. The combination of the two
seriously impacted my gameplay at times. It felt particularly bad perfectly
planning an encounter only to be hit with frame stuttering that caused me to mess up, get detected, and then lit up by gunfire. Character model animations were bad, too. Everyone
felt stiff. Mouth animations often didn’t line up to the dialogue. Characters
in Mankind Divided felt like puppets.
They came across mostly like real
human beings, but were off just enough that it broke my immersion. For a game
that came out 5 years after its predecessor, Mankind Divided felt shockingly rushed. These issues didn’t ruin my
experience, but they need to be addressed should another Deus Ex from Eidos Montreal be released.
 |
Character animations in scenes like this are bad. The real Illuminati conspiracy
is that the whole world is filled with awkward marionette people. |
So did Deus Ex: Mankind Divided live up to Human Revolution’s legacy? Yes and no.
While gameplay was a substantial step forward for the franchise, narrative and
performance problems held Mankind Divided
back from greatness. Deus Ex: Mankind
Divided is more than worth your time if you’re a fan of the franchise or
action stealth games, but it isn’t a game I would recommend without
reservations. I’m happy to have played,
though. There’s nothing quite like being part man, part machine, and 100% badass
super spy. Jensen didn’t choose this, but I sure did.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
3/5
