THE SHORT VERSION
Much like my assessment of Lian Hearn's recent work, there are times when my critical and subjective opinions clash. On the one hand, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is a solid, visually luscious and intricately-detailed action-RPG that nonetheless could've done with a slightly meatier runtime and some more engagement in the main story arc.
On the other, though, it's a beautiful cyberpunk game that puts me back in the stylish trenchcoat of one of my favourite video game protagonists ever. There are call backs to the previous game, call forwards to the future ones, and all of it wrapped within the same immersive, Blade Runner-esque experience that made Deus Ex: Human Revolution such a joy to play.
So take this review for whatever it's worth. I am a sucker for Deus Ex and the cyberpunk genre, and was thus able to overlook a few of Mankind Divided's deficiencies (minor though they ultimately are). As a game critic, I thought it was an excellent addition to an already sterling year in gaming. As a fan of Deus Ex and cyberpunk, it's quickly become one of my new favourites.
STORY
With Sarif Industries having collapsed after the Panchaea Incident, Adam Jensen’s taken up work with the Interpol-led Task Force 29, operating out of Prague. TF29’s job is to hunt augmented terrorists who are threatening an already unstable planet; Adam’s specifically tasked to track down the perpetrator of a train station bombing which kills dozens and shakes the Czech Republic to its core. With a volatile atmosphere of distrust surrounding Augs and a controversial anti-augmentation Act poised to pass into law, Adam seeks to bring down the bombers, clear the name of a pro-augmentation group, and perhaps even further unravel the plans of a clandestine group of powerful world figures who will stop at nothing to burn everything to the ground.Sounds pretty good, right? I should write marketing blurbs or something.
While Mankind Divided’s politicised story definitely isn’t as provocative or controversial as the backlash the “Mechanical Apartheid” and “Aug Lives Matter” marketing material invited, it’s also not as drenched in thoughtful socio-political subtext as it thinks it is. It’s not a bad thing that the game prioritises the main character’s journey rather than an innate desire to be socially topical at the expense of the narrative’s focus, but I was led to believe there’d be a much stronger emphasis on the thematic throughline than we were given; maybe that’s just the academic in me. Though there are plenty of post-9/11 allusions throughout, such as the continuous and ominous mentions of “Panchaea” or “the Incident”, as well as the hardline xenophobia exhibited towards many innocent Augs who are blamed for the crimes of their “people”, the story prefers to stick with Adam and leave all the rest of it as subtextual set dressing. The best science fiction – and cyberpunk in particular – really says something about the issues it glimpses through the fictional lens, so it was disappointing that Mankind Divideddidn’t take the opportunity to really get down and dirty with its subtext.
Despite the above, the story’s still incredibly immersive. Adam’s one of the most well-drawn video game protagonists – literally and metaphorically – of the recent age, and it’s still fascinating to experience the near-future world of augmentations through his sunglass-implanted eyes. His story’s compelling, surrounded by a supporting cast of new and interesting secondary characters (most are pretty well-rounded, though I do miss the likes of Human Revolution’s Pritchard and Faridah). The city of Prague’s also a dense narrative hub rich with sidequests, background character interactions, interactive documents and readable newspapers, all of which help illustrate the finer details of Mankind Divided’s world. Like I said above, I’m an absolute sucker for well-rendered cyberpunk environments, and the game’s immersion factor – derived from its meticulously-constructed and lived-in locales – was so potent that it caused me to overlook some of the minor flaws in setting and story. The ending also emphasises that your in-game choices have power and consequence, which I especially appreciated after the last game’s agency-removing, choose-your-own-ending machine.Of course, having engrossing plot only matters if you’ve got a set of solid game mechanics to get through it…
GAMEPLAY
…which, yes, you definitely do.
The game also brings back the neat option of undertaking a Pacifist run with no enemy casualties, helped by the near-absence of the boss battles that plagued Human Revolution. Though ultimately it can be accomplished – I managed to snag a Pacifist PSN trophy on my first playthrough – there are occasional issues where non-lethal takedowns inexplicably kill the victim, necessitating the reload of an earlier save. Granted, getting knocked on the noggin by a fist with the power of an ocean liner piston can’t really be anything other than an invitation for a lethal cerebral haemorrhage, but the game could be a bit fairer with whether or not it decides that happens.
There are also a New Game Plus feature and a difficulty setting memetically titled ‘I Never Asked For This’, which gives you one life for the entire game and deletes your save game if you die, no matter how far through the story you are. I foresee many controllers being snapped in frustration here, but on the other hand it’s always nice to cater to the Dark Souls-style crowd with a mode like this.
VISUALS
The five years between games has clearly allowed Eidos Montreal to refine Deus Ex’s graphical qualities, particular in terms of the people you’re shooting at. Character movements are no longer the rubber-jointed scarecrow enactments they were before, instead moving with a more realistic gait and collapsing in a way that doesn’t make them resemble Homer Simpson lying in an inflatable pool.
More important than that, the game’s environments are simply gorgeous. As I said above, Prague feels like a lived-in, intricately-detailed city, thanks in no small part to the level of visual fidelity on display. There are a number of suburbs and shops that can be freely explored and each feel like their own places, rather than cookie-cutter rooms sprinkled throughout the hub. Levels outside Prague are also well-constructed, with particular note given to the Aug ghetto Golem City; it resembles what the cities in Blade Runner might look like after a natural disaster.
SOUND AND MUSIC
Three cheers for the musical tag team of Michael McCann and Sascha Dikiciyan, who absolutely kill it on the score here. McCann’s Human Revolutionsoundtrack was easily my favourite game score in years, and his welcome return here brings back a Vangelis-inspired flavour to the soundscape. Other sound effects are uniformly great, with the layered ambience of industrial sounds, vehicles, footsteps and weather effects contributing to the game’s lived-in feel.
But overall, the sound of Mankind Divided just enhances an already engrossing immersion factor. Put on some noise-cancelling headphones for this one, and stroll around near-future Prague for a bit in order to really get the full aural effect.
WRAPPING UP
As I said at the start, it’s difficult for me to be objective about a game which ticks all my boxes like this. Not to say it’s perfect, but my critical opinion does come coloured with the fact that I’m an easy target for cyberpunk.
But even so, I’d argue Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is still one of the best games of 2016, whether you’re a fan of the genre or not. It’s technically solid, narratively engrossing even when it’s not entirely gripping, visually spectacular and aurally immersive. My quibbles are only chips in the surface surrounding an extremely solid core experience, one which was so excellent that I started a new game immediately after finishing the main plot. Definitely worth checking out.
- Chris
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Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is available now for PS4, Xbox One and PC.
Review copy kindly supplied to Geek of Oz by Square Enix.