Review — Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

We sit down and review Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. The franchise has had time to be “augmented” since the last addition. Here’s our review of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

It’s been five years since the last title came out and now we get to continue the whole story in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. Of course it’s not completely the same old story or Adam we’ve seen before or there would be no reason for us to pick up Eidos-Montreal‘s new title and Square Enix would be out a whole lot of money; so there is a lot to look at and enjoy. Thankfully, we had a chance to give Deus Ex: Mankind Divided a solid play and now we are here to give you our thoughts on it all. Here’s our review of the next big addition to the franchise.

Story

Two years after the events of Human Revolution we are back in our favorite augmented super-agent who is still prowling the streets to make sure they are safe. Sadly though, due to all of the other augmented humans losing their shit a few years back and murdering a whole lot of non-augmented humans there are some tensions. A lot of tension. So many to the point there are some terrorist plots to try and “fix” it all and Adam is right in the middle of it all again. Can he do it or will he fail?

Hated

For a five year wait you would think that Eidos-Montreal would be able to pack a lot into this version of Deus Ex. Like a lot more. Sadly, that is not the case here in Mankind Divided as even with all of the side missions and dialog the core gameplay was extremely short. It even left off in a place where it made no logical point to leave us all hanging. It was so abrupt and it felt like there should have been more happening than just credit rolling. It almost felt like they thought this too as there was a credit scene to build on the story we just played.

Back when the franchise was revamped with Human Revolution we had a plethora of boss fights mixed into it all. Here in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, SPOILER ALERT, we only get one. One and it is the final fight of the game. Not only that but it can all be handled by pressing a single button if you played the game like you were supposed to. Extremely anti-climatic and a huge let down. I almost wanted to go the lethal and non-stealth path to actually have some kind of fight at the end but it almost felt like it was not worth it. Especially when you can foresee it all coming well before it does.

The last big gripe I have here for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided would have to be the new augmentations and all of their uses. Most of which make some of the older ones unneeded. Not only that but there is a way to nerf these new augmentations to make sure you don’t have access to them all during the game. But even that gets thrown out by a simple side mission that has you talk to a guy and nothing more and then you can run all of the ones you have Praxis Pack for. This can make Adam way too overpowered in my book way too early on and removing much of the challenge to the game. So odd that this would be an option when there was a game mechanic added in to make sure it never happened. Why?

Loved

Just like before, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided gives us a whole lot of options to go about ever missions and challenge. Even more that we have seen in the past and this is a great thing as it allows us to play just as we want and not in a forced manner that we have become accustomed to with other video games out there. Including a new ability to talk your way through issues and not have to sneak or knock people out. This even gets its own little mini-game added in to make things not an easy walk-through once fully upgraded. It’s a great “augmentation” to the core of the franchise and hope to see more of it later.

I know one of the other big things that people have griped on for this Deus Ex would be the political nature of the game’s story. It really is a look at how racism still exists and plays out even if it isn’t based on the color of skin or where someone is from. I see it as a great way to shine the light on certain things that are still going on in the real world and had a blast playing on through and finding the parallels for myself. Some are very broad and club you in the face but then you have others and conspiracies that can be spotted in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and that made it all much more enjoyable for me.

Last up here is the new Breach Mode added in here for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. I would have loved to see it play out a bit more in the core game as it only happens once in the core story but thankfully there is a whole multiplayer mode outside of that which gives us a lot more of these “missions” and fun. They are only little “VR” type missions that have us go through simulated worlds looking for data and taking down AI but I found myself wanting to keep playing these instead of going through the whole story for a second or third time. Such a fun add-on and I want more than just the few stories we get with it. Hopefully in future updates.

Overview

Plain and simpleDeus Ex: Mankind Divided is a short title when it comes to the core story and missions. There are a good number of side missions and extras in the core game but they really don’t add on a lot to the time. Where Mankind Divided does add in a lot does come to the replay value of the game as there are some branches as with all of the titles in the franchise. Mix in the Breach mode and it has even more. Just don’t look for a lot along the lines of bosses and story but it is worth the time and it leads them to keep the franchise going even further. Hopefully with more story and core gameplay.

I give Deus Ex: Mankind Divided 28 Augmentations on the Augmentation scale.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided was developed by Eidos-Montreal and published by Square Enix for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC on August 23^rd, 2016. A digital PS4 copy of the game was provided by the publisher for reviewing purposes.