
Like XCOM 2, characters are prone to spouting ellipsis and the number of over-the-top Russian accents are bound to wear thin. That’s ultimately for the best too as the writing does veer into tropesville on more than a few occasions. Lucky then that the game looks so beautiful!
#Deus ex mankind divided gameplay software#
Not being able to disable software logos on start-up is an unforgivable oversight for a game with such a bloated graphics menu. The Task Force 29 HQ bustles with hive-like activity and Adam Jensen is a bit more lively in conversation when he wants to be, though he’s still very much a Robocop sort of lead the kind of guy you just want to see kick ass rather than argue the toss. The art style might look a tad plainer when compared to Human Revolution’s gaudy orange sheen, but Prague is a more pragmatically realised environment than Detroit ever was and the sheer amount of hi-res clutter that goes with that approach is likewise very impressive, even down to the individually modelled magazines on book shelves and the pencilled-in schedules inside communal washrooms.Ĭharacter models benefit from smoother animation and the more peppy facial expressions help the narrative maintain its heft in the early going. It’s easy to get lost in this sprawling metropolis, though you probably won’t mind too much if only because you’ll get more time to appreciate the gorgeous in-game graphics and 3D modelling. Eidos Montreal have put considerable effort into their world building and throughout Prague where most of the game’s events take place, you’ll discover many interactive areas that feel alive with possibility. In gameplay terms, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is a wonderful distillation of all the things that made its prequels so great. If however, you’re more concerned with sneaking about, hacking computer terminals, and using explosive harpoons to pin mobsters to walls, then you’re going to have a much better time of things. To make a long story short, if you go into this game looking for an insightful comment about the topic of prejudice then you’re going to be massively disappointed. Adam might occasionally get a smacked bum for using the train designated for “naturals”, but on the whole Mankind Divided doesn’t let its commentary compromise its enjoyment factor.Įidos uses these sensitive themes more as verisimilitude to enhance the believability of their dystopia without enforcing a political agenda or otherwise holding up the player from clotheslining another gangbanger in a nearby alleyway. I once teased a police drone into killing an entire squad of hostile enemies who wouldn’t fight back against it.Īs Interpol agent Adam Jensen, players have special clearance to go about unmolested and from a video game perspective this does make perfect sense. But too often does it risk turning all the prejudice and hatred into background noise stuff that doesn’t really affect the player in their privileged position. We view the world of Deus Ex through the empowered lens of a cyborg killing machine and that’s necessary if we’re to believe that one man really can ravage an entire enemy base with uppercuts or covertly steal all the beers out of the police precinct’s fridge. The emerging threat that certain augmented individuals pose is meant to add spice to the faux debate, but since we control an augmented protagonist who can do pretty much anything he wants, the impact of those themes gets defused pretty quickly. And the hard truth is that for every actual scene of persecution that Mankind Divided depicts, none of it ever really conveys a meaningful message beyond the basic sentiment of prejudice is bad. The writers’ use of a provocative term like “apartheid” is emblematic of the distance between this sequel and its forbears and is just one of the controversial ingredients that has made this game so divisive. These are the broad strokes of Human Revolution up close and personal with Adam Jensen’s world now entering an era of – in Eidos’ own words – “ mechanical apartheid“ a new age where augmented individuals are feared and bullied by the “natural” people and their Illuminati puppet masters. Now it’s a complex yarn of arms dealers, international terrorism, and the subjugation of minority groups. And that’s not to say that this newest entry subtitled Mankind Divided comes up short with its provoking science fiction, only that its more gritty realism has attracted criticism over the past year.ĭeus Ex is no longer a complex yarn of grey aliens, super computers, and classic conspiracy stories. It seems that the further the Deus Ex franchise gets from its cyberpunk-themed roots, the more controversial its reception inevitably becomes.
