Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Review - A game that rewards exploration

Videep Vijay Kumar • August 26, 2016, 16:51:11 IST

Like a sandwich, the best part about Deus Ex: Mankind Divided lies in the middle, wedged between the poor pacing of its prologue and an abrupt finale.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Review - A game that rewards exploration

Like a sandwich, the best part about Deus Ex: Mankind Divided lies in the middle. Wedged between the poor pacing of its prologue and an abrupt finale, the direct sequel to 2011’s Deus Ex: Human Revolution shines only when you’ve given it enough time at the outset, and explore the intricacies of its systems halfway through the game.

It’s when you explore the occasionally underwhelming world of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided that you realise that there’s more to this book than its cover. Like its predecessor, there is a hub world, and this time it’s the city of Prague in a future where augmented humans or “Augs” are being discriminated against.

Their segregation from the rest of society is a result of violent Aug elements, who have seemingly lost control of their humanity, performing acts of terrorism. Playing once again as Adam Jensen, you get to experience this first hand in Prague, uncovering the truth behind these mindless acts of violence. But, as with any Deus Ex game, there’s always something happening behind the scenes. Expect to encounter familiar allies, some new ones, as well as enemies from Jensen’s past.

The Deus Ex series has always done conspiracies pretty well, and Mankind Divided is no different. There are some familiar musings from games of old, but its world has indeed changed after the events of Human Revolution. Choosing Prague as the game’s hub world was a good move, and its various locations really feel lived-in, while the atmosphere fits the theme of the game as well.

What’s particularly impressive about Mankind Divided isn’t the scale or scope of the game’s environments, which still break suspension of disbelief with its static vehicles and almost claustrophobic representation of a big city (as with Detroit in Human Revolution). Instead, it is the seamless transition between locations (there are literally no loading times), and the sheer volume of content that can be experienced with nothing more than casual exploration.

As Jensen sets out on his adventure, which takes him from the rooftops of a skyscraper in Dubai to shady, self-proclaimed augmentation specialists in the slums of Prague, he’s going to have his fair share of distractions. I found myself ignoring the main quest completely, choosing instead to partake in Mankind Divided’s various, supremely fleshed out side missions. Not only are most of them multi-part in nature, there are side missions within side missions.

You’re likely to put more of your arsenal and augments to use tackling the various challenges thrown at you by a glorified fetch quest in Mankind Divided than while laboring through its conspiracy-laden plot. The self-contained storylines of each of the game’s side missions are well scripted (sometimes better written than the main plot), and as always, reading other people’s emails and rummaging through their safes can be as rewarding an experience as anything.

Hacking stuff is an integral part of a Deus Ex game, and you’ll be happy to hear that it’s back and is as good as it’s ever been. The tension of being discovered, the anxiety of managing your programs stored on futuristic floppy disks and planning your route to the final node can be almost as nerve-wracking as being caught with an un-holstered battle rifle in the town square.

While the system has been fundamentally revamped — you’ll seldom fail hacks due to input error now, thanks to all controls being mapped to various keys on your keyboard/gamepad. The addition of a new augment that allows remote hacking is pretty neat, allowing for distractions to be created by turning a TV off, or creating alternate paths to your objectives by opening doors, for instance.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided provides for multiple styles of play and multiple paths to an objective. Going in guns blazing is definitely an option as well — put enough Praxis upgrade points into combat abilities and you’ll be mowing down enemies with your trusty machine pistol.

The cover and shooting systems work much better this time around, allowing for rapid repositioning to gain an advantage (unlike the camp-until-everyone’s-dead gameplay of Human Revolution). Non-lethal weapons such as the tranquilizer and stun guns benefit from the updated shooting mechanics as well. Takedowns still result in a short cutscene playing out for some reason, however, and this takes away from the immersion at times.

There’s something off about the game’s audio. Aside from the lip-sync (which can be completely off at times), it just feels like voice were left very low on the mix, and the transitions between pre-rendered cutscenes and in-engine gameplay after adjusting levels causes an even greater consistency issue. And for whatever reason, the subtitles are walls of text; entire paragraphs instead of lines.

Graphics can feel inconsistent as well. While the environments, lighting and sheer number of interactive elements on screen add tremendously to the atmosphere, the character models, animation and interactions look underwhelming. Even Adam Jensen and other main characters move and emote awkwardly and this can really be immersion-breaking.

Despite this, the PC version is capable of looking great, but enabling some of the graphics options can prove to be taxing on your hardware. The PS4 version of the game actually looks and performs pretty well, running at a native 1080p/30fps while looking as nearly as good as the PC version on its “high” preset.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is worth your time, but only if you’re willing to dig deep into its underbelly. Take the “off the beaten path” approach, and you’ll have more than a few stories to share with your friends. There’s enough reason to revisit Mankind Divided as well — after beating the game, tackle situations with new toys and augments, and tie up all the loose ends which needed tying up.

Much has been made about the game’s micro-transactions, which let you buy consumables, upgrade points and fake money for real money (go figure). Do yourself a favour and ignore it, as I’m sure you will.

The game is available for PC on Steam (Rs.999), PlayStation 4 (Rs.3,999) and Xbox One (Rs.3,990).