Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Review

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is futuristic science fiction, but the message it delivers stems from today’s societal problems. Police shoot unarmed innocents, extremist groups unleash acts of terror, and communities are torn apart by segregation. The story explores these issues thoroughly and makes a clear statement about the threat posed by totalitarianism, but the delivery is often heavy-handed and overstated. In establishing its vision of an oppressed world, the player is treated like a hard drive for extensive downloads of backstory and lore – so much so that I had to make notes just to keep track of all of the shadow organizations, acronyms, and shady government officials. The game made me think about my world, which is clearly the intent, but I never felt a strong connection to the game or the role protagonist Adam Jensen plays within it. Eidos Montreal attempts to disguise hot-button issues as speculative fiction, but sacrifices an interesting story to hammer home its messaging. 

Even Jensen is off his game, often appearing so gloomy and one-note in tone that he makes RoboCop seem like the life of the party. When we first meet Jensen, he’s on assignment in Dubai, tracking an arms dealer through an unfinished highrise hotel. This mission displays the promise of Deus Ex’s gameplay, deftly mixing stealth with hacking and the occasional exchange of gunfire. This mission is paced nicely and delivers true excitement, culminating in the surprise assault by a new terrorist cell, each of its soldiers adorned in stylish gold masks and augmented enhancements. Player choice (which is woven into the entire narrative arc with plenty of difficult “no-win” moments) comes into play here, as does a timed event that applies unexpected pressure to the gameplay, making me switch from stealth to run-and-gun to reach my objective in time. It’s a hell of an introductory sequence, but the game never finds that pulse again, and instead becomes formulaic.

Once the action starts in earnest, the missions are surprisingly dull, mostly having the player navigate a sea of enemies to track down people to communicate with or an object of desire. I know this may sound like Deus Ex at its core, but my back was hardly ever against a wall, and I wasn’t compelled to search high and low for a more efficient path through these hostile grounds. I rarely ran into a need to switch play styles (as I did in Deus Ex: Human Revolution, the precursor game), as most zones are only lightly peppered with guards or threats. The game allows you to settle into a nice groove, which is great to an extent, but it doesn't deliver much intensity (even on the higher difficulty levels).

Moving like a ghost through environments is surprisingly easy. I ran into a few moments where I was feverishly trying to hack a door before a guard turned around to spot me, but I mostly just read soldier patrol patterns to dart between objects and reach my objective. The only two missions that were truly challenging are a bank robbery and an extravagant gala. The bank is a beauty of level design, offering plenty of ways to approach the objective. The gala has a different twist on how guards must be handled, and it requires significant thought as to how you can do it quietly. The rest of the missions bled together, and even the introduction of more mobile enemies and defenses didn’t pose give the game the kick it needed. City navigation becomes troublesome in the later stages of the game, but I found I could just sprint down the middle of a street to my destination. Jensen would take a few bullets in the process, but his regenerating health made it a risk-free affair.

Outside of the critical-path missions, the world opens up and allows players to sink their teeth into what Deus Ex is known for: player freedom. None of the hub worlds are huge, but they are all truly open, with numerous side missions to tackle and secrets hidden well off of the beaten path. The world itself is beautifully realized, visually giving us a look at the different wealth classes, and the impact government has had on their states of living. Just walking the streets can be an intense experience, given how heavily policed some areas are.

I made an effort to connect to this world and tried to get into its extensive amounts of lore, but just couldn’t muster much excitement for it. The narrative is often a slog (though it can be interesting and heady at times), and it devotes too much time to world-building and setup. As much as the game tries to highlight different walks of life, all of the characters, even Jensen, end up looking like faceless beings used to dump lore onto the player. I like seeing games tackle difficult subject matter, but that message, while occasionally coming through loud and clear, is ultimately lost in this dull and slow-moving story. It starts off with a bang, but quickly becomes a muddled mess of politics and techno-babble.

http://www.gameinformer.com/games/deus_ex_mankind_divided/b/xboxone/archive/2016/08/19/a-big-heart-with-a-mechanical-soul.aspx