Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (PC) Review

Even id Software's legendary Doom, the franchise that was always at the forefront of the graphic engine arena, didn't offer a true next-gen title with its, otherwise, fantastic reboot. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, on the other hand, did so. Eidos Montreal can simply take pride at this stunning piece of art, which is, without any exaggeration, one of the prettiest games of 2016.

The extremely detailed environments, the high-quality lighting effects, the awesome architecture and varied clothing designs that remain faithful to the style that the previous Deus Ex gave birth to, and, finally, Adam Jensen; a protagonist so finely-crafted, that his nose looks as if it needed more time to 3D-sculpt than his badass, custom coat. Everything. Looks. Great. Many moaned about the "sirious problemz adn bud aptimization," but those should really reconsider playing a Quadruple-A title at an Intel i2 Potato Version.

Yes, even after the first major patch, there are still some problems lying around (as with every new video game of this size and scope), but, generally, this is a product of very high quality. The second part that received major criticism was the existence of micro-transactions, something that, while questionable as a business tactic, is, once again, not a flaw. Firstly, these are basically paid cheats. Secondly, one can finish the story mode without ever needing them, and finally, and most importantly, because these never feel forced.

Will the world where everything takes place immerse gamers as it used to, though? Well, before delving deeper into that, here's the main deal: the android protagonist previously discovered of the invisible, plus, invincible, organisation that was behind the "Aug Incident;" the devastating event that drove millions of mechanically augmented people to madness, forcing them to do all kinds of violent acts, which resulted into an immense hatred towards themselves after the dust settled in. His mission? Find them and stop them.

Promising as this may seem, it soon becomes pretty clear that this can't hold a candle to its predecessor. For starters, the - thematically - less dystopian Detroit of Human Revolution, looks and feels far grimmer than the post-apocalyptic Prague of Mankind Divided. "Augs" get abused on the streets by the police, many are held in a gargantuan and depressing ghetto, and "normal" humans are either afraid or prejudiced against them, but this never manages to make a connection with the player, mainly because Adam Jensen, although an Aug himself, will not really feel threatened by all this. Oh, and as for the elusive elite… disappointing at best.

Additionally, everything is handled very superficially. Augs are the oppressed ones, the rest are afraid, the 1% is taking advantage of this division behind the scenes, and that's all. In contrast, things weren't as clear in Human Revolution, since it made people question things a lot, and never really offered a clear-as-day "correct" answer. Is augmentation morally ok? If it is, should it be controlled? Are Augs freaks, or should everyone become one? Is there room for the poor in a world where the rich, powerful, and/or lawless could easily upgrade their bodies? Who can you trust and why? And so on, and so forth…

Additionally, besides the many forgettable, and one-dimensional characters, which are impossible to like, hate, or sympathise with, Adam also feels a little too bland. What's that? He was bland before? Well, he started as one, but it was soon made clear that there was more underneath his generic tough-guy persona. Now, he is just a super-cool action hero, with just a little more depth than the rest of most NPCs. Even conversations have suffered a hit in quality. They still offer multiple ways to respond, all of which can alter what will happen afterwards, but the writing feels subpar.

The story mode has a disappointingly short length (20-25 hours to do almost everything), and it also suffers from unbalanced pacing. Prague, the main hub-level, offers multiple areas to explore (although many are simply "empty"), as well as a couple of side-quests. The next level, however, is basically a simple main mission, which can be completed in a couple of ways, but pales in comparison to the complex Hengsha of Human Revolution. As for the last two/three sections of the game, they will come to an end in an even shorter amount of time.

Another thing that made the previous title extremely enjoyable was its system of choice-and-consequence, where one would always have to choose which of the many morally grey crossroads to follow. Does the same happen here too? Not really, with the best example being side-quests, since most are usually nothing more than glorified fetch-quests instead of missions were each wrong step can lead to more or less suffering. In other words, these secondary quests aren't as engrossing as they used to be.

Thankfully, things look far better on the gameplay end. Although the enemy AI has seen better days, the gunplay is great, and while stealth surely needs some tweaking (especially cover mechanics), this is generally an improvement over the last game. Of course, the real fun lies in the multiple ways that one can approach a problem: diplomat, silent assassin, hacker… John Rambo? Anything is possible. Furthermore, Adam has some new fancy augmentations at his disposal, which require disabling others in order to be activated, forcing thinking about what to turn on and off.

Sadly, the level design repeats the same mistakes of Human Revolution, and even takes a step back while at it. Having a conveniently-placed vent in every freaking guard post, or a computer with a low-security PC that stores passwords near every single door, removes the fun of exploration, and destroys the "challenge" by simply offering all possible pathways on a silver place. This is one of the main reasons why the original Deus Ex still remains the best of the bunch, and Eidos Montreal has yet to figure it out.

Now, at the end of this highly negative review, something needs to made perfectly clear: Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is not terrible, bad, or mediocre. It's sometimes good, other times very good, and, a little bit now and then, great! So, why the harsh criticism? Well, take a look at Breach; the secondary, addictive speedrun/challenge mode, where one can do lots of sneaking, hacking, and shooting in an infiltrated VR environment. It's great and all… but it lacks the immersion, the depth, the atmosphere, the big questions and ideas - and that's the problem here. Deus Ex was never really meant to be just "a good game."