That is a lot like what it is like to play Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. Perhaps comparing playing Mankind Divided to finding true love gives my opinion away right out of the gate, but it is a valid comparison to make. I wasn't particularly psyched for Mankind Divided at first. I enjoyed Human Revolution, but I do often use it as an example of how not to do stealth. Then the trailers for Mankind Divided came out and my impression was that it was going to be more of the same. However, despite my hesitations, I knew I was going to need to play it in the interest of being as thorough this year as I possibly could. So, I got started playing it and found that the first mission took place in an under-construction hotel in Dubai. Needless to say, hopes were not high at that point. Human Revolution had this fascination for construction areas as well as ugly industrial areas, so nearly every mission took place in one. But I kept playing and I realized that it was actually a respectable stealth game that improved on Human Revolution's basic formula. Then, approximately an hour into the affair, I realized that I was loving it.
Readers, I'm serious, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is just that good. It is exactly the kind of game that a sequel ought to be as it improves on nearly every aspect of Human Revolution. As an aspiring critic, I would much rather slather a great game with praise than crucify an awful game with criticism. So it is my pleasure to tell you all the reasons why you should spend your hard-earned money on Deus Ex: Mankind Divided."
These were the words that I wrote to open up this review weeks ago. I, like just about every reviewer who reviewed this game, was enthralled with it. Then, it came to my attention that Square Enix had forced in microtransactions and purposefully hidden them from early reviewers in order to prevent word from getting out. Once word did eventually get out (because business executives who run big game companies are some of the dumbest people on the planet and can't seem to get it through their thick skulls that you will be found out in this industry), many critics that I respect greatly started punishing the game. They started scoring it at low scores and exempting it from GOTY status because of Square Enix's (not the actual developers, Eidos Montreal) scummy business practices. Here is the thing: when it comes to my criticism, despite being perhaps the most subjective critic to formally put out content, I tend to take a pretty Objectivist view. I judge games based entirely on things that make games good: gameplay, story, character development, graphics, framerate, bug-checking, etc. The message of the game, what kinds of things the game promotes, the practices involved in making the game, none of these things matter even a lick to me from a critical standpoint. The exception to this rule would be if one of these aspects actively took away from the game experience. For example, let us look at my review of No Man's Sky. I took points off for Hello Games' extreme misrepresentation because what we got was a game that did not function in any way resembling what had been advertised. On the other hand, I didn't take points off from Bioshock Infinite on account of its misrepresentation because what was advertised and what we got were similar in functionality and overall mechanics. Heaven knows I hated Infinite, but the misrepresentation surrounding it didn't take away from the experience we got.
All of this is to say that I can't find it in my heart to punish Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and Eidos Montreal for the sins of Square Enix or exempt Mankind Divided from GOTY status. Why? Because I legitimately loved this game. It does so much right, and I feel that I have to score it as such. On the other hand, however, I can't find it in my heart to let Square Enix off the hook for their crimes. As we speak (you know what I mean), I am creating a new honorable mention award for the end of the year lists: the EA award for Scummiest Company, and you can bet that Square Enix is at the top of the list for this award. It may also turn out that Mankind Divided is tied with another game for the honor of being Game of the Year, and if it comes to that, I will give the award to whatever it is tied with. But the fact of the matter is that I never even noticed microtransactions in my play through. They do not rear their head in the game at all unless you go looking for them. It is true that you can pay ten dollars and get a bunch of praxis kits (for one use each only, because scummy business practices), but the game is perfectly balanced without them...and I ought to know, I beat this game on permadeath difficulty. If we don't single out Square Enix as the scum they are, though, we can expect to see progressively more and more encroaching microtransactions, so take every chance you can to never let Square live it down.
So, that is my note on the microtransation malarkey. Do with it what you will. If you will not touch this game because of it, it is certainly your right, and you would be well justified to do so. People need to let Square Enix know that we won't stand for this, and I prefer my method to be praising the game and singling out Square Enix as the scummiest company of the year.
Just as a warning before we begin, there won't be spoilers for Mankind Divided, but there will be spoilers for Human Revolution. So, if you haven't played Deus Ex: Human Revolution and don't want the plot spoiled, don't read any further.
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In Mankind Divided, you once again play as Adam Jensen, an augmented man whose body inexplicably accepts his augments as natural (whereas other augmented individuals need to take a medicine to prevent their bodies from rejecting their augmentations). Adam now works for Interpol instead of Sariff Industries, and after a mission in Dubai goes wrong, Adam and the rest of his Interpol unit head to Prague to investigate rumors of an augmented terrorist group.
From here, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided takes us on an intriguing journey in which every allegiance we have is questioned. That sounds like a box blurb, but it is true. Really, the word that best sums up the appeal of Mankind Divided's story is "intrigue." Whether or not you will enjoy the story depends entirely on whether or not you need to have a clear overarching goal. If you cannot enjoy a game without one overall goal that your smaller goals work towards, there is nothing wrong with that. I tend to go back and forth on that one myself. However, if it is a set in stone preference for you, then Mankind Divided may not be for you.
Whereas Human Revolution had the ultimate goal of figuring out who was responsible for the attack on Sariff Industries, you already pretty much know what is behind the game's first major event from the get-go in Mankind Divided, so the strength of the story rests in its moment-to-moment events (a-la Inside, if you will). Another thing to note about the story is that it is relatively short. I did every side quest I came across, and I imagine that without side quests the main story would be perhaps half the length of Human Revolution. Now, that is obviously an exaggeration, but the fact remains that the story in Mankind Divided is relatively short. However, I must admit to disagreeing with many critics when they say that the game ends out of nowhere. I honestly have no clue what they are talking about. Now, they are correct when they say the ending is disappointing (because boy is it, and we'll talk about that more later), but the final level definitely felt like a final level to me. Maybe if I had played the original I might be accustomed to a Deus Ex game ending after a certain amount of time. As it stands though, in my opinion, the ending is lame but it comes when it feels like it ought to.
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Another choice problem that Mankind Divided fixes is something that never felt like a problem until now. In Human Revolution, choices came up at fairly predictable points. You would help someone deal with the disastrous results of a bad thing they did, then they would say something like, "you aren't going to tell the boss are you?" Nearly every decision you made in Human Revolution felt like this, but like I said, I never really viewed that as a problem until playing Mankind Divided. The thing about the very few choices you make in Mankind Divided is that they always come up when you least expect them. I found myself on my way to an incredibly important objective when I suddenly received a call from another character stating that something equally important was going down right at that moment and that I needed to get over there. The game then told me that I needed to pick which objective I completed. Regardless of which option I chose, there would be severe consequences. Maybe you won't have as much trouble choosing as I did, but literally every choice I had to make in this game pained me.
Where Mankind Divided's choices falters, however, is in making them matter in the end. Having now played through the game twice and having chosen every option, I can say that the choices they offer don't really make a difference. One choice can possibly save a character later on, but that is literally it in terms of choice impact. Let me give you an example of a side quest choice, so as not to spoil any main quest ones. There is a side mission early on where a friend of yours reveals that they are in deep with the Dvali crime family. The Dvali are withholding a vital item from this friend, and you are sent to their casino to try and get it. When you enter, you are confronted by one of the heads of the family (a truly fantastic character, I might add). He talks about respect between men and loyalty and the like, and you can end up succeeding in getting your friend's item by promising a favor at a later date. Later on, during a mission to a different area, you get a call from this crime head. He tells you to kill a certain NPC in this area in order to fulfill your end of the bargain. I was doing a pacifist run, so I didn't hold up my end. If you take that route, when you get back to Prague, you get another call from the crime head telling you that you will learn very soon what it means to be his enemy...and then you never do. That is really a great metaphor for the choices in this game: They do a fantastic job of making you feel something in the moment, but they never pay off.
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Where this game is weaker than Human Revolution, however, is in its voice acting. The voice acting for all named characters is fantastic, but the voice acting for people you happen to pass is quite mixed. In Human Revolution, even the voice acting of pedestrians was good, but it seems they weren't quite able to replicate that this time around. I won't be taking off for that, given how all the important characters are well-performed, but it was something that I noticed.
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Another aspect of the map that works in the game's favor is the sheer amount of hidden story that can be found. They don't usually have any meaning in terms of the larger plot, but there is an enthralling amount of insight into the lives of average citizens to be found. Through hacking and careful exploration, you can come across side quests, undercover drug rings, lamentations of secretly augmented people, etc. I was almost always motivated to explore the map to learn more about the unsung characters of this story. More often than not, I would read somebody's emails and later on happen to stumble into the apartment of the person they were emailing and get some more insight into the situation. It is a truly effective way of rewarding you for going off the beaten path and taking time to explore every nook and cranny of the world Eidos Montreal created. My one complaint is that Adam doesn't seem to remember anything he finds while he is exploring, and it kind of breaks immersion. I'll give you a few examples: There came a point in the main plot where a new character showed up and Adam called the director of his task force to tell him to do some research into this new character because he "had a feeling." Lo and behold, as this mission continued, I hacked into a computer and found several emails from this new character detailing something that could be interpreted as terrorism. Then, at the mission end, Adam was talking to the director, and he said once again that he just "had a feeling," despite the fact that I had him looking at pretty compelling evidence earlier. Then there was a side quest involving a murder and...well...I was looking through police files and happened upon a piece of evidence that I could conceivably link to a character whose apartment I'd broken into much, much earlier in the game. However, Adam didn't remember seeing this connection, and I had solved the case hours before the side quest would eventually be wrapped up (some side quests stop and restart after given amounts of time. It makes sense, trust me). I suppose it's my own fault for breaking and entering, but there should really be some kind of way to take your organic discoveries into account. I mean, just imagine it: You put the pieces of a murder case together because you happened to break into a certain apartment beforehand, and as a result you apprehend the murderer before they claim another victim. Maybe doing this is the only way to save a certain character! Maybe there could be some degree of controversy surrounding the fact that you solved the case through breaking and entering, so the next branches of the quest would have to do with a time crunch to find evidence cleanly before the murderer is released on account of your methods not being legal. Now that would be fantastic. That would be a way to really reward exploration. As it stands though, this is not what we got, and the bits of story and character development we get through exploration are fantastic. I just wish that these things would play into the story when warranted.
Before I continue, I'd like to address the fact that the entire review up until this point has been "this aspect of Mankind Divided is smaller than it was in previous games, but that is ok." Opinions are going to be...divided...on this, I'm sure. Here is the thing, though: I said in my No Man's Sky review that functionality downgrades are never acceptable, but I don't really view reducing size as a functionality downgrade. In my opinion, if a game hands us a smaller map, that is ok as long as what we get in return is a more polished product. The point is that sometimes less is more. The fact of the matter is that Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is a prime example of how to handle the "less is more" model, whereas Dragon Age II would be a prime example of how not to handle it. If you are the kind of gamer who doesn't share my opinion on this, you will definitely be disappointed with Mankind Divided. However, if you agree with me, if you believe that a more polished, more engaging product is a fine tradeoff for a smaller game, then Mankind Divided is a must-own for you...that is, if you like stealth games like I do.
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Maybe it is just because I'm infinitely better at stealth games now than I was at 18, or maybe it is just because one can't help but compare to Human Revolution, but while Mankind Divided was certainly a little challenging in certain segments, the overall package just felt too easy. It felt like there were perhaps too many tools at your disposal, and it was definitely easier to stockpile tranquilizer darts and stun gun ammo. I also noticed that security stations were almost always pretty easy to get to. Now, I say that Mankind Divided sometimes feels a little too easy, but that still makes it more challenging than 95% of games I play, so it is probably just because I can't help but compare the difficulty to Human Revolution. Not only that, but a lot of the time, the locations of security stations and the like just make sense. Whereas Human Revolution's missions took place in massive mercenary compounds and the like, most of Mankind Divided's missions take place in regular city areas, most of which are makeshift. All of this is to say that I beat the game on the hardest difficulty with permadeath mode with very little stress involved.
Gameplay is mainly made up of two parts: stealthing to an objective and hacking. The latter is mostly in service of the former, so it is safe to say that stealth is the entirety of the gameplay. You have the tools you are used to at this point in the Deus Ex experience: the tranquilizer rifle, the stun gun, and you would prefer to play lethally, you can put silencers on regular guns. You also have takedowns that you can execute from cover that will save your ammo and instead drain energy to remove an enemy from the equation. There are also a number of augmentations that help you be stealthy such as: the glass armor (invisibility), step muting, smart vision to help you see enemies through walls, etc. The point is that there are a lot of ways to go about missions undetected. Earlier I said there were perhaps too many, and the thing is, my proof of this is an augmentation that I actually really liked. There is an "experimental" augmentation called "remote hack." Basically, it lets you hack cameras, turrets, robots, laser grids, and many other things from a distance. I thought this was an excellent addition to the formula, but at the same time it is exactly what I mean when I say that some tools made the game too easy at times. Let me put it to you this way: In Human Revolution, when faced with a room full of cameras and lasers, you would have to either track down the security station or just execute your plans with these hazards in mind. Sometimes this would be the exact kind of overly challenging areas that I complained about, but still, it forced me to think. In Mankind Divided, on the other hand, you could be faced with the exact same room full of lasers and cameras and take out every last security concern in under a minute. Really, the only way this augmentation could make the game easier would be if there were an option to remote hack wall panels and doors and the like. I really would have preferred some kinds of limitations on this augmentation; perhaps having the augmentation only be able to hack one of a certain kind of thing in an area (in said room, only one camera could be hacked, only one laser wall, etc), or even something as simple as halving the time that cameras and turrets remain hacked to force quicker thinking. I won't be penalizing the game for this, though, because I just know that I would be complaining if this game was as punishing as Human Revolution, so I don't want to be a hypocrite.
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Ok, that is a lie, there is one boss fight at the end, but it is nothing at all like the boss fights in Human Revolution. If you are like me...scratch that...if you so much as played Human Revolution, you hated the boss fights. You would finish a level stealthfully and nonlethally only to find that you were ill-equipped to take down a boss in an explosive manner. You would die hundreds of times to each boss because they required you to play in a way that the game had been discouraging you from playing up until that point. Thankfully, there is only one boss fight in Mankind Divided, and it is the final boss.
I happened to read the GameInformer review recently, and in it, the reviewer said that the boss was no different from the bosses in Human Revolution and that he died many times. I just have to ask how that was possible. The boss is definitely lame, but it is literally the easiest non-quicktime event boss I've ever fought. Literally all you have to do is duck behind one of the railing covers, wait for the boss to come near, zap it with the stun gun, and perform a takedown. It takes under thirty seconds, even on the game's hardest difficulty.
So, no. The boss fight in Mankind Divided isn't good. It is not infuriating like the bosses in the previous installment, but it is still not good.
What makes this worse is the fact that the ending is equally lame. It's as if Eidos Montreal didn't learn from the lame ending of Human Revolution, as it is lame in just about the same ways. You succeed in your mission and there is a small bit of dialogue between you and one of the side characters, then the news anchor tells you what happened as a result of your choices and outcomes of side quests. It is not a satisfying payoff for this game. It is a shame, because the final level leading up to the boss fight is easily the strongest part of the game. You go from 10 to 0 very quickly here.
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So, let us review:
Technical issues -0.2
Lame ending/boss - 0.3
Poor choice payoff - 0.3
So, the final score is:
9.2/10 - Fantastic
Excellent work, Eidos Montreal, excellent work.
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