Shortly after the beginning of the Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, I found myself wandering around Adam Jensen’s Prague apartment. As I walked down the main corridor I discovered I could inspect and interact with almost every aspect of the environment, right down to his pot plants. Naturally, I did. I picked one up and noticed I could turn it around, put it back down and, also, throw it around. I did the latter, right across the room. Despite being my first foray into the world of Deus Ex, I knew at that point that this would be a game I could enjoy.
Silliness aside, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided takes place two years after the events of Human Revolution. For those uninitiated in the franchise, you’re given the option to watch a 12-minute re-cap video ahead of play to bring you up to speed. Society the world over stands — mind the pun — divided, as tensions between the general populace (naturals) and augmented humans (augs, for short) are at an all-time high. Augs have altered themselves, adding body augmentations (think high-end prosthetics); the returning protagonist himself, Adam Jensen, stands among them. This feeling is made clear from the opening cinematic as you’re travelling in a military group of said naturals, as described by its commander… who coincidentally also believes Jensen is about to suddenly jump into a murdering frenzy.
Options. One of the features that I had heard most about Deus Ex was the ability to play through the game without killing another person; it appears that Mankind Divided is no different. As you approach your first mission you’re given the option of choosing either a lethal or non-lethal play style, with your weapons loadout adjusted accordingly. In my playthrough I decided to go with the latter.
As you progress through the first mission, you’re introduced to the various gameplay mechanics of stealth and hacking. It’s here that this idea of player choice starts to unravel. Missions will have mini-objectives that you can either choose to complete or not; deciding to do so not only nets you additional points for character upgrades, but also changes the dialogue between yourself and other characters.
After completing the first mission and thwarting an underground sale of high-end augmentations, you’re transported to Adam’s apartment in Prague, where my pot plant throwing shenanigans took place. While there’s an element of humour of being able to pick up and throw the items that surround you, what it does serve is an option to lure or distract enemies to an area. More importantly, I found it also instils a great sense of exploration and discovery of the environment.
Exploration is key in Mankind Divided as doing so not only helps you pick up additional credits and parts for salvage, but allows you become more engrossed in the world of Deus Ex itself. if you sneak into a neighbour’s apartment, you can hack their computer and undercover more about the groups and organisations within the story. I even stumbled across a member of a religious cult performing a ceremony in his living room. It’s parts eerie but intriguing at the same time.
The world of Mankind Divided is a treat to explore as well, albeit a grey and gloomy one. With the events of Human Revolution still quite fresh, environments look worn and broken down. There’s a clear divide between the two inhabiting factions, of sort, and it’s echoed throughout the conversations you’ll hear. It’s also identifiable in the layout of certain structures, like the train stations that are split for those with and without augmentations.
I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t times that I felt like I was walking around the city aimlessly, as there’s not too much in the way of hand-holding in what you need to do. That said, there is a sense of accomplishment when you discover a route that you didn’t know existed; those can be used to avoid front-on confrontations or even action entirely. In one part of the main mission I had to plant a tracker within a server room, and it wasn’t until I had walked around the office multiple times, explored each room twice and spoken to everyone I could before I realised there was a grate above me could have used to get in. It all ties into what I said earlier about exploration not just working as a benefit, but a necessity.
Up until this point I’ve not spoken much regarding combat and that’s for one main reason – it just doesn’t feel quite right. Despite the trailers suggesting otherwise, it feels like stealth and non-lethal combat is very much the strongest suit in Mankind Divided. In the few instances where I had to resort to using a pistol there was never enough ammo for the enemies I had around me and I ended up being killed. In much the same way as a game like Hitman, it feels more like a mechanic that’s there because it has to be, but one that you’d probably enjoy by relying on it as little as possible.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the augmentations, though they didn’t appear to play as big a part of my gameplay experience as I perhaps would have expected. For the majority of the six hours I had with the game, I switched between two main functions – one which allowed you to see through walls (think of it as the instinct feature you get in games like Hitman, Tomb Raider or Assassin’s Creed) and the other to become invisible. Problem was, all augmentations require energy, and you only have a finite amount; it is regenerative up to a point, however it only lasts for a few seconds each time. There are a heap of new abilities to use — and you can decide which you enable and disable — but I just didn’t get the opportunity or even have the need to use them at that particular stage.
Ultimately, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is shaping up quite nicely — and rightfully so, as we were told the preview code was close to final build. I do believe that stealth and exploration is the cornerstone of the game, and I’m definitely excited to see what its complete package brings.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided will launch on Xbox One, PS4 and Windows PC on 23 August 2016.
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