Lately, I've been trying to find some joy in playing some game,
any game, mostly because I've been a tiny bit disappointed in one
certain title and felt really betrayed by some developers and
publishers, and yes, I'm counting Square Enix among them. However,
I've been pleasantly surprised by Deus Ex Mankind Divided. I've had a
few doubts and paranoia did made me question Eidos and Nixxes, the
devs, and their showing-off with the gameplay trailers and overall
confidence in their game. They went so far as to renounce the embargo
on reviews earlier before release, and that's something you don't see
much from triple A titles these days. That got me questioning: what's
the catch? Well, let's just start with the good parts of the game.
The good
I'll be honest, I haven't finished the game, and I'm only halfway
or so, maybe deeper, but I'm aware of what this game is all about.
What I mean by that is that it's a great follow-up to Deus Ex Human
Revolution in every sense, and I mean it. If there was one thing you
loved about Human Revolution, aside from the setting, of course, then
it's all here, and better. Okay, to be more specific, the gameplay is
amazingly familiar. The shooting, the hacking, the stealthiness, the
climbing through vents, they're all back and they've been improved so
much more.
There are new, more types of weapons, there's crafting, there are
new and amazing augs that are actually referenced in the story, the
hacking has been slightly improved with a couple of new viruses to
use, and I don't even know where to start with the numerous paths and
ways you can take to reach an objective. If you're an explorer like
me, you're going to be so upset for using a good multi tool to unlock
a door when you could've just used the air shaft hidden behind a
trash bin or in plain sight. There are so many paths, it's almost
overwhelming. It's also encouraged by the immense size of the levels
and the only city hub of the game, set in the capital of the Czech
Republic, Prague (or Praha, as they call it in the game), a country
where the titular divided mankind is in a constant tug of war between
the militarized police who abuse their force on the augmented and
ARC, a faction of augmented rebels who make their voiced heard
through terrorist acts. Beyond these, there's the Interpol trying to
catch ARC's leaders and a hacker nicknamed Janus, head of a shadow
group called Juggernaut Collective, opponents of the Illuminati. And,
of course, in the middle of it all, Adam Jensen is caught again. I
cannot get enough of his passive-aggressive ways of dealing with
trouble, and Elias Toufexis does again a great job of portraying this
awesome character with his memorable hoarse voice.
The sound is fantastic, Michael McCan's music enriches the highly
atmospheric tone of the game. And lastly, it look fantastic. The
graphics are breathtaking and the environments are incredibly rich in
detail. I have noticed the same voice-lip sync and odd character
animation from Human Revolution, and it's even weirder seeing these
on these amazing graphics, but these are trivial things I'm not going
to bother going further into complaining about when they've improved
upon the formula in so many ways. You know, it's like when you play a
game, you love it, but think that some things should be done better
or a bit differently. Yeah, that's what Mankind Divided is in
contrast to Human Revolution. Eidos already proved they are a
listening dev, and I'm pretty sure they will start listening further
down the line.
The bad
Well, my biggest complain is that it's a formula and the devs have
played it too safe. It's definitely not the Far Cry 4 of Far Cry 3,
but it's not Far Cry Primal either. Which can be a good thing? Maybe?
I loved Human Revolution so very much and I really asked for more of
that, so can I really complain? It's not a simple DLC, let me tell
you, although I can already see the DLC content they'll be releasing.
One will surely be a prequel DLC about Adam Jensen's adventures in
Antarctica, because they've spent so much time talking about that
part, I somehow can't imagine it not being showed one way or another.
My biggest disappointment, however, is that one and only city hub.
It is big, it's split into two different sections bounded by a subway
ride/loading screen, and the loading screens aren't short, let me
tell you. To me that's a little complain, because I've installed the
game on an SSD, a good one too, but I have heard some people talking
about minutes of waiting for the game to load. Back at the city hub,
it's full of life, miserable life oddly mixed with arrogant pricks
life, but abundant nonetheless. There's rich architecture everywhere
and it's filled with personality, while the background looks so
fantastic I'd like to go there. But even as it stands, it's somehow
not Hengsha. I would've loved for them to actually make what they
where originally planned for Hengsha in Human Revolution, a huge
thriving city above the one we've played in. Instead, Eidos focused
more on detail, lots and lots of detail, I'll give it to them, while
the settings of the away missions are almost city hubs in scale and
chock-full of variety and verticality. Still doesn't quench the
thirst for more, if you know what I mean.
The main story is interesting, there are a lot of factions,
there's stuff happening and it's a logical follow-up to Human
Revolution's event's. But I somehow feel distracted by side-missions,
which are more fun than the main plot. Seriously, there was a main
branching mission where I finished it with swift stealth around the
level and a quick CASIE conversation, while a side quest where I had
to solve a murder was more challenging and involving then I'd
expected, and that surprised me in a very good way. It actually
reminded me of another game I really loved and I had the same
disposition: The Witcher 2. Amazing side missions, lame storyline. I
somehow couldn't feel as immersed to what is happening as I've felt
in Human Revolution, where Adam Jensen had a personal grudge with
everyone, and there were so many characters! So big, yet the more I
think of it, the more it starts breaking apart. There still are many
characters, but their parts are so small in the bigger picture, while
Adam Jensen feels like a Mad Max in the whole story, he's our vessel
through a stormy sea which we have to navigate with only the complain
for getting wet.
And if I have to, I have to. I'll say something about the
microtransactions. I think it's crappy business practices I do
no support, more so in a single-player full-priced game. That being
said, I didn't felt bothered by it. The store is somewhere in the
main menu, easy to miss, and the game doesn't ever mention anything
about it. Also, the core gameplay is definitely not built around
microtransactions. Sure, being able to buy bundles of Praxis that
change the way you play the game and make you really OP in a game
that encourages stealth and challenge is a lot like cheating, but
then it's not something you can't just ignore by clicking Play and
let other do what they want. The only downside to this is that it may
encourage the publisher to push them further if it turns out to be
successful. So all I can say is, please don't let it become
successful! Just respect Deus Ex and play the game as it's supposed
to be played.
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