Deus Ex Mankind Divided (PC)
Where do I start with this? To be blunt, it's the lesser game of the franchise. Overall, I enjoyed my time with it, but ultimately I felt it was more of a cash grab to capitalize on the success of the fantastic Human Revolution without really expanding much of the gameplay, or storyline. Sure, we get into the realm of Augs vs. Naturals, and given the current society of today, it does have some relations (I believe the early marketing had some controversy for this reason).
My biggest beef with MD was the lack of varied locations, and my dislike for the hub-styled world with the occasional off site mission that did not last too long. I could've sworn there were a lot more variety in missions in Human Revolutions, but maybe my nostalgia towards it is hindering my thoughts. Obviously, they tried to make some adjustments with having a psuedo-day/night cycle, and tried to make things less orange/yellow in the game, so I get that. If I'm honest, I recall the first Deus Ex had a blue-tint to it, so we did a reverse Incandescent to LED approach for the Kelvin temp I guess.
In terms of gameplay mechanics, it was more of the same compared to Human Revolution, although being a prequel to the original you can't really make it seem as though technology in the game world has progressed in the past. Some limitations would be required. Speaking of limitations, I felt the type of augments you could improve, including the extra augs that become unlocked I felt were mostly useless. All I ever added was the remote hacking, which proved super useful later in the game, but other than that, I found little reason to use my Praxis kits for that.
Let me change gears a bit, and say while I did some of the side quests, most of them just felt like filler when I finished them, and never really did much to expand the story, or give you a better sense of the world you live in. I did, however, like a couple of the side missions where you examine some object in the world, and it gives you clues about something. I really wished MD used this more, given Adam Jensen was a cop at one point, so that detective-esque feeling felt dimwitted overall. Did Human Revolution have as many side quests, because I don't recall that being the case?
I don't know, it's a good game overall, but when you compare it to Human Revolution, it feels like a step back. That being said, I did like how the game forced you to choose between choices that would affect the game in drastic ways, although it feels like the choices don't have THAT much of a difference if I'm honest. The first one has you choosing between going to a Bank, or saving someone, and I decided to do the Bank because I felt it was more integral to the storyline, and I think I proved it right. There wasn't a huge negative if you made a mistake, if there was one. Even the end of the game has you making a similar choice, but I found out I could do both. So why have the choice there in the first place if you can do both of them?
Again, the storyline choice elements felt more tacked on than a crucial aspect tied to the storyline. But this also being a Prequel, you probably could not have such divisive choices as to not have a time paradox with OG Deus Ex, and as a result, Invisible War also. You definitely feel limited from that aspect. This'll be a slight spoiler, but the end of the game definitely leaves you in a cliffhanger, waiting for the inevitable sequel, and possibly the conclusion to the Adam Jensen Trilogy. And as far as we know, a sequel to the prequel of Deus Ex is probably a few years away, if it ever comes out. Which is too bad, because I like the overall arc of Adan Jensen, and what he's dealing with and going through, but I would love nothing more than to have a Prequel to the original Deus Ex where you play as Paul Denton, leading up to the events of the first game at Liberty Island. I think there's a lot of potential in that for the future of the franchise.
One last thing I'll point out is the music felt not as impactful, nor memorable compared to Human Revolution, and by extension, OG Deus Ex. Btw, Deus Ex 2000 has one of the best soundtracks of all time in a video game. It is so varied with a lot of unique elements that give it both a futuristic feel, yet still feel grounded in ways you can still enjoy. I miss Alexander Brandon composing the music for the games. Mankind Divided felt like the Marcel Cinematic Universe of soundtracks where they mostly felt like filler than actual distinctive music. I mean, listen to Icarus from Human Revolution:
It is soooo good, and when you saw the trailer for the first time, it hyped you up the wall. And the rest of the soundtrack, even though the same composer did both HR, and MD, felt better overall.
By comparison, here's the theme for Mankind Divided:
It just feels more generic, much like the MCU music tends to be. There's not much that makes it feel distinctive like Icarus does. It's not bad by any means, it's still good, but it's not Deus Ex good I think.
And now, here's the original that started it all:
Oh yeah! So good, and Human Revolution had that same type of feel to it like I did for Deus Ex back then.
I think that previous comment of is it Deus Ex good, and I think that summarizes Mankind Divided in general. Compared to Human Revolution, and the original Deus Ex, Mankind Divided is certainly a good game, but it is not Deus Ex good. I played MD in "Give me Deus Ex" difficulty, and what I got wasn't Deus Ex. Instead, I got something more generic that shares the same name from the others in the franchise.
On a side note, I do have Invisible War, and I am looking to play that next since I never really played it at the time (my computer couldn't run it well, which shows you how long it's been). I know this was more "console-fied" compared the original, but it still has the same composer, so there's that, and I'm curious how the game overall plays and feels. Still, for a 2003 game, I'm not expecting Human Revolution levels of gameplay.
I'll leave everyone with one of the best ambient tunes from the original Deus Ex, New York Streets:
(even the combat tune is so good).