Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

I'm most of the way through it and it's been OK but just OK.

The game actually starts out fairly hard then gets easier and easier as you go along - which, unfortunately, is typical for games made in the last 15 years or so. The economy is pretty pointless after the first few hours. You'll find plenty of ammo and salvage for crafting. There's a lot of money to be had, too, but not much to spend it on. Perhaps this happens because it's balanced for somebody who does little more than the main quest?

I'm constantly getting stuck on small ridges that I have to jump over. Ugh.

One of the big missions has a waypoint marker that's just flat out wrong, leading you to an empty elevator shaft. You're actually supposed to be finding a completely different elevator (that's in working order).

What's really hurting the game for me, though, is the depressing setting. You start off in a tutorial mission then find yourself in the nastier parts of Prague. After several hours there you head off to another mission (in an even nastier town) then come back to Prague. Then you go to a big facility for a big mission and… back to Prague. It's nice that you really get to know the town but it gets pretty tiresome.

The game has some incredible depth in the setting. There are some stories that you really need to dig to discover (and by "dig" I mean "break into random apartments and read their emails"). You might find the apartment of somebody who gave you a quest and discover that their motive was really very different than what they let on.

If they had just added some comic relief to the game I'm sure I would like it a lot better. The leader of the underground newspaper has been the only fun character I've found so far.

The good, old "immersive sim" (aka hybrid RPG) gameplay is as fun as ever. There's nearly always at least a couple of ways to get anywhere. I haven't really seen any inventive ones, though, like some of the tricks you could pull off in Prey.

The game lets you save anywhere except in actual battles. I'm playing stealthy so, if there is an actual battle, I'm likely to be dead in a few seconds anyway so that works for me.

My opinion of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is the game is above average at best. To devolop a game like Deus Ex - Human Revolution and make a sequel like this is surprising.

Then again many articles point out it had a troubled development,and was was not complete at launch. Seems it suffered the same fate as movie sequels in a trilogy.

I'd agree, it started off really good for me, and then lost some of it's luster. I did play all the way through and don't regret the time spent, but it's a game that I will likely never replay.

Eh? Mankind Divided was better than Human Revolution in most ways. Personally, I thought it was a significant improvement.

The story felt unfinished, but the map was much more open and enjoyable to explore compared to DX:HR.

Personally I care about story more then I do exploration. That was the weakest part of Mankind Divided. Don't even get me started on that piss poor ending they made.

At least it wasn't another pick a button ending.

Also thanks to poor sales/reception the series got put on ice for a while. So I don't think we will see a new game for many years to come. That's a damn shame in my opinion.

When reading Zloth's full post I feel he/she likes it a lot more than the 'just ok' assigned to it. Admit it, you really liked it. I can't remember DXHR enough to say if it was better than MD, but both were amazing for me. I just love the important bits, setting, story, and stealth mechanics that all the rest does not matter that much anymore.

That reminds me I must give metal gear solid 5 another try as it is said to have the best stealth gameplay there is.

Interesting thoughts there Zloth. Not sure how I'd take to humour if it's too overt within a fairly serious setting on the whole; but if it's done naturally with a biting wit which fits the context, then that'd be ok.

I've had this game installed for months but just haven't summoned the will to play it.
I wasn't a massive fan of Human Revolution to begin with but did read that Mankind Divided had improved on important aspects. Once the cyberpunk mood hits me in the coming winter, maybe then I'll finally give it a proper go.

ilm said:

When reading Zloth's full post I feel he/she likes it a lot more than the 'just ok' assigned to it. Admit it, you really liked it.

Click to expand...

I have liked it so far, but just liked. In the original Deus Ex, you find out that FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency, better known as 'the government folks that get people food & shelter after a big natural disaster') have been corrupted, the Illuminati are on the loose, and you end up in Area 51. It was a bit like a cyberpunk Illuminati book - I half expected John Dillinger to pop up and hit me with the Law of Fives. Now it's all these invented groups. Blah.

Like I said, though, the core gameplay is doing just fine and there's a load of hidden depth to what's going on in the game that you can dig out, too, which some folks are really going to enjoy a lot.

I finished the game. Never killed a single soul and actually got credit for it for once. In past games, somebody who was knocked out would always get killed by some enemy's grenade or some such and spoil the achievement.

The DLC missions are actually pretty good. I don't think they are worth the full asking price but, this long after release, you shouldn't be paying full price anyway.

They also make for nice places to try out augments. The menu tells you there's spoilers in the DLC and that's true for some of them but you sure don't have to wait for the end of the game to play them! Here's a quick run down:

A Criminal Past: completely spoiler free as near as I can tell. It's a good, branching story as well. It does expect you to actually know how to play so I wouldn't play it right off the bat but you can do it as soon as you're comfortable with the game.

Desperate Measures: well, there's an incident that happens right after the tutorial that it spoils, I guess. I think you would be fine playing this after you've managed to talk to your boss in Prague. If I were doing it over again, I think I would play it either just before or just after going to Golem City. {Note: I guess this isn't actually DLC but part of the game? It isn't listed in the store.}

The Rift: another good DLC where you break into a bank - though not the same one that's in the main game. There's a small bit in Desperate Measures that foreshadows a character in this DLC so it would be slightly better to play DM before this but that's really minor. I didn't see any spoilers at all but I wasn't looking very hard in this one.

Criminal Past starts you with nothing but the other two give you 15 points to spend on augments right off the bat.

Iirc, Desperate Measures was a bonus mission for pre-ordering the game. I think it's also included in the deluxe edition. It was ridiculously short, and I'm pretty sure it was something they just cut from the main game.

I liked both System Rift and A Criminal Past quite a bit.