This is my pilot article, so I will welcome any constructive criticism and comments.
10 years ago Human Revolution introduced me to the previously unfamiliar genre of immersive sim – a mixture of RPG, Action and Stealth. I plunged headlong into the atmosphere of dark, alluring cyberpunk. A world on the verge of great discoveries, but raising doubts about the future.
A world where augmentations are compared to works of art – they look so sophisticated here, like jewelry. In addition, they complement and improve people’s capabilities: they make them faster, stronger, smarter.
Mankind Divided continues the ideas laid down back in 2000. This is a wonderful game that I gladly spent my hard-earned money and 40 hours of my life on. If in the case of HR I felt satisfaction at the end credits, I gained the experience of a unique, holistic work, then after passing MD I sat in bewilderment, as if I had been missing something.
The end is not the end
The finale of Human Revolution seemed to me to be closed, not requiring continuation, but the authors thought otherwise. The main character, Adam Jensen, survived the explosion in Panchaea, now he works for Interpol and fights terrorism and crime around the world. The main plot: in Prague there is a terrorist attack at the Ruzicka station, the culprits of which we will look for.
Adam, in parallel with his official work, became a double agent, collaborating with the Juggernaut collective, a global cyber-terrorist organization (ironically), whose goal is to fight the Illuminati. And this, as it were, should add spice to the plot, but is it a joke, I only remember the plot. What follows is a cycle of people and locations that do not particularly motivate one to be interested in what is happening.
It’s not the plot that keeps you hooked on the game, but something else.
Fear and Loathing in Prague
The capital of the Czech Republic, according to the plot, is also the capital of discrimination against augmented people: there are police all around, there is the lower part of the city, where Augs (as augmented people are called in the world of the game), drug addicts and other marginalized individuals eke out an existence. Upper Prague is the opposite: “clean” people, without augmentations, order and tranquility all around.
There are so many secrets https://luckynikicasino.co.uk/login/ in Prague that you need to spend at least 3-4 hours just exploring the city. And this is rewarded with money, resources and interesting quests.
Not united by Prague
In addition to the Czech Republic, we will visit several more locations in the story, among which the city of Golem stands out.
As beautiful as it is ugly – this city for the outcasts, assembled from garbage and tires. Reading the notes of the people living here makes me feel uneasy. This is a real ghetto, reminiscent of those from real history. But the local population does not lose heart, they are looking for an opportunity to get out of here and return to normal life.
I spent two evenings exploring every corner of this unique place, I didn’t want to leave here without exploring everything to the smallest detail.
Secondary = main
The sidequests in the game are developed no worse than the main plot, somewhere at the level of the third "The Witcher". I won’t spoil it, I’ll just say that the lion’s share is tied to detective investigations. It’s good, I don’t recommend skipping it.
Please note! According to the story, when you leave the OG29 headquarters and see the explosion, look for a glitchy advertising display. Many people do not notice this task, although it is interesting and sheds light on some important events
iAug 2.0
The comparison with the iPhone is not accidental: the new augmentations have added convenience, but they don’t radically change the weather; when passing the game, a set of old ones was enough for me. Just like an iPhone, yeah. But it is necessary to show that the authors worked, pored over, so that there was something to pay money for for a brand new Deus Ex. We are still pumping up stealth, combat skills, hacking, resistance to external factors (electricity, gas, falling from a height, etc.).d.).This issue was approached very carefully so as not to break past developments.
Ventilation Warrior
Personally, I played through the game in stealth, stunning enemies if necessary, but no kills. Even though these are computer dummies, we are immersed in the role of an operative guarding citizens, which means we have no need for murder.What I’ve always loved about the series (even invisible war) is its respect for the player. We are not led by the hand to the goal. Achieve it however you want. If you want, go ahead in Terminator style. Or you can walk in the style of a pacifist ghost. And also a cool hacker. And also a cold-blooded ninja. Yes, whatever! There are a lot of variations, each Deus Ex has its own.
Design, atmosphere.
The HR atmosphere was different. Let’s start with the fact that the authors were inspired by the anime "Ghost in the Shell" and this can be felt in the design of robots, clothes and much more. Black and gold tones and elements of the Renaissance added uniqueness, creating just the same feeling of anticipation of vague but significant changes.
MD has a completely different aesthetic: the design has become more monumental, angular, golden shades have faded into the background, there are gloomy notes of the original Deus Ex from 2000 with its grayness, reminiscent of RoboCop.
The authors have successfully made the transition to the design of the original, but at the same time there is a slight trail from HR, so as not to alienate players with a sudden change in design.
Fly in the ointment
Just as it is now customary to criticize Cyberpunk 2077, in 2016 it was popular to throw mud at Mankind Divided. The complaints are standard: bugs, poor optimization, microtransactions and something else (more on that later).In my opinion, the criticism of bugs is greatly exaggerated. The vast majority are always corrected, it’s worth showing a little patience. As of 2021, bugs are kept to a minimum; I only encountered a couple of crashes throughout the entire game.Optimization leaves much to be desired. Even on powerful machines with MSAA enabled, the game may stutter. Graphically the game is inferior to Crysis 3 or Battlefield 4, but overall the picture is acceptable.Microtransactions are generally an optional thing, no one forces it on you. Since I purchased the Deluxe edition, all the goodies came right away. As far as I know, at the start players were offered to buy “praxis” kits for faster upgrades. Even so, the game is great even without starting bonuses.
To be continued
The only real flaw that made me burn was the broken ending. Just imagine if you are playing GTA 5 or The Witcher and the plot ends mid-game, hinting at a sequel. This is exactly the situation here. This does not do the project any credit, many complain that because of this the game feels like DLC for Human Revolution. And I can understand these people. I never liked such things and the last thing I wanted was to see something like this in my favorite series of games.
Bottom line. Well-deserved failure?
Publisher Square Enix has frozen the series due to low sales. As I already said, the bugs have been fixed, optimization and microtransactions can be forgiven, even a crumpled finale and a mediocre plot can be overlooked, as long as a new high-quality part of the series is released, which is not worth expecting in the near future.Haters branded an excellent game, casuals are not interested in your “deusex”, and conservatives supported the haters, and so they decided. The outcome was this.Yes, the game has few locations, a weak plot, only one boss. Nevertheless, I think Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is an excellent game, even if in some ways it is inferior to its predecessor. Nothing is perfect, so you want to close your eyes to imperfections, just like in any thing/person you love. There remains hope that the success of Cyberpunk 2077 will serve as food for thought for the bosses of Square Enix and we will see both the ending of Adam Jensen’s story and the subsequent worthy parts of the series.