Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - GameStation

Among the many franchises that present adult nuanced storylines, decorated with various intrigues, betrayals to high-level conspiracies, Deus Ex is one of the series that has succeeded in achieving success in the market. Not only does it equip itself with a complicated storyline but it can make the players curious, each game is able to provide high experience because gamers can use various ways to play it – using brutal methods by eliminating all enemies encountered, launching stealth tactics to defeat opponents completely. discreetly, taking into account all moves to avoid direct confrontation; it all depends on the player’s own wishes!!

This concept continues to be maintained in every game, including its newest title, Mankind Divided, as a direct sequel to Human Revolution. As Adam Jensen, now a member of the special forces Task Force 29, you are tasked with dealing with various acts of terrorism caused by divisions among humanity – those who support mechanical augmentation and those who oppose. This is the result of the Aug Incident, an event where augmentation users – who are secretly infiltrated by a special biochip by the Illuminati – become brutal. But as usual, the case he faces turns into a very complicated one due to a dirty conspiracy from a number of circles…

Filling the Loopholes
The existence of a conspiracy involving a number of influential factions in the game world of Mankind Divided – for example the Illuminati trying to rule the world through various plots, the Augmented Rights Coalition (ARC) which favors augmentation users and many more – requires players to always be careful in their actions, and don’t trust someone easily. And gamers, as Adam Jensen, must be able to read the situation and manipulate them through various side-quests (in addition to the main mission) in order to complete the tasks you carry out. That is one of the added values ​​for Mankind Divided that deserves thumbs up, where side-quests are able to enrich game content.

Usually, side-quests are just additional missions as a distraction so that players don’t feel bored quickly. But Eidos Montreal designed these additional missions to develop the storyline of Mankind Divided, even – at least for gamers who want to know more about the storyline in this game – it is quite important to complete. With a dynamic mechanism, it is not impossible that you will feel like you are carrying out the main task when completing a side-quest because everything is so intense.

You Decide How to Play
Thanks to the presence of various game features that support it, Mankind Divided will reward players depending on the playstyle they use. And what’s interesting is: no one method is superior to the other. For those who like high-level gunfights, you can choose to attack head-on by shooting at all enemies encountered, activate Titan Armor to counter all attacks aimed at you even if it drains your energy quickly, or take advantage of the advanced augmentations of your choice. In essence, this game provides everything we need so that we can attack aggressively.

On the other hand, those who like challenges through the use of stealth methods can find various things that support the use of this method. Starting from the ability to track enemy positions and movements, a better cover system where your hero can move from one hiding place to another quickly, launch a takedown to finish off your opponent, and so on. Even with a little creativity you can take advantage of a capable opponent’s AI, you know; by making noises or throwing objects, we can get a guard’s attention to move to the desired location and thus become easy prey.

Want to go even more extreme? Try to finish the game without killing anyone by sneaking from location to location to using a non-lethal takedown. Indeed, to do so requires greater patience, but you can totally do that. Anyway, there is no wrong way to play Mankind Divided.

This is certainly a breath of fresh air for gamers because they can enjoy the game according to their respective tastes. So, whether it’s using your weapon to finish off the enemy, sneaking behind them then launching a takedown (or avoiding contact), hacking the turret and then using it to beat up the guards, you won’t find any form of punishment for doing so. Unlike the previous game, Human Revolution, which “packed” stealth, where players get more EXP if they choose this method. Of course this benefits those who like to move quietly, but not for those who like to engage in fierce battles, right?

Plan Your Augmentation
Eidos Montreal’s efforts to provide much greater freedom than those presented in the previous game, namely Human Revolution, seem to have produced very satisfying results. The reason is, Mankind Divided provides a number of options that can be taken to solve every situation, as long as you have enough EXP of course. To support the playstyle that you like, the developer has provided a variety of augmentations that can be used by your main hero. What’s interesting, because the wearer – aka Adam Jensen – is still an ordinary human, so its use has certain limitations so as not to burden the host’s body.

Yup, to use one particular augmentation, you have to disable other augmentations, and that forces you to consider carefully what features you have to “sacrificed”. For example, for those who choose to use a stealth strategy, Remote Hacking is very much needed because it allows us to hack things remotely. But in order to use the augmentation, what will you sacrifice? Is it the Titan Shield that allows Adam to withstand attacks for some time, the ability to track opponents, or some other augmentation? Although it can be heeded, but be prepared to meet a number of negative feedback which is certainly detrimental to us.

Step Into the Breach
Mankind Divided takes the game to another level by introducing multiplayer play through Breach Mode, a feature not found in the previous game, Human Revolution. Here gamers will not play as Adam Jensen or other characters but as a Ripper, a future version of a hacker who infiltrates cyberspace through Virtual Reality technology. Your task is also very easy: enter each server to get a number of data points while beating the security forces (read: security software), then leave as quickly as possible from there before things turn into chaos. The premise is simple indeed, but in practice it feels very challenging you know!!

It can be said that Breach is a simplified version of the main game in Mankind Divided because in carrying out your actions, you can use most of the abilities possessed by Adam Jensen. Initially you can only access a small server that is intended as a tutorial, a place where we can learn various things such as hacking various objects in your environment, downloading the necessary data, and so on. Almost forgot, Breach Mode also provides a skill tree system that – although simpler and more limited – allows players to learn various skills needed to survive.

Interestingly, each server alias mission in Breach Mode has its own objectives that require players to adapt. For example, in one mission you are freed to beat all the enemies you come across, while in another mission your hero must use stealth tactics to complete your task. Uniquely, sometimes we can find Darknet Files containing various mysterious cases outside of your main task which – although not necessarily – interesting to solve. Depending on your performance in carrying out missions, gamers can get some money to buy various augmentations to strengthen your hero, although you can also use real money through the IAP feature provided.

Mankind Divided in Other Media
Like Human Revolution, the developer has included a number of additional projects to enrich the lore of Mankind Divided which of course should not be missed. The first project is Deus Ex: Black Light, a novel by renowned author James Swallow which tells the story of Adam Jensen and his partner Francis Pritchard’s investigation to find the party responsible for the Aug Incident – ​​an event that divides humanity into two warring camps. But as the conspiracies grow stronger and stronger, can Adam bring the truth to the surface? For those who are interested, Black Light is available on the market along with the release of Mankind Divided.

And the second project is Deus Ex Universe: Children’s Crusade, a comic made by Titan Comics which is divided into 5 chapters. The comic tells the story of Adam Jensen’s adaptation as a new member of the special forces tasked with dealing with terrorism, Task Force 29. However, when dealing with a kidnapping case carried out by a group of terrorists, he finds out that there is actually a dark secret behind all the events that happened!! With a solid visual style accompanied by an interesting storyline to listen to, Children’s Crusade will increase the breadth of the storyline that is owned by Mankind Divided.

Final Thought
Through Human Revolution, Eidos Montreal – taking over the position of Ion Storm as a developer – is able to maintain and even improve the quality of the game from the Deus Ex series. In addition to maintaining all the advantages of its predecessors, the game managed to add a variety of positive things such as the presence of various side-quests that complement the storyline further, development in the field of gameplay and so on. Although it seems difficult to beat the standards set by Human Revolution, Eidos is able to increase its “achievement” through Mankind Divided, which is able to present the game in a much higher quality.

Through the many variations of approaches that can be used to deal with a certain situation, Mankind Divided really presents a powerful freedom feature so that it can provide an interesting experience according to each player’s playstyle.

Overall Score: 8/10
Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Eidos Montreal
Genre: FPS, RPG
Release: August 2016
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

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