In 2011, the “Deus Ex” series had long been dormant, its previous iterations having come out at the turn of the 21st century as revolutionary first-person role-playing shooters about nanotechnology-augmented government agents taking on global conspiracies ranging from sinister corporations all the way to the Illuminati. However in 2011, a prequel to the series, “Deus Ex: Human Revolution,” was released as a reboot, providing an entry to newcomers who had only heard of the legendary original and its average sequel.  This new prequel followed Adam Jensen, a former policeman and current private security officer who investigates threats against the company who gave him mechanical augmentations, and a technology that alters the look and abilities of human beings, to save his life following an incident with Illuminati agents. Jensen tries to keep tensions between “natural” humans and “augmented” humans at a minimum as terrorist attacks and threats increase.  This prequel was received with critical acclaim and now “Deus Ex: Mankind Divided” is its much-awaited direct sequel.  

“Deus Ex: Mankind Divided” once again follows Adam Jensen, now the only augmented operative working for Interpol, as he attempts to live with the choices and actions he made two years ago in “Deus Ex: Human Revolution” that led to a great divide between “natural” humans with no augmentations and those with augmentations—a “mechanical apartheid.”  Jensen has joined Interpol—under intense scrutiny due to his overwhelming amount of augmentations—in order to find the ones responsible for altering events in the shadows, the Illuminati, and expose them, using help from another secret society he is a part of, The Juggernaut Collective.  Despite his own assurances and guarantees that he will find those responsible for the attacks and apartheid that have occurred in the past few years, Jensen still feels that he may be in over his head, and others believe that he may be just be a pawn in a bigger game, something that he must work against as he investigates a bombing in Prague supposedly executed by augmented humans.  

The series continues to be notable for its freedom of choice methods through gameplay, crafting a stealthier approach to how you handle missions but still providing the explosive route for players that desire it. The same can be said with player interactions and conversations with various characters; the many options available mean taking a more diplomatic and peaceful approach to situations is a possibility, along with how augmented you are and the abilities you can use.  Although the story is not as ambitious or as massive as the previous games, taking more of a “middle of the story” direction by dealing with a smaller conflict and plot, the storyline is full of various twists and turns depending on how you play it, as your actions take a toll on your relationships with certain characters on some occasions.  Despite the smaller scale, the gameplay has been greatly refined, with Jensen’s augmentations looking and feeling more smooth and slick, from powerful combat augmentations from experimental carbon fiber alloy armor to stealthier hacking systems and a built in air propulsion weapon inside Jensen’s left arm.  Graphically, the game looks splendid, a bit rough around the edges in terms of frames per second and some textural glitches, which unfortunately get worse during the later sections of the game.

A rainy and dark Prague showcases the beautiful effects, but the game is also hampered by the frame speed and some repeating character models, although these don’t put too much of a damper on the game’s look for too long.  

All in all, despite some graphical glitches, some heavy-handedness with the small scale “mechanical apartheid” plot that is not fully explored as well as it should and a feeling of being simply a midseason finale rather than the end of a more-developed story, “Deus Ex: Mankind Divided” is still a great game and a strong follow-up. Although not as fantastic as the first game, but still near the amazing grandiose of “Deus Ex: Human Revolution”, this game was still worth the wait.  People definitely asked for this.

Game: “Deus Ex: Mankind Divided”

Developed by: Eidos Montreal

Release Date: Aug. 23

Rating: 4.5 out of 5