Developer : Square Enix
Release date : August 23, 2016
Synopsis :
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is an action role-playing video game developed by Eidos-Montréal and published by Square Enix’s European subsidiary in August 2016 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Versions for Linux and macOS systems were released in 2016 and 2017, respectively. It is the fourth main title in the Deus Ex series, and a sequel to the 2011 game Deus Ex: Human Revolution. The gameplay—combining first-person shooter, stealth, and role-playing elements—features exploration and combat in environments connected to the main hub of Prague and quests that grant experience and allow customization of the main character’s abilities with Praxis Kits. Conversations between characters have a variety of responses, with options in conversations and at crucial story points affecting how events play out. Players can complete Breach, a cyberspace-set challenge mode, in addition to the main campaign. Breach was later released as a free, standalone product.
In 2029, two years after Human Revolution, the world is divided between normal humans and those with advanced, controversial artificial organs dubbed “augmentations”. After a violent event known as the Aug Incident, augmented people have been segregated; this prompts heated debate and an era of “mechanical apartheid”. Main protagonist Adam Jensen, equipped with advanced new augmentations after Human Revolution, is a double agent for the hacker group Juggernaut Collective to expose the Illuminati, which is orchestrating events behind the scenes. The story explores themes of transhumanism and discrimination, using the series’ recurring cyberpunk setting and conspiracy theory motif.
Production of Mankind Divided began after completion of the Human Revolution expansion The Missing Link. Eidos Montréal wanted to improve its gameplay and narrative, and address criticism from fans and reviewers of Human Revolution. The gameplay and graphics engine were rebuilt from scratch for next-generation hardware. A greater focus on realism and the story’s darker themes resulted in a subdued color range compared to the previous game. Human Revolution composer Michael McCann returned to write the score with newcomers Sascha Dikiciyan and Ed Harrison. The game was announced in 2015, after a lengthy promotional campaign. Subsequent marketing slogans were criticized by journalists, and a divisive tier-based preorder campaign was cancelled due to player backlash. Post-launch, story-based downloadable content was released in 2016.
Critical reception of Mankind Divided was generally favorable, with praise for the game’s narrative, graphics and gameplay. Criticism focused on the brevity of its campaign, the handling of its themes and inclusion of microtransactions after launch.
During a mission in Dubai for TF29, Adam is attacked by an augmented mercenary group and narrowly escapes. He returns to Prague and speaks to Vega; they are involved in a bomb attack, which damages Adam’s augmentations. After repairing them and learning about the hidden augmentations planted during his recovery after Panchaea, Adam spies on a meeting between Miller and his superiors and learns that the recent attacks will be attributed to ARC by the United Nations leadership. Adam is sent by Miller to the Golem City ghetto and confronts Rucker, who dies after confirming that ARC was not responsible for the attacks. The Illuminati-aligned Marchenko takes Rucker’s place, and begins steering ARC towards militancy. Adam learns that TF29 director Joseph Manderley and VersaLife CEO Bob Page—prominent Illuminati members—used Orchid, a biological weapon, to kill Rucker.
Rucker’s death causes unrest in the augmented population, and Prague imposes martial law. With help from Vega and Janus, Adam learns about two opportunities to confront Marchenko: Orchid data stored in a Palisade Bank vault, and Allison Stanek (a fanatical, augmented ex-soldier who helped produce the bomb). By either route, Adam infiltrates Marchenko’s base in the Swiss Alps and Marchenko injects him with Orchid. Adam survives because of his genetic traits, and gives an Orchid sample to Vega for analysis when he returns to Prague. After spying on a local crime family, he learns that Marchenko is planning an attack on a London summit hosted by influential CEO Nathaniel Brown. Brown is lobbying against the Human Restoration Act, an Illuminati-backed law which would permanently segregate the augmented in the isolated metropolis of Rabi’ah.
Adam fails to convince Brown of the threat and confronts Marchenko’s men after they infiltrate the summit, poisoning Miller with Orchid. Miller’s fate depends on Adam’s earlier actions—if Adam fails to save Brown, his death at the hands of ARC galvanizes support for the Human Restoration Act; saving Brown empowers him to block the act. After confronting Marchenko, Adam can kill or apprehend him. Vega vows that the Juggernaut Collective will pursue Manderley and Page, and Adam insists that Vega introduce him to Janus. In a post-credits scene, a council of Illuminati members (led by Lucius DeBeers) convenes and decides to watch Adam closely. DeBeers then tells Auzenne, his TF29 agent, that they are using Adam to find Janus.
The narrative is expanded with the DLC series, “Jensen’s Stories”. In Desperate Measures, Adam discovers that footage of the bombing was edited by a member of Tarvos Security to protect a family member. In System Rift, Adam is tasked by Pritchard to break into the Palisade’s Blade vault and investigate the logistics of Rabi’ah; he infiltrates the vault with help from Shadowchild. When Pritchard’s avatar is trapped in the system, Shadowchild and Adam punch a hole in the Blade’s firewall as a diversion so he can escape. In A Criminal Past, Adam talks with Auzenne about his first TF29 mission, in which he went undercover in the “Pent House”, a maximum security prison for the augmented, when Guerrero, another TF29 operative, went dark. After contacting Guerrero and being involved in a prison riot, Adam discovers Junkyard: an augmentation-harvesting ring which uses the Fixer, an inmate. Guerrero has become affiliated with Junkyard and wants to kill the Fixer after he discovers their identities. Adam can defuse the situation or take sides (leading to different fates for Guerrero and the Fixer), asking Auzenne if she would kill to protect a mission.
Source : Wikipedia
