Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is the follow up to 2010’s Deus Ex: Human Revolution by Eidos Montreal and I was blown away by the improvements in the next chapter of Adam Jensen’s story.
In a behind-closed-doors demonstration, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided bridges the two year gap against the growing divide between auguments and non-auguments. “Mechanical apartheid” is the theme being touted for Mankind Divided and Eidos Montreal portrays this seemingly fragile backdrop in the introduction scene we witnessed complete with hostile security, suspicion, culminating in a terrorist bombing. The parallels to our own reality can be witnessed in this fictional cyberpunk world.
Eidos Montreal then brought us to the ghetto of Golem City, where the gameplay pillars of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided continues to shine in its open-ended gameplay approach and deep customization of augmented powers. We were tasked with taking down an aug rights activist, an alleged bomber of the terrorist attack that preceded earlier. As Adam Jensen, players are treated to a whole arsenal of augmentations for a variety of different situations. The developers promise more non-lethal approaches as players have more tactical solutions in the form of EMP ammunition, a Tesla gun, and a cloaking buff. Weapon customization is on-the-fly, tailored to the situation at hand.
The multi-path, multi-solution approach separates Deus Ex from other video games out there and the freedom of the gameplay can be seen through the brutal combat approach of the Icarus strike, an aerial ground pound, and newly introduced Nanoblade which remorselessly pins enemies against walls or acts as an explosive. The combat approach promises to be as fun as stealth with the addition of a time-sensitive Titan shield, effectively used during heated situations. Hacking also returns with “new software.”
As the developers led us to the boss fight sequence, Jensen responds to the conversation with a number of ways ultimately deciding the outcome of the encounter, in which case led to *spoiler alert* and an impossible against-all-odds getaway. Here, the folks at Eidos Montreal showed off another combat tactic, a slow-motion Focus mode, offering ample time to pick off targets in a heavy gunfight.
Despite the social hub environment and exploration being omitted from the demonstration, the vertical slice we were presented with was a good indicator of things to come in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, which is currently slated for a Q1 2016 release. Check out the extended 25 minute gameplay demo above if you’re curious.
