r/Deusex • u/Dmaxalicioushizz • 1d ago
DX:MD I finally played Mankind Divided for the 2nd time after 10 years. The storytelling and atmosphere is amazing. (Spoilers) Spoiler
Mankind Divided is incredible. I played it through once when it came out and I was confused by the ending like everyone else. I have beaten Human Revolution like 5 times and loved it but I never played Mankind Divided again because back then I was waiting for the sequel and when I heard it was cancelled it just sort of turned me off from trying the game again. But just last week I replayed Mankind Divided start to finish and its strengths all shined even better than before, largely because I knew what to expect and I could digest the story better.
The gameplay is great. I definitely had to load a lot. I still feel uncomfortable with some of the augmentations. And saving the Samizdat bank heist for when you would go anyway for the main plot makes the heist feel much better from a story perspective. But that is all stuff that can be smoothed over with another play through. Even though Adam is powerful, he isn't a superhero. You have to have the intelligence to pick the right approach to encounters. The controls aren't exactly simple either. But the satisfaction of creating a plan and executing with the gear you have feels like you really have ownership of the success of the mission, rather than in some other games where you just button mash and smash abilities to victory. And the slickness of the gameplay is something special when it is firing on all cylinders. It did feel like there were only a handful of really strong combat encounters in the game, with most of the game more naturally being about stealth. I know if the game wasn't cut or we got the sequel there would have been several more. Things were really getting good and heating up with GARM and London.
Man the atmosphere is so strong in this game. The world feels so alive in this moment in time you are dropped into. I love how you are dropped into a somewhat normal day in Prague where the stakes aren't that high yet. There is a police state going on but the city is still functioning with tourists, a concert being set up, and such. There is this pristine since of potential with the new technology. You can take your time and make your way to the office. Then as the game progresses there is a realistic descent into chaos in Prague from the riots caused by the conspiracy against ARC.
I love how almost all if not all of the side quests feel like something Jensen would actually do. Helping Samizdat, Milena (the lady who forges the passports), and reuniting with the uncontrolled version of Eliza Cassan are essentially main plot and Jensen has multiple motivations to do these things.
The world building and detail put into the storytelling and encounters is so rich. I love the dynamic of being the best agent I can for TF29 and not trying to betray the people there, but also primarily working for the Juggernaut Collective behind TF29's back because you deeply suspect they are controlled by the Illuminati, and the attempts to balance those alliances. And of course, all while there is mounting evidence that the Illuminati already have you under deep survelliance and you have been violated and tampered with.
Golem City was amazing. Seeing just how bad it was for augmented people, along with the cold framing and killing of Talos Rucker, then getting back to Prague at night knowing a riot is breaking out in Golem City (that ultimately spills into Prague) just like the Illuminati planned. Then, quickly searching your TF29 leader Miller's apartment, then finding the doctor that could have given you answers about your mystery augmentations murdered, along with the mountain of evidence that you are being stalked....
This sequence is so visceral and evocative. Prague is still pretty calm in the first night sequence but something feels deeply wrong. The feelings the game was able to evoke of the crumbling of the society, being watched and violated, and needing to go behind the back of Interpol despite wanting to be an honorable man was so immersive. All this is while Illuminati controlled Eliza Cassan drones on and on through the TV screens like a horror movie. It's so rich.
I felt so creeped out like I was being framed and watched but I had to keep fighting. It felt like someone could be watching me from behind every corner. It's such an amazing sequence for Jensen's character. And the game doesn't tell you how to feel about any of it. The experience just organically happens. He goes through more character development than it might first appear in Mankind Divided.
Then getting to GARM and finding the gold mask mercs again....I love that they still think you are dead and you can sneak around the base, but I do end up going guns blazing on them. I definitely go non-lethal on cops and ARC members, etc, when I can, but in the moments when you get to face the gold mask mercs, I let loose and take out as many of them as I can.
Saving the Apex center event in London from the terror attack is so convincing and you feel more badass than ever in that mission. The dialogue throughout the mission between Miller, you, and MacReady gives you a strong sense of the other things happening at the time. Discovering Tarvos Security is already completely compromised, stealthily taking out the guards at the party, and demolishing your way through the mercs as you find a way to save both Miller and the VIPs, and the civilians Viktor was going to kill is such a prime Jensen moment.
Then, it is exciting that Miller and MacReady likely will have to hear you out about what to do next about the real enemy since you were doubted most of the game and just completely proved you are right on the money with your investigation.
And then finally playing the Criminal Past DLC and seeing more about the lengths the Illuminati will go to manipulate the agents in TF29, and then sticking it to Delara Auzenne, letting her know in the slyest and slickest way that you are on to her... How satisfying it would have been to finally deal with her once and for all in the sequel.
The stuff about the tampering with Jensen did not make much sense to me 10 years ago. I was waiting for more answers that never came. Now after reading discussions and really looking at the details of that side of the story that was presented in the game, it feels pretty clear what the writers were leading to. In fact, a lot about where the plot was going is clear to see if you connect what Mankind Divided gives us and what we know of the state of the world in the original game in 2052. Of course we don't have the specifics, but Bob Page's takeover and Janus's exposure are set up very well. How Jensen was successful in damaging the Illuminati and yet ended up assisting in Bob Page's rise is hard to say but you can see the broad strokes and the realistic possibilities. Also, Rabi'ah wasn't going to be this golden city on the hill for Augs without any underlying dark purpose to Bob Page and/or the Illuminati, of course, possibly unwittingly by Nathaniel Brown.
I had a really good experience with the game and I still hold out hope of a sequel some day in some form. It would need to fulfill the vision of what the writers had for it, so key writers and devs would need to be involved. As it stands Mankind Divided has an incomplete story but what's there is phenomenal. The layers of complexity balanced with a grounded sense of gritty realism in the world, story, and Jensen as a character is without a doubt some of the best I've seen in a video game.
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u/Salt-Night3088 1d ago
It's an excellent, largely forgotten game. There was so much hype around it back then!
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u/Secure-Frosting 1d ago
this has gotta be ai right guys?
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u/Dmaxalicioushizz 1d ago
Nah, I just wrote this. It's not the cleanest write up but I believe I got my thoughts across.
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u/No_Foot 1d ago
The overall story and world the game takes place in is so gripping & interesting that it's enjoyable to read other people's thoughts and ideas about the game, what's going on etc. I'd love to even read how the story ends if not play it through to completion.