Deus Ex Mankind Divided

Deus Ex Mankind Divided is a role-playing and cyberpunk video game which takes place in the near future and which was published in 2016.
In Mankind Divided, which is the sequel of Deus Ex Human Revolution, the action takes place in 2029, 2 years of the "Incident" caused by Hugh Darrow.
The player still control Adam Jensen, the mechanically augmented former chief of security of Sarif Industries, who is now working for Interpol.

Deus Ex Mankind Divided is a good game but it isn't a classic game, mainly because of some regrettable choice made by the game's editor.

First, the main quest isn't as good as in Deus Ex Human Revolution and ends with a cliffanger, like if the game was cut in half so the other part could be sold later. All in all, the game isn't short, especially if you explore everything and do the secondary quests (which are excellents and quite well thought, by the way) but the main storyline is ... average and too short (at least for a Deus Ex).

The editors thought it was a good idea to add one-use bonus items alongside normal bonus items and it proved to be a commercial blunder as potential buyers understood that ALL bonus items were one-use only.

Also, at least 2 of the 3 DLCs missions really look like 2 big missions which have been removed from the main game so they could be sold separately. And they can't be played during the main campaign but have to be played separately.
It's quite annoying, especially since at least one of theses DLCs, System Rift, marks the return of Frank Pritchard, one of the main characters of Deus Ex Human Revolution.
Also, the 3 DLCs take place in areas which aren't visited during the main campaign so if they would have been included in it, the game would have had more diverse environements ... which would really have been a good thing since around 60-65% of the action takes place in 2 big districts in the city of Prague.
And that is another thing which some players reproach to the game : The city of Prague may be well thought, may be visited during the day, the night and a rainy night during a curfew, may contains a lots of places to explore, ect... the fact remains that Mankind Divided has only 1 main hub while Deus Ex Human Revolution had two of them : Detroit and Hengsha.

Also, it may be a personal taste but I don't really like the atmosphere of Prague during the day, mainly because of the lighting.
What I mean is : When the player is inside the buildings and look through the windows, the atmosphere is great : Grey clouds, autumn season, dark luminosity, it 's like a thunderstorm will happen soon. But when the player get out of the buildings and wander in the streets, the game's developpers added a light on the surfaces which kills this "autumn" atmosphere, making the surfaces flashy like if it was a sunny day.
For the other areas visited in Deus Ex Mankind Divided : Dubai, Prague at night, Switzerland, London,... the luminosity and lights of theses levels are excellent.

Another thing which discouraged many people to buy the game was the fact that, when it was released in 2016, it was full of glitches.
Most of them have been fixed now, even thought there are still some glitches which haven't and a few of them can be quite annoying.

	There is a glitch in Deus Ex Mankind Divided where the player can't enter Tomas Romanek's office, even when he has an appointement with him... because the office's door is locked.
	Another glitch at the Palisade bank : If the player knocked out Tomas Romanek during Prague's first visit, Romanek won't be in his office the second time the player visits the bank.

In conclusion, Deus Ex Mankind Divided is a really good game which could have been a classic if the editor wouldn't have made a succession of commercial blunders : The promotion was meh, when the games was published it contained too much glitches, the main story seems to have been cut in half, the DLCs seem to be missions which have been removed so they could be sell separately, there is only 1 hub (instead of 2 in Deus Ex Human Revolution), some bonus items are one-use only, ect...
When potential buyers read things like this, are they incited to buy the product ? Clearly not ...
Still, despite all theses flaws, the game is worth buying, especially now that it is at very low price.

Mankind Divided compared to the other Deus Ex games

Deus Ex Mankind Divided's positive aspects

In Mankind Divided, Adam Jensen has new augmentations which add new possibilities to a gameplay which has also been polished since Human Revolution, especially when it comes to gun fights.
In short, in Human Revolution, the gameplay incited too much the player to play steathly, non-lethally and hack every game's consoles while in Mankind Divided, the gameplay is way more balanced and the player's movements and animations have been greatly improved.

Another nice thing is that in Mankind Divided, the player can disassemble objects to obtain crafting parts and with them, he can create new items like custom parts for the firearms, rare ammos used by his augmentations and even energy cells. It is a nice addition, same for the return of the multitools (which were present in Deus Ex 1 but not in Deus Ex Human Revolution).

Also, like in all previous Deus Ex games, in Mankind Divided it is possible to throw various objects (like crates) to distract the enemies' attention and to stack them on each others to reach areas which couldn't be accessed otherwise.

As for the vehicles, like in Deus Ex Human Revolution, the cars and trucks seen in the game are parked but now the player can open them to search for items (NB: Some of the vehicles have an alarm but they can be hacked).

For the weapons, they can of course still be equipped with silencers, scopes, ect... which give bonuses to some of their stats and malus to others. And now the interesting thing : Such tools can be unequipped at will and replaced by others ones (If for example the player has been detected and needs more firepowers, he can remove the silencer which equips a particular weapon to benefit from a superior fire power).

Another good thing for players who like to play non-lethal : As contrary to Deus Ex Human Revolution where the player is force to fight to death 3 bosses, in Mankind Divided the player can finish the whole game without having killed a single NPC.

Finally, when it comes to the game's story, in Deus Ex Mankind many things are implied and not told explicitely.
Some secondary quests are well hidden, some important characters whose existence is mentionned in emails or during conversations can be seen during some particular moments of the game if the player takes the time to look carefully around him, ect... Theses are things which aren't necessary to complete the game but it is always nice to discover new things, including quests you missed, when you play a game for a second or a third time.
Also, noticing theses many things which are well hidden make the story way more interesting and deeper than it looks at first sight.
Incidentally, the attention to details is one of the game's strenght. And there are sure a lots of them in the game. Here are some examples :

For thoses familiar with the game, in the first picture above they will recognize Ivan Berk, the augmented terrorist who blew the Rusicka Train Station after the prologue, who was thought to not be included in the game and just mentionned. But here he is.
Now, in the second picture, one of the most mysterious characters of Deus Ex Mankind Divided, Madam Photograph, is seen walking inside the Rusicka Train station, not far from Alex Vega (Jensen's contact in Prague).
And in the 3rd picture, Madam Photograph, again, is seen outside the Limb Clinic while Jensen and Vega are meeting inside during the curfew.
Meanwhile, one of the big questions which is posed throughout the game and which is never answered directly is : Who is Janus' true identity ?
In Mankind Divided, Janus always seem to know "everything", excepted "when it matters" (Jensen's comments during the mission in London).
It is a hint : Janus is a person who is watching Jensen closely, hence why he/she knows everything (which concerns Jensen) and doesn't know when the events don't concern Jensen.
And so throughout the game, the one character who is never too far from Jensen is... yes, you have probably guessed it now... it is Madam Photograph.
And so, in the game's files, her 3D model is named as Janus.

Last but not least, the game's menu shows two Adam Jensen (the main protagonist of the game) who are face to face and it is implied but nevery told directly throught the game that Jensen may not be really Jensen or is a Jensen 2.0. And so in the fourth picture, there is a body inside a cryogenic box which is found inside Versalife's Corporate Vault at the Palissade Bank. And this body in the box (which is easily missable unless the player use the smart vision augmentation and/or EMP grenades to see better) looks very much like a certain... Adam Jensen, like the following pictures of this box show. Also, a npc character who is wandering near the Tech Noir shop says strange things is the player engages the conversation with him...

But the game doesn't say much more about this : Players can only make guesses and have suspicions.
Come to think of it, the story telling in Deus Ex Mankind Divided is in sharp contrast with the way it is told in the first Deus Ex game (A game in which most characters are based and drop red pills after red pills, almost like in a festival).
In Mankind Divided, the narrative which just scratches the surface and doesn't tell much is as equally good as the past Deus Ex games but in a different, subtile way and as a consequence a lots of things from the story can be easily missed by the players.

As for the DLCs, they are generally good. Special mention to the DLC "A Criminal Past" which is trully excellent. Actually, some People may consider that it is even better than the main game. It features amazing characters and voices acting, has a great story plot and the action takes place in an area which has a great atmosphere : A desert prison just for the Augmented.

Deus Ex Mankind Divided's flaws

When it comes to melee combat, excepted Adam Jensen's blades which are integrated into his arms, it is not possible to use the many baseball bats, police bats, crowbars, knifes and others objects which can be found in the game. In Deus Ex 1, it was possible to use such objects so it's a pity.

If some objects can be used, too many of them can't be taken, thrown or used.
And even for many objects which can be grabbed in Mankind Divided, it was better in Deus Ex 1.
For example, in Deus Ex 1, the player could manually use the fire extinguishers to briefly incapacitate enemies with it while in Mankind Divided, it is only possible to throw this object and fire at it so the enemies nearby are briefly incapacited.
Same for the water coolers, they can still be used in Mankind Divided but doing so won't give health points to the player (it was the case in Deus Ex 1). And let's not forget the mirrors : They don't work (It was like that too in Human Revolution).

Like said above in the page, to much of the action takes place in the city of Prague, the main storyline is less interesting than in Deus Ex 1 and Deus Ex Human Revolution and finally, the game isn't enough difficult, too much money can be accumulated and too much objects can be put in Adam Jensen's inventory.
Also, for people who have bought the DLCs, the DLC Elite weapons are put in a storage area inside the player's inventory ... and so each one of theses weapons can be accessed from there once during a party. In Deus Ex Human Revolution it was better as the DLC weapons were placed in the maps or obtained by completing quests.

Finally, the Adam Jensen's teammates in the main campaign of Deus Ex Mankind Divided (Like Elias Chickane or Alex Vega) are generally less interesting and more generic than thoses he had in Deus Ex Human Revolution.

Do Mankind Divided's DLCs introduce new things when it comes to the gameplay ?

In some areas visited by Adam Jensen during the DLC "System Rift", they are thermal cameras which can detect him even if his cloaking augmentation is activated and it adds nicely to the gameplay.

As for the DLC "A Criminal Past", it makes Mankind Divided become the first Deus Ex game in which the player can change outfits so he can visits a zone without the guards attacking him (well, much like in the serie Hitman).
But not only that : It is possible to finish "A Criminal Past" with all augmentations disabled (even the augmentation which makes Jensen performs takedowns).

List of Easter Eggs in Deus Ex Mankind Divided

There are some interesting Easter Eggs in Deus Ex Mankind Divided and they come in different types : Some are references to others games, films or musicians, others are hidden cutscenes.

Tips and tricks for Deus Ex Mankind Divided

Here is a funny way to bypass the lasers

Just throw an unconscious or a dead guard NPC at the lasers and they will be disabled as long as you don't move him/her away from them.

In DXMD, you can destroy fans with items

Destroy their helix by throwing interactive items at them. There are different ways of doing that as it is shown in this video tutorial :

Are there Mods for Deus Ex Mankind Divided ?

There exists two kinds of mods for Mankind Divided : Shaders mods and mods which aims at improving the gameplay.

The Mod Hardcore Revival for Mankind Divided

Just like the mod Hardcore Revival (Vgrog) for Deus Ex Human Revolution, this mod makes the game slightly more difficult but also more dynamic as it allows the player to carry more items and make it hard to enable the dissassembler augmentation.
Hardcore Revival 1.022 also improves the gameplay and makes it more balanced, so People can play how they want without being penalized anymore when it comes to the Xp rewards.
Another thing the mod do is to change the weapons characteristics and stats.

The Mod DXMD-FoV-Changer

DMXD-FoV-Changer is a little mod which changes the depth of field vision in Deus Ex Mankind Divided.

MDSuen : A debug menu mod for Deus Ex Mankind Divided

A short Demo of the MDSuen mod :

This mod created by dvdkon is similar to the Burger Debug Menu mod for Deus Ex Human Revolution. Basically, with his MDSuen mod, you can select the level you want to play in Deus Ex Mankind Divided and give yourself the weapons and item you want. The mod works with Windows 10 (But not with Windows 7), Linus and Mac.

Page of the mod on gitlab.

Other Debug Menu Mod for Mankind Divided

This Debug Menu mod has less functions than MDSuen but it is easier to use.
It has a Map Selector on the Main Menu Screen and the Debug Menu can be accessed from the Pause Screen.

The reshade mods for Deus Ex Mankind Divided

Here is a list of shaders mods which aims at improving the atmosphere of Deus Ex Mankind Divided by changing the luminosity, contrasts and/or by adding the yellowish effect of Deus Ex Human Revolution.

Modding tutorials for Deus Ex Mankind Divided

Tutorials which explain how to mod Deus Ex Mankind Divided.

Deus Ex Mankind Divided Cheat Codes

Some players have created cheat codes for Deus Ex Mankind Divided and can make the player becomes invincible, have infinite endurance, infinite energy, have infinite ammos or get 9999999 credits and/or praxis kits.
For example, like you can see in the video below, the player is invincible :

Useful links for Deus Ex Mankind Divided

1- This Deus Ex Mankind Divided playlist contains over 200 videos.
For more clarity, the videos are classed in the following order :

1) Easter Eggs and short cutscenes easily missed and triggered when grabbing elements in the levels.
2) Secrets (About the story plot, because yes in DXMD, the story is a little bit deeper than the "Augs vs humans" scenario).
3) Mods (Some changes the lightings, others alter the gameplay, ect...).
4) tips and tricks (Where to find rare weapons and praxis kits, best use of the augmentations, ect...).
5) Spectacular combat gameplay videos (Because yes, when you master the gameplay, you can eliminate hordes of enemies with style).
6) Glitches (Like for example how to get out of the map, the collision bugs, ect...).
7) The game's original soundtracks (OST) : All the Background Musics.

Additionnally, the Deus Ex Mankind Divided section on the Deus Ex Wiki contains tons of informations about the game (Characters list, factions, details about the general story, the list of all the game's items, their characteristics, where to find them when you play the game, ...).

2- The Deus Ex subreddit is also a good place to talk about the game and has around 50,000 fans where People share opinions, funny videos, fanarts, memes and gameplay videos and the Deus Ex Mankind Divided's hub on Steam is a place where players can find various guide to help them, discuss the game and where they can find help to resolve technical issues.

3- Also, on this artstation page you will find some official concept arts of the city of RabiHa which was set to be Mankind Divided's second hub.

4- And here is an informative 100-slide presentation from level designer Clémence Maurer in 2017 : It explains what the game's developpers had in mind when they created the levels, the characters and the quests of Deus Ex Mankind Divided.
It is a very informative document which explains the methods used by the game's creators to make Mankind Divided's maps alive and credible.