Deus Ex as a series has a long tradition of building believable and rich worlds, filled to the brim and overflowing with lore, conflicts, ideals, hopes, and of course human augmentation. The question which a great number of people are asking is: “Will Mankind Divided live up to what has come before?”
The original Deux Ex was a gritty cyberpunk world, collapsing in on itself, with conspiracy layered on conspiracy. It’s more recent prequel is something of a different beast: set in the same world, but long before things have become despairingly dark. Both of these games ask what it is that makes us human, Human Revolution somewhat more pointedly; and the original more subtly. They make us look at the good and bad in people and force us to cope with this clash.
Will Deus Ex: Mankind Divided succeed in the same vein? Or will it choose a different path?
The trailer for Mankind Divided which came out earlier this year suggests a similar path to the games before it. Humanity has become more and more divided, and Adam Jensen, the protagonist of Human Revolution, has shed his reluctance to become something darker and more aggressive. Clearly motivated by the deaths and the horror he has witnessed in the past, Jensen seems to be looking for answers and redemption even as the world collapses around him.
While visually lighter, the story is becoming darker, and we can only wonder where this will take the world of Deus Ex, and whether Adam Jensen can live with the man he has become.
Rupert Harris
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