Just like Konami showed us a solid block of Metal Gear Solid V: Phanton Pain, so too has Square Enix in the case of their recently announced addition to the Deus Ex franchise, Mankind Divided. If you haven’t already, check out the official announcement trailer, first.
Like Human Revolution before it, Mankind Divided stars Adam Jensen, the heavily augmented covert operative who just wants everybody to get along. In the fictional future portrayed in the game, science has progressed to a point where human bodies can be mechanically improved and augmented, though this costs money and spreads even wider the gap between the rich and the poor. On top of that are the interests of the human purists who ostracize and condemn the ones they call “augs”. It all makes for a rather compelling plot.
The previous game was praised rather universally for its focus on stealth, dialogues, and open-ended missions that allowed various approaches and strategies. Also notable was that it was one of the few games ever to turn an important dialogue exchange into a “boss fight”, and a well crafted blend of narrative and gameplay.
The demonstration begins with a narrative exchange between characters before beginning the level proper. Throughout the first minutes of actual gameplay, the demonstrator reminds viewers that the game supports various routes and styles of gameplay for each mission and will have a central hub world with plenty of space to explore and interact between those missions.
Since the last game, many new features have been introduced. Of course, Jensen has new gadgets and augmentations to play around with, each with their own advantages. In the demo, the demonstrator decides to start the sample mission stealthily, to show off a few of these additions.
Of those new toys, the first we are taught of are the various kinds of ammunition. EMP ammo is demonstrated knocking out a security camera. Right after, Jensen’s new non-lethal Tesla gun-arm, capable of incapacitating 4 enemies at once. Weapons and augmentations can be swapped on the fly for a more seamless experience, foregoing clunky pause menus and equipment windows.
Another exciting augmentation is the new Icarus dash, opening up even more possibilities and maneuvering options as well as a ramming weapon for combat. And if that’s still not enough choice, remote hacking has been introduced as well, providing general maneuverability and a mean of hacking with more subtlety from a location you prefer. Duality of function in gameplay features like these is one of the traits of the previous game that won over the hearts of so many fans.
The hacking system has been improved on with more traps and software to add complexity, and combat has been improved with what is called focus mode, where time slows temporarily for everything but the player.
To see all this for yourself, check out the demo footage for yourself at the official Deus Ex YouTube channel, or right here.
All this and more unreleased details are sure to make this yet another well-received title in a franchise held dear by many. Plan to see it come to both PC and consoles sometime in 2016.