I did not play the first game. I actually thought this was the first one, apparently there are a lot more than two. As for the main entries though, this is the second game. It does have a recap video of the “first” game which helped set the scene well enough. Right off the bat, this game is really good.

You’re Adam Jensen, an agent for TF29 (basically just a government agency under Interpol). He’s basically a super soldier though because of his augmentations. Most of his body is cybernetic as he was gravely injured at the beginning of the series. The world is on edge as people fear the “augmented” because of an event years ago that caused them to lose control of themselves and attack others. Adam lives in this world, facing discrimination with a stern outlook. He’s a man that you control but has a personality all his own. He’s gruff and does what needs to be done with efficiency. You get to become him, experience the adversity to his existence and it makes the experience that more meaningful.

The story picks up as your team is trying to stop an arms deal that’s been in the making for a while. Your guy on the inside finally got it set up and now’s the time to catch the bad guys. Upon the deal commencing however, a third party interrupts. This group is the focus of the rest of the game. You’re tasked with figuring out who they are and what they want. There are a few suspects that you’ll investigate along with possible double agents. It has very big spy energy. Most of the story takes place in Prague, but there are lots of side quests to do that have complex storylines to keep it interesting. Initially the main story is a jumbled mess of acronyms and organizations within organizations, but the picture becomes clearer the more you play. Because it’s so unclear who is who, you never know who you can trust. It makes everything you do seem like it has more weight. The thing is, your choices matter quite a bit.

I only did one playthrough, but the decisions I made gave me the feeling of a unique experience. I got one of my trusted confidants killed, on accident, by not working with a mob boss. I stopped an underground drug manufacturing operation and talked down a cult leader from mass suicide. Other than these, I know there are some stories I missed because of the path I took, and that’s okay! Because of the depth of these quests and their ramifications on the plot, I paid more attention to them than I usually would in these types of games. Choosing which groups to back and which to dismantle gave me so much agency over the story and I appreciated it.

You also have agency in how you handle combat scenarios. If you’re caught in a restricted area, the bullets start flying. Though Jensen is a government operative with a mostly mechanical body, he still goes down to a few bullets. There are a vast array of skills you can unlock by levelling up and each gives you more ways to tackle these situations. You can choose to go full hacker and stealth to completely avoid enemies, or go combat mode with a launchable blade, cluster grenades and temporary impervious armor. I went the stealth route and found success most of the time. Security cameras, turrets, lasers and guards make navigating these areas a puzzle. I had fun trying to solve them this way, but near the end of the game I got tired of that playstyle and decided to go guns blazing. It’s really not that effective as you don’t get much ammo for many weapons other than the pistol. I’m not sure if it was because of my build, but I didn’t loot much ammo for my other guns (and I looted everything I could). Stealth may be the main way to play, and I think it’s the best anyway so it works out.

I didn’t find a lot of the active abilities that enticing, other than the stealth cloak. It helped a lot with a certain section near the end of the game that I have no idea how you would get through otherwise. I’d say it’s basically necessary. I also took a taser type of ability that knocked out enemies from a moderate distance. Most of the time, I forgot about it though. If you wanted to, you could go full power suit and it would probably work. The AI can be dumb sometimes but overall they work a lot better than I thought they would given the age of the game. It was great to see them respond to what I did in realistic ways.

Though a lot of the acronyms went a bit over my head, the story still made sense in the end. I think they handled the subject of oppression and fear mongering in a respectful and realistic way. The backdoor dealings and conspiracies kept me guessing while the gameplay options compelled me forward. While most games have sidequests that affect an unseen number or only provide experience, these serve to tell gripping stories that sometimes impacted the main plot in significant ways. I never do sidequests, but this game had me excited to do them all. (I might have even missed some!) Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is a great game that I wished we had more of nowadays. With all the bloated, open worlds full of fetch quests and errands, we could use some more substance. This game delivered that and more, so I definitely recommend giving it a shot.