I recently started replaying DXHR Director’s Cut in preparation for Mankind Divided but have yet to get it finished. Fortunately, Eidos Montreal understands that many of us either forgot what happened or never played it to begin with. Making good on their promise that Mankind Divided can be enjoyed even without having played DXHR, you can watch a twelve minute recap video that is voiced by main character Adam Jensen and contains clips of numerous cutscenes from the original game. It’s a pretty lengthy video that wastes no time going through the numerous events of DXHR starting with the massacre at Sarif Industries and right through to Darrow’s activation of the biochips in any one that has been augmented, forcing them into a violent, uncontrollable frenzy. This event causes what is referred to simply as The Incident, and while it was one of a few endings of DXHR, it’s the one that DXMD is based upon.
Just as we began to see in DXHR, the divide between those that are against any augmentations, purists, and the augmented (augs), was becoming a very real thing, with extremists on both sides performing violent acts against the others. It’s not too unlike some of the hate that we see in the real world and this semi-believable hook in the Deus Ex universe is therefore pretty easy to draw comparisons with to real life prejudice, etc. Anyway, set in 2029, two years after The Incident, we find Adam Jensen, our security officer turned augmented badass turned Interpol counter-terrorist operative, working for Task Force 29. Aboard an airship, he’s ready to deploy on his first mission in Dubai.
The vast majority of the game takes place in Prague, but the stealth-action-RPG hybrid begins in a large, incomplete hotel in Dubai. Task Force 29 is made up of non-augmented soldiers that have a pretty run-of-the-mill, tough merc dude persona, right down to the big facial scar that was made by some kind of blade. These NPCs aren’t particular interesting when you first meet them in the opening cutscene, and I never really came around to investing in them much. One of Deus Ex’s strongpoints as a series is a good supporting and NPC cast, but DXMD is a little more shallow or otherwise a bit disappointing in this regard. Most characters came across a little bit flat or not very interesting, but their presence is an overall positive and they’re more than just filler. Duncan MacReady, one of the ops that Adam works with in Task Force 29, is one such type. In the separate Breach mode I’ll discuss a bit later, a super hacker comes across as way too chatty and predictable to actual be very compelling. While not particularly interesting or a clear strong point, the NPCs are also not a negative element to the game, just a somewhat underwhelming one.
But NPCs are but one relatively small piece of many in DXMD. The stealth, action, and RPG elements are what makes the game tick and to that end Eidos Montreal has weaved a familiar yet very engrossing web once again. New augs and the ability to modify weapon components on the fly with a deeper inventory system have you making key decisions from the get-go. The option of going stealth and pacifist versus guns-blazing is certainly yours, but, like most people who played DXHR, I feel like the most rewarding and engaging way to play is going stealth and not killing. That’s not to say the guns-blazing option is easier, as you can be killed quickly in a firefight just like in DXHR.
A new control scheme is introduced that, again like DXHR, takes some getting used to. You can switch to using the DXHR scheme if you’d like, but I wasn’t too attached to it, either. While I fumbled around some (accidentally throwing grenades, forgetting momentarily that sprint was Triangle, and a few cover-in/cover-out hiccups) for the first hour or two, the new scheme eventually becomes comfortable and smooth. This is one of the more involved first person games I have played when it comes to controls as there is a lot going on between skill trees, augs, modifications, stealth, and so forth.
DXHR was lauded and sometimes humored for its gold and black graphical presentation and fantastic atmospheric soundtrack, which I still load up on SoundCloud from time to time as it makes for excellent music to write or work to. Fortunately, DXMD maintains a fantastic presentation quality. Obviously, the original DXHR engine is dated, but the new Dawn Engine flexes its muscles on the PS4 and I’m impressed. The opening mission in Dubai is a beautiful way to set a vivid graphical tone for the rest of the game and I have yet to experience any notable graphical glitches which is impressive for a new engine and for a game with so many visual details and objects in the gameworld, many of which you can interact with. Framerates have stayed comfortable, with no critical slowdowns or hiccups to speak of. The sounds are another strong positive too, starting with the voice-acting of lead role Adam Jensen and to the music, it’s AAA material.
Moving on, one entirely new component in DXMD is the Breach mode. This could have absolutely been packaged and sold as a separate digital game, not unlike Deus Ex: Go, so that it’s included with the main game sale is really great to see and I appreciate that Square Enix decided to do it that way. It’s available from the main menu and is an online mode, meaning you have leaderboards and can challenge friends to beat your score, but you’re not going to play with or against other characters in any traditional multiplayer sense. In Breach, the concept is that data hacking has been taken to the next level thanks to virtual reality. Hackers who use VR are known as Rippers, and there is one in particular that has opened a path into the Palisades Data Bank, based in Prague, which is considered the most secure data archive in the world. Many corporations dump their secrets here and for many years, it’s been safe from prying eyes. You play as your own PSN/SEN ID, avatar and all, and you can join up with this elite Ripper and take on solo missions in cyberspace to steal terabytes of corporate data in an effort to expose deep, dark truths.
Gameplay in Breach is a lot like Deus Ex proper, but much leaner, looser version. Everything from your heavily digitized appearance to the bleached white walls is in start contrast to the main game, but it works good for what Breach is trying to achieve. You play in the first and third person (when going in cover, climbing ladders, etc) and your goal is to get to these data towers and download their contents. Various challenges in the form of timers, AI, and so on rise up to keep you from escaping, and just like in the main game, you can die quickly. You typically have some option to take an alternate path (including silly air vents), potentially adding more risk but more reward as well. Along the way you get new goods from Booster Packs and items are ranked like you see in Destiny and other loot games with C (common) to S rank. For being a secondary game mode, Breach is impressively fleshed out and deep.
Ultimately, in most respects, DXMD is not a massive change in gameplay or pacing from its predecessor and that’s perfectly fine. Seriously, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it, but do make smart decisions to refine and add new content and elements and I feel that has come through with DXMD. Some of the originality of the characters and story has worn off just a bit, the decision branching does not seem as complex or numerous, but more importantly, DXMD is damn near as captivating as DXHR. I realize I keep drawing comparisons between the two, but this is with a positive outlook, not as pitting one versus the other. Truly, each game makes the experience of the other more complete, and they’re both excellent games. Let’s get to the summary…
