Hi all. Firstly, I disappeared because I had no ideas, but as you can see, I’m here. Secondly, I’m alive, I’m okay. And thirdly, yes, this is a review of DX: MD (Deus Ex: Mankind Divided). We will criticize it, praise it, tell you why it could have been different and for what reason, we did not see the third part. Of course they will SPOILERS.
Grab Neuropozyne, brew some tea, coffee or whatever you are legally allowed to drink, put on your high-tech glasses and let’s go.
Part II | Plot and non-linearity
I’ll literally say a few words about the plot here, because I’ve already made a separate article about it. In a nutshell, the plot was the foundation for the new part, but unfortunately, some lines leading to the next part now look unfinished. The events themselves are not bad. There is some intrigue, especially with the theme of Jensen’s clone, which I also analyzed, but it collapses if you don’t know the lore of the universe. Well, to be honest, the plot again feels like a foundation. Not bad, I won’t deny that.
Hmmm… I didn’t spend much time on this aspect, considering 2 whole articles… But it’s not too late to talk about nonlinearity!
I’ll start with this mechanic itself: We have Prague, in which various quests take place, perhaps except for the final quests, a quest in a complex in the Swiss Alps, and a quest with the capture of Rucker and training in Dubai, but not the essence. In total, Adam will have 3 visits to Prague. The first visit takes place at the beginning of the game, the second after the capture of Rucker and the third after visiting the complex in the Alps. And almost all quests are built on this system.
As an example, let’s take the quest related to Dr. Vaclav Koller. We meet with him to discuss our augmentations and fix them. During the repair process, we learn that we need a so-called calibrator so that we can use augmentations to their full potential. You can either talk to Otar Botcovelli, who has a device in his safe, or sneak there. In the first case, you will owe him, or more precisely, you will need to kill or convince Louis Galois while completing a task in the City of Golems, and then complete another task. If you do not complete one of these tasks, or fail them, then Dr. Koller will die on his third visit to the city.
But remember how I said that almost all quests are based on this? And so it is, there are quests that affect the ending. For example, missions to choose from: robbery or meeting with a terrorist. In the first case, you get an “Orchid” deactivator either for Jim Miller or for the delegates, in the second case, and if Alison is successfully convinced, then we get a bomb deactivator.
However, there are 2 nuances: the consequences of the last game and the impact on the plot. I’ll start with the first one. You will say that saving from previous generation platforms is impossible and I could accept it… if not for The Witcher. In The Witcher 3, there is a separate moment where we talk about our choices. I talked about this problem and some others in more detail in this article. But the impact on the plot is almost non-existent, but on the gameplay, even so. Let’s take another example. After Rooker’s death, you can get into his secret room using a key card, and there you can find Rooker’s evidence. It does not affect the plot in any way, except for a few dialogues, but on the gameplay, it hides the code for the room with delegates.
To summarize, variability affects the gameplay more than the plot, and we also looked a little at the mechanics of variability.
Phew… Looks like we’re done. And now… On to the gameplay.
Part III | Gameplay
Main idea
All quests, missions and https://winztercasinouk.com/login/ other things have one single formula: well-developed location + simple goal. Search the house, take this, find that, etc. Also, as I said earlier, the plot affects the gameplay. In MD the authors went so far that the gameplay also influences the plot. In the final mission, if you are delayed on the way to the delegates and Marchenko for a few minutes, then the first will already be poisoned, and the second will almost blow up the buildings. But, you can turn everything in your direction. As an example, in the room with delegates there is a secret door directly to Marchenko and vice versa. This can help, for example, in speed running. By the way, SG, when is the review of Deus Ex speedruns? We are waiting!
But let’s return to the skeleton of the game and how brilliant it is. This one formula doesn’t get boring. The game has a bunch of combinations for passing the level. As an example, there are several ways to penetrate the CPA “base”. You can either get a key card, or fulfill the request of Louis Galois, or find Dusan and find out the password for the elevator to this very territory. If you try to formulate the idea, you will end up with something like this:
You have a location and a goal, and then do as you want
Approximate description of the idea
Weapons and shooting
Let’s start with the fact that as a dynamic and loud shooter, the game is not very. But “dynamic and loud” does not mean “bad shooter”. Yes, the game implies active gameplay, but not only is the shooting bad, it’s also noisy during curfew AT ALL It’s not possible, unless of course you want to survive. Therefore, it is better to use non-lethal. Why? Because, for example, there is no silencer for a sniper rifle, but a tranquil. the rifle itself is quiet. There is a silencer for the pistol, but the damage is greatly reduced, and the special shocker is quiet and knocks you out instantly… Cool!
Of course, you can become a killing machine with the help of appropriate upgrades, but by the time you do this, the game will already be over.
Weapons are standard. From the unusual, naturally shocker, tranquil. a rifle that replaced the crossbow from HR and various mines, grenades, etc.
Augmentations
Here everything is worse, because some augmentations are too useful, for example, remote hacking, without which we had to look for a security computer, as well as K.A.WITH.AND., which allows you to win any argument, as well as super-vision, which, unlike DX1, is available from the very beginning and it does not highlight all interactive objects. Why is this so important? Because with the help of this augmentation, you immediately discover secret rooms, ventilation and other things that you had to look for. You also really need to have either a high jump or an Icarus dash with you.
But the rest of the augmentations are more or less balanced, and the mechanics of the calibrator force you to choose between play styles. For example, in the case of choosing a lethal “nano-blade”, then there is no need to take a “Tesla”, but in the case of open gameplay with “Titan”, optical camouflage is almost not needed and vice versa.
And I can very well guess why they did this, because personally, by the end of the game, I activated almost all the augmentations (by the way, would you like to see an article about passing DX: MD without leveling up or only with augmentations, write in the comments if necessary).
"Open" world
The architecture of Prague generally stands out against the backdrop of technological progress, which is insanely combined with the main character, who is from a golden cyber-renaissance into a mechanical apartheid, where the augmented are not valued at all. But what about the gameplay part of the world?? Everything is also good, because you really want to explore the world, because there are many interesting quests and interesting places. The latter introduce the player more and more to the world. You can even divide the quests a little into different visits.
In my first visit to Prague, I personally remember “Cult of Personality” – a task that can be completed in several interesting ways, “Golden Ticket” – there is also a choice between two people and each has their own motivation, and you can deal with Dragomir not only directly and not only at the end of the quest and “Samizdat” (if you didn’t stupidly kill K, lowercase K and Bones) where you can get into the Palisade bank before his plot visit.
In the second visit to Prague, we can highlight the detective mission “Reaper”, the slightly nostalgic and mysterious mission “01011000” and the stealth and often infuriating mission “Family Matters”, which, although partially, reflects the essence of DX. More specifically, we are given a location in which there are several ways to solve the problem. Well, from the third, all quests. Because there are only 2 quests, with the help of Samizdatu and with the final part of the investigation into the Reaper case. Because of the police who can easily shoot you, the gameplay changes and is impressive.
Gadgets and crafting
Crafting has been added to the game. Craft various ammunition for augmentations, cellular batteries for energy needed for augmentations and injectors to increase health. In addition, you can create electronic master keys, which are useful in hacking doors and computers. Where can all this be obtained from?? From various spare parts. In addition, a mine system was added to the game. To be precise, you can create a base for a mine, combine it with any grenade and get a mine with the effect of that very grenade. We haven’t forgotten about weapons, they can also be improved using spare parts. But there is also a minus here, because electronic master keys partially replace hacking high-level computers and panels.
Locations
It is important that the open world is Prague, and the locations are the City of Golems, London and G.A.R.M. There are no questions about their gameplay. Everything is on top. The visual part is also on the level. The city of Golems is really a ghetto. When a hero in a rich acronym with black and gold implants walks around people who don’t just have food, they don’t have the most needed medicine – Neuropozyne. This atmosphere of dirt and hopelessness weighs on you, especially if you played DX: HR. And games open up the world, wonderful.
I remember at the beginning of the level I met a dead NPC and. the secretary next to him noticed, and there he was writing a letter to his mother. And it seems that they are squeezing out sadness because of this, but in fact, he wrote there that the absence of Neuropozyne causes extreme pain and in order to drown it out, he had to use the drug “Neon”. I think from the first line you understand what it brought him to.
Or another story about how a couple wanted to have a child, but when they got to the Utulek complex, they realized that it was very dangerous there and either you had to have an abortion, or give birth to a child, and then it would be taken away from you. Literally. And this is all very sad and again, this is oppressive in its atmosphere. But unfortunately, the same cannot be said about London. Speaking of London, where the final mission takes place: this final mission, one might say, is a test of your abilities. And the battle with Marchenko is a huge platform for neutralizing the boss.
If you think that it couldn’t be more ingenious, then you are mistaken, because part of the plot is revealed through the study of locations.
Part IV | Why did she fail??
It would seem that everything is simple: a good immersive sim that did not sell very well, but DX: HR can argue that. To. the last one was more difficult than MD. So why did the game fail?? Well, let me start with the fact that at least 2-3 million., the game sold. It’s a stretch 4 million., because total sales are 12 million., where were: DX: HR together with Director’s Cut and DX: MD combined. Considering the financial success of HR and the approximate sales of HRDC, the figure is less than 5 million. you can believe it. But why is that so? And the correct answer is because of marketing. The trailer showed epic moments, epic, Adam smashing everyone, explosions, etc.
Yes, the trailer is beautiful, but it doesn’t capture the essence of MD. Because of this, people who love such shooters, having started playing the game, I’m sure, abandoned it halfway through, and fans of immersive sims thought that the series was ruined, they don’t have to play, and yes, they didn’t play, but they were deceived. This is similar to the situation with Watch Dogs, only if there the deception was of at least some benefit, then here the deception did not help the game at all.
And guess why the third part was canceled? Right! Because the publisher thought that this series was outdated and should be sent to the freezing stage. Just geniuses.
Part V | Results
Well… Here are the results. And I will say that the assessment may not be so fair, because I love this game. I have it on par with AC1-3 and other favorite games. This game, by the way, should have been different, because they wanted to kill Adam on Panchaea, but, quote: “It’s not so easy to create a cult character, but Jensen was remembered and liked by many.”. But let’s not delay.
That’s all! If you think about it, to describe the entire game, at least 2-3 articles will be required. If I made a mistake, didn’t finish the sentence, etc., I’ll be glad to hear criticism. You can leave your rating below and you can count how many times the word “brilliant” was said in the review. Good luck everyone, I’m off.
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