In Prague, where the game is set, they’re already there Augs have to ride in separate subway cars from “naturals,” are prohibited from sitting on park benches marked “naturals only,” are constantly harassed by police officers wearing full-body armor and carrying assault rifles, and you get the picture.Īlso Read: 'Deus Ex: Mankind Divided' Director on Challenges of Getting Non-Gamers to Care About Video Games Two years later, at the time of “Mankind Divided,” the remaining millions of augmented people are second-class citizens and on the verge, pending the result of a proposed U.N. resolution, of losing their rights worldwide. Millions died in what would be known as the Aug Incident.Īlso Read: 'Deus Ex: Mankind Divided': Everything You Need To Know Before Playing (Photos) But the technology’s inventor, having decided that the augmentations he created were a perversion of evolution, went rogue and sent a signal that caused every augmented person to lose control and start behaving violently. The world’s secret ruling class, the Illuminati, had intended to use these augmentations as a means of controlling the population. By 2027, millions of people have been augmented when disaster strikes.

“Deus Ex: Mankind Divided” is set in a future version of our world in which we’ve developed the ability to mechanically “augment” ourselves with things like robotic arms and legs, enhanced eyes, super-strong skin, etc. But the big casualty is the theme of the story, which is all about racism and the systemic oppression that often leads to violence. It’s not just a matter of open plot threads and narrative incoherence, although those certainly are an issue. But without a proper conclusion, the meaning behind all of that is lost.Īlso Read: 'Deus Ex: Mankind Divided' Review: Only Half a Game The video game “Deus Ex: Mankind Divided” does not have a complete story, so it fails to actually communicate any of the things it’s trying to say.

The bad guys won, and there’s nothing he can do about it. By the end, JJ Gittes manages to put the pieces together and deduce what’s been going on - but he hasn’t actually accomplished anything by doing so.

Look at the movie “Chinatown,” for example. But it’s important that the mystery is solved even if nothing more is accomplished we need to see the big picture, or else the whole point of the story is lost. “Figuring out” is the bare minimum - actual resolution is not. There’s a lot going on in “Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.” That’s to be expected from a noir mystery like this - typically you have a handful of plot threads that have seemingly little to do with each other, and then over the course of the story the hero pieces them together in order to solve the mystery. (WARNING: Spoilers for the video game “Deus Ex: Mankind Divided” ahead.)

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