Played on PC. Overall review is here and I refer to things I said in that post so read that first if you haven't.
I will not be discussing the Icarus symbolism everywhere because I have no clue.
*"Transhumanism" for lack of a better term. For those maybe new to the term, the game has nothing to do with Transgender people. Transhumanism is basically the term for cyborgs. Someone with a prosthetic leg could be considered Transhuman. In Deus Ex, they are referred to as Augmented, or "Augs" for short. I know the use of the prefix "Trans" for this fictional world can be pretty insulting to Transgender people out of context so I thought I should clarify.
As the game takes place at a time when people are not quite sure what to think of this new technology, you are exposed to the pros and cons of augmentation. Pro: It can give a war veteran a robotic leg/arm/eye/whatever. Con: People need a drug called neuropozyne so that their bodies don't reject the augment (that corporations charge an obscene amount for). Pro: They can push humanity into a level of awesomeness unachievable with our ape limitations. Con: Many are expensive and the rich just stay richer. Pro: They basically cure every disease. Con: That neuropozyne dependency has some nasty side effects in some users. Pro: They have uses beyond the ordinary like robot hands to be a great pianist or personality reading mind augments for the autistic. Con: Their price and demand leads to a black market. Pro: They make super soldiers! Con: They make super soldiers!
Pro: You get a skill tree...?
By the end, you have to decide between a world that, A. has unchecked augmentation research and a world that is very pro-augment, B. outlaws augmentations, or C. allows some augmentation but it is heavily regulated by the UN (Illuminati). It ends up not mattering because Deus Ex: Mankind Divided retcons all three and opts for the hidden 4th ending which is fuck it.* Yes, the hidden (barely) 4th ending lets Jensen not control the media narrative and let the world decide what happened.....but since the impetuous of what is known as "The Incident" had no media at Panchea (The secret facility in the arctic that lead to the whole thing), the thing is shrouded in mystery.
*Technically, Jensen dies in this ending but they just leave that part out for Mankind Divided.
The only people who know what really happened is Adam Jensen and David Sarif in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. Sarif is relegated to a game long side quest about Jensen's missing two years of his memories and it's not resolved. Sarif does research on your behalf to find the person who likely put in the new augments* but it turns out that dude is dead. The trail goes cold and the player is left with questions. Nice.
*It is cool that the game tried to give a story reason for your new augments, aka, new skills the designers added to this game.
Despite how Sarif dresses, he is not an Illuminati member....OR IS HE?
With Sarif neutered, the only other character who knows the truth is Jensen. (There are other survivors at Panchea, but none appear in Mankind Divided, so they're pointless). Jensen can't really go public with his information as nobody would believe him and The Illuminati wants his ass dead. So we are left with a world that doesn't understand what "The Incident" was and a deep fear that augmented people may flip out and start indiscriminately murdering again.
By choosing the non-ending, Mankind Divided does not continue the great conversation its own world built up. Now it's a warning about police states. Augmented people are oppressed, many are forced into ghettos, only two businesses still make neuropozyne (both of which the Illuminati control) and are frequently the victims of violent crime the police don't bother to investigate.
Why did a franchise, that wanted to be a cyberpunk discussion of transhumanism, that even tested the waters with heady philosophical discussion on what it even means to be human, turn into an allegory for apartheid? Am I still playing the same story, or a spinoff?
Augs, are, aliens?
Don't get me wrong. I like the fact that a big budget AAA title is willing to talk about modern social issues. It's just that this came out of nowhere, doesn't fit the main story, and its real world references are bad.
Okay....I've been delaying this while writing this very post. I didn't want to talk about this because it diverges into the political but it needs to be said. About the real world references....
Deus Ex: Human Revolution used arguments that were.....lets say "inspired" by real world arguments about gun control, gay marriage, and even abortion. These worked because it helped the meta narrative by relating the fictional (for now) social issue of transhumanism to something the audience knows about. I liked this in Human Revolution as it made its universe feel more alive.
Mankind Divided also uses real world analogues for its story but take a wild guess what it uses for being oppressed by a police state? The Black Lives Matter movement (and to some degree Muslim oppression vs ISIS as the game has an all augmented terrorist group as the main villain). #Augslivesmatter. Oh my. This is not a 1 to 1 comparison.
First of all, augmentations are expensive. There are socio-economic underpins to #BLM. And yes, while even affluent African Americans are also subject to discrimination (don't get me wrong, it's more racial than social), the poor communities are hit hardest. I have a hard time thinking the Deus Ex society suddenly turned on these rich cyborgs because of The Incident. If a bunch of rich people suddenly started going crazy and murdering people, do you really think they would be oppressed afterward? They can control the narrative, just like what Jensen was given the ability to do at the end of Human Revolution, then I guess, didn't? Also the Illuminati is a thing in the Deus Ex universe, some of its members ARE AUGMENTED, and why are they even doing anything? Seriously. I don't know what the Illuminati are doing in this universe.
Bob Page is augmented Illuminati member code named "Douche-nozzle"
Secondly, augmentations are usually a choice. You do run into people where it was forced by necessity, like war vets and cancer victims, and some where it was FORCED forced like a mercenary and even player character Adam "I didn't ask for this" Jensen, but really? Nobody was born an augment. Unlike race, gender, sexual orientation....I can't think of one person born with a plasma cannon as a right arm.
Using Black Lives Matter, and the hints to Muslim discrimination, is a disservice to both the game and the real world issues. So the question is, what is the purpose of them?
If it's to flavor your own fictional story, like Human Revolution does with its real world references, then it's sloppy. It doesn't really relate and feels forced in this case. The story is no longer a discussion on Transhumanism. If it was, maybe using bits and pieces of BLM would be alright and add context to that discussion. Mankind Divided however, is overtly pro-augment in its now direct story of police states and shadow governments.* The universe is no longer taking the middle ground on augmentation. The discussion is gone.
*There isn't much, but there is some real world references to way too powerful corporations influencing governments and the UN. These I liked better despite it all existing in the vague Illuminati plot.
If the game really is an allegory to real world issues, then it's insulting. The apartheid story comes from the non-ending to Human Revolution and is comparing apples to oranges. I honestly don't think the game meant to be this though. I'd hope a game that was purposefully an allegory to real world issues, with a writing staff this good, would do a much better job. But, it is an unfortunate accident that the story could be portrayed this way, even if that wasn't the intention.
That said, I still really liked the story. The villain, Viktor Marchenko, has a pretty blah motivation as being a radical pro-aug terrorist while also being an Illuminati agent, so what his TRUE motivation is is sort of unknown but maybe a paid shill...???? Also, his past is mysterious and not well known either so who the fuck knows. Other new characters are really solid. I particularly like Alex Vega who is really Jensen's only real friend and confidant. She is also one of the few characters you actually learn a lot about. Elias Chikane, the new helicopter pilot character, is okay but I miss Faridah Malik.
Miss you. (She can actually die in Human Revolution but I refuse to fail that part. She lives. This is my canon).
As the kids would say, I ship Jensen and Malik. Well, I did. Vega sorta took her role over despite not being the helicopter pilot and instead being a cool hacker aug, so I ship Jensen and Vega now.
Bae.
Weirdly, only two major secondary characters from Human Revolution return, one being the aforementioned David Sarif. You can ask him about Megan Reed, which who cares she shouldn't be here anyway, and Frank Pritchard.* I miss the banter between Jensen and Pritchard. That relationship dynamic was so good. What starts as two characters unsure of if they can trust each other and trading witty barbs, become trusted friends who still throw witty barbs. It was great. I guess Chikane tried to fill that role but he was too much of a hard ass means business dude. He literally tells Jensen he doesn't want to be his friend. Jensen may have robot eyes Chikane, but do those eyes still not cry????? (They do not).
*Oh? Oh what's that? Pritchard is back! In a DLC mission? Thanks Square Enix!!!!!!!! Oh. Sorry. I meant, go fuck yourself Square Enix!
Eliza Cassan also returns but the news anchor feels off. Who is this lady on the news? That is NOT the Eliza that helped me in Human Revolution. Well.....she isn't! There is an excellent side quest that starts with a glitching ad at a subway station asking for help. You go place to place eventually connecting to one of the precog women from the end of Human Revolution (the ones with their minds attached to a super computer, The Hyron Project). But THAT is because her memories are fuzzy and when you find her a "memory fragment" (on a floppy disk lol), the real Eliza returns! Well, real being the previous AI that Eliza was, aka, my buddy!!! She helps you later and just sorta hangs out in the ether as she can't exactly usurp the fake Eliza, but it's a nice change of pace to see a rogue AI story line where the AI is GOOD. I love, love, loved this side quest. It truly caught me of guard (I raved about it on Twitter) and it's just a great example of a side quest with a great story. I'm....also a Deus Ex fanboy so YOU may not think it's as cool but hey, give me this.
She is kinda creeping me out though.
Other than that, yay for using a Witcher 3 style ending where choices earlier in the game matter! No pick three options. You do have one final decision which seemed possible to save everybody if you do it lightning fast but it was my first playthrough so of course I failed. I don't know how an augmented person saving a building full of people from an augmented terrorist made the world worse for augmented people but....oh yeah the Muslim references. But still, this game literally wants you to save a few dozen pro-aug politicians instead of hundreds of innocent people for the better ending which LOLZ. I get it, I do, but why again am I saving the rich people? Your message is cloudy Mankind Divided.
Also in the ending, you learn the office psychiatrist Delara Auzenne is an Illuminati spy (Jensen doesn't learn this just the player) so that's a thing. Jensen and Vega also decide to figure out who the leader of the hacker group Juggernant Collective, Janus, really is. I'm assuming this is going to be a plot in the next game. My guess, Janus is Bob Page. He has a few cameos in this game and is the villain of the original Deus Ex. Also, he's augmented and seems to be going off script with the rest of the Illuminati.
The fantastic story of Human Revolution still feels like a one off and not part 1 of a trilogy. Mankind Divided puts a good amount of effort into continuing that story while also taking a sharp left turn into other themes. This is a game I will likely playthrough another time and the world is deep enough that I may find new insights (I did not hack every computer and read every e-mail). Just like Human Revolution, it may jump to classic status on that 2nd playthrough, but I kinda doubt it.
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