Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Developer(s) Eidos Montreal
Publisher(s) Square Enix
Director(s) Jean-François Dugas
Composer(s) Michael McCann
Series Deus Ex
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
PlayStation 4
Xbox One
Release date(s) August 23, 2016[1]
Genre(s) Action role-playing, first-person shooter, stealth
Mode(s) Single-player

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is an upcoming cyberpunk-themed action role-playing video game—combining first-person shooter, stealth and role-playing elements—developed by Eidos Montreal and published by Square Enix as a sequel to the 2011 Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Set two years after Human Revolution, Mankind Divided features the return of Adam Jensen, with new technology and body augmentations. It is played from the first-person perspective, with a third-person perspective cover system.

Gameplay

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is presented from the first- and third-person perspectives and combines elements of first-person shooters, with a role-playing upgrade system and dialogue trees. The game allows the player to tackle situations using combat, hacking, stealth, and social interactions.[2][3]

Synopsis

Setting

Mankind Divided is set in the year 2029, two years after the events of Human Revolution and the "Aug Incident"—an event in which mechanically augmented humans became uncontrollably and lethally violent. Unbeknownst to the public, the affected augmented received implanted technology designed to control them by the shadowy Illuminati, which is abused by a rogue member of the group to discredit augmentations completely.[4][5] The Illuminati successfully conceal the truth behind rumors and disinformation, while the augmented are now outcasts from normal humans in an era of "mechanical apartheid".[5]

The player character is Adam Jensen, an augmented former private security officer now working with Interpol to capture a terrorist group of augmented humans. Jensen secretly works for the Juggernaut collective, a hacker group helping him to confront the Illuminati.[5]

Development

In October 2013, video game developer Eidos Montreal announced that the Deus Ex series would be expanding into a mobile game and print media franchise. Additionally, the team behind their 2011 Deus Ex: Human Revolution was already at work on a new release for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.[6] In March 2014, publisher Square Enix applied for a trademark on Mankind Divided's title.[3] Developer Eidos Montreal revealed the Dawn Engine, a new game engine, in December 2014. Its technology is based on IO Interactive's proprietary Glacier 2 game engine, which was used in Hitman: Absolution (2012).[7]

The game's announcement was leaked a day in advance of its official unveiling in early April 2015.[3] The reveal was the culminating moment of a three-day Square Enix promotional event[3] called "Can't Kill Progress" that featured a live Twitch stream of a man pacing, sleeping, and meditating in a nondescript room.[8] Viewers were allowed to change the camera angle and vote on how the man should act during his interrogation.[8]

Reception

Controversies

The pre-order system of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided caused controversy because of its tiered reward levels, from tier 1 to tier 5.[9] The system gave the buyer the ability to "choose" what they got depending on what global tier the level of pre-orders were reached.[10] The pre-order system was compared to the way Kickstarter campaigns work; the more pre-orders, the more items the people who pre-ordered would get.[11] Due to negative reactions from fans and critics, the system has been cancelled, and all pre-order content will be available to those who pre-order the game or purchase a Day 1 edition.[12]

The developers of Deus Ex came up with the term "Mechanical apartheid" for the repulsion and distrust shown by natural people towards augmented people in the game. The term was used during the E3 presentation and in various marketing materials to promote the game. The usage of the term however caused controversy and the developers were criticized for using it, especially due to the historical usage of the term "apartheid" referring to discrimination against blacks in South Africa and the game was accused of being racist and racially insensitive. The game was also derided as a "white game" by some commentators. Eidos Montreal's Jonathan Jacques-Belletete responded by criticizing those who criticized the developers of the game for using the term and explained the term is appropriate for the game since the Deus Ex franchise is about the human nature and humans will be bad to each other forever.[13][14][15][16] Mary DeMarle, the executive narrative director of the game, responded to the controversy by saying that they are trying to present the issues of the world without judging anyone for their actions.[17] Gilles Matouba, the former director of the game and a black Frenchman, made a Reddit post to respond to the controversy. He explained that the term was coined by him and Andre Vu, an Asian Frenchman who is the brand director of the Deus Ex franchise and they wanted to offer the audience something unique and something that was close and personal to them. He continued saying that racism was a dark part of human nature and they wanted to treat this subject. He also criticized those who had criticized the developers for using the term and especially for thinking they are all white.[15][16]

References

  1. ↑ Anfossi, David (November 18, 2015). "Deus Ex: Mankind Divided new release date". Square Enix. Retrieved November 18, 2015.
  2. ↑ Purchese, Robert (August 11, 2015). "Clearing confusion about boss battles in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided". Eurogamer. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 McWhertor, Michael (April 7, 2015). "Deus Ex: Mankind Divided leaked, coming to PC, PS4 and Xbox One (update)". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on April 7, 2015. Retrieved April 7, 2015.
  4. ↑ Reeves, Ben (April 7, 2015). "May Cover Revealed – Deus Ex: Mankind Divided". Game Informer. Archived from the original on April 8, 2015. Retrieved April 7, 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 Phipps, Brett (March 14, 2016). "Deus Ex: Mankind Divided release date, trailers, gameplay and story details". TrustedReviews. Time Inc. UK. Archived from the original on April 2, 2016. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
  6. ↑ Nunneley, Stephany (October 2, 2013). "Deus Ex in the works for PC, next-gen – Human Revolution: Director’s Cut releasing this month". VG247. Archived from the original on April 8, 2015. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
  7. ↑ McWhertor, Michael (December 4, 2014). "Eidos shows what a new Deus Ex might look like running on its new game engine". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on April 7, 2015. Retrieved April 7, 2015.
  8. 1 2 Kollar, Philip (April 7, 2015). "What the hell is Square Enix doing on Twitch?". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on April 8, 2015. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
  9. ↑ Sharon, Coone (September 2, 2015). "Deus Ex: Mankind Divided’s Pre-Order Has Players Choose between 39 Different Combinations". Twinfinite. Retrieved September 3, 2015.
  10. ↑ Tassi, Paul (September 1, 2015). "'Deus Ex: Mankind Divided' Has The Worst Pre-Order Bonus Structure Of All Time". Forbes. Archived from the original on September 3, 2015. Retrieved September 3, 2015.
  11. ↑ Robert, Ramsey (September 2, 2015). "Deus Ex: Mankind Divided's Getting Torn Apart for Its Ridiculous Pre-Order Strategy". Push Square. Retrieved September 3, 2015.
  12. ↑ Dunuan, Liezl (October 5, 2015). "Square Enix Cancels 'Pre-Order' Program For 'Deus Ex: Mankind Divided'". Christian Post. Retrieved October 5, 2015.
  13. ↑ Kuchera, Ben (June 19, 2015). "Deus Ex developers respond to 'mechanical apartheid' complaints". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved February 10, 2015.
  14. ↑ Tim, Geoffrey (June 18, 2015). "On Deus Ex: Mankind Divided’s “Mechanical Apartheid”". Lazygamer.net. Retrieved February 10, 2015.
  15. 1 2 Cheong, Ian Miles (June 17, 2015). "Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Director Speaks Out About ‘Mechanical Apartheid’ Complaints". Gameranx. Retrieved February 10, 2015.
  16. 1 2 Saed, Sherif (June 19, 2015). "Deus Ex: Mankind Divided writer responds to ‘mechanical apartheid’ debacle". VG247. Videogaming 247 Ltd. Retrieved February 10, 2015.
  17. ↑ Furniss, Zack (June 17, 2015). "Deus Ex writer responds to 'mechanical Apartheid' controversy". Destructoid. Retrieved February 10, 2015.

External links

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