Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Mankind Divided is set in 2029, two years after Deus Ex: Human Revolution.[11] The Deus Ex series is set in a cyberpunk future rife with secret organizations and conspiracies, including the Illuminati.[12][13] Before Human Revolution, advances in biotechnology and cybernetics led to the development of "augmentations", artificial organs capable of enhancing human performance. Augmentation requires the use of Neuropozyne, a scarce, expensive immunosuppressive drug which prevents the body from rejecting the augmentation. They also created social divides between "augs", humans who have accepted augmentation technology; and normal humans who are either morally opposed to it, too poor to afford it, or whose bodies actively reject it.[11]

During Human Revolution, the Illuminati planned to place limitations on augmented people with a biochip. They are opposed by Adam Jensen, chief of security at the pro-augmentation corporation Sarif Industries, who is heavily augmented after an attack on his employers critically injures him. Illuminati member Hugh Darrow subverts the Illuminati's plan in order to prejudice humanity against augmentations, broadcasting a signal from the Arctic research base Panchaea which drove anyone with the biochip insane; the mass chaos is later called the Aug Incident. Jensen stops the signal, and has a choice: to broadcast stories supporting Darrow, the Illuminati or his employer, or to destroy Panchaea and let humanity decide. Regardless of the ending chosen, Panchaea is destroyed anyway due to damage suffered during the Aug Incident, but social trauma from the Aug Incident and the Illuminati's manipulation cause augmented people to be stigmatized. Humanity has imposed a "mechanical apartheid" on augmented people by Mankind Divided, isolating them in ghettos and stripping them of their rights.[11][12]

The story focuses on events in Prague, with some events set in Dubai and London.[7][14] Several factions play key roles in the game world. One of the most prominent is the Illuminati, a group of corporate elites which influences society for its own aims. The Illuminati are opposed by the Juggernaut Collective, a group of hacktivists led by the shadowy Janus and precursors of underground movements in the original Deus Ex. The two main factions in Mankind Divided are Task Force 29 (TF29), an Interpol-run anti-terrorist team based in Prague; and the Augmented Rights Coalition (ARC), originally an aid group for augmented people and now a controversial militant organization opposing the abuse of the augmented.[12][13]

Human Revolution protagonist Adam Jensen returns as the lead character. Presumed dead after Panchaea's destruction, he was rescued and secretly implanted with advanced augmentations.[12][15] Due to a genetic trait which allows augmentations without Neuropozyne, Jensen occupies a middle ground between humans who mistrust augmented people and those whose augmentations are decaying due to a lack of Neuropozyne.[16] Adam becomes part of TF29 as a double agent for the Juggernaut Collective to expose the Illuminati, interacting with the Collective's unseen leader Janus through Alejandra "Alex" Vega. His co-workers in TF29 are director Jim Miller and psychologist Delara Auzenne. Adam's main opponents are ARC leader Talos Rucker and Viktor Marchenko, a member of ARC who becomes a terrorist.[13][15] Central characters in the downloadable content (DLC) episodes are Frank Pritchard, an old associate from Sarif Industries; Shadowchild, a skilled hacker with a grudge against the Palisade Bank corporation; and Hector Guerrero, an undercover agent in the "Pent House" prison for augmented criminals.[15]

During a mission in Dubai for TF29, Adam is attacked by an augmented mercenary group and narrowly escapes. He returns to Prague and speaks to Vega; they are caught in a bomb attack, which damages Adam's augmentations. After repairing them and learning about the hidden augmentations planted during his recovery after Panchaea, Adam spies on a meeting between Miller and his superiors and learns that the recent attacks will be attributed to ARC by the United Nations leadership. Adam is sent by Miller to the Golem City ghetto and confronts Rucker, who dies after confirming that ARC was not responsible for the attacks. The Illuminati-aligned Marchenko takes Rucker's place, and begins steering ARC towards militancy. Adam learns that TF29 director Joseph Manderley and VersaLife CEO Bob Page—prominent Illuminati members—used Orchid, a biological weapon, to kill Rucker.

Rucker's death causes unrest in the augmented population, and the Czech authorities impose martial law. With help from Vega and Janus, Adam learns about two opportunities to confront Marchenko: Orchid data stored in a Palisade Bank vault, and Allison Stanek (a fanatical, augmented ex-soldier who helped produce the bomb). By either route, Adam infiltrates Marchenko's base in the Swiss Alps and Marchenko injects him with Orchid. Adam survives because of his genetic traits, and gives an Orchid sample to Vega for analysis when he returns to Prague. After spying on a local crime family, he learns that Marchenko is planning an attack on a London summit hosted by influential CEO Nathaniel Brown. Brown is lobbying against the Human Restoration Act, an Illuminati-backed law which would permanently segregate the augmented in the isolated metropolis of Rabi'ah.

Adam fails to convince Brown of the threat and confronts Marchenko's men after they infiltrate the summit, poisoning Miller with Orchid. Miller's fate depends on Adam's earlier actions—if Adam fails to save Brown, his death at the hands of ARC galvanizes support for the Human Restoration Act; saving Brown empowers him to block the act. After confronting Marchenko, Adam can kill or apprehend him. Vega vows that the Juggernaut Collective will pursue Manderley and Page, and Adam insists that Vega introduce him to Janus. In a post-credits scene, a council of Illuminati members (led by Lucius DeBeers) convenes and decides to watch Adam closely. DeBeers then tells Auzenne, his TF29 agent, that they are using Adam to find Janus.

The narrative is expanded with the DLC series, "Jensen's Stories". In Desperate Measures, Adam discovers that footage of the bombing was edited by a member of Tarvos Security to protect a family member. In System Rift, Adam is tasked by Pritchard to break into the Palisade's Blade vault and investigate the logistics of Rabi'ah; he infiltrates the vault with help from Shadowchild. When Pritchard's avatar is trapped in the system, Shadowchild and Adam punch a hole in the Blade's firewall as a diversion so he can escape. In A Criminal Past, Adam talks with Auzenne about his first TF29 mission, in which he went undercover in the "Pent House", a maximum security prison for the augmented, when Guerrero, another TF29 operative, went dark. After contacting Guerrero and being involved in a prison riot, Adam discovers Junkyard: an augmentation-harvesting ring which uses the Fixer, an inmate. Guerrero has become affiliated with Junkyard and wants to kill the Fixer after he discovers their identities. Adam can defuse the situation or take sides (leading to different fates for Guerrero and the Fixer), asking Auzenne if she would kill to protect a mission.

According to DeMarle, the team met to discuss where to go from Human Revolution. Inspired by the Aug Incident at the end of Human Revolution, they wanted to explore its impact and aftermath. Although Human Revolution ended with a player choice, the team realized that the world's population would be too busy dealing with the tragedy to notice. This allowed the development of a sequel where each player's choice was valid.[21] DeMarle was in charge of the narrative design, overseeing a large group of writers who were split into teams; some handled the main narrative with DeMarle, others the side quests, and others helping with elements such as dialogue trees with boss characters.[27] One of the contributors to the scenario was James Swallow, who had previously written additional media and helped with the writing of Human Revolution and Deus Ex: The Fall.[28] Describing Mankind Divided's narrative design, producer Olivier Proulx said that the team wanted to redesign the narrative structure with less opportunity for players to use a save to play through several set endings (as in Human Revolution). Key plot twists were present through to the end of the game, impacting dialogue and story options.[16] Some plot elements were left unresolved by the end of Mankind Divided, attributed by DeMarle to production time limits and problems caused by the game's narrative detail.[29]

About where the narrative was supposed to go, Fortier said that the team wanted to evolve the first game's focus on transhumanism. This led to incorporating the theme of discrimination, apparently the logical outcome of the social divisions created by augmentations. Although the themes aligned with contemporary real-world events, Fortier said that this was primarily coincidental.[30] These elements played into the series' cyberpunk setting and its focus on conspiracy theories.[23][29] Prague was chosen because the team wanted to focus on Europe after much of Human Revolution was set in America. Prague was a good example of a city with a combination of old and new architecture. The team also chose it because of the myth of the golem (originating, according to Fleur Marty, in central Europe), reflected by the Golem City ghetto.[20]

While creating her narrative, DeMarle needed to remember the established Deus Ex narrative. She approached it as history written by the winner, with established fact in the original Deus Ex not being accurate. This fit with the seeking of truth, a theme of Mankind Divided.[16] Supplementary information in the game helped connect Mankind Divided to Human Revolution and future Deus Ex games.[23] The Illuminati, key antagonists in the series, were portrayed differently in Mankind Divided than they were in the original Deus Ex, where they were part of a "'90s-era X-Files-style paranoia". DeMarle wrote them as a loosely aligned elite, where each member pursues their own goals.[13] She compared the Illuminati of Mankind Divided with the bankers described in the book, Too Big to Fail. Both were too arrogant to unite in a common cause, and the bankers were the closest she could get to the fictional Illuminati.[13][29]

An early decision brought Human Revolution protagonist Adam Jensen back for Mankind Divided.[16] According to Proulx, his "badass" persona made him a favorite of the staff.[23] DeMarle did not see Adam as having a long life in the Deus Ex series, and he died at the end of one of her drafts for Human Revolution.[31] A core part of Adam's portrayal in Mankind Divided was his acceptance of his augmentations after they were forced on him. Described by game director Jean-François Dugas as "a tool and a weapon", Adam accepted his augmented status in Mankind Divided and decided to use it for the greater good and his personal goals.[32] Although Human Revolution portrayed Adam as reactive, in Mankind Divided DeMarle insisted that he be rewritten as proactive. His interactions with Miller had to take into account Adam's reworked persona and the necessities of a mission-based game.[33] Elias Toufexis returned to voice Adam, and was called in to begin recording in 2013. About returning to the role, Toufexis described it as easy since he knew Adam's character better; it was still difficult, however, since Adam's personality was defined by the player. Toufexis needed to have several versions of Adam in memory, so he could change his voice accordingly.[34]

Discussing the game design of Mankind Divided, director Jean-François Dugas said that although their first game was characterized by their overall "naiveté", Mankind Divided required courage to bring Deus Ex gameplay to "the next level". They had a solid base with Human Revolution, but the team wanted to evolve from that base and address problems raised by players and critics.[35] Issues included balance problems, stiff mechanics, weak combat and boss fights which seemed to penalize a non-lethal playing style.[35][36] Some of these problems were resolved in the Human Revolution director's cut, and feedback from that enabled the team to further tailor and balance the design of Mankind Divided. The gameplay had to reflect the narrative surrounding Jensen's acceptance of his augmentations.[35]

The team focused on creating an immersive environment and opportunities for player choice (from non-linear exploration to primitively completing objectives) on a large and small scale. The Praxis upgrade system was carried over from Human Revolution, and weapons were based on their real-life counterparts. The AI system was upgraded, with two different subsystems for open combat and stealth which would react differently and transition smoothly in response to player actions.[37][38] Augmentations were based on telemetry from Human Revolution which indicated what was popular with players.[7] The team evaluated boss battles in the context of Mankind Divided, including classic bosses who needed to be fought and encounters which could be navigated verbally. Although Fortier did not want classic boss battles, he realized that the game's mechanical limitations necessitated them. In response to complaints about the outsourced boss battles in Human Revolution, those in Mankind Divided were developed in-house; every boss was navigable with conversation or non-lethal options.[36]

Breach mode originated when the team wanted to diverge from the main game's realism. A "live" team, led by Fleur Marty, created Breach to bring Mankind Divided's mechanics into a non-realistic setting. Although the team wanted to experiment with a multiplayer mode, it would be difficult to implement and explain in the Deus Ex setting and they decided on an asynchronous system.[39] They implemented elements which encouraged fast completion. Early builds had a more difficult path back to each level's exit, which was changed due to its negative impact on stealth-based gameplay.[40] The team included microtransactions, but Marty said in an interview that players were not required to pay anything. Their aim was to make Breach "lighter than Hearthstone": a mode which was part of a retail game rather than a free-to-play, standalone mode.[39]

Mankind Divided runs on the Dawn Engine, a game engine designed for eighth-generation gaming hardware.[41] It was built on Glacier 2, an in-house engine created by IO Interactive.[42] The team had several choices of engine technology after Human Revolution. They included the Unreal Engine, used by another team in the company to develop the 2014 Thief reboot; the CDC engine, created by Crystal Dynamics for Tomb Raider: Underworld and its upcoming 2013 series reboot, and the IO Interactive Glacier 2 engine used by Hitman: Absolution. Due to its more-extensive tool suite, Eidos-Montréal chose Glacier 2 and expanded its basic framework to create the Dawn Engine.[41] The team introduced physically-based rendering as part of the redesign, and the engine was optimized for the game's narrative base.[42]

Creating the environments was a challenge for the developers, who wanted to be as realistic as possible within the game's planned design and available technology. The characters' hair, designed to appear as lifelike as possible, was animated with in-house technology based on TressFX. Dedicated lighting programming allowed realism in changing light conditions.[43] Environmental scale was troublesome; interior rooms with realistic proportions and high detail were too large to fit in their exterior structures, and the team used programming tricks to maintain the illusion of reality.[44] Multiple lighting filters were created at different levels to achieve a dynamic, realistic lighting system, and the game's use of light dovetailed with its artistic themes. Due to a lack of console-specific functions, in-house technology was used for the anti-aliasing filters to maintain a smooth image when navigating its environments.[43]

An element of the original Glacier 2 engine which was carried over into the Dawn Engine was the "entity system", an advanced AI system which allowed the quick creation of new AI behavior based on existing designs. This eliminated the need for a dedicated AI programmer.[42] The advantage of Dawn Engine technology was its ability to hold a large number of entities at one time, which was suited to large game environments. Its "entity-driven" architecture allowed artists deep involvement with the environment and level-design teams. The more-powerful technology allowed the inclusion of more interactive and environmental objects and elements central to the Deus Ex series, such as air ducts and cover.[45] The team wanted to avoid obvious walls preventing the player from moving beyond the map boundaries, so they integrated areas into the environment and looped major streets to create an illusion of size.[44]

Martin Dubeau was Mankind Divided's art director, and Human Revolution art director Jonathan Jacques-Belletête remained as executive art director.[46] Like Human Revolution, Renaissance and Baroque artists (including Johannes Vermeer, Rembrandt and Leonardo da Vinci) provided design inspirations for the team. Humanity's attitude to augmentation was described as a metaphorical and overt expression of the transition between the Dark Ages and the Age of Enlightenment, with gold remaining a symbolic representation of pro-augmentation factions.[47] Black and gold were the dominant colors for Human Revolution, but Mankind Divided made less use of these colors due to its narrative; instead, it used blue and gray to create a subdued setting.[47][48] Its game world aimed to make locations recognizable while adding futuristic, cyberpunk elements, since the game was set in the near future.[48] Dubeau represented the more-subdued tone and violent reaction against augmentations by using "cold, raw, and opaque materials" for modern architecture.[49] Golem City, Prague's ghetto for augmented citizens, was based on Kowloon Walled City and corporate housing;[46] for Dubai, the team was inspired by the work of Zaha Hadid.[48]

Adam's outfit was changed, referring to his first appearance in Human Revolution and his evolution after that game. Although Jacques-Belletête was satisfied with the first game's design, Dubeau wanted to use it as the starting point for a new design. After working on it internally for some time, the art team decided to collaborate with an external partner. They contacted Errolson Hugh, co-founder of the Berlin-based design house Acronym, to design Adam's coat. His new outfit aimed at a military feel while incorporating stylistic elements from its earlier form, fashion elements common to Hugh's work, and practical fastenings and alterations to accommodate Adam's augmentations.[50] Marchenko's design reflected a life of work and hardship. The character of Rucker was designed as symbolic of his own hardships and his position in ARC. His death scene included a sunset which, according to Dubeau, represented the death of the cyber-Renaissance.[46] Police-officer designs reflected the theme of regression, and their body armor was modeled on medieval knights.[49] In addition to Adam's coat, Hugh and Acronym collaborated on the game's general clothing design.[50] Its costume design was inspired by the work of fashion designer Gareth Pugh.[48]

Human Revolution composer Michael McCann returned as a co-composer for Mankind Divided.[51] McCann was joined by Sascha Dikiciyan, whose work included Borderlands and Tron: Evolution. According to audio director Steve Szczepkowski, the team wanted to build on Human Revolution's musical foundation while communicating the darker themes of Mankind Divided; due to the game's scale, another composer was sought to join McCann. After hearing Dikiciyan's music, Szczepkowski talked with him about joining the team; Dikiciyan shared his enthusiasm for the series, and came on board.[51][52] Breach-mode music was composed by Ed Harrison,[53] and the game's ending theme was composed by Misha Mansoor of the progressive metal band Periphery.[54] Two soundtrack albums for Mankind Divided were released on December 2, 2016: a standard edition and an extended edition, with additional tracks.[55][56]

Shortly after the game was announced, Mankind Divided was criticized online for using the word "apartheid" as part of its marketing. The criticism stemmed from the word's historic association with apartheid, a system of racial segregation in South Africa for much of the 20th century.[69] Members of the game's staff advocated their use of the term due to its relevance to the story's subject matter.[69][70][71] Additional controversy arose among the public and other game developers for Mankind Divided's use of the phrase "Aug Lives Matter" in its promotional concept art. The slogan is very similar to Black Lives Matter, an activist movement.[72] According to the developers, the similarity was a coincidence and its choice predated the movement's emergence in 2013.[72][73]

An original marketing campaign for Mankind Divided revolved around a five-tier pre-order campaign; players who had pre-ordered the game could pick items from each tier (each with their own pre-order bonuses) depending on worldwide pre-orders. The highest tier would have allowed players access to the game four days before its release date.[74][75] According to Square Enix, the system was intended to offer more freedom to players about pre-order content rather than developers choosing pre-order content packages for release in each region.[75] Game journalists and fans were highly critical of the campaign.[74][76] Due to the negative reaction, the system was canceled and all content was available to those who pre-ordered the game or purchased a Day 1 edition.[75] Mankind Divided was criticized after release for its use of microtransactions, compounded by rumors about internal troubles with the game's development.[77][78]

After the game's release, the development team focused on post-release content and DLC ranging from story-based episodes to updates of Breach.[20] A free, standalone version of Breach was released on Steam on January 24, 2017; Deus Ex: Mankind Divided – VR Experience, a non-interactive virtual reality tour of four environments in Mankind Divided, was released the same day.[79] Access to the DLC was by separate purchase and as part of the season pass which was part of the deluxe edition.[64]

The story DLC was released under the umbrella title of "Jensen's Stories".[3][80] Desperate Measures, a brief mission which was set after the main game's events, was released as a pre-order bonus before becoming available as a free download in January 2017.[81] The next DLC, System Rift, was released on September 23, 2016, one month after the game's release.[82] In addition to a new location to explore, System Rift's narrative explained the Breach mode.[83] The final DLC expansion, A Criminal Past, was released on February 23, 2017.[84]

A five-issue comic titled Deus Ex Universe: Children's Crusade was issued by the comic branch of Titan Books between February and July 2016. The comic was written by Alexander C. Irvine and drawn by John Aggs.[85][86] The comics were collected together and released as a single volume on August 30.[87] A spin-off novel written by Swallow, Deus Ex: Black Light, was published by Titan Books on August 23, 2016.[88] According to Swallow, Black Light fills in some of the story gaps between Human Revolution and Mankind Divided, concluding with his acceptance of work with TF29. Black Light was one of several possibilities of filling the story gap, with other options being a comic series or online animated series.[28] In addition to these, Swallow wrote a novella called Deus Ex: Hard Line featuring Alex Vega, and Irvine and Aggs collaborated on a mini-comic called Deus Ex Universe: The Dawning Darkness.[89] Initially pre-order exclusive, Hard Line and The Dawning Darkness were released as free downloads.[90]

Although Mankind Divided topped gaming sales charts during its week of release in the United Kingdom, the game had a weaker debut than Human Revolution because of a lower install base on consoles than its predecessor.[103] Mankind Divided was the third-bestselling game of August in North America, with console-game sales increases for the period partially attributed to its release.[104] In Square Enix's 2016 fiscal report, Mankind Divided and other 2016 titles including Final Fantasy XV were cited as factors in their net-profit increase.[105] By May 2022, Human Revolution (including the Director's cut) and Mankind Divided had sold a combined 12 million units.[106]