Deus Ex has been on ice since 2016. While there are promising rumblings of the franchise coming back, the fanbase was left with its most politically biting, action-packed entry yet with Mankind Divided. Except, for however much of an improvement it was over Eidos’ Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Mankind Divided left players on quite the divisive cliffhanger.
SPOILERS ABOUND.
The cliffhanger went thus: One of your most trusted allies is revealed to be a traitor serving the Illuminati. Many of your friends either scattered to the wind or are struggling to survive a night of fascist crackdowns and terrorist attacks, and however much of a win you pull out of the chaos, it’s impossible to truly achieve total victory.
At first, the ending didn’t quite stick for me, but over time I’ve come to see it as one of Mankind Divided’s strengths.
Where Human Revolution emphasizes scale, Mankind Divided aims for one of gaming’s most desired achievements – the idea of a truly living, breathing slice of a city. Prague isn’t a massive, stunning span of landscape like Los Santos in GTA V, nor is it a mere warzone like Homefront: The Revolution’s Philadelphia. Instead, Eidos’ vision is a handful of districts that shift drastically over the course of a mere handful of days.
After being met with failure and indifference over his efforts in Human Revolution, Adam Jensen evolves his approach, trying to work within the system to identify those threatening to tear humanity – augmented and unaugmented – apart. You explore the corruption strangling the efforts of the world’s best and brightest at every level of society. While the elite Illuminati are the greatest threat, their elaborate decoys and proxies in every faction spread misery everywhere and make most people wholly unaware of the role they play (classic Illuminati, eh?).
This isn’t the sort of system you can dismantle in a week. Adam came closer than most, confronting the previous heads of the Illuminati, leaving many of them either dead or in disarray depending on your choices in Human Revolution, and yet their allies are still pulling the strings. Whether you’re trying to just solve a cold case in the streets of Prague or breaking into high-tech warehouses full of militant goons, Mankind Divided asks you one simple question: What justice can you eke out of this? How, in your own, infinitesimally small way, can you work to make things better for even just one person?
As Adam says in the game’s original reveal trailer: “The world has changed. The old rules don’t apply.” It’s not as simple a question as lethal vs. non-lethal. Mankind Divided presents you with a startling climax where no matter what you choose; not everyone walks away happy – not even Adam. You might save the day for some allies, and perhaps a few misguided enemies, but it’s all still at a cost you have to live with.
Once it’s all said and done, your work isn’t over. Adam’s work isn’t over. There’s no perfect resolution – you can’t have one in this sort of world. It undercuts your sense of victory, sure, but that’s how life works. It doesn’t just stop.
What’s powerful about Mankind Divided is that none of this deters Adam. He’s worn down – as are his surviving friends and allies – having weathered this storm. It’d be easier to just give up: accept the system, embrace the chaos and surrender – except he doesn’t. He keeps trying. His efforts aren’t sisyphean, as his decisions can and do genuinely benefit others. By working on the microscale, Adam embodies the personal struggle of striving to do the best you can despite your circumstances.
So of course he doesn’t have a happy ending to his tale. There’s no convenient, preachy speech justifying the philosophy you support like at the end of Human Revolution. Mankind Divided may be a cyberpunk conspiracy thriller, but it leaves you to make your own conclusions, drawing meaning from the consequences of your actions. It’s an introspective, resolute story that trusts you can dig deeper than “I shot all the bad guys, now where’s my medal?” mentality so many games have engrained in us over the years.
Am I excited to see more of Adam’s journey? Absolutely. Do I want him to reach a personal resolution that leaves him content? Definitely. Yet right now, a tale about someone striving to do good without the reward of a superhero movie ending, of choosing what’s right over what’s easy, is infinitely more reflective of the times.
Deus Ex is more than just a series of Immersive Sim levels with cool augmentations – it’s a story about impossible decisions. Given that, the fact that you can draw any solace from Adam’s brief respite is more powerful than a bombastic finale ever could be.
