Thrills, spills and skills

DEUS EX: MANKIND DIVIDED

PC, Xbox One, PS4 £39.99 - £49.99

When it comes to choice and freedom in gameplay, the Deus Ex series sits on top of the pile. A first-person cyberpunk dystopia, its 2000 debut was heralded as a revelation, letting you slip seamlessly between stealthy, cybernetically-enhanced sneaking and all-out gunplay.

Its 2011 reboot was well-received, aside from its linear boss battle, and today’s latest sequel, Mankind Divided, refines and improves fantastically on its recent predecessor.

You’re back in the shoes of Adam Jensen, a bionicallyaugmented, secret-agent type now working for Interpol, caught up in an Illuminati conspiracy to discriminate and oppress those with robotic enhancements.

Set in the year 2029, you’ll explore Prague as though reimagined in the neon-lit, dark future of Blade Runner.

It’s a continually engrossing atmosphere to take in, but Mankind Divided’s real strength lies with its open level and mission design. You’ll be able to take on its challenges essentially any way you see fit, with the fiction putting a spectacular skillset at your disposal.

Maybe you’ll turn invisible, remotely switch off a turret and sneak past guards using a speedy, teleport-like dash move.

Or perhaps you’ll fire off a few stun rounds from above, land with an earth-shattering, electricallycharged fist to the floor before eviscerating enemies with a roboblade concealed in your arm.

Whether subtle or bloody, the game rewards your inventiveness, and both story-based missions and hub areas are littered with secrets to uncover, hidden paths to explore and environmental details that add depth to the world presented. As an RPG of sorts, Mankind Divided’s writing and voice acting is pretty solid across the board.

However, its story gets a bit weighed down in multiple layers of intrigue, which can muddle your motives, and just who you should be focussing your energies on. If it all gets a bit much, the asymmetrical score-chasing online mode Breach offers a change of pace, letting you experiment with skills in actionpacked, Tron-esque challenges.

Regardless of your approach, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided will thrill, and is well worth a look, even if you’ve missed out on earlier entries to the series.