Let’s put aside for a moment the fact that Deus Ex: Mankind Divided—a game released well over three years ago—still has a bug that can cause you to instantly die when using a certain move while hiding behind cover. Much like how Dishonored 2 felt like it was made purely to capitalize on a proven franchise that worked better as a one-off, this is a game that doesn’t really have a reason to exist beyond “Square-Enix wants more money and Eidos-Montreal doesn’t have anything better to do.” I didn’t care much for Deus Ex: Human Revolution, though, and it’s kind of nice playing a similar “modern” entry that doesn’t use that game’s ugly yellow filter. I’d even go so far as to say that I prefer this over its bland predecessor.

I probably could have put something up about Mankind Divided yesterday, but I instead spent the night rewatching Happy Death Day, an excellent movie in the vein of Tucker & Dale vs. Evil. The night before, I watched Happy Death Day 2U, its arguably better sequel from earlier this year. That sequel is worthwhile because of the way it expands the first movie’s lore while also tying into its numerous occurrences (which were reinforced thanks to a time loop) in a satisfying way.

Both Happy Death Day 2U and Mankind Divided were created to make money, but one comes across as a natural and clever extension of its world while the other reeks of being created out of artless obligation. In fairness, Mankind Divided has a disadvantage in the sense that the series’ history of overlapping conspiracies has created an expectation that the writers appear to have been bound by; while the game wants to explore the struggles of its augmented class (which is interesting even if their oppression is hilariously sudden), it also forces main character Adam Jensen and the factions he meets to be neck-deep in clashing conspiracies that have all of the pretend depth and subtlety of Ancient Aliens.

The layered conspiracies in the original Deus Ex worked largely because they were a fresh and new way of telling a story 19 years ago. Four games later, it’s starting to look like more of a prison. Mankind Divided superficially tries to tie the newer games to the events of the first Deus Ex by involving some of the same characters, but no one needed this, and it only shows off how bad its gameplay and writing are by comparison.

If the title of this page isn’t a giveaway already, I’ve also experienced a ton of bugs and design decisions so stupid that they might as well be considered bugs. The first and most obvious is the walking animation bug where NPCs get stuck on a solid object, leading to them becoming spaghetti-legged monstrosities that try in vain to high-step their way to freedom. That’s an amusing and harmless bug, admittedly.

In a sane stealth game, peeking out from cover and shooting someone would work as intended. In Mankind Divided, trying to use your nanoblade (which thus far has been an instant kill for normal, non-robotic enemies) after peeking around the corner instead causes it to hit an invisible wall, transferring all of that damage to you instead. You can see Jensen die to his own instant-death attack at 31:55 in the first embedded video.

The rest of the first embedded video consists of miscellaneous awkwardness that’s not technically bug-related, but awful nevertheless. No one ever tells you that doors can be destroyed with grenades, so I kept looking for a vent or something to get into a building to continue a sidequest. The underground parts don’t seem to connect to it despite my repeated attempts to explore a manhole that’s right there. It’s not in the video, but I did eventually try out a grenade and realize that I could break in that way. Before that, though, I moved on to another sidequest, and it was bad enough to destroy any enthusiasm I had for Mankind Divided.

Enemies are slightly smarter than I remember them being in previous games (if they see you shooting at them from a vent, they’ll cover both exits), but the rules behind what causes them to become hostile are virtually random. If someone sees you hacking, they might become hostile, but they might also be totally fine with it. If you’re reading an email and someone wanders in, they’ll apparently ignore your presence altogether. Sometimes security cameras/turrets appear to be disabled as you wander around, only for them to gun you down the second you try to double back the way you came. The mechanics here buckle under their own weight. It’s been three years. These problems will evidently exist forever.

In summary, you should go watch the Happy Death Day movies. As for Mankind Divided, it’s probably for the best that the series is on ice.

Bugs galore in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided – Game Pass, part 6 first appeared on Killa Penguin