Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is an action role-playing video game developed by Eidos Montréal and published worldwide by Square Enix in August 2016 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Versions for Linux and macOS systems were released in 2016 and 2017, respectively. It is the fourth game in the Deus Ex series, and a sequel to the 2011 game Deus Ex: Human Revolution. The gameplay—combining first-person shooter, stealth, and role-playing elements—features exploration and combat in environments connected to the main hub of Prague and quests that grant experience and allow customization of the main character's abilities with Praxis Kits. Conversations between characters have a variety of responses, with options in conversations and at crucial story points affecting how events play out. Players can complete Breach, a cyberspace-set challenge mode, in addition to the main campaign. Breach was later released as a free, standalone product.

Mankind Divided is set in 2029, two years after Deus Ex: Human Revolution. The Deus Ex series is set in a cyberpunk future rife with secret organizations and conspiracies, including the Illuminati. 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.

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. Jensen destroys Panchaea in the canonical ending, 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.

The story focuses on events in Prague, with some events set in Dubai and London. 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 body opposing the abuse of the augmented.

This is a near 100% (all side missions and points of interest covered, but certainly not all loot collected), hybrid playthrough (my Adam is sometimes stealthy, sometimes willing to just talking his way out of a conflict, but sometimes also very happy to go killing without mercy), which is my preferred way to play the game.