Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Lore & Background

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is set in 2029, two years after the events of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Following the Aug Incident, a violent event that caused augmented people to go berserk, society has imposed a 'mechanical apartheid,' segregating augmented individuals into ghettos and stripping them of rights. The main protagonist, Adam Jensen, is a double agent for the hacker group Juggernaut Collective, working to expose the Illuminati, which is orchestrating events behind the scenes. The story explores themes of transhumanism and discrimination within a cyberpunk setting and conspiracy theory motif.

Reader's Guide

Production of Mankind Divided began after the completion of the Human Revolution expansion The Missing Link. Eidos-Montréal rebuilt the gameplay and graphics engine from scratch for next-generation hardware, focusing on realism and darker themes with a subdued color range. The game was announced in 2015 after a lengthy promotional campaign, though its marketing slogans were criticized by journalists and a tier-based preorder campaign was cancelled due to player backlash. Post-launch, story-based downloadable content was released in 2016. The game received positive reviews from critics, who praised its narrative, graphics, and gameplay, but criticism focused on the brevity of its campaign and the handling of its themes. Although it initially placed highly on sales charts, it was rumored to be a commercial disappointment, and as of 2026 no subsequent Deus Ex games have been produced.

Did You Know?

• The game's Breach mode is a free, standalone mode included with the game, though it could be purchased separately as DLC; it was not later released as a free, standalone product.
• Human Revolution composer Michael McCann returned to write the score with newcomers Sascha Dikiciyan and Ed Harrison.
• The CASIE augmentation provides a readout of an NPC's emotional state and suggests dialogue approaches, but does not automatically select correct options.
• Only the final boss (Viktor Marchenko) can be avoided through a specific dialogue choice; other boss fights are mandatory combat encounters.