

Jensen is now an Interpol agent based in Prague, running down terrorists and levelling himself up while pursuing a private vendetta against the Illuminati, a fat cat collective who want to bring the transhuman generation to heel. Mankind Divided is set in the midst of a global backlash against the mechanically augmented, following an outbreak of remotely-triggered mass psychosis at the conclusion of the previous game. It's possible to hack terminals using point-and-click Omni-Tools, but they can only be used once and take up inventory room. If you want to explore the layouts in full and appreciate the backstory, invest in active camo and hacking augmentations early on. Most people have to see the world for what it is. Because most people in the Deus Ex universe aren't as fortunate as Adam Jensen. But if smart vision is a well-worn mechanic, and expressive of an old tension between the stories such worlds seek to tell and what you actually do in them, the narrative also charges the act of peeling away visual noise with unusual import. And as in many other games, it's a trick that somewhat undermines the art direction, letting you cut through heaps of evocative, storied detailing - the brutalist corporate sculptures that adorn the sinister Palisade Bank, or the crates of fruit and circuitboards that line the corridors of Golem City - at the touch of a button. It's a trick you're almost certainly familiar with from other stealth-oriented games, including 2011's Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

