Recent reviews by Drew

What could have been a good successor to the Deus Ex series reboot Human Revolution is held back by greed.

Already, many players have forgotten the pre-order bonuses and one-use items that could be purchased for the game essentially making a SINGLEPLAYER experience somehow pay-to-win. As one can still see on the Steam store page, there are "packs" that prove the cash grab that was attempted for the game - not to mention the terrible System Rift DLC that made the basic mechanics of the game into what amounts to a mobile game style of profiteering. There WAS a mobile app that was supposed to provide some sort of alternate reality augmentation for collectibles in the game, but that app no longer exists.

Although the graphics are certainly incredible, and do a good job of bringing the style of the previous game (skip the Fall) into a graphically impressive realm, many players have also experienced frequent crashes and a large amount of bugs that still remain 4 years later. Loading screens last a very long time even on strong machines, and the game will often lag, skip, or under-perform. Many graphical- and audio-related issues break the immersion.

Additionally, the story COULD have been very good. Instead, Mankind Divided is essentially bait for a sequel yet to come. It is half, or perhaps even less, of a game and ends far too soon. Interesting and influential side quests give way to primary story choices that are less-than-choices. In an attempt to spoil as little as possible while getting the point across: the one major choice at the middle of the game effects the ending immensely - but only one of the two choices allows the "best" game ending to happen. There is no in-between - the game only allows one choice to get a "good" ending and the other presents another story for the middle part of the game, but a lesser story for the ending. The actual ending of the game amounts to less than a slideshow, and players of Fallout: New Vegas will certainly think of a game that did even that lackluster sort of ending in a much better way - and featuring much greater choice and influence upon the end-game. Overall, the characters tend to be forgettable as many of them are underused, and the story is hardly influential. There are few locations and at that many of them are sadly not very interesting - even though they could have been.

IN SUMMARY: I would not recommend purchasing this game, even to fans of the series, unless you get it on sale and do not engage with the pay-to-win aspects of the game. Even then, the story is hardly one to write home about, and I would also say that you should wait until the sequel comes out to give it a try, because perhaps then the story will actually be tied together and given a more satisfying ending and experience than Mankind Divided offers. As a fan of the Deus Ex series and Human Revolution in particular, I was disappointed.

Is good game. Valve, give sequel now.