Storyline/features:

          Mark of the Ninja is a 2D platformer that focuses on stealth and otherwise being ninja. The story is set in the modern day, where ninjas have perhaps become slightly outdated. You play as a ninja (go figure) who's clan was ruthlessly attacked by mercenaries. Your task is to strike back at the man who ordered the attack, and regain your clans honor. However, to do it you accept the burden of the mystical Mark, giving you mysterious abilities; but these powers come at a horrible price. The marks powers hail from a mysterious plant, who's origins I will later discuss. Besides giving you superhuman abilities, it turns whoever accepts it mad, in time. Turning on anyone and everyone, killing with the only intention to end lives. To ensure the safety of the clan the bearer of the mark kills themselves, turning themselves in before becoming to powerful to stop. 

        One thing that you catch on quite quickly is that the game strives to keep elements of the ninja authentic, point in case is that you don't know who you are. Your name, and anything about you is shrouded in mystery. Perhaps the only information you have is Ora, your companion throughout the game, and the name of your clan, the Hisomu. This approach to a character, especially a main character is not a common thing. Even in other games where the main protagonist is a ninja, it's more common that his/her name is one of legend (or infamy). However the fact of the matter is that the identity of a ninja was completely secret. So much so that it would be quite common that ninja's from the same clan would confront each other in battle (1). This was the case because ninja families were born to serve lords, for honor of their lords and clan.

      I will admit that the storyline is not the most complicated, nor is it a epic that spans several hundred hours; but for the narrative it tries to tell, it is well done. Not only from what happens during cut scenes, but during the game too. Now in most cases I don't really enjoy collecting, running every which way to find small things that give you an arbitrary 100% that don't really affect the game and its story. In Mark of the Ninja there are collectibles in the form of scrolls, and artifacts. Artifacts only give you points that count towards your final score, where the scrolls contain Haiku's. There are three a mission, and together they tell a short story about the clans history. Here's an example:

       On a starless night,  An unkindness of ravens,  Lands along a wall

Drunken, laughing guards ,  Spill outside with joy to meet ,  The eyeless faces

A thick liquid drips ,   Down a silken thread that hangs ,  Above a pillow

This particular set of scrolls tells of a mission. One that brought the Hisomu clan into legend. Reading through them really gives you an idea of how things were back in the day. When ninjas were feared, for the unknown power they wielded with deadly precision, and how it has all changed in the modern day. This is a major theme in the games storyline, and drives the majority of the plot. The death of the Baron, who ordered the attack on you from out of nowhere. To the well kept, dark secrets of the ink plant. These events simply act as a story, a children's tale. Because the whole game leads to its finale quite literally, and figuratively. 

       Throughout the game, it feels like you are alone in your mission to save the clan. Like you have been knowingly abandoned to your death, and the only 'light' is your one companion in all this. Ora, who is that companion seems to follow you through the thick and thin. Through the castles, deserts and back home. During development, it was decided that Ora would have a big speaking role. Which is hard to imagine in a game about stealth. So what you'll notice is that she only shows up at select times during a mission. Most often at the beginning and end, with some exceptions. So she's a constant factor in how you see the different situations, always lending a couple quips to give you some perspective. One thing I don't like, is that it's a narrative you have to listen to, and her reasons are never explained. All you know is she's a 'friend'. It feels like she has no other use in game than to push an idea. Thankfully, or at least true to the games varying gameplay, you make the finale decision. Figuratively and literally.

Game play:

Mark of the ninja is a particular game in the sense that its a 2D stealth platformer with emphasis on lighting dynamics. It uses a number of small mechanics to make the game play .It also uses sound quite effectively in its design. Stealth is often based on being able to see the mark and in some cases hearing them move, there are also some instances where you can sense the unseen. Mark of the ninja's game play makes use of them all. In general game play, not standing in a spotlight's or flashlight's gaze means you are in the shadows. 

       The lighting system is really interesting, and I'll explain. All light in this game comes from a source: lights, chandeliers, spotlights, floodlights, flashlights etc. Each has a one of a few 'gazes', as in it propagates outwards from the source in a particular way. Chandeliers give light out in about a ~150degree radius, and the light reaches as far as the outline shows. Flash lights have a smaller ~25 degree radius but can be shown anywhere the guard points, so are flexible in their direction of gaze. However if the guard is looking for you it's much harder to move around. So being caught out by them will happen more often. Another example of a source are the floodlights. They are similar to the the flashlight and ceiling light, in that it is staitionary and has a smaller AOE; but it has a protection from another small game mechanic, which i'll get too soon. Being able to skirt light sources is key in staying hidden, and you'll have too look out for a number of different types too. Because as soon as you step into the light you'll know. If you take a look at the photo to the side, paying particular attention to the to left you'll see a small icon of the ninja. This is your stealth indicator, and the icon will become lighter, as well as your character model if you step into the light.

       This is when you know you can be seen. Which is interesting because it doesn't mean you will be seen. The guards that populate each level have a small area in front of them that they can 'see'. This is indicated by a light outline that propagates out their eyes. If you come into this area they'll see you, and being sighted is its own little mechanic. You can in fact stand right in front of them, if your in the shadows, without being noticed. Get too close though and you'll be spotted out from the flashlight. So here two mechanics come together to create a game play experience. If you're standing in the light, and a guard happens too look towards you, he or she will instantly spot you. Which means a light source effectively extends the guards sight range. I think this is a really cool because of how it mirrors real life, as light tends to help you see stuff. In game play it keeps you on your toes, as just because there aren't any guards on screen to spot you doesn't mean one won't. As far as I know the range is pretty big, but not infinite. So avoiding lights becomes immensely important if there are guards around, especially if they are looking towards you.  

       The other way you can be found out is by sound. Being a ninja, you were trained to be as quiet as possible, so moving around generally makes very little noise. Running however will make quite a racket, and anyone nearby will hear it. In the first play through of the game you can see how far the sound travels out from its source. The game indicates this by a transparent white circle that moves outwards from the source. So its omnidirectional, but in a 2D space (if that makes sense); and I think it does because if you think about it, the idea feels right. It makes sense when you play the game and hardly needs explaining, it's easy to grasp. Which is a recurring theme around Mark of the Ninja's game play, and this why I think the game does very well.

       Now its all well and good that you can see the sound visibly, but how does it affect the game play? I'll use an example; in the image to  

the left. Here you'll see two guards, and our ninja protagonist perched on a hanging platform just above. By the feet of one of the guards is the source of the sound (I'll explain later what it is). Now you can see by the outline how far the sound went, and that the guard is in that area. The smaller yellow circle around the guard indicates that he has heard something, and the fainter yellow circle is where he thinks he heard it. So you can imagine how this works now. Using something that makes sound you can get a guard to turn away, so you can slip by, or murder him.

         One thing you'll have to remember though is how much sound you make, because if you noticed, the sound in this game travels through everything. Its one of the slight gripes I have with the game but its fairly minor, and actually makes game play better. In the picture above you'll see the outline goes into the floor. In another case perhaps its at a wall; the sound would go through it and into the next room for anyone to hear. Thus the real life physics of sound absorption is omitted (its not the only time this game does that). You'll find though that this has very niche but effective game play uses. For example getting the attention of a guard behind a door, so that he comes outside and you can sneak into the building without being spotted. Its a peculiar interaction, but its quite cool to think about.

       Now for actual gameplay, the how do I ninja bizz. Controls in Mark of the ninja are really quite simple, left analog for moving and right for looking around. A button for jump, X to punch/kick, and Y to use your tools (if you haven't noticed I used a xbox controller). Other buttons do things but i'll get to that in time. In the beginning of the game you don't have much, in fact you have nothing. So everything is 'vanilla' and as the game progresses more tools are added, more powers tapped, and techniques learned. Each level is story driven so there's no generic kind of mission, but I'll use the first level as an example. The first mission is to free your ninja brethren from the mercenaries, and is quite simple as most first levels are. In order to do so however you need to stay hidden, or you get caught and there's no one to free anyone else, logically. 

        So you have to hide, and there are a lot of places to do so. Much of each levels design is centered around how you can move through them. For example a hallway will have doors that you can hide behind. Allowing you to avoid detection by sensors and patrolling guards.  Simply done by pressing A next to one. There are many other things to hide in and on, trash dumps, garbage cans, pots, statues etc. For a normal person, hiding behind one of these isn't too hard, if whoever is looking for you isn't trying very hard. So a ninja with superhuman abilities should have no problems. 

      Suppose however you can't hide. There's a guard who just won't look away long enough, what do? In Mark of the ninja you have to often think about 'how can I get past this, and what can I use to do that?' In most cases your tools are immensely helpful. They allow you to distract and kill, depending on how you feel. Historically a ninja would not kill anyone but his/her mark, to avoid being caught; and it is possible to end every mission without killing anyone (save a select few). If you do choose to kill, there are many ways to do it. A wide variety of tools, and death blows are at your disposal. Assassinations are sometimes necessary, and they work like a combo. Input the combo correctly and the mark dies silently, but mess it up and whoever is dying will make a lot of noise.  It's oddly satisfying to flawlessly take down an entire task force alone. But it also comes at a cost. A cost to your score.

       Now it might be odd to think, there's a score system in a ninja stealth game. What the diddley doo for? To create balance, and options for the player. You could kill everyone and hide their bodies (for extra points, plus safety) or just leave them be. Not killing them is harder to do, if your plan is to stay unnoticed, but also gives greater reward. At the end of each mission your score is tallied, and the points come from how you interacted with the guards. Either he/she never noticed anything, got distracted by a noise or something you did, or died at your hands. For the system to be balanced, each has a different point value. Untouched give the most while dead give the least. Additionally extra bonus points come from not killing anyone, and distracting no one. They are much harder to achieve but are possible. 

      Most of the fun in the game play for me was being able to choose. It felt like I chose my own path. If a particular area was too hard to get by without killing, then I would go find a different way past. And my favorite thing about the games is its vast array of possible plays. There is absolutely no reason to play a level the same way ever, if you wanted to. It was also a lot of fun to be a ninja, in the way ninja's really were.

Audio + visual:

The game looks like a cartoon, there's no denying this. The visuals are bordered with a small out line to make it easier to see, which is nice in the relatively small amount of light. Only the foreground, and things you can interact with have these visible outlines. The rest of the scenery though is very much beautiful. Mark of the ninja makes use of multiple layered backgrounds, and I think its a cool way to depict a city. There are 5 different areas, with completely different visuals, and its a treat to just look at them sometimes. 

It's not generally a thing to do, but if you stop and look once in a while you can see how much detail goes into this game. Especially when you listen a bit. In a game with patrolling guards, most of their dialogue is simple and repeats over and over. In mark of the ninja the guards have a huge repertoire of lines, and they hardly ever repeat something you've heard before. I mean they don't exactly say anything that has any particular importance to the game, but its that level of detail they put into the little things that count.

     The music is also quite dynamic. Each level has some ambient music that's played in the background, but there are many occasions where it transitions out. For example if you get seen and the alarm goes off, the music becomes energized and really helps give that atmosphere of panic. And generally I enjoy the music, and how atmospheric it is.

      The art style in this game is amazing and is definitely one reason you should play it.

Final Thoughts:

      For me this game is amazing. There's so much option, and each play play through can be different from the last. There just so many small mechanics that just mesh together so well, and its clear the developers really spent a lot of time building the system. Plus the finale is just amazing, the atmosphere is just amazing.

     This game definitely for me deserves a spot in my top 10 favorite games, and I highly recommend anyone playing it regardless of whatever type of games you enjoy. 

If you asked me i'd give it a  9.5/10

Many Hitman fans have been waiting for a true sequel to Hitman: Blood Money for years. So with Hitman 2016 still a short wait away, is Alekhine's Gun the worthy spiritual successor to Blood Money and Death to Spies 2? Developed and published by Maximum Games, Alekhine's Gun is a 3rd person, stealth action adventure set during the height of the Cold War.

I'm a firm believer in saying that the quality of a game's graphics does not reflect the quality of the game as a whole, but just how bad the graphics are has to be addressed for the people that do care. Textures are flat, animations are stiff, and the lighting is jagged and all over the place.

This is a game that looks like it could easily run on a PS2, but has trouble running on a PS4. Not even a minute into actually playing the game, the frame rate tanked below 20fps as soon as I moved the camera. It's clear that the frame rate isn't capped, so one second you are at 60fps, then the next you are chugging along at 24fps. There are other games on the PS4 that have superior graphics, but still never drop below 60fps. The fact that this game does though makes no sense.

What technically counts as a story for Alekhine's Gun is a thinly spread doomsday plot that only exists to have you travel to various locations from the 1940's through the 1960's. You must travel to many different environments around the world, over the span of 3 decades, in order to eliminate targets, destroy sensitive information, and gather intel in order to keep the Cold War from boiling over. This story is primarily played out with single frame, black and white drawings with voice overs. For some reason, even these cutscenes suffer frame frequent frame rate dips.

Alekhine's Gun would have benefited greatly from a "The Man from U.N.C.L.E."-esque spy plot. You already play as a Russian spy, and there is an American CIA agent you save that is suspicious of you. Instead, we're stuck with a game that takes itself much too seriously. Which wouldn't have been bad if the story was actually engaging.

The bits of story that are actually fleshed out are the backgrounds of your targets and how they connect to real world events of the time. It's clear that the developers spent a lot of time studying the world's history during the Cold War. It's genuinely interesting to see how these fictional events would have fit in the real world.

Here is where Alekhine's Gun shines bright, the gameplay. Maximum Games were able to take the best elements of Death to Spies 2 and Hitman: Blood Money and put them into one game. As you progress through Alekhine's Gun, you will be given more and more unique ways of disposing of your targets and completing your objectives.

Simple ways of eliminating your targets, such as choking and poisoning, will eventually turn into electrocution, accidental chandelier positioning and BBQing gone wrong. Admittedly, not as unique as the ways of killing your targets in the Hitman entries, but Alekhine's Gun still offers a vast array of elimination and opportunities. Although, performing the same kill over and over will probably burn you out, so make sure to either take breaks or change up your play style from time to time.

Loadout and gear customization isn't as in depth as, say, Blood Money, but it certainly comes in handy with the 11 open levels you are tasked with completing. All the environments feel distinct and fun to play in. From a Nazi castle, to a busy hotel in Switzerland, to a mob boss' huge villa in New York The entire level is open to you from the get-go as well, so there's no need to wait for the other half of the map to unlock when the game deems you are worthy to proceed.

One welcome addition is the ability to save and load whenever you want. This may seem like something that isn't praise worthy, but it's a feature that is seemingly omitted from almost every faux mainstream stealth game nowadays. What may irritate many more modern gamers is that Alekhine's Gun lacks a basic autosave feature. So make sure to save before you do anything risky, or else you will be forced to replay from your last manual save point.

Is Alekhine's Gun a bad game? No, a bad game is a game that fails to achieve what it was aiming for. Maximum Games aimed for a fun, Hitman-esque stealth game in a Cold War setting, and they succeeded with that. Many people seem to forget that not every game needs to be Citizen Kane or a work of art to hang in a museum. Some games just want to be games. Although tripping over a few graphical and narrative hurdles, Alekhine's Gun core experience is a fun stealth romp that hearkens back to the days of Hitman: Blood Money.

Two Years after the aftermatch of Human Revolution, Mankind Divided throws Adam Jensen and the player into a new world of hatred, prejudice, and oppression. After augmented people were sent into a killing frenzy, the natural world began to reject the augmented and their values. Augmented people and natural people are segregated apart from one another and those with augmented limbs or abilities are treated as second class citizens, and Adam is stuck in the middle of the turmoil.

Our battery acid gargling protagonist, Adam Jensen, is back and just as enjoyable as he was in Human Revolution. Adam begins as an agent for a task force in the Czech Republic that may or may not be controlled by special interest groups. As he arrives in Prague, the train station he stops at is bombed and all the blame is put onto the controversial pro-aug group known as the Augmented Rights Coalition. Now Adam must solve a mystery that could topal entire governments. If that all sounds somewhat vague, then it's supposed to. It's best to go into Mankind Divided with little to no knowledge of the events after Human Revolution.

Perhaps Adam isn't as likable as he was in human Revolution since we no longer can sympathize with him having no choice in augmenting his body. Adam finally embraces the machine he is and it's your job to progress through the story as the nicest guy in Prague or just as rude and abrasive as the Czech state police. Thankfully, you can always pick when you want to be good or bad, but you can also settle comfortably in the middle as well.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided also focuses on conspiracies much more than in Human Revolution. Often times you will have to choose who to side with during arguments and choose who to give plot important items to. I loved the return of the "this is bigger than all of us" conspiracies. It really helps harken back to the original Deus Ex.

The social commentary was enjoyable and rarely became preachy. Once in a blue moon you'll stumble onto a document or TV broadcast that does seem to be a bit one sided though. The social commentary also isn't forced down your throat either. Besides the Augmented Rights Coalition during the main story, you will only find it in optional newspapers, e-books, and television broadcasts. So if you disagree with everything Eidos has to say or get offended easily, you're in luck.

Side quests are also much more dynamic and satisfying to complete than in Human Revolution. Most times, you will stumble out of a building and see a commotion off in the distance. Investigating further will likely activate a new side quest to complete. My personal favorites were The Harvester and Last Harvest side quests. In those quests, Adam becomes a bit like a consulting detective when he helps an ignorant detective solve a string of murders upon augmented people. The revelation is great and is written in a way that makes the world feel so three dimensional. That not everything is about you and your adventures.

All is not good in Jensen town though. The story has major issues. For starters, new characters to the series are never properly introduced. They just sort of show up out of nowhere and help advance whatever quest you're doing. Adam clearly knows them and has a past with them, but they weren't in Human Revolution so my only guess is that these characters were introduced in a secret game set in between Human Revolution and Mankind Divided that was never released. The only logical explanation is that Eidos got too close to the illuminati with this middle game so they made Mankind Divided and just advanced the story a few years. Or they were probably introduced in the midquel novel and we're expected to buy that too.

The main story has issues too. I can easily look past its serious pacing problems, but what really bothers me is the blatant sequel bait cliffhanger ending. With Human Revolution, it could have easily stand on its own as a prequel to the original Deus Ex. But it seems Eidos Montreal is getting cocky and probably plans a trilogy of to tie into the original game. It also doesn't help that the main story only clocks in at about 12 - 15 hours. Side quests add about another 5 or 6 hours though. Which is a let down compared to Human Revolution's 20 hour main story and 10 hours of side quests.

"If it it ain't broke, don't fix it" is and isn't true in Mankind Divided's case. Not only is it clear that Eidos Montreal took fan complaints about Human Revolution to heart and remedied them, but they also built onto the established gameplay to make Deus Ex fresh again. What does that mean? Well the overall clunky feel from Human Revolution is gone, but it also doesn't devolve into generic first person shooter territory either. Combat, stealth, and ghost gameplay have been improved on dramatically.

Now no one approach to a situation is anymore viable than they others. Want to stealthily navigate around your enemies to get to your objective? Look around your environment. There is often a door or a vent conveniently placed near you to avoid frontal assaults. Are you one to tackle your problems head on? Loud combat approaches are made all the more enjoyable with a larger arsenal of weapons at your disposal as well as a much needed overall to the controls.

After meeting up with the ghost of Prince, Adam learns that he has unstable experimental augs hidden away in his body that can be activated at a cost. That cost is overclocking his own body causing overheating and severe glitches. This is actually a nice and believable explanation to addition of new augmentations that does eventually tie into the main story. The balancing of your experimental augs is actually well done as well. To ensure that you can use those augs with serious side effects, you have to temporarily shut down another branch of augmentations to cool your system. This can be overridden with a plot device about half way through the game though so you can use everything without consequence.

Augmentations are just as fun to use in Mankind Divided, if not more so. All the augmentations that could be unlocked in Human Revolution return with some new friends. New additions include remote hacking, titan armor, nanoblade, and a few more. Augs are all the more fun to use with the return of Biocells. Instead of having to recharge your bio meter with random foods and drinks, Biocells can be used and are now craftable, buyable, and findable. For those who don't know, this is an item that was absent in Human Revolution, but found in the original and Invisible War (although under a different name).

Weapons also have gotten an overhaul since Human Revolution. Darting between cover and picking off targets both lethally and non-lethally has never felt better. Guns feel much more in line with usual first person shooters and that's thanks to the new control options. Now you can choose between classic Human Revolution controls, new Mankind Divided controls, and typical FPS controls. Your augmentations weren't the only thing that got upgraded. Guns have always been customizable in Deus Ex, but now you can customize to your heart's content on the fly. All you have to do is hold down the reload button/key and Adam will hold his gun out and allow you to change attachments, rate of fire, and even the ammo type. It's a bit like Crysis, if that makes sense. None of the gameplay really feels streamlined from Human Revolution. It just seems that Eidos fixed the problems people had and added more to the game. More developers should take notes.

Unlike Human Revolution that featured multiple decently sized city hubs, Mankind Divided instead opts for one large city hub where the majority of the game takes place. Many main missions and side quests are played out in the Prague hub, but a few missions are played out elsewhere like Golem City, an augmented ghetto. While Prague isn't a bad place for a city hub, it just isn't as memorable as Detroit or Hong Kong from Human Revolution. The samey grey buildings do get tiresome after hours of exploring. Perhaps this was a design choice to make landmarks like The Red Queen stand out more, but it still doesn't make that "been there, done that" feeling go away.

The amount of detail, be it large or small, is incredible. From Adam quickly switching the safety on when holstering his gun, to enemies calling out your location and what weapon you're using in real time. Segregation is a theme and Mankind Divided, and it shows when you board a "Natural Only" metro car. Other passengers will glare at you and the state police will warn you not to do it again once you get off. I hadn't even realized what I did wrong at first when I stepped off the Natural Only metro car and got scolded by the police. I assumed that the segregation areas were just for show, but there were actual consequences for stepping over the line. It's clear that a special amount of love and care went into Mankind Divided that may be overlooked by many players looking for cheap explosive thrills instead

Even for 2011 standards, Human Revolution still looked a bit dated compared to other AAA releases at the time. Mankind Divided on the other hand looks downright beautiful thanks to the Dawn Engine. Clothing, faces, and weapons all look as if you could reach out and actually touch them. Bright neon lights reflect off of objects and NPCs. Rain will stick and drip off of Adam's well toned augmented body. Mankind Divided is candy for the eyes, for the most part.

Some textures don't get the same treatment. Textures such as certain walls, miscellaneous objects scattered around the world, and the little foliage that can be found are often incredibly basic textures that made me wonder if I was even supposed to be looking at them. But the biggest issue regarding the graphics is the frame rate. I played through Mankind Divided on the PS4, and I found an abundance of frame rate dips. "Dips" doesn't even begin to describe the problems with the frame rate. "Frame rate plummets" is a much better description. Even the act of walking down a lonely alley way can result in the frame rate tanking like the Titanic in a tsunami. Thankfully, the actual story missions stay at around 30 frames per second the entire time.

Besides the frame rate, the most noticeable issue with the graphics are the idle animations and lip syncing. Lip syncing ranges from serviceable to just plain bad. Outside of prerendered cutscenes, characters look like dogs when they have peanut butter in their mouths, filmed it, and then the developers just looped dialogue over that. Now what about animations? Well combat and takedown animations are great to watch and even seamlessly transition back into gameplay. Idle animations are another story. Often times characters will flail their arms about and shake their heads when they didn't say anything that would warrant that.

But by Philip K. Dick's ghost, that cyberpunk atmosphere though. Where Human Revolution was overflowing with cyberpunk cliches and a yellow and black color palette that often overstayed their welcome, Mankind Divided instead goes for a more nuanced approach to the cyberpunk genre. Much like the original Deus Ex. That doesn't mean Mankind Divided is any less cyberpunk than it's predecessor either. Neon still soaks through subtlety, especially in the red light district. Synthesizers still plays perfectly to the situation you're in. Whether you like to be bombarded with cyberpunk visuals and jargon or prefer or more realistic take on the genre is a matter of opinion.

If you thought Human Revolution's soundtrack was great, you're in for a magnetic treat with Mankind Divided's score. Following the gameplay's "if it isn't broken, don't fix it" mindset, the score in Mankind Divided is an orgasmic ensemble of synthesizers and cyberpunk good times. Expertly switching between slow and somber for depressing moments. Then ramping up the energy in each track as you go guns blazing after a botched stealth approach. If the atmosphere and story weren't cyberpunk enough for you, then the soundtrack is what you need.

The sound even factors into the gameplay. Just walking around a building that you're supposed to infiltrate can lead to wondrous discoveries. Many times I began to overhear idle chit chat between two NPCs discussing the building or location they are outside of that lead to me figuring out alternative paths that were pretty well hidden. Footsteps also make a welcome return. Nothing is more infuriating than a stealth where you can't hear your enemy's footsteps. Footsteps echo off of different materials and even your own footsteps are affected by the type of floor you're walking on and how fast you're moving. Thankfully, Mankind Divided remembers its stealth roots.

Elias Toufexis is back as Adam Jensen, but Stephen Shellen does not return to voice David Sarif. And that's a shame too. Shellen's performance as Adam's aggressive boss was one of the most memorable elements of Human Revolution. While Sarif's new voice actor does a more than serviceable job, it's still a shame that we won't hear "ADAAAM" in the right voice again. I'm not personally Czech, believe me I checked, so I can't comment on the authenticity of the accents of the Prague NPCs, but they sound believable enough. Almost every character has an accent so I hope it's authentic.

No game can be this good without an ugly sore hidden somewhere. That sore comes in the form of Breach. Breach is the incredibly unnecessary multiplayer mode for a single player centric game. Those who have played the original Deus Ex know that multiplayer isn't exactly new to the series, but not like this. Take the single player from Mankind Divided, neuter the gameplay, add actual microtransactions that forms a pay2win business model, neuter the gameplay even more, and bam: Breach mode. It isn't worth your time at all. Especially with new game plus for the base game. Luckily it can be ignore altogether.

To answer the opening rhetorical question: Mankind Divided proves that Human Revolution wasn't a fluke and the Deus Ex franchise has a bright future ahead of it. If you liked Human Revolution, you'll love Mankind Divided. It isn't exactly the definitive cyberpunk RPG, nor is it even the best in the Deus Ex serious, but it gets damn near close.