I'm surprised by all the negative reviews. I guess if you didn't really explore the levels, you could probably finish the game sooner.

But there were so many hidden nooks, lots of things to hack, many opportunities to utilize your augmentations. My playtime of Human Revolutions was around 70 hours. My playtime of Mankind Divided was more like 54-55 (+the Janson story, which took probably another hour to finish). The levels were varied, and full of places to discover.

And the game lacks the flaws of Human Revolutions (which had a terrible opening level and while the final level of Mankind Divided wasn't 'great', it was certainly better than the 'zombie level' of Human Revolutions. And I'm certainly not knocking HR, overall, as the middle is great, especially with the missing link restored to it. But it started off bad and ended bad. Mankind Divided was just fun as a Deus Ex game, and ends abruptly, but at the same time, the main story thread it was telling was completed.

Certainly, some tweaks could help near the end. And I'm not fond of them replacing David Sarif's voice (though it suffices) Overall, I loved it. I rarely buy full priced games, but this year I bought Fallout 4 and Mankind Divided, and will probably buy Dishonored 2, since it is basically Deus Ex set in a steampunk like world. and I absolutely loved the first game (and that was another one that was rather short, but the game and story and all just worked so well, and the levels allowed many opportunities to use your abilities, so I was ok with it).

And being a big Deus Ex fan, I love all the new additions. They refined the Aug system from HR, and the new Augs are fun, especially remote hacking. I liked that I could play the game lethal or nonlethal, and there were lots of ways through levels. The basic gameplay is everything I could want from a Deus Ex game. More so than HR, because MD hits the ground running.

I see complaints about the story... and I don't get it. HR never really went the distance as far as Conspiracy theories go, not like the original Deus Ex. But you see little building blocks here and there, in HR and MD, leading to the foundations of what became Deus Ex. Would I lke more Conspiracy Theories in this mix? More secret societies? And what not? Of course, but neither game really does enough with it. But the story is entertaining enough, certainly as much as HR, though it never builds to a ridiculous anticlimax (just an abrupt climax), and the core gameplay and the levels allowing a player to flex out their aug muscles seems much more solid in MD.

I'm not fond of the microtransactions, they suck. But they aren't in your face about it in this game and they certainly aren't needed. Same with the DLC that came with preordering. I never felt like I was grinding to go up levels. I leveled up, getting praxis kits, at fairly regular intervals. So yeah, the fact that microtransactions are there, baaad. But you can easily ignore them and never think about them while playing the game, so it's not as big a deal as some are making it out to be.

So really, not sure what people were expecting. I will say the DLC offerings for the season pass seem weak as hell and not worth picking up. The Fallout 4 Season Pass was definitely more than worth it, as I will be jumping back into that next now that I have finished MD, and now the nuka cola theme park has been added and I've been hearing great things about it.

Bottom line, love MD and will play it again at some point. And if you are a Deus Ex fan, and like to explore levels (not just stick to main story points), and don't mind a game that is a bit shorter than HR, I recommend it. I enjoyed it overall more than HR.

I'm surprised by all the negative reviews. I guess if you didn't really explore the levels, you could probably finish the game sooner. But there were so many hidden nooks, lots of things to hack, many opportunities to utilize your augmentations. My playtime of Human Revolutions was around 70 hours. My playtime of Mankind Divided was more like 54-55 (+the Janson story, which took probably another hour to finish). The levels were varied, and full of places to discover. And the game lacks the flaws of Human Revolutions (which had a terrible opening level and while the final level of Mankind Divided wasn't 'great', it was certainly better than the 'zombie level' of Human Revolutions. And I'm certainly not knocking HR, overall, as the middle is great, especially with the missing link restored to it. But it started off bad and ended bad. Mankind Divided was just fun as a Deus Ex game, and ends abruptly, but at the same time, the main story thread it was telling was completed. Certainly, some tweaks could help near the end. And I'm not fond of them replacing David Sarif's voice (though it suffices) Overall, I loved it. I rarely buy full priced games, but this year I bought Fallout 4 and Mankind Divided, and will probably buy Dishonored 2, since it is basically Deus Ex set in a steampunk like world. and I absolutely loved the first game (and that was another one that was rather short, but the game and story and all just worked so well, and the levels allowed many opportunities to use your abilities, so I was ok with it). And being a big Deus Ex fan, I love all the new additions. They refined the Aug system from HR, and the new Augs are fun, especially remote hacking. I liked that I could play the game lethal or nonlethal, and there were lots of ways through levels. The basic gameplay is everything I could want from a Deus Ex game. More so than HR, because MD hits the ground running. I see complaints about the story... and I don't get it. HR never really went the distance as far as Conspiracy theories go, not like the original Deus Ex. But you see little building blocks here and there, in HR and MD, leading to the foundations of what became Deus Ex. Would I lke more Conspiracy Theories in this mix? More secret societies? And what not? Of course, but neither game really does enough with it. But the story is entertaining enough, certainly as much as HR, though it never builds to a ridiculous anticlimax (just an abrupt climax), and the core gameplay and the levels allowing a player to flex out their aug muscles seems much more solid in MD. I'm not fond of the microtransactions, they suck. But they aren't in your face about it in this game and they certainly aren't needed. Same with the DLC that came with preordering. I never felt like I was grinding to go up levels. I leveled up, getting praxis kits, at fairly regular intervals. So yeah, the fact that microtransactions are there, baaad. But you can easily ignore them and never think about them while playing the game, so it's not as big a deal as some are making it out to be. So really, not sure what people were expecting. I will say the DLC offerings for the season pass seem weak as hell and not worth picking up. The Fallout 4 Season Pass was definitely more than worth it, as I will be jumping back into that next now that I have finished MD, and now the nuka cola theme park has been added and I've been hearing great things about it. Bottom line, love MD and will play it again at some point. And if you are a Deus Ex fan, and like to explore levels (not just stick to main story points), and don't mind a game that is a bit shorter than HR, I recommend it. I enjoyed it overall more than HR.