So, after upgrading my computer and this game actually running in a playable state, I decided to continue it and have some thoughts. I'm at my second visit to Prague after the Talos Rucker mission. First the good bits. The levels are quite impressive and massive, with a bajillion ways to go through them and little bits of lore and correspondence scattered throughout. They also contain side content that can help you out on the main path (like saving that one dude's brother). This isn't all that surprising because that is what Deus Ex is known for and luckily what Human Revolution tried to preserve. Surprisingly enough, I don't find Adam Jensen as bland as in HR. He strikes me as not knowing exactly what he's doing and just kind of whinging it as the plot unfolds. He doesn't worry about that baggage ex-gf of his anymore and he's better off for it. He also doesn't have a whole team of people babysitting him all the time like in HR. This version of him has potential to go somewhere. I know it won't, but there you go. I'm not entirely sure why he's working with the Juggernaut Collective, but I might have forgotten that whole backstory since the last time I played it. I just don't remember why we are spying on TF29 on behalf of that mulatto chick, to the point of installing a bug on their motherboard. That, however, makes him seem like he has his own motivations and reasons for doing whatever he is doing, and is no longer just following what Serif or his gf is telling him to do.
The one kind of bad part is the story is bland. I don't care about any of this and the Czech creating literal concentration camps to keep augmented people inside is a) a bit on the nose, and b) a bit unbelievable. The only way I realistically see this happening is controlling the distribution of neuropozyn, which kind of happens not as a governmental policy but as a matter of scarcity. Which is not the same thing. This oppression of the augmented drowns out everything else, as if nothing else ever happens or is important*. Not only that, but it doesn't gel well with Deus Ex 1. I don't buy into the fact Adam "struggles with discrimination", to me that looks like the rich complaining about "anti-rich propaganda/discrimination". Oh, I'm sorry, it must be so fucking hard for you being a very well-off Übermensch that can lift cars and fly through the air and shit. Is there really no other cyberpunk story you could be telling? I suppose points should be awarded for originality within this setting, but it's dumb and I hate it. This very mushy and nothing writing is what is keeping these games from reaching Deus Ex 1. Yeah, the gameplay is more popamole, but it's close enough that with the right context it could be overlooked. Eh, I'll just play Deus Ex 1 again when I finish this so I can better articulate the differences.
*Speaking of, this is kind of the same thing with our current irl situation. Everything is connected somehow to the stupid virus and I'm feeling like there are a lot of things that can be hidden or conveniently go unmentioned due to this overzealous coverage of a single topic. This could've been an interesting venue to explore for Mankind Divided, especially since Adam has connections not only with indie news networks, but also to Picus, the biggest news provider in this universe. The control of information is the elephant in the room in both HR and MD, but it goes untouched and that lack is glaring.
