bsd.network/@cev/114748322115572830
// / 114748322115572830
Tags:
2010s,
collection,
cyberpunk,
review,
scifi,
video games.
I think Eidos Montreal made something special with Mankind Divided. It's really good (that is to say, I enjoyed playing it a lot).
The level design is the most immediately outstanding feature, how interlocking and complex it is, particularly the Prague hub. It feels like it was built from the ground-up for cover-based stealth gameplay (and it's very satisfying to play that way). It was also built to reward exploration, many items and significant elements of the story are tucked away in missable/skippable locations. (It kinda becomes a fun scavenger hunt in the mid-game).
The game's story orbits around a theme of intense and uncomfortable sci-fi bigotry and it mostly handles that OK I think (with the unfortunate exception of an "Aug Lives Matter" poster seen a couple of times, that one was maybe not the best idea). It reminds me of some of my favorite well-meaning but imperfect science fiction. Having said that I'm definitely not the most well-read or informed judge of such things.
The most common criticism I've seen of the game is that its main story is cut short and ends abruptly. I did get that same impression, the plot from G.A.R.M. forward seems rushed. This didn't bother me too much as A. I was expecting it and B. there's a lot of game here.
Really a terrific and thoughtful video game. I think I could talk about it for hours, its gameplay systems and visual/audio artwork and hidden details.
