Deus Ex: Mankind Divided™ DLC - Season Pass

The DRM issue has been confirmed to be fixed and both game and DLC work now without galaxy or an internet connection. This is a wonderful game and I highly recommend it.

I haven't played "System Rift" due to its mediocre reviews, but "Criminal Past" was a masterpiece - which continued to grow in its postmodern, sentimental brilliance through the epilogue. I can't believe how beautiful the world of Deus Ex has continued to be. The original Deus Ex is one of a handful of games that deserve recognition as a work of art - but I never would have thought that a DLC for a triple-A sequel would deserve the same praise. Everything about it is tinged with uncertainty and even a sense that the truth is unknowable or even irrelevant, but nothing is lacking in sincerity or weight - even without control or knowledge of the objective reality, our actions matter, and our value as human beings depends not on outcomes, but on how we make our decisions. Brilliant story. Gameplay is strong & similar to core game, with some clever twists. I don't want to go back to real life.

Each of these expansions basically consists of a big new level, both of which can be finished in a matter of hours. Sadly, they don’t add new weapons or augs, but the core gameplay is still there : you’re allowed to go through levels and take out enemies the way you see fit and to make decisions that will matter later. System Rift is an aesthetic and thematic continuation of the main game, still taking place in Prague and involving corporate espionage. It apparently got mediocre reviews due to being “more of the same”, but it’s an okay addition if you liked the main campaign. While it’s fairly easy and doesn’t have much novelty to offer overall, the level design is good and follows the philosophy of the main game. I thought the hub zone you have to go through before infiltrating the building was reminiscent of the first Deus Ex’s levels, a good thing in my book. You get to see both new and familiar faces, and the storyline is good enough. It’s Deus Ex at its safest. It’s fine. A Criminal Past is definitely the best of the two. It revolves around a prison infiltration, a theme which isn’t that common in video games and falls perfectly in line with the Deus Ex setting. Not only does it look and feel different from what you’ve seen before, but the place itself can be explored in its entirety and is probably the most complex, detailed and credible environment seen in this game series. I found this expansion to be more challenging than anything else in the franchise: your access to augs is restricted, there aren’t that many supplies lying around… and while the constant barrage of security turrets and cameras makes sense for a prison setting, I quickly found it annoying to deal with. There are no easy solutions in A Criminal Past, so it will mostly be satisfying to play if you’re good at Deus Ex (which apparently I’m not). Overall, while not essential, these are pretty good additions, and I would recommend this Season Pass to anyone who enjoyed the main campaign.