After just having done yet another Deus Ex 1 playthrough I saw Human Revolution + Mankind Divided for cheap on GoG and got both, and I'm currently playing Human Revolution, but sadly it doesn't live up to Deus Ex or any other really good game that you can play again each year:

- Augmentation system is dumbed down with heavy reliance on either energy recharge or eating food, and for unknown reasons your additional energy cells > 2 aren't allowed to be recharged using your passive energy regeneration
- You need to have certain augments at specific times if you do a pacifist playthrough: without hacking turret, Icarus landing system or punching walls you have to use the normal routes with many enemies or need to face bosses in combat
- Also the non-combat routes for bosses really shows that they were additions after the game has already been released, as it's almost always "Hack computer -> change turret targeting -> win"
- While on a pacifist run you really notice how artificially stretched the levels are: several locations with multiple levels populated with the same enemies while you need to go from A to B - and right now just before jumping on the ship towards Megan and the other hostages it's really a slog
- You also notice that in quite a few levels the alternate routes of backdoors, punchable walls, air vents etc. really don't flow well with the overall design of the level, which means you're constantly searching for those access points/routes if you don't want to face a horde of enemies
- For unknown reasons you need to stand up while hacking a computer, thereby alerting all enemies in a zone if that computer happens to be the security hub to disable cameras/robots/turrets, especially if you're on pacifist and only KO those few enemies on the path you've been taken so far
- Not being able to save Malik as I didn't had EMPs on me + there were none to be grabbed in the level itself was quite annoying
- On my pacifist run I've already purchased every augment I deem important, thus rendering every new Praxis Point I get useless

Really too bad.
I give it another try, as the game itself is boring and a slog, but I like the story, but I'll most likely uninstall and get myself a good game movie on Youtube to keep in my collection.

Agree so much.

I played HR for the first time last weekend and couldn't bring myself to finish it. The dumbed down mechanics are obvious; skills are gone, it's just augs basically. Except that there's no building character by making exclusive choices w.r.t. which aug to install, which skills to pick. Game hands out XP like candy and the two basic builds seem to be stealthy or fighty; you could do a middle ground I suppose but that's it. There's just not enough to invest in to make builds that really stand out and play differently.

And somehow being awarded augs through XP takes away the joy of exploring and discovering new canisters & upgrades (yes yes I know tehre's a praxis kit lying here and there, but it's really not comparable). In general, there seems to be fewer interesting items to pick up in the world; my inventory is pretty much just weapons and ammo (which I don't use much anyway). In Deus Ex 1, you have so much to pick up even if ammo doesn't show up as inventory items. An entire class of weapons (melee) is just gone, and replaced with a "press button to watch cutscene where mc beats up a dude." Fuck that and fuck whoever came up with it. Then you get boss fights. SIGH.

I agree about the level design. Another thing I noticed is that there are sooo many goddamn offices. This game is basically an office looter (sometimes apartments instead of offices), except that there's nothing interesting to loot in offices. There's only stuff to hack, and if you don't find the random conversations they came up with interesting, then the only reason to hack is to grind for XP. Sigh. The rest of the levels? Not really memorable, so far. Jensen's apartment is cool. The actual main mission levels? I don't really.. remember much at all about them. Too generic scifi-industrial/office fare.

Speaking of hacking. See a locked door? Hack it. See an alarm panel? Hack it. See a laser control panel? Hack it. Security computer? Hack it. Personal computer? Hack it. Radio transmitter? Hack it.

You know, the hacking minigame seemed interesting the first few times but after you've done it 100 times and you're doing it over and over again because the answer to anything and everything is "hack it" (unless you really enjoy fishing around for codes among those boring emails), I really start to miss Deus Ex 1's simple hacking. Just a progress bar, wait a couple secs, done. Yeah people complained that it's simple and boring but holy fuck hacking in DXHR is getting *so* boring by comparison. While here: give me back my multitools and lockpicks so I can sometimes do something else than hack it. That'd give me more reason to loot offices too...

I can't say I really enjoyed the side quests that much either. Feels like busywork, errand boy stuff, and too detached from the main story. Somehow I never felt annoyed by the secondary goals in Deus Ex 1.

Idk if it's just me, I never tried it, but the game also never compelled me to do things like save a few lockpicks by using the TNT crate you saw earlier to blow up some locked containers and a robot in one go. Oh right, because I probably would've hacked the container.. the game just doesn't compel you to explore any alternatives, because there's no reason to.

Speaking of cutscenes, this game really loves to take you out of first person. What's up with that? Constantly breaking immersion. Well, it's also doing that with those constant "updates" and XP drops. I guess this game was designed for teenagers who are addicted to that sort of thing, flashy bling ding messages on the screen all the time. I'll never understand it; they went so far to build some atmosphere with the music & visuals.

I don't know if I can finish the game. I really don't. I was bored to death, ran into another stupid bossfight, and that's where I figured I've got more enjoyable things to spend my weekend on :(

Sad but true, even IW never bored me like this. It's an obviously flawed game that doesn't live up to the title, but at least it's not full of boring fluff designed to pad the play time. It's got melee weapons, it's got exclusive augs so you kinda get to play with character builds a little, it's got some weapon mods that I found more interesting than anything I've seen in HR, it's got unique weapons..

Oh, the radar kinda takes out the thrill of stealthing. Cover system does too, if you use it. I unbound that key. Screw that third person nonsense.

What stopped me is the 1st boss. I think I'm fed up with those borring fights. Uninstalled