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Deus Ex: Mankind Divided sequel is in development

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A Deus Ex: Mankind Divided sequel has been in development for over a year, according to an Eidos Montreal source speaking to entertainer Jim Sterling.

The developer source, who spoke anonymously to Sterling for his Jimquisition YouTube series, had plenty to say on the topic of microtransactions, including that publisher Square Enix demanded they be added to Deus Ex: Mankind Divided at the last minute. In-game, the player can choose to spend real-world money to download level-ups and equipment from the PlayStation Store.

But Sterling’s developer source had plenty else to say on Mankind Divided’s development, including that a sequel began production over a year ago.

Speaking in the latest Jimquisition about whether Mankind Divided was intentionally split up into two games, Sterling says, “while my source could not corroborate that much, they could tell me some very interesting related news. Eidos Montreal had two teams working on Deus Ex: DXNG, and DXNG2. DXNG is Square Enix’s codename for Mankind Divided, standing for Deus Ex Next Gen. DXNG2, which has been a project since at least mid-2015, is working on the sequel to Mankind Divided, though Square had pulled a number of team members from DXNG2 to DXNG to try and get Mankind Divided released by February 2016.”

Of course, that release date was missed and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided released on August 23, while the sequel has been in development since mid-2015.

It’s not unusual for large game developers to split into multiple teams and work on multiple projects simultaneously, but it’s less common for one of those games to be a sequel to the other. Still, it’s unlikely that Mankind Divided was nefariously split into two games for the sole purpose of money-making. It’s larger than predecessor Human Revolution already, with a completionist playthrough clocking around 40 hours. We’re told that Mankind Divided started development almost immediately after Human Revolution, which means it was in the cooker for four years before any work on a sequel began. Finally, while the ending of Mankind Divided is abrupt and not very satisfying (it’s one of the bigger negatives in our review) but I don’t personally feel it reeks of withheld content.

While this news isn’t officially confirmed, Sterling says he conducted due diligence with the identity of his source, requesting photo evidence and the like.

Meanwhile, the Deus Ex Season Pass will include some content that didn’t make it in time for Mankind Divided’s release date. Thankfully, despite a somewhat tumultous development, Mankind Divided is very good. It’s also an impressive technical package, with its PS4 resolution locked to 1080p and keeping steady near 30 fps. Load times, framerate, and resolution are all better on PS4 than Xbox One.