RPGSite interviewed the lead writer of Deus Ex: Mankind Devided Mary DeMarle:

Deus Ex Interview: Exploring the world & narrative of Mankind Divided

Where would a decent role playing game be without a compelling story, or at least a well-built world with which to take up roles in? World building was arguably the biggest success of 2011's Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Square Enix's prequel to the classic PC RPG which heralded a return for the franchise to the top of the triple-A video game space.

With that success comes the pressure of sequels, and often universes feel the strain under the weight of a rapidly-expanding universe that must support multiple properties. One of those most responsible for bearing the weight of Deus Ex's impressively sized and considered worldview is Mary DeMarle, now serving as Lead Writer on Deus Ex: Mankind Divided at Eidos Montreal.

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RPG Site: There's a big push all over currently for open world games. You've stuck with several smaller-scale hub areas. Were you ever tempted to go open?

Mary DeMarle: We're very committed to stick with where we were headed with Human Revolution. Open world games are a lot of fun, I like open world games myself, but you don't get that with Deus Ex. It's so story driven; it's about freedom and choice and consequences. And it was a real conscious decision that with the amount of story we need to put in and the world building and the crafting we're doing of this universe. Rather than go wide with open world, we should go dense and deep within the world.

I think the biggest challenge for us is the question of how we build something that feels open in gameplay and is yet somewhat constrained so that it'll enable you to go deeper and deeper with the freedom, the flexibility, the choices, and the narrative storytelling within the world itself. It was always a conscious decision to not embrace open world, but constrain it.

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