Deus Ex: MD - Managing Complexity and Player Choice @ NDTV Gadgets

NDTV Gadgets interviewed Deus Ex: Mankind Divided's Gameplay Director Patrick Fortier about choices, consequences and the overarching narrative:

You will not experience all of the game in one playthrough

One of the hallmarks of the Deus Ex series has always been stellar level design, to the point where fans are still finding new ways to complete missions that were created almost two decades ago. Fortier said that Mankind Divided will feature a wealth of content, more that what you can uncover in a single playthrough.

"When we plan our levels we have a certain time allocation and budgets for each level but we plan ahead with the fact that not every player will see 100 percent of the level," said Fortier, adding, "and we build more content as depending on the play style they might see different things." Fortier told NDTV Gadgets that the branching choices also make the game difficult to test, due to the many ways to play the game, and the different choices (and consequences) that can be made. [...]

Equal opportunity for pacifists and warmongers

The previous game in the series, 2011's Deus Ex: Human Revolution, rewarded stealthy, non-violent gameplay over outright killing, by granting you more experience points and perks for playing in a sneaky fashion. It's something Fortier says the studio is looking to avoid this time around.

"We've removed part of that. I think that sent the wrong message in Human Revolution because you got experience points from stealth and not combat. I don't think the team realised it was sending that message back in the day. We've been careful of that," he confessed. "That's why we've worked on the whole combat aspect of the game as well to bring it up to par with the stealth."

Pacifists need not worry about this either. Mankind Divided will not favour violence. Rather it allows for what Fortier described as "equal opportunity" gameplay. [...]

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