We are the Deus Ex: Mankind Divided team. Our game is coming out next Tuesday. Ask us anything!

Dear dev team,

thanks very much for doing this AmA! I'm looking forward to playing the game!

My questions:

1. What kind of performance (or other) improvements can we expect from DX12, when it's going to be patched in? What technical reasons were the cause for the delay?

2. In your experience, what are the positive and negative aspects of outsourcing the pc port of the game?

3. First reviews align to a great game overall, but mediocre story. Does that suprise you? Are the DLCs of the season pass going to further the story after the end of MD?

Thanks again for your time and for making this game!

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edit: reply can be found here https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/4yjlcz/we_are_the_deus_ex_mankind_divided_team_our_game/d6oo8fi

Hey everyone! Not sure if you've seen our edit to the OP - we're at Gamescom and things are pretty hectic, we had to run out for a few hours. It's midnight and we're back for a bit!

1. In regards to DX12 specificities, we are planning on getting into the details as we get closer to offering it in-game. Nixxes and AMD are working together closely on this, and are using their experience on previous titles to push even further on DXMD. In terms of the delay, the team simply need more time to make sure they deliver the best experience, and put it the extra work and optimization.

2. Eidos-Montréal and Square Enix have been working with Nixxes for a long time now, and this long-running collaboration is one of the most important aspects. The team at Eidos-Montreal also has the PC version at heart and didn't want it to be an afterthought - we're working closely with Nixxes and using our experience on the PC version for Human Revolution to make sure we deliver what players expect in terms of graphic options, controls, HUD customization and so on. As in any project, we encounter different issues that we have to overcome, and a good working relationship and open dialogue are key.

3. A lot of reviews from around the world came in today and we want to take the time to look at everything closely - there's a lot to digest! We're also very interested in knowing what you guys all think about the game. Appreciation of the story is down to a lot of factors and quite personal, especially since we want players to express themselves through Jensen and the choices they make throughout the game. And the time you'll invest in side-quests is also something to factor in! We do have narrative DLCs planned, on which we plan giving more details at a later time.

What was the internal reaction to the failed, absurd pre order scheme that was announced last year?

What did the team learn from this?

We are game developers, so we are not involved in this type of activity. However, everyone felt that we had to listen to the feedback and input from the community, and that we needed to act accordingly.

Will there be modding support with Mankind Divided?

Compared to other teams or studios in the industry working on AAA games, the Deus Ex team is a relatively small one. We were completely focused on creating and completing Mankind Divided, to the standard of quality we wanted to achieve. As such, we didn't work on modding support, but we're keeping an eye on possibilities.

What was the most unexpected thing a playtester did during development, and/or the funniest bug encountered?

We once had a playtester who played by handling his controller backwards. He actually learned to play like this back on SNES. He finished Mankind Divided playing like this!

As for funniest bug... wacky ragdolls were always entertaining. We also laughed a lot when dialogues were still being written and/or voices haven't been recorded, and we had to use text-to-speech voices in the game.

Has there been any serious talk about a Deus Ex 1 remake? Do you plan to tie the two stories together eventually? (edit: in more profound ways than you already have, without damaging the original story line)

The team has been fully focused on Mankind Divided! We've also often been asked if we would make a remaster of Human Revolution and the answer is the same.

On your second question, there are still quite a few years between 2029 and 2052. We'll see where things go!

Is there dancing in this game?

You'll have to experiment a bit, but yes. Looking forward to see your videos!

What would you say is the biggest lesson you've learned from Human Revolution?

One of the most challenging aspects of making a Deus Ex game is choice and consequence. Our experience from Human Revolution allowed us to think about it a lot more and integrating it all through the game rather than at certain key moments. This is what we strived to do for small and big choices alike.

The level design is another aspect of the game from which we've learned a lot. In Mankind Divided, we tried to create levels which feel more organic and seamless, where the architecture 'makes sense' but also serves our gameplay setups at the same time. We wanted to embrace a 360 level design philosophy.

In DX:HR Director's Cut, the creators discussed a variety of limitations , biggest of all was perhaps the game engine itself. For instance, only 2 people in a conversation, or animation limitations. Same goes for many other little things; the deleted Bangalore level, more depth to Eliza, the Panchea level and the ending. Not to mention that side missions were watered down from what you initially envisioned.

So, were you able to overcome these problems in MD and truly play out what you wanted to show?

Also, one of my favorite characters in HR was Eliza and her complicated fascination with Adam. Has that relationship been taken further in MD? No spoilers, but a general idea will be awesome.

Thanks!!

As in the course of any game development, choices have to be made. We do feel we've achieved what we set out to do, especially when it comes to perfecting stealth and creating compelling combat, improving the density of our levels, creating a brand new game mode... Side quests are also a big aspect indeed and we're really proud of those we've created for Mankind Divided.

And for Eliza, there is definitely more to find out!

These days I've been replaying Human Revolution with the Director's Cut version, and I've been really surprised with the amount/quality/insight of the Developer Commentary.

What are the chances of Mankind Divided receiving a similar treatment in the future?

There are triangles in the game you can scan with the Deus Ex Universe mobile app. Some of them will give you access to developer commentary content!

If you could have just one "power" made available to you through the technology used in Deus Ex, what would you want it to be?

Fleur: Cloaking!

Olivier: I'm scared of heights, so I'd say the Icarus Landing.

Patrick: CASIE.

What is it like to balance around multiple play styles? One of the things that captivated me about the series was that you were almost never locked into one path or choice, but what's that like when building out encounters and areas?

One of the important thing is that we must always create environments where players can make their way without having any augmentations. Obviously, we also need to keep an eye on which augmentations should be used for alternative paths.

We often had a 'version 1.0' of a level, and we had reviews and playtest sessions to find out what we needed to do to make levels as open-ended as possible. Sometimes it's small details or subtle changes that can change a level completely. Every path needs to support specific augmentation(s) while still being challenging.

We played a lot our levels with different loadouts, especially Patrick, to make sure they could support different playstyles to the fullest.

Is Michael McCann back to do the musical composition? I've played thru Human Revolution a number of times, but the soundtrack has done many many hours on repeat.

Yes, Michael McCann is back! He's also joined by Sascha Dikiciyan aka Sonic Mayhem, who worked on Quake and Mass Effect.

We also have Ed Harrison (known for NEOTOKYO), who has done the music for Breach mode.

Will there be swimming in Mankind Divided?

There's no swimming! However, one of the things we worked a lot on when creating Mankind Divided is verticality. Levels have many more layers to them than in Human Revolution.

For the most part reviews are exceedingly positive with a few that fairly found some negatives about the game. How necessary was the delay and would you recommend it to any devs if they feel their project isn't up to their standards?

The delay really allowed us to work on the pacing of the game, especially the beginning. We were able to polish a lot of small details which in the end make a big difference.

We also had the opportunity to work more on the UI, and make it as best as it could be. Obviously, we had more time for debugging too.

If we had to make this decision again, we would definitely do it!

I have to say I absolutely loved Human Revolution and I'm super hyped for getting my copy of Mankind Divided.

Is Elias Toufexis as cool and suave IRL as he is in-game?

At first it can be a bit surprising when he's around, as he really has the same voice as Jensen. He's maybe a bit nicer than Adam is!

In reference to the AMA, did you ask for this?

We actually did.

Hey guys, first, congratz for the great reviews !

What are you the most proud of about Mankind Divided ? You did a transmedia universe with great sucess, are you planning to expand it even more ? TV show / Movie ?

Keep up the great work !

Olivier: We're very proud of the Prague city-hub and how dense it is. It's the accomplishment of all the different teams of the studio: design, audio, lighting, gameplay, narrative, etc.

Patrick: The synergy between the teams. In each discipline, everyone had very high standards and worked towards the same goal. It's the collaboration berween everyone which made it possible to fulfill the Deus Ex experience we wanted to make.

Fleur: With our new game mode Breach, I think we were able to bring some innovation to the Deus Ex Universe. We had a small dedicated team, which collaborated very tightly with the one in charge of the main game.

What was the hardest obstacle to overcome during the game's development?

We developed our new engine, the Dawn engine, at the same time as the game. It could sometimes make it hard to "observe" the game and play around with it, and it was a challenge to have our production tools being created as we moved forward.

Hello Eidos, congratulations on your upcoming release!

My question for you: What responsibility do video games and movies have in presenting a balanced view of the future of human augmentation through technological innovation?

Hi Dr. Herr, and thank you!

Entertainment products like our game, which are experienced by a lot of people, require a lot of research - we can't afford to be careless and present themes and technology like human augmentation without it making any sense. We definitely have a responsibility to do our homework and take a close look at what's happening in today's world to imagine our near-future.

What is one piece of advice for success going into the game?

Be curious, take the time to observe and explore. The game will give back as much as you give it!

I started out Deus Ex with invisible War. I fell in love with sneaking in and out of vents and dialog choices and different ways to solve problems. I cant wait too play MD!!! Whats your single most favorite thing/feature/mission/ etc in MD?

thanks again!

The freedom of choice and freedom of gameplay is something which is very important to us, and something we really like as gamers, even. We feel we succeeded in creating what we set out to do.