Deus Ex: Mankind Divided live action trailer puts the politics into augmentation

A new live action trailer for Square Enix’s Deus Ex: Mankind Divided has emphasized the political drama that will underpin the in-game action.

The premise is thus: Mankind is now heavily invested in augmentation, allowing for medical treatments and enhancements that take people beyond humanity’s usual limitations. However, these advances come at a price, and society has found itself divided along economic lines. On the one side, those who can afford to enhance themselves and embrace such ‘advances’; On the other side, those who cannot afford such privileges, or reject them on moral grounds.

The tensions were heightened after the events of the first game. Human Revolution actually offered multiple endings, but the one Mankind Divided will follow saw the death of millions at the hands of those who had installed augmentations.

Interestingly the marketing has stuck with the ‘Mechanical Apartheid’ tagline that caused a certain level of controversy a year ago.

When we make a decision like embracing that term, ‘Mechanical Apartheid,’ we do it with a lot of thought and a lot of specific concern about how we’re doing it,” Deus Ex’s narrative director Mary DeMerle said a year ago.

What we are also trying to do with Deus Ex is look at the world, and trying not to judge the world but to present it in a very – we like to talk about shades of grey. So we like to present the issues to the best of our abilities without judging you or your actions, so that you can make up your own mind about it.

"We’re not trying to be preachy here, just holding up the mirror. And that’s one of the things about science fiction: it embraces concepts that are hard for society to see."

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided will be released on August 23rd.

Here’s the new video: