When comparing Deus Ex: Mankind Divided vs Abzû, the Slant community recommends Abzû for most people. In the question“What are the best PS4 (PlayStation 4) games?” Abzû is ranked 83rd while Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is ranked 107th. The most important reason people chose Abzû is:
Diving through the ocean with an array of colorful fish is very soothing. Your character can even meditate, allowing you to gaze at the surrounding aquatic life. The orchestral music further adds to the soothing feeling, while also giving most locations a sense of wonder. Nothing quite like seeing a school of fish swimming around to the soft tune of pipe instruments.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Convincing atmosphere
The dystopian setting with permanent police presence and derogatory comments from average citizens creates a depressing atmosphere.
Pro Engaging side quests
The side quests in Mankind Divided are almost as engaging as the main storyline. This is also helped by the fact that the NPCs who give these quests deliver their speeches in such a passionate way that makes you want to engage in their stories.
Coupled with the fact that this game has a constantly-grey morality and it truly feels like the player has the fates of these people in their hands.
Pro Great espionage-based gameplay
The game really shines when the players find themselves needing to infiltrate somewhere to complete a mission.
There's a myriad of ways to approach each situation and multiple outcomes depending on the approach. Hacking terminals, crawling through vents, and stealthily taking out enemies is what this game is all about.
There is a tangible tension to every move because if the player is caught by one of the enemies, the mission may come to an unexpected halt.
Pro Soft and calming
Diving through the ocean with an array of colorful fish is very soothing. Your character can even meditate, allowing you to gaze at the surrounding aquatic life. The orchestral music further adds to the soothing feeling, while also giving most locations a sense of wonder. Nothing quite like seeing a school of fish swimming around to the soft tune of pipe instruments.
Pro Educational
Every time you encounter a new fish, you can learn what it's called. There is also the 'meditate' mode which cycles between all the different kinds of fish, naming them on screen.
Pro Absolutely striking art style
Abzû was made by Thatgamecompany, the makers of Journey and Flower. In each of their games, they emphasize taking a distinctive art style and Abzû is no exception.
It uses a very bright and vivid color palette to bring out the allure and mystique of the ocean. Lots of colorful fish and underwater plants with the sun shining down on you.
Each location looks so peaceful it makes you rethink if the ocean truly is scary. Some of those are followed by a dark area, dim lights and ominous creatures to remind you of the fear.
Cons
Con Relatively short
Mankind Divided is not as long as it should be. It can be completed in about 20 hours, and this is including most of the side quests. Doing just the main story would take even less than that.
Con Storyline feels hurried
While the first chapter of the game is quite slow and intriguing, it starts to become clumsier and unnatural as the player goes through the missions.
After heading out of Prague, the story starts to feel hurried. Characters are introduced and fall into the sidelines, only to return out of nowhere in crucial moments of the story with very little to no justification.
Con Side missions are hard to find
For people who want to complete every single side mission it can be hard to find them. They are given by NPCs which are differentiated from other, non-quest-giving NPCs by their name. Most are defined as "citizen", while those who have a quest to give have an actual name.
However, the only way to find these quest givers is by running up to every person in the game which is very time consuming.
Con Extremely short
The first playthrough will take you only about 3 hours, which is way too short for a game of its price. You won't get much replay value out of it either, unless you want to get all the trophies.