What is this, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided? What the shit is this?
I’m only a few hours into Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, but I’ve already encountered a few doors like this, mostly in random apartments and things of the like. Un-openable. Impregnable. Blocked by boxes — of crappy beer, in this case.
I found this particular blocked door after breaking into somebody’s second-floor apartment in hopes of getting around a police blockade. I thought I’d discovered a clever route by exploring, but nope, it was blocked. I could use my Ultra-Vision (TM) aug to see people just outside the apartment, but I couldn’t touch them, feel them, steal from them. Separated only by rotting plasterboard, we were worlds apart.
This would be fine, or at least expected, in a more linear game like Call of Duty, but in Deus Ex it yanks me out of the experience. (Really, though, I think all blocked paths a video game character could leap over or otherwise get around should be illegal.) The game’s trained me to expect freedom of movement between locations, especially in the face of otherwise insurmountable odds. That’s always been the series’ central appeal. In Mankind Divided, most doors are open-able, or when they’re locked, hackable. Except sometimes, as it turns out, when they’re not. For reasons. Same for certain vents.
In fairness, I’m now on an interesting quest involving forgeries and scam artists that will ultimately get me past the police blockade (probably), but come on, Deus Ex. I thought you were above this kind of thing. At least, I dunno, give me a more believable blocked door.
Comments
12 responses to “Deus Ex’s Blocked Doors Are Infuriating Me”
If you’re talking about the area I think you are, there’s a vent in that very apartment you can use to bypass the police blockade.
Ten hours in and I’m hating myself for not noticing hidden paths until I’m exiting rooms and buildings. Different strokes, yo.
I am confused, are you complaining that the unusable doors are blocked with stuff, that too many doors are unusable or what?
both pretty much, he’s saying blocked doors are dumb and they’re not even convincingly blocked
How do you know the beer is crappy? Hefecrocken happens to be very drinkable.
I was watching a Let’s Play and was struck by the inconsistencies in jumping height available to the player. When it hadn’t been scripted he could barely jump, when it was “allowed” he could leap stories…. at one point he was faced with a “vault” across a gap (from cover) but he didn’t take it purely because he was unsure what the game would let him do. Was it going to drop him over the edge/leap to the cover on the other side of the gap/leap to open space and certain detection by the guard?
For me this is far more immersion breaking than doors that are blocked…and far less excusable. Level design and character behavior must be consistent and give the player easily understood cues. Boxes/boards/missing door handles are all fine. (But not always consistent with the narrative – when a character can punch through walls…but that is another issue.)
I haven’t seen any inconsistencies in this respect. There are a few areas I’ve had what seem to be low jump heights that turn out to be because the area above was partially obstructed (like an awning on the rooftops). Otherwise the jump height seems fairly consistent, it’s just a question of whether he’ll grab on to the thing you’re trying to jump at or not.
The cover system is probably the most informative part of Deus Ex in terms of what’s capable. If he was looking to vault across a gap, there would be an icon and a path shown indicating if it’s possible or not. I don’t think I’ve run into a single instance of being in cover and trying to move elsewhere where I haven’t known exactly what will happen, the cover system is – if anything – too informative.
Man I swear to god during the loading sequences on th3 subway there’s a dude sitting down that looks exactly like the guy from Watch Dogs! With robot legs but still.
Solution to the problem this article complains about: use one of the 50 other pathways provided.
Plus it’s ironic as anything to see this in a review written by the guy who spotlighted the “indie darling” Depression Quest where you choices are like 1 out of 5 options even though it lets you click on any of them
I’m surprised you Kotaku guys haven’t made a big deal about this game getting the dreaded “mixed” rating on Steam.
Yeah, this bothers me. It’s a great game with one particular optional feature as a drawback that people seem to rate their entire review around. No Man’s Sky deserves the rating it has, DX:MD doesn’t.
Personally I got the impression that there’s a good 3rd of the game missing. I get a horrible feeling that it’ll be DLC, not a sequel, that ties up all the games loose ends.