Home Gaming Deus Ex Mankind Divided wants to overhaul side-quests

Deus Ex Mankind Divided wants to overhaul side-quests

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DX-Mankind

Every video game ever made can easily be summed as an exercise in carrying out repetitive tasks that you happen to find enjoyable. Which might explain my Destiny addiction. Side-quests within games, are the very pinnacle of this idea, as they’re either variations of fetch or kill-quests.

It’s a part of the gaming landscape, that is most likely here to stay until the Sun finally swallows this doomed planet of ours. But Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, doesn’t want to have such side-quest content when it releases.

“I hate ‘side-quests’ and ‘side-missions’ as a term,”Eidos Montreal  gameplay director Patrick Fortier said to GamesRadar, “because I love them so much in gameplay, and I feel it belittles what they actually are”.

Deus Ex MD (4)

I think the philosophy here was not have a tremendous amount of them – we invested in deeper stuff, and twists in terms of the gameplay.

“You can tell that there’s less of a system behind them,” executive art director Jonathan Jacques-Belletête said. “We don’t just have 53 variations of fetching an object.” And that’s an idea which Eidos Montreal wants to use to keep the momentum going in the next Deus Ex.

Side-quests will now be tied further into the main mission structure of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, with executive narrative director Mary DeMarle saying that they will have an actual impact on your progress through the main campaign. “Adam Jensen is on a very important mission,” DeMarle said.

Deus Ex MD (2)

So anything that’s going to pull him away from that has to have weight. It has to be something so important personally that it’ll pull him aside, or something that will reflect the themes of the game in a different way or maybe shed light on some of the factions in the game that you can’t get from the critical path.

Hell, you don’t even even have to finish a side-quest for it to have some bearing on the story. Because these missions are now design with a play-as-you-go mentality.

Deus Ex MD (1)

“Let’s say a side mission is a hundred page script,” DeMarle said.

When I play it I get ten minutes of it because I decided that’s all I want. You on the other hand are like ‘Wait a minute, that’s intriguing, I want to follow up on that’, and you end up meeting new characters and have other things happen as a result.

The key thing for me I think is the effect can be big or small. The fact that we offer both means that you’re never quite sure as a player, and I kind of like that.

It keeps people on the edge, keeps them guessing, so you have to make sure that you’re comfortable with your line of action before you do it.

Big talk, but intriguing talk nonetheless. Side-quests to me, are usually nothing more than experience point boosters. But the idea of side-quests which properly impact on my character and the world around me? I totally asked for that.

Last Updated: October 9, 2015

17 Comments

  1. Hmm… what other game did this… forget what it’s called… the name’s on the tip of my silver sword…

    Reply

    • Ottokie "Yahtzee"

      October 9, 2015 at 08:44

      Fable?

      Reply

    • HairyEwok

      October 9, 2015 at 08:46

      Many if not all games use silver swords XD Be more specific man.

      Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        October 9, 2015 at 08:56

        Obviously I meant Skyrim. :/

        Reply

        • HairyEwok

          October 9, 2015 at 08:58

          Then say it was on the tip of your knee :/

          Reply

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            October 9, 2015 at 08:59

            Everyone’s a critic.

          • HairyEwok

            October 9, 2015 at 09:01

            It’s the meta.

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            October 9, 2015 at 09:01

            I thought we were supposed to be open now?

          • HairyEwok

            October 9, 2015 at 09:02

            Open to criticism, not going to happen, I’ll just brush it off like a gaming corporate.

  2. PoisonedBelial

    October 9, 2015 at 08:47

    That header is terribad… XD

    Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      October 9, 2015 at 08:48

      D is a Cactus Jerk.

      Reply

      • The D

        October 9, 2015 at 08:56

        WWE 2K16 character now sorted.

        Reply

  3. Jonah Cash

    October 9, 2015 at 09:03

    Is this another open world game or will they keep it a bit more compact? I hope to God that is it is a linear story driven game like Human Revolution was… Oh my I am going to complain a lot about open world games…

    Reply

    • Valenlord

      October 9, 2015 at 09:08

      But open world games are the shizznizz!!!!

      Reply

      • Jonah Cash

        October 9, 2015 at 10:27

        I just can’t anymore, they are all the same! All have the same quests and I have to search for the story. I want an in your face story driven game again. Was hoping The Order 1886 was that game but it fell flat…

        Reply

  4. Commander JJ of the Normandy

    October 9, 2015 at 09:05

    I’m worried Deus Ex might be getting too streamlined for its own good.
    The original worked so well, I’d hate for the next Deus Ex to stray even more from what made the original so good. Nothing played and had the atmosphere like that game did at that time.

    Reply

  5. Valenlord

    October 9, 2015 at 09:07

    Ja I have heard this before… Everyone states that it is not side quests but deeper….. meaningful… Bla Bla Bla…

    Reply

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