More unfortunate news for the suffering games industry, as Eidos-Montréal lays off 124 employees, including Head of Studio David Anfossi. It also meant that Wildlands, a game that had been in development since 2019 and reportedly cost “hundreds of millions” has been axed as well. The studio had been struggling with its IP for a decade, and this announcement means that the Deus Ex franchise is well and truly dead, a decade after Mankind Divided dropped.
What a rotten way to die
I love Deus Ex, with a particular fondness for the two Adam Jensen games: Human Revolution and Mankind Divided. Both titles rank among the best immersive sims ever made, as prequels to the groundbreaking 2000 original, and the (fairly poor) sequel, Invisible War. The franchise as a whole rewards player agency through its gameplay, teaches you to question everything through its twisting, conspiracy-laden narrative, and delivers an experience no other series has before or since.
For as exceptional a title as Mankind Divided was when it released all the way back in 2016, it was clearly only the second installment of what was supposed to be a trilogy. While the main narrative ends (somewhat) abruptly, it’s the game’s second expansion, A Criminal Past, which hints at where a sequel could have gone. Without giving too much away, it was set up that Jensen would take on the Illuminati and that he knew the true identity of the Task Force 29 psychologist, Dr. Delara Auzenne.
A third Jensen Deus Ex game never happened. It was reported that Embracer Group canceled the project in 2024 following its acquisition of Eidos-Montréal, which in turn led to 97 job cuts as a cost-saving measure. We have to face the upsetting reality that very few people involved in the Deus Ex franchise, Thief, or Guardians of the Galaxy are likely still at the company following the recent layoffs we’ve just heard about.
What would a third Jensen Deus Ex game look like?
We don’t necessarily need to speculate on the details of the canceled Deus Ex game. Our Social Lead, Em Stonham, previously spoke to Elias Toufexis and Jonathan Jacques-Belletête, Adam Jensen’s voice actor and Human Revolution art director, respectively. The duo revealed that a Mankind Divided sequel would be set within a wholly 3D-printed city, featuring huge cranes that served as printers. Toufexis claimed that “there’s so much more story to tell”, hinting at huge plans for the conclusion of the trilogy.
All we can, sadly, do is speculate on what Adam Jensen’s role in the wider Deus Ex story would have amounted to. As a prequel, we can estimate that a third game would have closed the time gap between 2029 (where Mankind Divided takes place) and 2052. There’s a whole 23 years to explore, during which we could have seen a time jump with an older Jensen and how he would attempt to take down the Illuminati.
We know what happens in Deus Ex in 2052. That’s the throughline of any prequel, after all: how the events lead up to the original IP. The original game features JC Denton working for UNATCO, tasked with taking down the NSF and uncovering a global conspiracy while searching for a vaccine for the Gray Death. Denton ends up defecting and forms uneasy alliances with the likes of the Triads and even the last of the Illuminati to face a bigger threat: Majestic 12, spearheaded by Bob Page.
You’re given a choice of ending in Deus Ex. Denton can either destroy the global communication hubs and usher in a new dark age, ally with Page and guide society from the shadows, or even merge with the Helios AI as a mechanical god. In short, there’s a ton of narrative that can be told between this happening and how A Criminal Past leaves things off as the 2030s begin. While it’s not impossible, we’re incredibly unlikely to know what would have existed here to fill the gap.
Aspyr’s Deus Ex Remastered was supposed to be released in February, but it was delayed with no new release date confirmed. It’s telling that one of the best video game franchises has once again been put on ice. The first hiatus (from 2003 to 2011) was due to the poor critical and commercial reception of the (pretty poor) Invisible War sequel. This new decade gap doesn’t seem like hibernation; it appears the freezer is being unplugged, and the franchise is finished off. What a shame.
FAQs
A third Adam Jensen Deus Ex game was reportedly canceled in 2024 following a mass layoff when Embracer Group acquired Eidos-Montréal.
The full phrase is Deus Ex Machina, which is Latin for “God from the Machine”.
You can either play the Deus Ex franchise chronologically or by release date. The first method means playing Human Revolution, Mankind Divided, Deus Ex, and Invisible War. The second way would be: Deus Ex, Invisible War, Human Revolution, and Mankind Divided.
