The Deus Ex series deals with a number of weighty themes, and the first game in the rebooted series is going to inform the story of the upcoming Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. What happens when some people have these augmentations, and the rest don't? How much tension will that cause in our society?
There was some controversy over the use of the term "mechanical apartheid" to describe the game's story during E3.
Mechanical Apartheid is enforced. Watch the first Deus Ex #MankindDivided in-game trailer! https://t.co/u5yerzQ0pI pic.twitter.com/ZBkJBDN1pi
— Deus Ex (@DeusEx) June 16, 2015
It was consistent with the theme of the game, where "normal" people look down on and distrust augmented individuals, but the term "apartheid" is still incredibly loaded and perhaps easily misinterpreted.
"There are so many kind of hypocritical, intersecting dialogs in our industry," Eidos Montreal's Jonathan Jacques-Belletete told Polygon in an interview.
"It’s a form of art, the people outside don’t think it’s art, it’s just stupid games. We’re fighting against those people. And then when we’re dealing with serious subjects suddenly we’re treated as little kids that are just doing video games again. This whole thing is completely ridiculous."
He went to discuss why the term is appropriate for the game.
"Deus Ex is about the human nature, it’s about the human condition through its own motifs, which is transhumanism, a lot of the way we’re treating it since we’re into the franchise," he continued.
"Humans will be bad to each other forever, as far as I’m considered. Segregating people that one caste, things are wrong or dangerous or inferior is a thing that will always sadly happen. Obviously we’re not condoning it, it’s an analogy for how sucky humanity is and showing it how it can happen in the future that deals with the technology we’re dealing with."
The entire interview, which you can watch above, is a fascinating look at the game. Give it a watch.
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