You don't get me. I'm not calling Mankind Divided short in the ''fucking hell, I got ripped off!'' kind of way. Pragmatically speaking you're getting a lot of content. 20-30 hours average is par on the course for a game like this. The problem is the length isn't big enough for the story they want to tell, and compared to its predecessor its somewhat disappointing.

I don't know how much I clocked in on HR, exactly, I don't remember the game having any timers and I haven't checked my saves in ages but I kinda rushed through HR my first time around and that felt like it took longer than the time I spent on Mankind Divided exploring and doing all the side content [couldn't do harvester pt2 my first time around due to a glitch, tho].

So yes, the side content is deeper [13 side missions, which is quite a bit, not sure if less than HR]. Prague is a better hub than Detroit [I do miss the homely feel that place had, though. You feel like a stranger in a strange land in Prague and that may have been the point] and Hengsha, but ultimately the problem is the story content.

The side content helps flesh out the world but if you do the side content the problems with the main story aren't alleviated. Problems that are [mostly] not with the writing, but everything's lack of conclusion. As for Golem City, it doesn't have to be as deep as Prague. What's there is solid, throw in a few extra side missions when you visit it again and you have a hub. More importantly, I feel its necessary to grasp the weight of the Human Restoration act which we don't really feel in the game.

Here is the thing right: the terrorist plot is not the main threat. The game makes sure to remind you of this over and over, which is why its so fucking weird. It always undermines those terrorist attacks as a symptom of a larger problem, it constantly reminds you that you should be after the real bad guys which strips the supposed main plot of any weight. By the end you feel like you finished one act of 3.

Lets take Marchenko, for instance. He's the corner stone of the terrorist plot, right? What's this guy's story? exact motivations? what compels a pro-aug extremist to try and pass anti-aug legislation? what's his ''point'' that he hammers on about? you can try and infer but you'll end up with inconclusive answers like most things in the game. He's basically Barrett from HR, if made into a main villain. So your terrorist plot isn't developed and made as a set up for something greater. That something greater never happens, have fun with a cliffhanger.

And this is the case with the rest of the game. I agree to an extent, leaving some things hanging for the sequel is one of the oldest tricks in the book but stories don't leave literally everything without answer. Its easier to count the things that get resolved than the things that don't. I think there are honestly about 4 plot lines in this game that get a proper conclusion, 1 of them doesn't make sense, 1 of them unsatisfying and 2 of them okay.

https://howlongtobeat.com/game.php?id=25434 https://howlongtobeat.com/game.php?id=2489

I honestly don't know how you got 50-60 hours out of it but i'm not calling you a liar because we all play those games differently, but the time you spend exploring or doing whatever doesn't translate into story content which is the problem here. Good bang for your buck in there but not enough for the story it wants to tell.

They weren't late in development. As Jim noted this stuff started in 2015 and they weren't even close to hitting the projected release date of February 2016. They had to pull people from DXNG2 to work on DXNG1 in an attempt to get it ready by then, which tells you a lot of work still needed to be done.

That also tells us that those guys are not just the executive Eidos team working on concepts and ideas for the second game. Don't you find that kind of odd? Mankind Divided being over a year away from release yet they have a full team up and running already working on a sequel? having the ground works of what was meant to be the rest of MD would sure quicken the process.

You objectively have less story content and side missions won't alleviate this since they tend to tell their own stand alone stories that enhance the world and in some cases intersect with the main plot [namely Sarif's plot, which surprise surprise ends on an inconclusive note]. Again i'm happy [if not bewildered] that someone can spend 60 hours on a single playthrough of this game, more power to you mang but you guys are outliers not the rule, here. I mean all of the people who found the story length troublesome alongside all the reviews can't all be doing it wrong, can we? the time you spent exploring and immersing yourself doesn't translate to story content.

Mankind Divided has a lot of depth with its gameplay, its level design, its hub but depth is stripped away from the story.

The best analogy i'v seen used for MD is that its your smart stoner friend who you could talk to about everything and anything, provided you can tolerate the occasional mention of chem trails. That's what MD is. Its a smart, deep game in terms of its gameplay and design but it fails at narrative design and its issues aren't even necessarily writing [although that has a few problems...aug racists!!!] but just how little there is.

Its not that far fetched in a world where games like The Witcher 3 exist. But that aside, what I think happened is the game had at least another act in store, we'd get to explore and run around Prague one more time, maybe visit another smaller area like Golem with side quests and it'd tie up loose ends, which there are dozens. Another thing that makes me believe this is Chikane, of all people.

There are a lot of hints surrounding his true allegiance but they never go anywhere. Unless you have the art book.

They outright say ''Chikane's a spy'' in that. Now here is the thing, if this part of his story was meant to be kept for a sequel and nothing was in any way cut, why do they just spill it out in the art book? was there a mission in the game surrounding that that got cut with the rest of MD? the TF29 spy plot is still up in the air once you realize Miller is innocent.

You and I have very different standards for complete and meaningful. When all you end up with is basically one insignificant plot line resolved, that's not complete. That's not meaningful. Its one act molded into a full game. It ends on an act intermission but instead of continuing from there it rolls the credits.