Deus Specs: Mankind Divided Sys Reqs & Pre-loads
Only two weeks away, suddenly
You're damn right I'm primarily writing this post in order to make that title gag. But hell, I was genuinely surprised to hear that Deus Ex: Mankind Divided [official site] is only two weeks away. Time was a Deus Ex sequel was a seismic event, but now it's just one more tempting glint amid a vast sea of intriguing releases. It's been a bloody busy year for games, and I am genuinely anxious as to how I might fit in 40-odd hours of Never Asking For This. I am, at least, less anxious that my PC will be able to run it - I shall indeed see those lovely ceilings. That said, the recommended specs are pretty severe. All the relevant requirements are below, if you like. Also, preloads begin next week.
I know a specs post is a funny place for this, but this is my first post about Mankind Divided in aaaaages and this issue has been weighing on my mind. Though a huge fan of the series, I don't feel as anticipatory of Mankind Divided as I would have done, due to discomfort about the game - or at least its marketing - repeatedly co-opting sensitive real-world socio-political messaging to prop up its fantasical story. First we had 'mechanical apartheid' and then last week we had 'aug lives matter.'
The devs have stood by their right to use these things as an attempt to add more meaning to their near-future humans vs cyborgs setting, and additionally made the frankly dubious claim that they thought up the latter phrase before 'black lives matter' came about - though even if true, they knowingly continued to use it after the latter slogan proved so very impactful. I'm sure there were nuanced backstage discussions among the creators about whether and how to deploy this language, but personally I find it ugly and unnecessary, and feel that it tarnishes an exciting game. I am prepared to be proved wrong if these things prove effective and sympathetic in context, however.
Anyway, let's talk about PC hardware ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Deus Ex Mankind Divided Minimum Specs
OS: Windows 7.1SP1 or above (64-bit Operating System Required)
CPU: Intel Core i3-2100 or AMD equivalent
RAM: 8 GB
Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 7870 (2GB) or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 (2GB)
HDD/SSD: 45 GB
Deus Ex Mankind Divided Recommended Specs
OS: Windows 10 64-bit
CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K or AMD FX 8350 Wraith
RAM: 16 GB
Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 480 - 1920 x 1080 or NVIDIA GTX 970 - 1920 x 1080
HDD/SSD: 55GB (Including DLC)
Min specs are nothing to get too worried about, although I suppose a few folk with lower-end GPUs might struggle, and it looks like Intel integrated graphics are out the window for this one. Recommended specs are on the steep side, though. Both CPU and GPU fall somewhere between mid-range and high-end, while 16GB is not a given for quite a few of us. I've 'only' got 12GB, so maybe I should consider upgrading, but it's just seemed so unnecessary until now. I'm sure I'll cope by closing down a few browser tabs, mind you.
The appearance of Windows 10 in Recommended, by the way, is because DXMD will offer DirectX 12 support to those who have Microsoft's e'er-controversial latest OS.
As for pre-loads, they go live on Steam on Friday, August 19th at 09:00 PDT / 12:00 EDT / 17:00 BST / 18:00 CEST. Which obviously is irrelevant information to all of you, because you don't pre-order before reviews, do you? The game itself is released on 23 August.