The Missing Link DLC has been sat on my virtual pile of shame for a while now, and until recently, I’ve not had the chance or the inclination to go back to it. I did however feel the need for some RPG in my life, however didn’t really want to commit to a full blown game with ‘Skyrim December’ on the horizon as part of the Year of Shame challenge, so this seemed like it would do nicely.
Before I continue, I think I need to point out that I made a massive fail. Halfway through the game I was lost, so consulted a walkthrough as I’d been lost for the best part of an hour. While scanning through the walkthrough I read that I missed out on 7 praxis kits at the beginning of the game, which basically meant that I missed out on 7 upgrades. For anybody reading this, who hasn’t played the DLC, all I can really say is….when you pick up your armour, also pick up the praxis kits.
The DLC covers a 3 day gap in the main story arc, however this is towards the end of the main campaign so I’d suggest staying clear of this until you’ve completed the game. The DLC kept me going for around 10 hours, but I’m assuming because of me missing the first 7 upgrades, the game was a lot more challenging. The story itself is a bit ‘meh’, and it did fell like I was running through the same bit of corridor over and over again. It was very much, go here, do this, run back, rinse and repeat.
Now I have to say, I struggled with this, looking back at my previous post, it seems it’s been exactly a year since I completed the main game, and Deus Ex isn’t a game you can just pick up and play. I’d forgotten how to use the skill trees, the combat systems, the stealth systems, the hacking systems and the cover system. Forgetting how to play the game, along with being stripped of all your augmentations made it a very frustrating start, and it took me nearly an hour and a near rage quit trying to get out of the first set of rooms
Although the DLC does loosely tie in with the main story, it’s a stand alone set of missions which have no impact on the main story. This is the same for any upgrades you do, as mentioned above, you’re stripped of your augmentations giving you a clean slate, I did however find myself spending a while reading up on the whole skill tree again just to remember what things did.
Graphically is was ok, you spend the majority of your time in corridors or offices, or warehouse type rooms, so they all looked kinda samey, it would have been nice to get a little variety.
The gameplay was more of the same, you’re rewarded greatly for being stealthy, and not so much if you go in ‘all guns blazing’, however the way you approach each situation is completely up to you. From what I can recollect there was only one morality choice to make, I would have been interested to see how the other decision had played out, but I think I’ll just google that instead of playing the game again from that save point.
The fact that I missed 7 upgrades only really became noticeable on the last couple of rooms, it would have been nice to have beefed up my armour a little more to the rooms weren’t quite as challenging, as I died a lot.
Without spoiling, the end of the game left me feeling quite empty, I know there was a lot of criticism about the boss battles in the main game, however they seemed to have gone too far the other way. Upon completing the DLC, I felt like ‘was that it?’, quite disappointing.
I think, if I’d have been fresh out of the first game, and hadn’t missed the first 7 upgrades, I may have enjoyed the DLC a little more, however leaving it a year didn’t really work for me.
Approx Time taken to beat – 10 hours
Difficulty setting – Give me a challenge
Score – [Rating:3/5]
Games Trailer
Tags: Armour, Augmentations, Combat Systems, Day Gap, Deus, Deus Ex, DLC, Gap, horizon, Human Revolution, Inclination, Meh, Missing Link, Play Game, Praxis, Rage, Shame, Skill Trees, Stealth Systems, Story Arc
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