Deus Ex: Mankind Divided has a huge cast of characters. You might be a bit overwhelmed at first, especially if you haven’t played Deus Ex: Human Revolution recently. This chapter goes over the major places and characters so that you know what you’re getting into.
Except for introducing the characters, we will not spoil anything in the main story.
Adam Jensen
The year is 2029, and Jensen is once again a changed man. Disillusioned and bitter after his attempt to save the world only left it more divided, he’s joined a newly-created Interpol counterterrorism unit known as Task Force 29. On the surface, Jensen’s goal is to hunt down terrorists in a world that’s spinning out of control. But what he’s really after are the men and women responsible for tearing the world apart, the people who are still pulling the strings. In his obsessive drive to unmask them, Jensen will continue to dig for answers, inching his way ever closer to the truth. He knows that stopping the Illuminati is the only way to make things right again. For the world. For the men and women he cares about. And for himself.
Viktor Marchenko
Viktor Marchenko is an outspoken member of the Augmented Rights Coalition—an international, non-governmental group of augmented activists fighting for the fair treatment of transhumans. Unlike its leader, Talos Rucker, Marchenko has more radical leanings, and his charismatic personality allows him to sway opinions and rile up his followers. Heavily augmented, with both his right eye and two arms having been replaced, he is thought to be responsible for organizing multiple attacks that he believes will help further their cause. However, Marchenko is not just a brutish hulk; he is extremely intelligent and is well versed in the history of past revolutionaries.
Elias Chikane
Chikane, Adam’s VTOL pilot for TF29, is both professional and dedicated in his work. With a strong military background, he is able to use his experience as an elite pilot to give himself the extra edge when helping to exfiltrate Adam out of a tight spot. However, the tension between him and Adam is, at times, palpable. This is largely in partly due to his suspicions of all augmented people, stemming from the fact that his left knee was badly damaged by an Aug during the Aug Incident. As a result, Chikane refused to be augmented, passing up a more advanced cybernetic in favor of his current, more traditional leg brace.
Alex Vega
Alejandra ‘Alex’ Vega is an ex-Belltower pilot. She had to leave her previous job in a hurry after she helped Ben Saxon expose Belltower’s illegal drug operation in Panama. Through Saxon, she was introduced to, and joined, the Juggernaut Collective. Now she’s supporting Jensen with his investigation into Task Force 29 in order to determine if they are, in fact, a puppet of the Illuminati. She facilitated Jensen’s entry into the Task Force, and acts as a go-between for him and Janus.
Jim Miller
Jim Miller is the Prague branch director of Task Force 29, a newly-created division of Interpol that fights organized crime and terrorism. A direct and decisive leader, he is committed to his job and passionate about protecting civilians. He has also gone through his entire career with unwavering respect for the chain of command.
Talos Rucker
Talos Rucker is the leader of the Augmented Rights Coalition (ARC). He is a passionate, principled, and charismatic leader who advocates non-violence and political activism over violent terrorism. But someone is conducting acts of terrorism and framing ARC for them, thereby discrediting the entire Aug Rights Movement, and making Talos Rucker Task Force 29’s primary target. As public opinion continues to turn against him and his cause, Rucker is painfully aware that time is running out. He suspects a conspiracy is at hand, one that is not only targeting ARC, but all augmented people.
Vaclav Koller
Vaclav Koller is an underground augmentation specialist in Prague who does not shy away from controversial augmentations. He is a brilliant, eccentric, fast-talking engineer who has performed extensive self-augmentation. Koller has dealings with many of the different factions in the city, including organized crime, and for an unknown reason has the protection of Radich Nikoladze, head of the Dvali Crime family in Prague.
Duncan MacReady
Duncan MacReady—or Mac as he’s sometime called—is a tough-as-nails former special forces operative now working in Interpol’s Tactical Anti-Terrorism Unit, Task Force 29. While outstanding at his job, Mac has no patience for the incompetent, which to him is nearly everyone, and isn’t one to mince his words. While at times his brutally honest nature can seem harsh—even discriminatory—against the augmented, he is far from a racist and for those lucky enough to have earned his respect, he is an extremely loyal ally.
David Sarif
David Sarif is the founder and former CEO of Sarif Industries, and former boss of Adam Jensen. A well-preserved man in his late 50s, Sarif revitalized Detroit and tried to revolutionize the world by turning a dilapidated automotive factory into a source of cutting-edge human enhancement technology. Then, in 2027, the Aug Incident hit, plunging the world into chaos. Society turned against augmented people, and the industry that had created them crashed. Sarif’s company, personal fortune, and dreams crashed with it. Two years after the incident, Sarif is an older, wiser, slightly more reserved version of the man he was before. He’s still wealthy; still direct when dealing with others; and still believes in progress, science and technology, and human endeavor. He also continues to hold onto an idealistic belief in a mechanically-enhanced mankind. He’s just learned to be patient and let others carry the banner into the spotlight for him, for now.
Daniel “Smiley” Fletcher
Daniel Fletcher, known to all as Smiley, is Task Force 29’s senior Crime Scene Investigation Technician in Eastern Europe. His extensive scientific and forensic background and brilliant mind have earned him an impressive reputation, along with his constant chain of female companions. Passionate about only two things—science and women—Smiley strives to be at the forefront of his field. Well-liked by his colleagues, his friendly demeanor comes as a breath of fresh air to the many troubled members of TF29.
Peter Chang
Peter Chang is a talented hacker and a member of the Cybercrimes division at Task Force 29. Prior to joining the team, Chang made a name for himself as a ‘digital Robin Hood,’ using his hacking skills to secretly steal fortunes from various megacorporations and redistributing the wealth to those in need. Accepting a position at TF29 rather than face jail, Chang now applies his skills toward hunting cybercriminals and terrorist hackers, which allows him to continue accessing the technology he loves.
Doctor Delara Auzenne
Dr. Auzenne works for Task Force 29 as a psychologist. She evaluates operatives for signs of stress that could jeopardize their work (or their lives).
Eliza Cassan
Eliza is a broadcaster with Picus. She’s on television practically 24 hours a day, and few people know that she is an AI. During Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Jensen met Eliza and discovered her secret.
Allison Stanek
Allison was a member of the Czech Republic army, but she was horribly injured as part of her duties. Receiving life-saving augmentation, she survived. However, tragedy struck her again during “The Incident” when she experienced severe hallucinations and had a psychotic break. She currently struggles with depression, but has found solace with the members of the Church of the Machine God.
Otar Botkoveli
One of the most feared men in Prague, Otar Botkoveli is the second highest figure in the Dvali’s crew for that city. Otar is a Georgian who yearns for the older days of the Dvalis. As a hardliner, he thinks of crime as a business and a set of traditions. People who play into that belief get a lot farther with him than those who don’t!
Radich Nikoladze
The number one person for the Dvalis in Prague is Radich Nikoladze. Ruthless, young, and daring, Radich has blown through the ranks, becoming one of Europe’s most feared criminals. What are this man’s secrets, and who can exploit them?
Arun Singh
Singh is an undercover agent assigned by Task Force 29 to sting groups that deal in high-end augs and weaponry. He’s got the chops to complete very dangerous assignments.
Nathaniel Brown
Brown is a billionaire who is trying to create a place where the augmented can live safely. He’s a proponent of the “Safe Harbor Initiative” which is an attempt to get funding for more and more augmented cities, to promote peace.
Janus
Janus is a huge figure in the hacking underground. His voice and representation appear masculine, but that’s about as much as even people “in the know” can say about him. He never meets in person, and he always has way more information than he should.