Adam Jensen is the Deus Ex series' first returning lead character, which brings new challenges for the writers (not least, having to canonise an ending). So many challenges, it seems, that Jensen could well have been killed off before Mankind Divided started.
In an interview with GamesRadar last week,executive narrative director, Mary DeMarle explained, "when we started Mankind Divided we knew he was coming back, but when we finished Human Revolution we didn’t know he was coming back!" Executive art director, Jonathan Jacques-Belletête simplifies that a little:
"She wanted to kill him! I thought she was crazy! At first I was like 'All my work! God damn!' It’s so freaking hard to create an iconic hero in this industry, it just kind of happened by magic, so I was like “Mary! What are you doing?”
In the end, it was decided that Adam was too useful a metaphor for the series' themes to abandon and start over. Olivier Proulx explains: "For the Naturals [people without augmentations] he’s an outcast, but also for the augmented. He’s a great canvas for the player to see both sides of the debate and project their own interpretation of what’s happening."
Jacques-Belletête, again, has a simpler explanation for why opinions changed: "Now we’re making lots of money with the IP so..."
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