AUGMENTED BANK HEIST

Two years after I said that resetting talent points was "an instant turn-off" for DXMD's System Rift DLC, I've gotten over it. ... Well, I've also forgotten what most of those talents were, anyway.

Unlike the previous game's The Missing Link DLC, though, this one gives you a bunch of initial Praxis Points; so instead of starting out as a hobbled newbie, you get to build a moderately-powerful Adam Jenson from the beginning. I definitely appreciate how this streamlined the introduction.

And I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was for me to get back into my Deus Ex "groove" -- before I knew it, I was sneaking into the map's nooks and crannies, finding hidden paths around security checkpoints, incapacitating hostile guards, and obsessively hacking every terminal and laptop I could find. I guess it's a credit to the main game that my instincts came back so quickly.

After a few errands that set up the plot, the primary activity in System Rift is infiltrating a Palisade Blade installation (datacenter bank vault) for some cyber-espionage. And this stealth op ticked most of my favorite boxes from Mankind Divided itself: the aforementioned sneaking, hacking, et cetera. I had a lot of fun finding my way around the bank's defenses, and reading all of their employees' email.

On the flip side, this DLC is kinda short, and - though there are a couple optional objectives inside the bank - doesn't have any side missions or other significant secrets to uncover. While it does pack a meaningful amount of detail and choice into its single mission, it's still just a single mission. I found myself missing the open-ness of Mankind Divided's world map, a bit.

But, as a side-story to the main game, System Rift is pretty engaging and satisfying.

Better than: Deus Ex: Human Revolution - The Missing Link
Not as good as: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Hearts of Stone
As big as Deus Ex is on player choice: I have to assume that going into the bank guns blazing wouldn't have turned out very well.