Deus Ex: Breach

About

Deus Ex: Breach is a single player role playing game. It was developed by Eidos Montreal and was released on January 24, 2017. It received negative reviews from players.

Deus Ex: Breach is an innovative game that offers, for the very first time, an arcade approach on the gameplay of Deus Ex.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

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34%

Audience ScoreBased on 186 reviews

story8 positive mentions

monetization9 negative mentions

Engaging gameplay with a mix of stealth, combat, and hacking mechanics that offer multiple ways to approach objectives.
Free to play and accessible as a standalone version of the Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Breach mode with shared progress and achievements.
Visuals and art style are distinctively cyberpunk and atmospheric; the soundtrack by Ed Harrison is highly praised.

The game suffers from aggressive pay-to-win mechanics and microtransactions, including paying for ammo needed to progress.
Repetitive and limited level design, with many players noting poor optimization and technical issues such as lag and crashes.
Clunky controls, frustrating AI behavior, and poor game balance make some missions unfair or extremely difficult without purchases or extensive grinding.

story
69 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
12%
79%
9%
The story in Deus Ex: Breach is widely seen as weak and underdeveloped, presented primarily through text with minimal cutscenes and lacking depth or strong connection to the main Deus Ex narrative. While some find the premise and mission chains somewhat engaging, the repetitive dialogue, shallow writing, and heavy reliance on pay-to-win mechanics and grinding significantly detract from immersion and player investment. Overall, the story feels like an afterthought and falls short of the series' standards.
- “Cannot stress enough to beat the Mankind Divided story and find the Breach packs in-game.”
- “This game has value; it has an interesting premise and an engaging story that lets you explore the universe more. Gameplay is more of Mankind Divided gameplay without pressure for non-lethal takedowns allowing the full sandbox.”
- “Despite being arcade-y and not directly related to Adam Jensen's story in the story mode of Mankind Divided, there are narrative mission chains that do have permanent choices you have to make in them.”
- “The story is just plain lazy and takes place entirely through a fake instant messaging service as you contact clients and fellow hackers.”
- “The story itself is kinda bad, no cutscenes, tons of text, pretty boring too and also small dialogue choices, some of which are kinda funny.”
- “The story and the writing are basic, and some dialogues are outright cringe-worthy, with only the most superficial ties to the Deus Ex narrative.”
gameplay
38 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
21%
66%
13%
The gameplay is generally considered solid and engaging, offering a challenging mix of stealth and combat with familiar Deus Ex mechanics adapted into bite-sized missions. However, it is often criticized for repetitive elements, intrusive microtransactions, and cumbersome platforming sections that conflict with the core game style. While it serves as a fun, arcade-like extension of Mankind Divided’s experience, some players find it lacking depth, immersion, and smoothness, partly due to constant online requirements and frustrating design choices.
- “All the strong gameplay from Mankind Divided is here, just in bite-sized packages this time, and Breach offers its additions such as a double/triple jump; overall the gameplay is solid and fun.”
- “The gameplay, as the main game, can be altered to suit player preferences; stealth or guns blazing.”
- “This game has value with an interesting premise and an engaging story that lets you explore the universe more; gameplay is similar to Mankind Divided without pressure for non-lethal takedowns, allowing the full sandbox experience.”
- “Fairly interesting concept, unfortunately it's been ruined by boring and repetitive gameplay topped with micro-transactions when you least expect it.”
- “Its got all the signs: constant online connection needed, incredibly scarce resources, pitiful EXP and credit rewards for replaying missions, gameplay driven by loot boxes, and a level select screen straight from any mobile game.”
- “Boring, clunky gameplay which I hope isn't indicative of the 'main' game.”
monetization
22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
45%
41%
The monetization is widely criticized as aggressive, pay-to-win, and cash grab–oriented, with microtransactions perceived as intrusive and undermining the gameplay experience. However, some players note that purchases are not strictly necessary, as in-game rewards suffice for progress. Overall, the monetization is seen as greedy and poorly integrated, detracting from the game's potential.
- “No microtransactions necessary, I've completed all levels without needing them!”
- “Besides, the microtransactions can hardly help you as most of them seem to be purely cosmetic, and all the weapons or ammo you may need (actually, more than you'll need) can be obtained with in-game credits or as rewards.”
- “Hardcore gameplay and high demand to the player's patience and strategy thinking may scare the weak and make them whine about 'necessary microtransactions' with no real reasons.”
- “The game is boring, generic, and a pay-to-win cash grab.”
- “In the end, all its strengths pale in comparison to cruelly and cynically designed monetization.”
- “Their monetization for this game has always been absurdly greedy and short-sighted.”
graphics
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
53%
27%
20%
The game's graphics receive mixed reviews, with many praising its unique and gorgeous art style and stunning visuals, while others criticize the minimalistic design, poor performance, and high system requirements that lead to lag and low frame rates. Some find the visuals initially appealing but ultimately repetitive or sterile, detracting from the overall experience.
- “The art style is gorgeous and the soundtrack is epic.”
- “The visuals in Deus Ex: Breach are stunning.”
- “It offers a refreshing and challenging experience with its unique gameplay and stunning visuals.”
- “In order to cut down on the lag, I turned every one of the graphics settings to minimum, and it still lags, which means this software was written poorly.”
- “The graphics are very simple and minimalistic, but the game can hardly maintain 30-35 FPS on a GTX 750 Ti 2GB.”
- “Levels are tiny and often have only a handful of ways to complete them, and when they don't, you'll be struggling with poor performance, difficult visuals, and controls that do not feel good.”
optimization
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
20%
50%
The game suffers from poor optimization, leading to high system requirements and frequent performance issues that severely impact playability. Despite small level sizes and intricate designs, the game struggles with lag and unresponsive controls, making it frustrating for many users.
- “It is worth noting that the graphics requirements for this game to run smoothly are somewhat high and taxing on your system.”
- “Yes, it is performance-intensive, so read the pinned post in the Steam forum.”
- “The only good thing is art style and performance.”
- “Worse optimization than Crysis 1, and that's a milestone.”
- “The performance somehow grinds to a halt too.”
- “Absolutely terrible optimization.”
grinding
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Grinding in the game is widely viewed as tedious and repetitive, often feeling like a pay-to-win experience due to the reliance on spending real money for essential resources like ammo. While completing the game without spending is possible, it demands either stealth play, significant luck, or extensive grinding, with difficulty increasing to push players toward microtransactions. Overall, the grinding mechanics are frustrating and hinder smooth progression.
- “A grindy, tedious, mess, and worst of all: boring.”
- “While completing the game without spending a dime is entirely possible, it requires playing stealth (ammo costs money), a bit of luck in crate drops (one trick is to send challenges to other players, which drops crates when they fail), or a lot of time (read: grinding).”
- “I managed to get 1 hour into it before I hit my first wall, a mission where you have to take out a tough enemy, unlike the other missions takedowns and sneaking were useless (infinite resources), so I'd have to use ammo to defeat the enemy, unfortunately ammo cannot be looted, it must be brought directly with credits or acquired through loot boxes, in fact everything must be bought, there's no reliable way to get an item without grinding or paying up.”
music
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
57%
43%
The music, composed by the acclaimed Ed Harrison, is widely praised as phenomenal and epic, elevating the game's atmosphere with a high-caliber soundtrack reminiscent of his previous work on Mankind Divided and Neotokyo. Despite the game's other shortcomings, the soundtrack stands out as a major highlight, offering an immersive and memorable auditory experience.
- “The soundtrack is also done by the legendary Ed Harrison, responsible for tracks on Mankind Divided and the entire Neotokyo OST, an OST so good it has kept the game alive.”
- “The soundtrack and ambience satisfy the high caliber that Deus Ex fans may be used to, and the combat, though somewhat repetitive, may find use if the campaign has been completed many times.”
- “It turns out, there's nothing worth playing this game for - the music is phenomenal by Ed Harrison, the artstyle and graphics are wonderful but outside from these factors, everything, and - I mean everything.”
- “Music is barely existent.”
- “The combat is somewhat repetitive, but the soundtrack and ambience meet the high standard Deus Ex fans expect.”
- “Listen to the soundtrack, hacker...”
replayability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
50%
The game offers strong replayability through its roguelike elements and resource management systems, encouraging players to experiment with different strategies and tool combinations. Its non-linear quests also provide meaningful decision-making that impacts each playthrough uniquely, enhancing the overall replay value.
- “It has roguelike elements allowing lots of replayability and scarcity systems encouraging discarding of tools that are impractical due to space or resources.”
- “This adds a layer of personalization and replayability to the game, as you can try out different combinations to see what works best for you.”
- “Good non-linear quests (darknet files), which require thinking and true decision making, adding depth and replay value.”
- “What replay value? To achieve 100%, you need to...”
- “3) Good non-linear quests (darknet files), which require thinking and true decision making (imagine Deus Ex where every choice you make is non-replayable and linked to your account forever. Hardcore!)”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is limited but present, mainly through small, occasionally funny dialogue choices and the ironically obnoxious monetization. While the story and presentation lack engagement, the humor adds some lightness to the overall experience.
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game has notable stability issues, often experiencing bugs and freezes. Users recommend disabling autosort inventory and using Alt+F4 to quit instead of the task manager to avoid crashes. Overall, it is considered a very buggy experience.
- “Sometimes buggy; disable autosort inventory and always Alt+F4 to quit if it freezes, do not force-quit via task manager!”
- “Very buggy game.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players note that while the microtransaction system can be frustrating, emotionally accepting its impact allows for an enjoyable experience.
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's neon-lit environments and futuristic architecture combine to create a captivating and immersive atmosphere that draws players deeply into its world.
- “The neon-lit environments and futuristic architecture create a mesmerizing atmosphere that truly immerses you in the game.”