The Deus Ex series is known for its flexibility, and Mankind Divided is no different. There’s no one right way to play: whether you want to be a carbon-clad murder machine, a benevolent ghost, or something in between, the game provides the tools to support your chosen style. Below you’ll find our suggestions for augments that you’ll want to focus on for various approaches — roughly presented in descending order of importance — along with some more general gameplay tips that can be used regardless of what kind of cyborg you’re hoping to become down the line.

Deus Ex pulls from a lot of genres to create its cocktail of action, stealth, and role-playing, but one less obvious influence is Metroid. So much of the game is about exploring every nook and cranny of the environment and, like in the classic platformer series, many areas will be blocked until you’ve unlocked a particular ability. Getting these as early as possible will save you a lot of backtracking and open up more options for how to approach any situation, especially if you’re trying to be discrete.

It wouldn’t be a cyberpunk game without hacking, and Mankind Divided hides a lot of rewards behind hackable doors, safes, and computers. Multitools can get you into anything, but they’re best saved for difficult hacks when you’re short on time. Since single-use items can only get you so far, you really need to boost your hacking skills as soon as possible if you want to see everything.

While Mankind Divided‘s mechanics allow you to play as violently as you would like, it often feels like the game would prefer you take the stealthy route, especially since your boss admonishes you every time you make a scene. These are key skills for getting around without anyone being the wiser.

If you would rather take on challenges head-on instead of ghosting your way through, there are plenty of options for making Jensen deadlier in a fight. Even if you’re mowing down everyone with bullets, however, be sure to take your time and explore after you’ve taken out threats instead of barrelling forward, or else you’ll risk missing out on a lot of the game’s best rewards.

The Sentinel Rx Health System and Sarif Series 8 Energy Converter each have nine available sub-upgrades that improve Jensen’s health and energy, respectively. These consist of three levels that raise the maximum, three that improve the recharge rate, and three that decrease the delay before recharging begins. Because these simply improve functions Jensen already has, you can take add more responsively to perceived weaknesses as you play. If you’re going stealthy, for instance, you should skip health upgrades entirely since you shouldn’t be taking damage at all; if you’re getting shot at, than things have usually already gone wrong. Energy upgrades are more broadly useful, especially if you’re relying on skills that drain it heavily, like cloaking and the Titan shield.

Taking your time and being thorough is greatly rewarded in Mankind Divided. There are nearly always multiple points of entry to anywhere you want to go, so take your time and really explore all of your options before committing to anything. Always make sure to look high and low on walls for air ducts, and peek behind movable objects.

If you’re playing stealthily, get in the habit of closing doors behind you, and flipping switches to make windows turn opaque. Anything you can do to obstruct your enemies’ line of sight will make it easier to explore uninterrupted, especially when you’re breaking into offices.

Knocked out guards won’t wake up unless someone finds them, so be sure to drag bodies out of sight if you want to avoid raising the alarm. The game’s AI isn’t great, though, so don’t stress about it too much — leaving bodies just a little out of the way is usually enough.

Part of what makes Jensen the most badass cyborg is that his body apparently does not reject the augmentations like most people’s do, meaning he has no personal need for the ubiquitous drug neuropozyne. That doesn’t mean other people don’t need it, however, so it’s generally best to hold onto it for bartering instead of selling it, like the game advises. Various characters throughout the game will exchange items or information only for a hit of neuropozyne, which are generally worth more than the cash value of simply selling it. As the game goes on, you’ll start to find more and more of it, so don’t be a miser when your stock is high, especially early on.

Very early on in the game, Jensen’s go-to augmentation specialist, Koller, finds experimental augs lying dormant in his body. The cost of using these powerful abilities, however, is that he has to deactivate another aug in order to maintain system stability. This is manageable, however, since you almost certainly won’t be using every ability available, depending on your play-style. However, Koller immediately presents the option to pursue an item that does away with this restriction. It’s being held by one of Prague’s crime bosses. If you’re sneaky enough — or have no qualms about killing a lot of people — then you can simply take it. Just asking for it, however, is also feasible, if you have the social grace. He’ll want a favor in exchange, but don’t be put off — this just amounts to a couple extra side-quests later in the game, both of which can be resolved without doing anything untoward if you prefer.