The Deus Ex prequel games, Human Revolution and Mankind Divided, know how to strike a mood, with their excellent art direction, cryptic stories, and of course, the music, which contains gorgeously crafted synth sounds and atmospheres that inspire the mind to sink into their dystopian setting. If, like me, you loved the soundtracks in these games, I’m happy to share that composer Sascha Dikiciyan, known as Sonic Mayhem, has released a bunch of demos from Mankind Divided’s soundtrack entirely for free.
Dikiciyan’s work can be heard on titles spanning from the late ‘90s, like Quake II and Unreal, to more recent games like Mass Effect 3, Borderlands 2, and season nine of The Division 2. In the recently released batch of Deus Ex demo tracks, Dikiciyan has given listeners and fans “direct access (in a way) to my audio hard drive.”
Fragments of the Machine [Data Archive Vol.1] by Sonic MayhemDikiciyan describes the demo tracks, some of which never made it into the official soundtrack release, as “unmixed, unmastered, and even unfinished,” stating:
Between 2015-2016, I composed a large body of music for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and its DLCs. The official soundtrack featured a curated selection, but much of what I wrote for the game–including cues for cinematics, trailers, in-game clubs, as well as drafts, ideas, and even demos–never made it beyond the official release. Until now.
The demos are entirely free, though Dikiciyan asks folks to check out another game he produced the soundtrack for, an upcoming cyberpunk shooter called Metal Eden from Reikon Games (there’s a demo on Steam if you’re curious).
Dikiciyan has also been busy releasing Deus Ex music on his YouTube channel, including long-form cuts of tracks perfect for chilling out to late nights on Neuropozyne (or another substance of your choosing).