Deus Ex Composer Releases Free Compilation of Additional Mankind Divided Tracks
- Sonic Mayhem has released free unused Deus Ex: Mankind Divided tracks on Bandcamp.
- He also scored Metal Eden, an upcoming sci-fi FPS.
- Metal Eden launches Sept. 2 from Reikon Games and Deep Silver.
Jump to:
Augmented Music
Sascha Dikiciyan, better known as Sonic Mayhem, is a German-born, LA-based musician known for his work on games such The Division, Mass Effect 3, Borderlands, Tron, The Long Dark, Quake II and III, Deus Ex, and the forthcoming Metal Eden. Now, he’s released a free compilation of previously unreleased tracks from Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.
Mankind Divided was released in 2016 as a sequel to Deus Ex: Human Evolution. That game was highly praised for reinventing the original Deus Ex immersive sim released in 2000. Mankind Divided, while also generally praised, suffered from an abrupt ending and lack of real plot progression. A third game was planned but subsequently cancelled in 2023.
Dikiciyan revealed on his Bandcamp page that he wrote a lot of music for Mankind Divided, but a good chunk of it was never used: “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.”
“A number of these tracks are alternate variations or early beta versions that never made it into the final game. After seeing how much people still connect with that universe, I wanted to share them as a gift to the community before the release of Metal Eden.”
Cyberpunk Soundtracks
Dikiciyan has composed the scores for multiple video games, but got his start in 1997 when id Software approached him to write music for Quake II. This gave gamers their first taste of a soundtrack that owed as much to Tangerine Dream and John Carpenter as it did to Trent Reznor (who scored the first Quake game).
The first Sonic Mayhem non-game album was 2015’s Doomsday, which was branded “electronic punk” and gave people a taste of heavy synthwave music since popularized by the likes of Carpenter Brut and Perturbator. This was followed by his second solo album, Dystopika: Meditations from the Future, which was released this year in June.
Whereas Doomsday has an aggressive edge, Dystopia has an overall more ambient sound, but that doesn’t mean Dikiciyan has gone soft. His next video game soundtrack is set to be closer to the work of Mick Gordon, and is for Metal Eden, a sci-fi FPS with what developers Reikon Games calls “cybernetic parkour.”
Ruin Them Then Ruin Yourself
Gamers unfamiliar with the name Reikon Games might be more familiar with the studio’s first game, RUINER. Released in 2017, it follows a cybernetically-enhanced psychopath as he tears down the corrupt system behind the kidnapping of his brother. Set in a dystopian cyberpunk cityscape, RUINER garnered praise for its stylish violence and story.
RUINER is published by Devolver Digital, the company behind games such as Enter The Gungeon, Shotgun Cop Man, and the recently released Look Outside. Metal Eden, on the other hand, is being published by Deep Silver (Kingdom Come: Deliverance, the forthcoming Dawn of War IV).
Metal Eden will be available from Sept. 2 on all major platforms. Dikiciyan’s compilation of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided tracks is available now from Bandcamp.
or
