This game is fantastic. Now that's out of the way, one thing the game does perfect is the atmosphere. It's very dark, gritty and has a very interesting take on the cyberpunk genre. It's a great welcomed return to an interesting series which had a very interesting concept and makes the return gracefully.
The games visual style is excellent. On PC with max settings it is a breath taking view. Though I found because I have a Nvidia card it had some stuttering. I find turning off Direct X 11 solved that issue though. Besides that small blemish the graphics and art style is really good and I found the choice of art style was refreshing. It feels like a victorian setting meets a futuristic cyberpunk setting and it works great. The notable references to the renaissance period and mythology play a huge role in the atmosphere of the game, not just visually. Besides the stuttering issue I found earlier, I found no other hiccups with the game. My PC is a moderately powerful machine and it ran a smooth 60 FPS for me.
The sound was really good as well. The music was catchy, atmospheric and worked well. The voice acting is spot on and though I didn't mind it because I'm a fan but the main character does have a similar voice to Batman from the Nolan trilogy. Though I can see how the gritty voice might bother some, I don't find it as a flaw and fit the character perfectly.
The gameplay is where the game had some small issues. I found the game on the normal difficulty was a tad bit too difficult. I'm not a huge fan of using stealth all the time so I turned the difficulty to easy just to play it without too much frustration and this is coming from someone who typically enjoys a challenge in FPS games. The augmentations do make it a bit easier but still I found the normal difficulty was too frustrating. The AI in this game can either be very aggressive or laughably stupid. It's hit and miss honestly.
The story was interesting and kept me engaged. It wasn't anything huge but it did have some themes that hit hard with what's going on in the world today. While the ending I got seemed a bit anti climatic it was presented in such a way it was good. Many had compared it to Mass Effect 3's endings but I find that's not accurate at all, this ending while could of been better did leave it on a good note. The game took me about 20 hours to complete and that was on easy and doing all the side quests. The directors cut also comes with a DLC and the DLC is not skipable but you wouldn't want to skip it. It's very good.
Bottom line is pick this up. It's cheap. I recommend it on the PC but if you have a console and don't have a decently powerful PC then pick it up there. I played it on PS3 as well and while the PC version is better, it's worth playing through no matter what device you play it on. A must have.
Graphics: 9/10
Sound:10/10
Story:8/10
Gameplay:9/10
Final Score: 9/10 - A must own.