Does it matter to the story?
Does it make a difference in the gameplay? E.g. with XP or whatnot.
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Lethal is more funny, cuz even you use non-lethal tactics is hard to avoid the enemies and if they found you, you will wish have lethal weapons :) – Arthur Sep 01 '11 at 15:38
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According to the stealth tutorial video, a lethal takedown makes more noise than a non-lethal one.
Neutralizing an enemy without killing will award you a +20 XP bonus ("Merciful Soul").
Knocked-out hostiles can be woken by other people who happen to find them. Obviously, this can't happen if they're dead.
I'm not aware of any impact on the story, though there is a Steam achievement (Pacifist) for not killing anyone except bosses.
a cat
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1You get the Man Down XP for non-lethal takedowns, so it's actually a 20-XP difference. – jprete Sep 01 '11 at 01:05
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@Lunboks - Guess it shows how many people I kill with non-lethal means. – Raven Dreamer Sep 01 '11 at 01:39
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There are some comments by characters if you go the non-lethal route. – CyberSkull Sep 01 '11 at 01:42
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1Additionally, characters not killed can show up later in the story (see To Kill or Not to Kill - Zeke in Deus Ex 3). – Ian Pugsley Sep 01 '11 at 01:47
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I'm pretty sure that enemies can only be woken up if they were knocked out with a takedown. I've not seen anyone taken out by tranq dart be woken up. – Fambida Sep 01 '11 at 05:57
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1@Fambida, I've seen enemies be revived from takedowns, tranq darts and stun gun shots - basically it seems that if they're not dead they can be woken up. – DMA57361 Sep 01 '11 at 08:48
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@fambida: The only way to keep them from being woken is by doing a bang up job of hiding the bodies. – Satanicpuppy Sep 01 '11 at 13:21
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There is a very, very subtle change in dialogue depending on how many people you kill. – Kitt Basch Apr 14 '12 at 09:39
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you gain more experience when you do a non lethal takedown, the bonus is called Merciful Soul
Merciful Soul: neutralize an enemy using non-lethal methods (20 XP)
There are also other types of xp bonus for every enemy you come across, see this post for more information.
To maximize your experience, you will want to do as many double takedowns (none lethal) as possible and normal none lethal takedowns otherwise.
And killing enemies makes more noise where none lethal takedowns are virtually silent.
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there are some minor differences i noticed if you went non-lethal for the first mission and killed nobody the dialogues change the cops have nicer things to say and Maliks dialogue is also different
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