I've just reached Montreal in Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and I have The Missing Link downloading in Steam right now. Does the DLC tie into the game, or do I need to launch it from outside Human Revolution?
In either case, do you recommend playing it during the campaign at some point or after I finish Human Revolution? If you suggest the former, what is a good (spoiler-free description of the) time to play it?
The Missing Link stands apart as an episode by itself, even though the timeline in which is happens is during the main story;
During the main plot of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, there’s a point near the end during which you climb into a pod in order to get to the Panchea complex. When Jensen climbs out of the pod on the after arriving, Pritchard mentions that you've been out of contact for three days.
The Missing Link doesn't affect your main story progress, you can feel free to play around with any Praxis Points you come across and it won't affect any progress on any achievements you've been working on in the main Deus Ex story line as it isn't integrated into the main campaign.
Update (credit to Diziet): Certainly would recommend not playing 'The Missing Link' until the point in the game detailed in the spoiler.
In Deus Ex Human Revolution: Director's Cut, the Missing Link content is built into the main story and does directly effect your main story progress (including Foxiest of the Hounds and Pacifist).
Missing Link is essentially standalone. Chronologically, it happens in the second half of the main HR story.
The reason I say not to slip it into the main story chronologically is just that the flow of the main story gets upset. It's expected to have temporary diversions, sidequests, etc in a longer RPG like Deus Ex, but Missing Link is a fairly big chunk and noticeably isolated in terms of gameplay and social contacts from the rest of the game. Basically, in my opinion it would harm the main story to spend so much time on an off-shoot.
The other nice thing about doing it later is that because you start with a clean slate (in terms of augs and equipment), you don't feel bound to your choices of direction in the main game. That lack of continuity is actually kind of liberating if you tend to play the main story with a strong idea of who your Jensen is.
You can only play the missing link separately from the main campaign.
I've not played it myself, but based on what I've heard I'd recommend playing it while playing HR, since its the same story and all. It's a real shame it doesn't add in to the campaign itself though, big missed opportunity there.
