Detroit: Become Human
My latest video game pickup
Detroit: Become Human is a story–driven, adventure game developed by Quantic Dream.
The single player game was written and directed by David Cage, who also directed the game Heavy Rain. The game has acquired several reviews above 6/10 including IGN, Gamespot, and Game Informer. It released on May 25, 2018 and is a Sony exclusive.
I had no idea this game existed until yesterday afternoon.
TheRadBrad, a highly successful youtuber, was posting a ton of gameplay videos on this game and I decided to check it out. I spent the rest of the evening watching his videos and trying to figure out how I could get my hands on this game. Calling it a pleasant surprise would be an understatement.
Detroit: Become Human is set in– well Detroit. The year is 2038, and humans in the United States can buy these life–like androids to assist them with whatever they need help with. These androids can clean the house, cut the yard, cook dinner, take care of kids or pets, and various other activities. They don’t get tired and they don’t backtalk.
Well–they used to not backtalk. Something changes with some of the androids. They start developing emotions like anger, sadness, and love. They also began to behave irrationally.
It’s almost like they become human.
Detroit: Become Human is a story–driven game that plays like an interactive movie. You watch as the story unfolds and make both timed and untimed choices. These choices depict how the story plays out. After each chapter, a flowchart appears that shows how your chapter played out. However, parts of the flowchart are gray.
Different choices lead to different outcomes. The gray parts are the flowchart are the choices you didn’t make and their outcomes. You can replay the chapters and make different choices to unlock the other outcomes.
There are three stories woven into this game.
Conner is an android designed to help in police investigations. His job is to track deviant androids and help crack cases. Kara is designed to be a domestic servant. She cleans, takes care of children, and makes sure everything is in order. Markus is also a designed to be a domestic servant. He runs errands, cleans, and takes care of his owner.
While Conner is a deviant hunter, the other two characters are quite the opposites. Both Kara and Markus are put in an extreme situation that prompts them to break away from the typical android lifestyle. They develop emotions and their goals change based on what’s going on. They are put in a position where they’re no longer being told what to do by a human.
I won’t dig in too deep into the plot because I don’t want to spoil it for any of you who might want to pick it up.
The game looks utterly amazing from the plot to the breathtaking graphics.
My grandmother coaxed me into buying the game. I wanted it, but I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to purchase a video game at full retail price.
“You’ve been doing really good. You have to get something for you sometime.” — My grandmother.
So I purchased a Playstation Network Card and bought the game from the Playstation Store when we got home. After three painfully long hours, the game had fully downloaded. After fetching some Chinese food and scurrying to my room, I loaded the game up. That’s how I’ve spent the rest of my afternoon.
I’ve gotten about 3 hours deep into the game.
Since it just came out yesterday, I don’t want to spoil it for anyone. Perhaps I’ll write a full review after I play through all the chapters a couple of times. However, I will say that I love the game so far. The graphics are stunning. The consistent rotation of the three stories keeps me entertained, engaged, and on the edge of my seat. Sometimes the unique controls take a couple of tries before they register, which can make the intense scenes tricky. I’m having a great time with it overall.
If you have a PS4 and you enjoy games that play more like interactive movies, then this game might interest you. If you’ve played any of the TellTale games, this one reminds me of those.
