I played a fascinating game the other day which has been out for a while now.
Detroit: Become Human is one of those games in which you don’t actually do much other than investigate your surroundings to figure out what happened, make some choices and do the odd Quick Time Event, like in Shenmue. Which makes it sound like a boring game, but it really isn’t, it’s all really rather good.
Set in the year 20 something or another, in other words the future and in the city of Detroit. Hence the name. You play the part of 3 different Androids.
You start off playing as Connor, an Android sent to work with the police and investigate other Androids that have become Deviants. Deviants are Androids that believe they are sentient beings, self-aware with emotions and feelings and they can act like human do by going against their programming.
We meet him on his way to a situation where a Deviant has a young girl hostage, he’s standing on the edge of a tall building with the girl in his arms, threatening suicide and to take the girl with him. After speaking with Sargent, you have the choice? Do you want to investigate, look for clues within the rooms which may reveal more about what is happening or what made him a Deviant. Or you can just go and negotiate with the Deviant, it’s up to you.
The reconstruction of the clues are brilliantly done and it makes you feel like an Android analysing evidence, like a digital Sherlock Holmes, it is all presented beautifully. The more you do to figure out what is going on, the better chance of success you will have when you communicate with the Deviant.
When playing, I manage to reason with the Deviant and save the girl, I promised we would save him but the police let fire on him. However, when you finish that level, it shows you the choices you made, the choices you could have made and their outcomes and what other players did. If had played it differently, I could have killed him myself or I could have lost both of them. Each choice you make has repercussions and it’s truly brilliant as you are faced sometimes with difficult choices.
You also play as Kara, an android whose become a Deviant after watching a father verbally and physically abuse his daughter. After attacking the father and running away with the daughter, you become a mother figure to her but you have nowhere to go and she needs food and shelter cause it’s raining. So the game will give you multiple choices as to how you are going to keep the girl safe as you try and make your way to safety in Canada. You soon get tracked down by Connor who is hunting for you, this provides a thrilling chase.
Marcus is the last protagonist, his owner is a kind hearted disabled artist, Marcus helps him with shopping and tasks and to move him around. When his owners drug addict son turns up demanding money, Marcus becomes a Deviant trying to protect his owner and accidentally kills his son. Which means immediate deactivation as Androids can’t go around killing humans can they? So the next time we see Marcus, badly damaged in a scrap yard full of androids. He manages to repair himself and find a way out of the scrap yard way, the art direction for this part of the game is glorious. Marcus hears about Jericho, a place where Androids are free where he becomes a revolutionary leader and speaker for Android rights. Will he lead a peaceful or violent revolution? Marcus’s story has really got a feel of the civil rights movement.
As you can imagine, all of the characters paths will cross at some point and there are some brilliant dilemma’s to choose from. The game as a great mixture of action, drama and moral choices and it took me around 10-12 hours over 3 nights. By the 2nd day, I didn’t want to put the game down. It’s a bit of a nod to Blade Runner and I’m sure there are Easter Eggs which I didn’t notice as I’ve not seen the film for many years but it’s done differently. We really get to see the journey of each Android.
The graphics are something to behold as it looks stunning and the actors facial animations do a fantastic job in convey the emotions of each of the characters. There are some truly wonderful moments that will truly lift your spirits, then there will be choices you have to make which will break your heart. As far as storytelling goes in games, this is one of the best as far as I can remember. The game is like a modern take on the ScrummVM/old style adventure games that I used to play which when I was younger, which are no longer around these days with some Shenmue Quick Time Events. A more sophisticated version of the Monkey Island or Maniac Mansion if you will and that is no bad thing. There are enough different choices that it would be hard to play the same game twice with the exact same outcomes.
You should be able to pick this game up pretty cheaply. If you want something like COD, then this is not the game for you. Don’t get me wrong, I love fast paced games to but this was something a little different and I wish there were more games like this. I know that the company that made this game also made Heavy Rain on the PS3, which I believe is a similar style of gameplay, which I may have to track down and review.
Hybrid Rules
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