I almost don’t even know where to start. Almost.
I’ll start by saying I have not been able to stop talking about Detroit: Become Human. Anyone who will listen, or anyone who doesn’t know what’s coming and simply gets sucked into it (sorry Mom) is hearing me talk about this game. Even before I started playing the game, I was talking about this game…
At least you’re reading this and can decide to check out at any time, but if you want to get at me to talk about it, I’m super interested in hearing what other people have to say about it too! If you’re considering playing it, just STOP reading right now and go get in there, you won’t regret it – or maybe you will, but I’m not your boss, do what you want!
I hope you’re feeling like a princess, because you’re about to get SPOILED. (I was feeling pretty clever when I wrote that). Seriously though, last warning.
Detroit came into my life a year or two ago when Derek (my long-time fiancé and long-time Geekscapist) excitedly showed me a trailer for it. Immediately I was intrigued – it looked absolutely beautiful, and the little taste of story we saw in the trailer seemed so interesting. Then, time moved on and it was totally forgotten until a month or so ago when the game’s free demo came out. Derek had played through it a couple of times and encouraged me to give it a try aswell.
Immediately, starting the demo I was frustrated. It has taken me so long to finally feel like I can kinda use the sticks (you know the ones on the controller that probably have an actual name) to play a game, and here this game decides to use totally different mechanics and I am right back to getting stuck in a corner staring at the wall… seriously. That being said, I got used to it pretty quickly and was able to enjoy the gameplay of the demo, especially with my side-kick sitting beside me patiently (so patiently) explaining how to interpret the symbols and reminding me how to use the controls in this new setting. Once I adapted to the camera angles and flow of the moving mechanisms, I was actually able to sit back and enjoy the cinematic feel of the game as the story unfolded. Between the two of us we each played the demo twice, and without any strategy, got 4 totally different outcomes. Cue more intrigue.
I don’t know the actual amount of time, but pretty quickly after playing the demo Derek was digging into the full game. He was super hyped about it from the moment he saw that original trailer (saying something about enjoying the company’s previous games), and that excitement was only amped up with each new little tidbit of information, so by game time, he was pretty stoked to get in there. I, on the other hand, was interested enough to catch 10 minutes here and there of his gameplay, without any real intention of playing myself. It definitely seemed like an interesting premise, but who has time to play a whole game? Turns out the answer is me, and probably me again.
It was pretty neat seeing so many recognizable actors in a game.
I somehow managed to catch the final ten minutes of Derek’s playthrough, which was totes cool, cause you want all the spoilers when you’re never gonna play the game but are interested in the story. Little did I know by the next day I would be carefully arranging my afternoon so I had multiple hours to devote to uncovering my own version of this game’s story.
After finishing his playthrough, Derek filled me in a bit on what it was about, and we got into talking about the possibilities of what the future could hold for man and their machines.
Basically, the story is set in 2038, in Detroit obviously. Humans have created Androids, which are essentially robots that look exactly like humans, and are using them to do all of the dirty work (well actually all of the work in general). Androids are used for housekeeping, child rearing, manual labour, security guards, sex workers, personal assistants, military, etc. etc.; this has all been great for the economy blah blah blah… BUT THEN the Androids start to wake up. The Androids are becoming sentient beings, and now there is a whole other kettle of fish to boil! The Androids realize that they are basically slaves, and slowly more and more are becoming ‘deviant’ (self-aware) and are wanting their freedom, and a right to live the life they choose with the people they choose. Just like humans, once self-aware, Androids vary greatly, all with different personalities, priorities, opinions, etc..
Ah that Markus. So dreamy.
The thought of this is terrifying to me personally. Don’t get me wrong, I welcome technology into my life – I am surrounded by Alexa and Siri (who I just asked to define sentient for me, don’t worry we are using it correctly), and my phone is permanently attached to my person. However, I have no desire for Alexa to take human form and strive for her own goals and dreams. No. Thank. You. I’m pretty sure every science fiction movie has it right when they predict that robots will eventually figure out that humans suck and the planet would be better off without us, as would the robots, then BAM we are made extinct. Nope nope nope. How about lets just avoid getting to that place altogether and not make super smarter than us robots, and then we don’t have to worry about Android rights at all?! How about that?
Anyway, so after a lengthy discussion about ethics and morality around the creation/use/control/freedom of hypothetical Androids, I thought to myself if I can literally think and talk about this so extensively, why wouldn’t I want to give this crazy game a go?! So I jumped in there!
I have definitely never played a game quite like this before. You play from the perspective of three different Androids (Kara, Markus, and Connor), and gameplay is broken up into chapters that alternate between the characters, allowing you to follow and develop their storylines simultaneously. The curious beauty of the whole thing is that you really are developing their stories, as every choice you make has an impact on future choices and outcomes throughout their personal journey, thus shaping the overall story of the entire game.
Although each character is an Android, they are all coming from different backgrounds and are facing different challenges:
Kara is a housekeeping/child-rearing Android, who is owned by a drug addict and required to take care of his kid, until she realizes that he has been beating both of them and decides to escape his cruelty and take little Alice with her.
Markus is owned by a kind old man who encourages him to explore the arts and treats him with respect, until the old man dies. Markus is torn apart and has to find himself a new home, while also realizing he is a person, and taking on the task of fighting for Android rights.
Connor is a special investigative Android who has been sent by Cyberlife (the Android making company) to help Lieutenant Hank track down deviants (sentient Androids) and figure out why Androids are becoming deviant in the first place.
Now going into this, knowing how apprehensive I am about artificial intelligence/robots, one may think that I would be all about killing the Androids so they don’t take over the whole dang world… But actually, since we are playing as Androids I was fully on team Android and wanted to do everything I could to make each of these characters successful in achieving what I perceived to be their goals. However, like real life, sometimes things get a little muddy and it is hard to know what the right thing to do is, so you use all of the information available to you and your judgement and try your best. Sometimes this works out and is helpful, sometimes you totally fuck up the very goal you were trying to accomplish.
Some of the biggest take-aways I got from this game were: I am a people pleaser and I struggle desperately with FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out).
I went through most of the game trying to find a way to please everyone around each character, which is particularly difficult when all the characters around you are specifically meant to be on opposing sides of every argument and you have to choose between them, inevitably building trust and friendship with some people, and making others absolutely hate you. This was particularly difficult with Markus and Connor – I wanted Lieutenant Hank to like Connor, but not at the expense of reaching Connor’s goal, and Hank is particularly hard to read so it was difficult to know what would end up being the wrong thing to say! Markus on the other hand had the option to be pacifist or violent, so I leaned toward pacifist, which was great with the exception of the fact that his potential love interest was a violent person, and I desperately wanted to have them love each other (or at least not be hostile) but not at the expense of starting war with the humans. Such conundrums!
I really like the way the game is set up to guide you through the story. I played on the easier mode, and am not totally sure what the other mode would have been like, but in the mode I played there were many little tags showing you what you could interact with, and drawing your attention to things that were important to look at. It also literally showed you which button you needed to press and how you needed to press it every time you were required to do something other than walk. In this way it really took on a cinematic, choose your own adventure feel, as it didn’t require so much skill, but more engagement to choose how the story plays out. This can be kinda irritating when it feels like you are literally just pushing a button every once in a while so that the game isn’t just one long cut scene. Sometimes I found myself wishing it was just a show I could watch so I could get the story without the stress and time of being involved. But mostly I was super into it, and really enjoyed watching the story unfold as I prompted it along.
Every chapter has multiple points in which you are required to make choices, either by choosing an action or choosing who to talk to, or what to say, or how to handle a situation. Now I’m sure this isn’t a new concept, but it was certainly new to me. Not that I’ve never made a choice in a video game before, but I have never been so keenly aware of the impact my choices are making. Every chapter has a flowchart associated with it, and this flowchart shows you where you’ve made choices and how that choices leads to another action/choice/scenario, and so on. This flow chart not only shows you what you have chosen, but also shows you the blank paths that you could have gone down without giving you any indication of what that path would have meant. HOLY EFF what an EFFECTIVE way to get you engaged in a game.
That flowchart tho.
This immediately kicked in my FOMO. At the end of the first chapter I took a good look at the flowchart and was immediately fascinated and horrified. There were so many things that were apparently right in front of me that I hadn’t seen/looked at/talked to. Which meant that some paths were cut off to me without me even being aware. Later on you discover that so many of your decisions impact what options are open to you and what path you are on in future chapters, and unless you unlocked that path, you NEVER know what you missed that stopped you from having these options in the future. What a mindfuck! The beauty of this whole scheme is that when you are playing you are never aware that you are missing anything or that it is possible for the story to have gone any other way!
Once, when playing as Connor I was chasing these two Androids and trying to stop them from escaping so that I could get more information from them. But they attacked me and Hank, and in the end I had to make a split second decision to shoot one of them or let her get away. My feeling at the time was that this person was a danger and I was unsure what the consequences of her getting away would be to Connors end goal, so I shot her. Weeeeeell, this happened to be a moment when Derek walked into the room, only to be horrified at my decision making. It turns out that when playing he had let her go and then she had become helpful (after telling some SOB story about being in love), meanwhile I just straight up killed her and then her lover killed herself too and I was at a dead-end. If Derek hadn’t have rolled in I would have thought this seemed like the only reasonable option in the fast-paced-moment. And I am sure that the split second decision there had impacts on Connor’s outcomes later on down the road. This is just a small example of the decision making and repercussions, and the things is, this shit happens throughout the whole damn game!
A lot of the time I feel like like I’m choosing based on my instinct and how I think I want it to play out. Sometimes that’s a guessing game and it doesn’t work out at all, but it would be so uncomfortable to go totally against my people-pleasing-trying-to-be-the-good-guy ways. Sometimes I am just genuinely getting messed up, because why does Playstation have to have symbols on their buttons instead of letters like everyone else?!?! Just WHY?? Like I appreciate you telling me its time to hit the square button, but where the eff is the square button, oh just kidding someone’s dead already. And sometimes when you have to choose fast there is just so much pressure and then you can’t go back and change your mind, and your stuck on this danged path you stumbled into.
Where is the X button!?
It must have been so much work to make this game. The graphics are beautiful, especially that handsome Markus (Grey’s Anatomy guy aka Jesse Williams) with his different coloured eyes! Though sometimes I felt like things were a little unrealistic looking, I think I’m just getting spoiled as I never played games in the old days when Lara Croft had triangle boobs. Also, they would have had to do the story writing and animations for so freaking many combinations of story outcomes. So. Freaking. Many. How can a game be so vastly different in so many ways!? I can’t even imagine how many actors recorded so many lines of dialog that most players will never even hear. I feel like I literally played an entirely different game than Derek did, and I can’t wait to hear how the story played out for some of the other Geekscapists!
In the end… I failed miserably.
I had watched the moments of glory when Derek’s Androids were lead to victory at the end of his story. Meanwhile in the last ten minutes of my game literally all of my main characters were killed and the humans obliterated the Androids with hardly any resistance.
Yeah… Things fell apart pretty quickly.
Of course, I have gone back to the middle of the game and am trying to make different choices to get a different (and less bleak) outcome. **Fingers Crossed**
Like I said, I love talking about Detroit: Become Human. I love talking about it so much that I’ll be joining in on a special Geekscape Games discussion about the title and what all of the hosts thought of it, so be sure to look for that in the coming days!