Review: Detroit: Become Human is the peak of Quantic Dream’s storytelling

Disclaimer: Review copy provided by publisher

Platforms: PlayStation 4

Publishers: Sony

Developers: Quantic Dream

MSRP: $59.99 (releases Friday, May 25th)

Introduction:

As we move further into the future, we develop more fascinating kinds of technology. Google recently revealed their AI which can call and make appointments for you over the phone and it almost mimics the behavior and tone of a human who talks on the phone. It’s really cool but also incredibly unsettling that a non-human has become smart enough to replicate us, it functions as a human being without the body, just the mind.

What would happen if this same AI became more self-aware, what if Google implemented this AI into some sort of service droid in the future, what if one of these machines tried to overthrow humanity after becoming fed up with doing all of our chores? Quantic Dream’s Detroit: Become Human answers those questions and far more in what is undoubtedly director David Cage’s most thoughtful game to date.

In Detroit: Become Human, the year is 2038. The world has developed androids who have begun rapidly replacing human jobs. Some people find the machines useful, some are actively (and violently) protesting against them in order to retain their jobs. As more and more machines begin to “make life easier” for people, the more tension is created around the globe. With this tension also comes the rise of deviants, androids who have bypassed their programming and gone rogue and become truly sentient. They seek lives of their own but given their strength, speed, and intelligence, it poses a massive threat to humans.

A thoughtful and authentic story about that provides a new perspective and depth to an aging genre:

You play as three different androids scattered across Detroit, Michigan: Connor, an android who specializes in hunting down deviants and shutting them down. He’s tasked with finding out what’s causing them to turn into deviants and to put a stop to it. While he likes to present himself as “just a machine” assigned to fulfill his mission, this case may challenge him in ways that make him question his allegiances and identity.

On the flip side, we have Markus. He’s a service android who acted as a butler and friend to an elderly rich man before an incident turns him into a deviant and causes him to lead a revolution against the humans. As you play as Markus, the world watches you and your cause. Will you show them that the androids deserve equal rights? Try to eliminate humanity as a whole? Prove to them that you’re the monsters they think you are? The choice is yours.

Finally, there’s Kara, a motherly android living in a shaky home with a divorced father and his daughter, Alice. As things escalate in the home, Kara takes control of the situation, grabs Alice, and goes on the run in hopes of finding a better life for the both of them. The two have an intense bond that grows as the story in Detroit: Become Human goes on and you’re constantly making morally ambiguous choices that affect your relationship with Alice but could also be the difference between life and death.

Ultimately, the story of Detroit: Become Human is one that could’ve come off as pretentious. David Cage does have a bit of a reputation for coming off that way in some of his other games but Detroit’s story is natural, authentic, and frankly, beautiful. While there are some things in the android movement that feel a bit heavy-handed such as them directly comparing it to the struggle of African Americans, quoting MLK, and such, it’s done sparingly enough that it’s not incredibly repulsive or distasteful.

Cage has previously faced criticism for his questionable writing qualities which includes janky dialogue, sexism, stereotyping certain races, and more but Detroit feels less clumsy, it feels like Cage has learned from his errors and his writing has a drastic increase in quality. A common criticism was the fact that he wrote dialogue in a way that didn’t feel natural, people didn’t talk like that. With a game like Detroit which is all about finding the humanity in something that isn’t human, it’s crucial that these machines talk and act like humans rather than caricatures of them.

Thankfully, he succeeds and doesn’t allow any disconnect between the characters and you, the player. He strikes a fine balance of giving us robots that behave like humans but still have android qualities cemented in them so it doesn’t feel like a human actor simply playing themselves with some robot makeup. It’s a slippery slope that could’ve been poorly executed but Cage navigates the story of Detroit: Become Human with ease and care.

One of the biggest issues with a game like this is that it gives the promise of tons of choices with dangerous consequences but ultimately, it’s a half-truth. It gives you the illusion of choice, changing some minor variables that still lead each player to the same finale. Sometimes writers can make this work but more often than not you can see the strings pulling you along and you feel cheated. Luckily, Detroit: Become Human makes good on its word and that’s essential given making choices is one of the most human things we can do. Choices are emotionally charged, based on morals, things only humans have to offer. Detroit will test those morals, is it more important to you to lack empathy and define yourself as a machine or is it crucial to break the shackles society has put on you and make the only difference between humans and machines be the organs inside of you?

A game bursting at the seams with countless choices that have substantial consequences:

There are oodles of choices in this game, big and small, which have their respective consequences. They can unlock additional choices and paths, different relationships with supporting characters, or even give you access to levels you might not have seen otherwise. When I completed Detroit: Become Human, I was looking at the flowchart that shows you all the various branching paths after each level and I noticed there were entire sections and levels completely blank because I didn’t encounter them.

These flowcharts make you realize just how different the story can play out. Loved ones can die, you can die permanently and lose access to a playable character, change the entire way the world perceives you, etc etc. Had this been an example of a game just giving you the illusion of the choice, it would’ve totally undermined everything David Cage and his team had to say. Being human is making choices, making the tough calls and feeling the stress that comes with them.

Something I’ve always felt Cage is good at is his ability to put you under pressure and have you make choices in an instant. Detroit: Become Human is no exception to this, I found myself stressing over a handful of choices. The stakes are enormously high and all I wanted to do was make the right choices, sometimes I did, sometimes I didn’t. Regardless of if things actually go the way you want them to, the story still manages to keep its hooks in you and continue the story in a way that feels smooth and just as entertaining.

When I was looking over the flowcharts, it made me realize that this game was probably a logistical nightmare to figure out and likely caused so many headaches that the writers had to keep stashes of Advil in their desk. In one of the very early missions, there were 8 possible outcomes. As the game’s story continues to expand, the flowcharts get larger and larger and practically explode and individual choices act as shrapnel across the screen. It’s a bit daunting to see how many choices there are but it’s great for those who love lots of replayability in their games. If handled improperly, this could’ve been an utter disaster but to their credit, they make it come together beautifully.

The pacing of the game is absolutely impressive. It took me several days of almost non-stop playing to finish Detroit: Become Human but there was rarely, if ever, a dull moment. There’s lots of adrenaline pumping action carefully sprinkled in between the intimate and emotional character moments that drive the story forward. It also helps that all of the characters are layered with complexity as they try to understand themselves and where they belong. You don’t have that one character that you switch back to and think “Ah great, this guy again…” It’s exciting to go back to someone and see their story continue to develop.

Quantic Dream also went to great lengths to make a rich world filled with unique lore. Tensions are high between America and Russia with some predicting the brink of World War III, there are news stories reporting on the various achievements and complications with androids or discussing how androids are perceived in other parts of the world. It’s filled with immense detail and it isn’t just fluff, it’s actually interesting and typically brief enough that you can read the pieces in just a few dozen seconds.

Quantic Dream takes it up a notch by their standards in the gameplay department:

When you’re not getting caught up in the story and world around you, Detroit: Become Human plays like your typical Quantic Dream game, lots of quick time events, dialogue choices, and stiff walking controls. There are some new additions, primarily in Connor’s story, that help keep things refreshing and engaging. More often than not, when you play as Connor you’re investigating some sort of crime scene so you’ll be analyzing dead bodies, evidence, and more. It pulls elements from games like L.A. Noire and the crime scene restructuring mechanic in the Batman Arkham games in order to create these excellent puzzles shrouded in mystery.

I’ve always felt that Cage shines most when he is telling David Fincher-esque crime stories and this game is mostly no exception to this. It’s incredibly fun to reconstruct crime scenes, connect pieces of evidence and links between individual cases, and interrogate androids and try to break their psyche or trick them into befriending you so you can get information from them. It’s these key moments which contain major breakthroughs in the story and give you immense satisfaction when you discover a new revelation in this robot conundrum.

There was one element of the investigation story that didn’t seem to have any payoff or resolution, I won’t spoil it but the game keeps leaving crumbs for a major mystery in the android uprising but never really goes beyond a vague one-sentence explanation. It spawns loads of questions but the game seemingly never makes an effort to give you some concrete answers or make sense of any of it. It’s possible that I just never found the answers given all of the branching paths but I was pretty thorough in my playthrough.

For Markus, the gameplay revolves leading this cause and trying to find the most efficient way of sending your message and surviving the resistance you’ll face. Personal sacrifices may need to be made to continue on, you may have to withstand torment and violence to prove you may be morally superior to the humans, or you can stand and fight with different kinds of violence to potentially overthrow humanity or earn equality. Cage does an incredible job at putting the weight of this species on your shoulders. All eyes are on you and people are counting on you, you’ll have to make hard choices like letting people die and act as a martyr for the cause or sparing human lives who may not deserve it. It’s a fantastic arc and story that only Quantic Dream could pull off.

When you’re not exploring or talking to characters, you’re likely in some sort of pulse-pounding action scene. The action scenes in this game are like a combination of a grounded version of The Matrix and John Wick, there are awesome and brutal close-quarters fights, epic foot chases that take you through the streets of Detroit and into the busy freeways filled with speeding automated cars, and set-piece missions that are evocative of something out of a Mission: Impossible film. It’s fast, energetic, has emotional stakes, and makes you feel like you’re in a life or death situation as you react as quickly and accurately as possible to the fast QTEs.

Detroit may be quite the looker but it’s not without a few minor technical flaws:

On a technical level, Detroit: Become Human is visually breathtaking but there are some noticeable minor issues. The facial capture allows for genuine performances that are gushing with emotion and charisma. Everyone is perfectly cast and all actors give it there all, veteran actors like Clancy Brown (voice of Mr. Krabs in Spongebob and Lex Luthor in the Justice League cartoon) help create believable and complicated relationships that give the story an unparalleled sense of depth. Every nuance that an actor does is captured and portrayed in their performance, creating intensity in key scenes.

There are some issues with textures taking a moment to load and minor stuttering but these things only happened a handful of times throughout my playthrough on a regular PS4. My biggest pet peeve was incredibly lengthy load times when continuing the game from the main menu, these load times were 45 seconds – a minute long. Luckily there isn’t much loading once you’re in the game but it made me annoyed when I was replaying sections to see different outcomes and I had to sit there and look at a white loading screen over and over again. Sony promised a day one patch but we have yet to receive details on what’s included in it.

The Verdict:

Detroit: Become Human is the peak of Quantic Dream. It’s a culmination of everything the studio has learned by putting an authentic, intimate story that builds gradually into a story of grand proportions while combining fun and engaging gameplay that helps pad out the story. David Cage manages to juggle three different arcs while connecting them and keeping a sense of thematic consistency throughout the game. Detroit: Become Human is an achievement both for Quantic Dream/David Cage and storytelling in gaming thanks to the depth it gives to its themes that have been done in countless pieces of fiction like Blade Runner, Detroit makes a name for itself in an otherwise countless and tiring genre.