YOUR CHANCE TO FIGHT AGAINST RISE OF THE MACHINES
The adventure game Detroit: Become Human may be framed in a familiar science-fiction concept set in the future, but the story’s themes are focused on the present. Detroit is French developer Quantic Dream, best known for the 2010 hit Heavy Rain. Like its predecessor, Detroit is as much an interactive movie as a game, with a plot that can branch out in multiple directions, based on choices you make.
The story is presented in flow chart form, with key moments where the plot will deviate significantly based on your decisions.
The game takes place in the near future, as Detroit rises as the hub of developing and marketing androids. Almost human and programmed to obey, these machines are popular servants, caretakers or companions.
But a program flaw has given some androids the power to think for themselves. Called “deviants,” these self-aware androids are feared by the public and hunted down by police units.
The story is told through the eyes of three androids. Connor is an advanced prototype employed by Detroit police to hunt deviants. Kara is a housekeeper in a rundown house with a young girl named Alice and her abusive father. Markus cares for an elderly artist named Carl who treats his android as a friend, something his drug-addicted son resents.
All three are mistreated by humans, either out of ignorance or maliciousness. Eventually, traumatic experiences cause Kara and Markus to rebel against their programming and become selfaware. Connor initially adheres to his prime directive to hunt down deviants, though his struggles with a growing sense of empathy are complicating matters.
The idea of machines gaining sentience and casting off the yoke of their human masters is a well-worn trope in science fiction. Indeed, the main plot of Detroit reads like something you might find in a Philip K. Dick novel.
However, the narrative offers provocative commentary on modern issues. Despite Detroit’s new-found wealth, the decaying residential areas don’t appear to have benefited from any trickle down. Androids are taking menial tasks and putting humans out of work, causing anger.
There are news broadcasts in the game that offer a wider context. America’s coastal cities becoming uninhabitable because of climate change causing a mass migration into the interior, and a standoff in the arctic between the U.S. and Russia is a potential flashpoint for a third world war.
It’s a world where humans are losing empathy as they become more dependant on technology, while androids start learning empathy from humans. Indeed, empathy appears to be the central theme of Detroit.
For example, after a harrowing sequence where Markus rescues himself from a scrap heap and reconstructs himself, his choices on whether to try to show empathy toward the humans who mistreated him have huge consequences on the game’s story.
After finishing a sequence, you can go back to key points on the flow chart to try to get a different outcome. Quantum Dream recommends you resist this temptation on the first playthrough and let the story reach its unique conclusion.
Detroit: Become Human is available exclusively for PlayStation 4. It is rated “M” for mature audiences and retails for about $80.