Collecting My Thought on Detroit: Become Human—Remember the 5th of November?

Detroit: Become Human is perhaps David Cage's best work yet. The controls, graphics, score and writing are all improvements from his previous titles. Though there is some borrowing from other works of science fiction, it isn't as blatant as Heavy Rain's borrowing from films like Se7en and Saw. What is blatant however is the game's references to various historical events ranging from marches to massacres, though this may not be such a bad thing. Applying them so starkly in a futuristic context that now more than ever seems one day plausible serves as a poignant warning that if given the chance us humans may still have the capacity to repeat history, even the most horrific of episodes. At the very least it serves as a firm reminder of those pivotal moments and why they should never be forgot.

It is the 5th of November in Detroit and there is an increasing number of reports on androids disobeying their human owners and even resorting to criminal behaviour. These corrupted androids are known in the Detroit universe as deviants. As the player, you control two deviants in Kara and Markus and one android who was created to hunt deviants in Connor. Individually, the stories of these androids are vastly different, with Kara's being on a more personal scale exploring her maternal bond to a human child and Markus' being on a grand scale as he heads the deviant movement. Connor's story however feels like the centrepiece of the game as he is faced with the ultimate dilemma of staying servile to his programming or turning deviant like all the other too-cool-for-school androids. This setup is ripe for some dramatic encounters and sure enough there are even scenes where Connor tracks down and faces one of the other playable characters and you alternate between playing and speaking as deviant and deviant hunter. These scenes were executed exceptionally well such that I was never confused by the alternation between characters in conflict. This is inimitable storytelling.

With several hand-over-mouth confronting moments, Detroit: Become Human goes deeper than any other Cage game so far. With the help of Quantic Dream, he has managed to find new ways to implement quick time and incorporate other novel forms of gameplay to keep his material familiar but fresh. Even the main menu is alive thanks to the presence of darling hostess Chloe (The Last Guardian could have used a darling Chloe too, just saying). But perhaps what is really to be celebrated is how I was successfully made to care equally about each of the main characters by letting them have their own time in the limelight to steal my heart. That is quite the achievement given I played them with contradictory goals in mind. Cage and his Dream team have outdone themselves with this game and I am eager to see how they plan to do it again.

#ReminiscentOf I, Robot (film) for the cop/robot dynamic and the sketching, amongst other things; and Ex Machina (film) for the Kamski/Chloe dynamic... and the sketching too I guess.

#FavouriteMechanic Swapping parts between broken androids to reactivate and speak with them one by one.

#FavouriteName Sumo.

#Nudity Some very very good ^.^ some VERY VERY bad T.T