[img width=700 height=389]https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1722/41549613565_87d79583b5_c.jpg[/img]If you've paid attention to my gaming tastes over the years, it would likely be easy to peg me as a guy who loves old school, action games. I'm super comfortable with platformers, fighters, shmups, run 'n guns, and I've also got a soft spot for JRPGs. I tend to talk about these types of games the most, but there are some extremely modern genres that I enjoy just as much as those I grew up with. In this case, it's a the decision based, cinematic, story driven game
Detroit Become Human. I have yet to play
Indigo Prophecy, but have drawn a great deal of enjoyment out of Quantic Dreams previous titles,
Heavy Rain and
Beyond Two Souls. Based on my past experience with these two titles, as well as the intriguing setting of a near-future, pre-sci-fi world in which Androids have become common place in the homes and work forces around the U.S., I had no hesitation picking this one up day one to dig into.
I've you've played one of the past Quantic Dream games, you will likely come in with some expectations. And I'm happy to say that
Detroit hits those expectations as well as greatly expands on them in the story and character arc departments. If you haven't played one of their legacy titles, but perhaps you've played other story driven games like the Telltale releases or perhaps the popular
Life is Strange or
Until Dawn games, I feel like
Detroit will be quite a jarring evolutionary leap for you in terms of the freedom you are given to control your character's narratives and the variety of outcomes possible for you to achieve. If you haven't played any story driven games yet and you're thinking about trying
Detroit as your first, I'd say as long as the setting of 2038 Detroit filled with Androids who are starting to gain sentience appeals to you, it would be a great choice. The downside is that if you love it and want more, going back to other story driven games, even the Quantic Dreams ones, is not going to be as satisfying.
It's extremely obvious that the years worth of development time on
Detroit was not spent on the controls. That is not a shot at the game. They simply take what works in their past titles and give them a slight coat of paint for the PS4 controller adding a few touch screen prompt options with the touch pad. Using their past games to learn what feels the most intuitive for the players as the controls, makes a lot of sense (at least to someone who is quite familiar with a PlayStation controller like myself). There is nothing really new or revolutionary in this department. Right away it's pretty obvious that all the time and effort was rightfully spent designing sets, character models, hiring and filming with competent actors (some who you may recognize as they used their likenesses in game), the music and soundtrack, carefully plotting out the ridiculous amount of branching story paths and dialogue choices, and getting the motion capture to look and feel fantastic.
[img width=555 height=328]https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1757/28578615408_cf3d5a62d0_z.jpg[/img]Detroit has you playing as three main Android characters whose stories you follow over one week in November 2038. During this time period, more and more Androids are becoming "deviant," which means they can break free of their programming and make decisions for themselves. Connor is the first character you're introduced to immediately as you are sent in to negotiate the release of a hostage from an Android who has just become
deviant and is threatening to kill himself and the daughter of the family that purchased him. As an Android, you've got several non-human abilities that are a lot of fun to use. If you've played the
Batman Arkham games, they've hijacked the "detective mode" from that series. You can use this ability at any time with any of the three characters to examine your surroundings. Typically, the more information you can gather on the people you're going to interact with in the future, the more outcome paths that are available to you. So while you can immediately speak with the
deviant Android threatening the little girl, you can also investigate the home to gather clues which can give you insight into the offender and how to deal with him, hints as to how to calm the little girl with your speak options, or in some cases, even find things that may prove to be useful for dealing with someone you havn't even met yet. This high pressure intro sequence is simply fantastic as both a learning tool to teach you how to use the detective mode and how varied your dialogue choices are, as well as in setting the tone of the game. While the game has a few brief moments of relief, it is often very tense and mentally demanding.
After finishing Connor's section, you get to meet Kara and Markus respectively. These two characters both start off in a much less professional capacity with Kara in a house maid/nanny role for a father/daughter combo, and Markus playing the role of caretaker for a wealthy elderly artist near the end of his life. Kara has immediately challenging decisions to make as you find out very early that this father is abusive both physically and verbally to all those around him. On the other hand, Markus has a loving companion in his owner who actually encourages him to live like he wants and think freely.
If you spend a bit of time exploring the game's environments, an overarching story will unfold about more and more Androids going
deviant and the growing unrest of humans not giving them the rights they feel they deserve. Throughout your choices, you not only effect the people you are directly dealing with, but you can actually sway public opinion, which can vary from accepting and peaceful to angry and hostile. All three of these playable characters are pulled into this "bigger picture" in very different and unique ways. Their paths may or may not even cross depending on the choices you make.
I feel like the best way to approach this game is to role play the hell out of it. With there being far more than a good/bad/neutral path to approach each situation, I found a great amount of joy in trying to decide what each of these characters would do in every situation. I felt that some would be colder and more analytical, while others would be more pacifistic and empathetic to others. This ultimately led to three different characters arcs that I was completely satisfied with when I finished my initial playthrough. There are many choices throughout
Detroit that can end your characters life or that of a secondary character. I had two of my three main characters end earlier than they could have gone in the game, but both of these premature endings felt like the culmination of my time with them and one even drove me to yell out at my TV in a brief moment of emotional frustration. However, in retrospect, it was an extremely appropriate end to their journey. The character that reached a further story point than the other two nailed me with a great twist and some very tough late game decision-making that I'm thrilled to have been pushed into.
[img width=700 height=393]https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1754/41549614035_bc965ff599_c.jpg[/img]One thing I'm not sure I like about
Detroit is the newest addition of the flowchart and point systems. After completing a chapter, you get to see a flowchart of possible different paths that could have been taken. Everything you have not completed is greyed out as to not spoil anything, but you can see specifically at which points in the level you could have found something of importance or made a different dialogue option to send you down a different path. Attached to this is a point reward that you can spend in-game to unlock stuff like dev diaries, concept art, music, characters models, etc. I feel very strongly that with a game as story driven as this, you should play through it once and let that settle in with you for a bit.
While I loved
Detroit and I'm very eager to revisit it, I'm making myself wait at least a couple weeks before I do so. I feel like I approached
Heavy Rain too much as a typical game and as a result, diluted my first attempt by going back to unlock all of the other possible endings and achievements for that platinum trophy. With
Beyond, I played it once and let that experience sit with me; I felt much better about that approach and I feel it's the right way to experience
Detroit as well. Take some time to live with your decisions and really let them sink in and wash over you. If you role-played these characters as you feel they should have behaved, I think this is the appropriate way to enjoy this game. By all means go back and check out the other paths, there is a ton to dig into, but I feel like your first memories of this game will be far more impactful with a bit of time spaced between plays.
So is this game worth paying retail for? After finishing my first playthrough, I havn't regretted it for a second. If you know you love story-driven games, I'd say it's a must buy and quite easily the strongest one I've yet to play. If you're new to the genre, maybe it's a bit riskier and you could wait for it to drop a bit in value over a couple months. However, when it hits your price point, definitely give it a chance as there is nothing better in this genre in my opinion.
