Detroit: Become Human

Andy

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Sep 11, 2013
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New game from Quantic Dream, announced at PGW.

Fortunately, Cage has help with writing this one -- he's one of three writers, rather than going solo, as he has done on all previous QD projects, to mixed results. We should see some better writing this time.

Story of an android. Let's hope it avoids the cliches. "What is it like to love, Jim?"

Exclusive to PS4, of course. No release date yet.





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Here's Cage talking a little about the game:



I don't understand the choice of Detroit. When I think of Detroit, I don't think of a technological hub -- I think of a city gone bankrupt, full of abandoned buildings, a shadow of its former self.
 
Here's Cage talking a little about the game:



I don't understand the choice of Detroit. When I think of Detroit, I don't think of a technological hub -- I think of a city gone bankrupt, full of abandoned buildings, a shadow of its former self.


I think they picked Detroit because it was such a huge industrial hub before the auto crash.
 
I think they picked Detroit because it was such a huge industrial hub before the auto crash.

I can see that, but it's after the crash now. Either news of the crash hasn't reached France, or Detroit rebounds in the future.
 
Here's an E3 interview with Cage:



He mentions you play all as androids, never as a human. Your characters can die, just like in Heavy Rain. They're using a "simple, classic interface," which to me sounds as if they learned that Beyond's overly hidden interface wasn't all that great. He talks about storytelling in general.
 
I have to get myself beyond the nonsensical premise in order to enjoy it, I think. It looks cool, but the theme is certainly not new, nor handled in a way that I accept without turning off my brain... which suck for a game that is supposed to be thought provoking...
 
I have to get myself beyond the nonsensical premise in order to enjoy it, I think. It looks cool, but the theme is certainly not new, nor handled in a way that I accept without turning off my brain... which suck for a game that is supposed to be thought provoking...

Some "turning off the brain" is always required for Cage games. All his games require plenty of "suspending disbelief" (I.e., putting your brain on hold and just going with it). And plot holes big enough to drive a Buick through.

As for the premise, Cage does mention (at the 1 min mark in the video above) that they didn't want create yet another story where humans are good guys, androids are the bad guys, and the android have gone bezerk, so you have to kill them. So, at least they avoided that.

Has there been another game where you played as three android characters, never a human, and where androids were the good guys and humans were the bad guys? I am sure SF novels have done that, and probably some movies as well, but I'm pretty sure games haven't. So, it seems like an original premise, at least for a game.
 
Some "turning off the brain" is always required for Cage games. All his games require plenty of "suspending disbelief" (I.e., putting your brain on hold and just going with it). And plot holes big enough to drive a Buick through.

As for the premise, Cage does mention (at the 1 min mark in the video above) that they didn't want create yet another story where humans are good guys, androids are the bad guys, and the android have gone bezerk, so you have to kill them. So, at least they avoided that.

Has there been another game where you played as three android characters, never a human, and where androids were the good guys and humans were the bad guys? I am sure SF novels have done that, and probably some movies as well, but I'm pretty sure games haven't. So, it seems like an original premise, at least for a game.

I don't really give him credit for based on it being a game seeing as he takes a filmic approach. Stories are stories. There are plenty of stories with this premise. Centennial Man, I,Robot, AI, even the Matrix and BladeRunner to an extent. The bigotry toward anything not human is very overplayed in anything trying to be "thought provoking". Hell how about Deus Ex in the game world(which would be augmentations instead of androids)?

I'd say it's more rare to see someone not envisioning some future where robots get along just fine next to people (which you'd think would be more common given how much time would have to pass with incremental steps leading up to it to even reach a technological level where they have human looking and behaving androids). I'm frankly pretty tired of stories where people are just a******s. This is actually one of the reasons I love stories of redemption.

I wouldn't mind some good 'ol fashioned inspirational themes, myself. I think one of the missteps of the Halo story is getting away from the "Humanity as one" and "Hope keep us going" themes in the original games. I get why, and I suppose it's more realistic, but we are in a massive deficit of games with Honorable protagonists we can look up to.

As for this game, It's just odd that these fully-capable-of-independent-thought-and-action, with apparent souls, would so willingly accept subjugation, and all it takes is one who escapes her bonds for them to start "waking up". I'd be more interested if the other androids were soulless automatons, and she is one of a rare "ghost in the machine" type cases where she is an anomaly (so like I, Robot, which worked very well). She has to find her place in the world. The other androids shouldn't even be interested that she's walking around like that. That's my disconnect.
 
I don't really give him credit for based on it being a game seeing as he takes a filmic approach. Stories are stories. There are plenty of stories with this premise. Centennial Man, I,Robot, AI, even the Matrix and BladeRunner to an extent. The bigotry toward anything not human is very overplayed in anything trying to be "thought provoking". Hell how about Deus Ex in the game world(which would be augmentations instead of androids)?

I'd say it's more rare to see someone not envisioning some future where robots get along just fine next to people (which you'd think would be more common given how much time would have to pass with incremental steps leading up to it to even reach a technological level where they have human looking and behaving androids). I'm frankly pretty tired of stories where people are just a******s. This is actually one of the reasons I love stories of redemption.

I wouldn't mind some good 'ol fashioned inspirational themes, myself. I think one of the missteps of the Halo story is getting away from the "Humanity as one" and "Hope keep us going" themes in the original games. I get why, and I suppose it's more realistic, but we are in a massive deficit of games with Honorable protagonists we can look up to.

As for this game, It's just odd that these fully-capable-of-independent-thought-and-action, with apparent souls, would so willingly accept subjugation, and all it takes is one who escapes her bonds for them to start "waking up". I'd be more interested if the other androids were soulless automatons, and she is one of a rare "ghost in the machine" type cases where she is an anomaly (so like I, Robot, which worked very well). She has to find her place in the world. The other androids shouldn't even be interested that she's walking around like that. That's my disconnect.

Sounds like you've got a higher standard for videogame storytelling than I do. If I haven't seen this story told in videogame form before, that's good enough for me. From my point of view, we have seen so many god awful, sh*t stories in videogames for decades, I am happy to get something with a halfway-interesting premise.

True, they've done it in films before. You could say the same of films, though -- none of those stories are original, either; they've all been done in books before.

I don't watch a lot of TV or movies, so I'm not oversaturated with this particular storyline. That's probably another reason why it doesn't bug me.

I agree about the inspirational hero tales. It would be nice to get more of those.
 
Sounds like you've got a higher standard for videogame storytelling than I do. If I haven't seen this story told in videogame form before, that's good enough for me. From my point of view, we have seen so many god awful, sh*t stories in videogames for decades, I am happy to get something with a halfway-interesting premise.

True, they've done it in films before. You could say the same of films, though -- none of those stories are original, either; they've all been done in books before.

I don't watch a lot of TV or movies, so I'm not oversaturated with this particular storyline. That's probably another reason why it doesn't bug me.

Much of it has to do with being fed up with people be represented in such negative ways. There are plenty of crappy people, but there are a lot of really good people as well. I just miss stories that can give me someone to look up to. The anti-hero has dominated for far too long. Everything is cynical. I don't really care that the story is unoriginal as long as it's done well. My original issue is with some of the sort of illogical sci-fi, I guess.
 
Much of it has to do with being fed up with people be represented in such negative ways. There are plenty of crappy people, but there are a lot of really good people as well. I just miss stories that can give me someone to look up to. The anti-hero has dominated for far too long. Everything is cynical. I don't really care that the story is unoriginal as long as it's done well. My original issue is with some of the sort of illogical sci-fi, I guess.

Oh, I see. I get you. Yeah, there's a real cynicism in a lot of the characters we get nowadays. That's a reflection of the broader cynicism in the culture, I'm sure. You see it across all media. I think people consider it "mature storytelling." I find it dispiriting. I try to avoid watching or playing much of it.

I'd like to see more stories like you're describing, too. It's hard to think of many examples. Commander Shepherd in Mass Effect, maybe? But that depends on how you play. Joel in The Last of Us? I suppose that's arguable. Master Chief in the first Halo -- good heroic tale, although he had no personality. Nathan Drake is a likeable rogue, but not admirable, exactly. hmm. I can't think of any others.
 
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Some "turning off the brain" is always required for Cage games. All his games require plenty of "suspending disbelief" (I.e., putting your brain on hold and just going with it). And plot holes big enough to drive a Buick through.

As for the premise, Cage does mention (at the 1 min mark in the video above) that they didn't want create yet another story where humans are good guys, androids are the bad guys, and the android have gone bezerk, so you have to kill them. So, at least they avoided that.

Has there been another game where you played as three android characters, never a human, and where androids were the good guys and humans were the bad guys? I am sure SF novels have done that, and probably some movies as well, but I'm pretty sure games haven't. So, it seems like an original premise, at least for a game.

What I find odd is they say you play as a droid, but then they give you all these human like moral choices that you the player use to decide an outcome you want. This is where the real disconnect comes in and the suspension of disbelief begins.

They also say these are droids and defective and yet they are only acting out in a way humans do. The main character seems very unemotional and disconnected, but the defective droid looks and sound very emotional.

You are meant to be a droid character but play out the game using human morale choices and each choice is decided by a human to get the desired outcome he/she wants. So if you want to kill all the droids then I am assuming you can do that.

I have no issues with the story. Is it new, original or not told often, no. But then neither is the whole "hope keeps us going" or "Humanity as one" stuff. My issue is the choice of the main character. I think having a Human instead of droid would just make more sense.
 
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Here's an E3 interview with Cage:



He mentions you play all as androids, never as a human. Your characters can die, just like in Heavy Rain. They're using a "simple, classic interface," which to me sounds as if they learned that Beyond's overly hidden interface wasn't all that great. He talks about storytelling in general.


Damn that looked awesome. Never played a Quantic Dream game but this might be my first. Love the setting.
 
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What I find odd is they say you play as a droid, but then they give you all these human like moral choices that you the player use to decide an outcome you want. This is where the real disconnect comes in and the suspension of disbelief begins.

They also say these are droids and defective and yet they are only acting out in a way humans do. The main character seems very unemotional and disconnected, but the defective droid looks and sound very emotional.

Yeah, it'll be interesting to see how they play with the line between android and human. There will be a spectrum, as you're noticing. "Become human" suggests there's a progression.

'm concerned about the cheese factor entering there. It's so easy to fall into cliché with that theme.
Flashbacks of Star Trek: "Jim ... is this ... what it means ... to ... 'love'?" lol. Spare us.
You are meant to be a droid character but play out the game using human morale choices and each choice is decided by a human to get the desired outcome he/she wants. So if you want to kill all the droids then I am assuming you can do that.

I guess we'll find out, eh?

My issue is the choice of the main character. I think having a Human instead of droid would just make more sense.

It's Cage. It's not supposed to make sense.

I'm interested to play an android. I'm curious to see what that's like. I've played lots of humans. I'm not sure I've ever played as an android ... not in a story-driven game like this, anyhow (probably in an FPS where character/story didn't really matter).
 
So if this game is based around androids, then how are the shower scenes going to work?
 
It's Cage. It's not supposed to make sense.

I'm interested to play an android. I'm curious to see what that's like. I've played lots of humans. I'm not sure I've ever played as an android ... not in a story-driven game like this, anyhow (probably in an FPS where character/story didn't really matter).

I am interested in playing as an android too, but are we really playing as an android? Seems more like playing as celeb who had too much plastic surgery and can no longer express emotion, but still has a strong morale compass.

Well, look at the Terminator movies, you have T-800 sent through time to protect humanity, but you look at how it acts and interacts and it is obviously not human. It has no morale compass, it has no feelings. It doesn't think in the same way we do. Even when it learns something it always feels forced and unnatural.

That would be interesting to play.
 
I am interested in playing as an android too, but are we really playing as an android? Seems more like playing as celeb who had too much plastic surgery and can no longer express emotion, but still has a strong morale compass.

ha! :laugh: Yeah, it could play out that way. It's a bit hard to tell from the trailer. The android is a negotiator, so you're carrying out tactical decisions with an objective in mind -- which is not necessarily guided by a moral compass. As a player, Cage hopes your emotions and sense of right/wrong get engaged, but if you're playing as the character, perhaps you don't need to think that way.

We know there were be 3 different androids that you play as (perhaps more?), so there will be a variety of android "personalities" you'll be working with.

A lot will come down to how much latitude Cage gives players. His games typically do give you a lot of choices. So perhaps, if you want to play as a machine with no feelings, just sheer calculation of how to reach an objective, you may be able to do that.

Well, look at the Terminator movies, you have T-800 sent through time to protect humanity, but you look at how it acts and interacts and it is obviously not human. It has no morale compass, it has no feelings. It doesn't think in the same way we do. Even when it learns something it always feels forced and unnatural.

That would be interesting to play.

Yes, it would. I think it would be tough for me. My own choices in these games always get influenced by my instincts, conscience, feelings, etc. -- I can't help it. To play as a character with no sense of right or wrong, no sense of what feels good or bad ... just making computer-like calculations of how to achieve whatever objective has been programmed into me... That would be an interesting experiment in role-playing, but one I'd have trouble pulling off.

In this game, it looks like there will be both automaton-type androids (calculation machines, just following their programs) and androids with a "defect." The "defect" relates to androids becoming more human in some way (a sci-fi cliché, but let's go with it). So, if you're playing as an android with a "defect," you'll be in character if you're operating out of sense of right/wrong, what feels good/bad, etc. But you may play as non-"defective" androids as well.
 
ha! :laugh: Yeah, it could play out that way. It's a bit hard to tell from the trailer. The android is a negotiator, so you're carrying out tactical decisions with an objective in mind -- which is not necessarily guided by a moral compass. As a player, Cage hopes your emotions and sense of right/wrong get engaged, but if you're playing as the character, perhaps you don't need to think that way.

We know there were be 3 different androids that you play as (perhaps more?), so there will be a variety of android "personalities" you'll be working with.

A lot will come down to how much latitude Cage gives players. His games typically do give you a lot of choices. So perhaps, if you want to play as a machine with no feelings, just sheer calculation of how to reach an objective, you may be able to do that.

There must be a lot more than three. They said there is no game over but the characters do die. So unless there are only 2 instances in which you can die there should be a fair few more than three android characters to play as.

I am guessing it won't allow me to position the chopper under the character and then push the naughty android and little girl off the roof and into the spinning blades :sad::sad:



Yes, it would. I think it would be tough for me. My own choices in these games always get influenced by my instincts, conscience, feelings, etc. -- I can't help it. To play as a character with no sense of right or wrong, no sense of what feels good or bad ... just making computer-like calculations of how to achieve whatever objective has been programmed into me... That would be an interesting experiment in role-playing, but one I'd have trouble pulling off.

In this game, it looks like there will be both automaton-type androids (calculation machines, just following their programs) and androids with a "defect." The "defect" relates to androids becoming more human in some way (a sci-fi cliché, but let's go with it). So, if you're playing as an android with a "defect," you'll be in character if you're operating out of sense of right/wrong, what feels good/bad, etc. But you may play as non-"defective" androids as well.

Interesting indeed, and very different from the hum drum fake-be-the-bad-guy nonsense in most games.
 
There must be a lot more than three. They said there is no game over but the characters do die. So unless there are only 2 instances in which you can die there should be a fair few more than three android characters to play as.

Yes, we have 3 confirmed, but there may be more (sounded likely). I think we played as 3 or 4 characters in Heavy Rain.
 
Well, you know if it's Cage, there's going to be an awkward shower scene at some point.
 
If this is anywhere near as good as Heavy Rain, I am in for a real treat. I know I am not the only one who wanted Heavy Rain 2, but I think I will be just as excited to play this one.
 
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Well, you know if it's Cage, there's going to be an awkward shower scene at some point.

I loved people's reaction to the opening shower scene in Heavy Rain. This is the best the PS3 has to offer?! :laugh:

Detroit is going to deliver man. I love me some Quantic Dream. Cage is a savage.
 
I'm not really fan of Cage's gameplay interface. But I love the fact that these games are being made. David Cage is important to the industry.

I admire his vision even if I'm not a fan of adventure games. But he does it with such style that I'm always tempted or suckered in, only to realize that I'm simply not a fan.

Maybe this is the game that hits that middle ground for me? It looks insane.
 
I wouldn't mind Quantic Dream's games as much if they were more resembled a point-and-click adventure game without the point-and-click aspect. The Dreamfall series trumps all of their games and no multiple awkward shower scenes of some questionably young-looking teenager protagonist. Honest to god QD's games can bring out the feminist in just about anyone.