The Review: Detroit: Become Human

Detroit: Become Human is a videogame brought by Quantic Dream, a video game developer famous for titles such as Omikron: The Nomad Soul, Heavy Rain and the best known Beyond: Two Soul. The video game went on sale a couple of days ago, on May 25 to be specific. The title was published by Sony Interactive Entertainment thus becoming a unique and exclusive game for PlayStation 4 (PS4).

The game belongs to the graphic adventure genre, a genre that basically consists of talking with characters and interacting with elements of the environment to solve the "mysteries" or "problems" that a videogame proposes through various situations that are presented throughout of the history of it. This genre for some time is making a space in the community gamer and more and more players trying to try these types of stories. Between the videojuegos pertaining to the sort they emphasize titles like Life is Strange, The Wolf Among Us, The Walking Dead Season 1 and of course the classic The Secret of Monkey Island.

Detroit: Become Human would be presented last year during a conference held at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, better known as the E3. The video game was presented as a science fiction story in which we would become the leaders of a revolution, a revolution whose main objective is the equality between robots and humans. The game seems to be influenced in large part by the ideas described by Isaac Asimov in his texts published in the 1940s, and the video game promised from that time on an adventure never before seen that would surpass any game they had done before, something that generated diverse opinions among the members of the community since this is something that the study tends to do and in the end they never fully comply with the expectations that they create, but something seemed to be different this time since since we saw the first videogame glance at that event, we sensed that this time Quantic Dream would fulfill what it promised.

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HISTORY

The story of Detroit: Become Human places us in the city of Detroit in 2038. And the world has changed and it is nothing like the one we knew thanks to the existence of androids, anthropomorphic synthetic organisms that are capable to imitate the human appearance and that can carry out a great variety of tasks (simple or complicated), these tasks can go from doing the housework of the home to carrying out police investigations.

Society has become accustomed to the existence of androids and it is normal for each individual or family to have at least one. The future looks bright for CyberLife (creative company of the androids) or at least it seems that there are those who reject the androids claiming that the mere existence of these takes away job opportunities. In addition a problem has arisen, androids have begun to develop human feelings and emotions, which means a problem for humans as they begin to reveal themselves and to disobey the orders of their masters thus becoming divergent. CyberLife claims that this is a computer virus that affects the androids software, but...maybe it is more than just a "virus".

CHARACTERS

In Detroit: Become Human we will have the opportunity to assume the identity of three characters: Connor, Kara and Markus. This last mentioned will lead us to live an authentic history where the struggle for equality between androids and humans will lead to a new society where the androids will be treated as equals or maybe in a world destroyed because of the conflict.

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Connor:

It is a state-of-the-art android created by CyberLife and sent to help the police department of the city of Detroit in the investigation of the divergent case. Equipped with functions such as a molecular analyzer in real time and a sophisticated simulator that can reconstruct past events, and that also has a social module that makes it a capable detective and the "ideal partner". Connor along with Lieutenant Hank Anderson will have to go after the truth that is hidden in the case of the divergent.

Kara:

Kara on the other hand is an android programmed to perform simple household tasks such as cooking, cleaning, caring for small children, etc. Kara is owned by Tood Williams, a drug addict with a tendency to violence, besides the man is the father of a girl called Alice, whom she physically and psychologically mistreats. Kara quickly understands that with Tood neither of them is safe, so she decides to flee taking the girl with her, but they will discover that the world is falling apart completely and they will understand together that love unites them. They will travel through the city that becomes chaotic after the beginning of a revolution carried out by the androids, both will face difficult circumstances, but at the same time they will also find hope in a world that falls apart.

Markus:

Markus is an android that belongs to the famous artist Carl Manfred, an old man who lost the use of his legs. The old man treats him as if he were a human being, teaches him to write, to read and to paint. Carl thinks of Markus as if he were a son, something that his son does not like at all, Leo. Markus will go from caring for an old man to being the leader of a revolution that will mark the future of the world.

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ANALYSIS

Deetroid: Become Human with its history addresses many problems of society such as discrimination, and more specifically that of racism. I think that the creative minds behind videogaging (David Cage and Adam Williams) through their video game use the androids as a kind of representation of minorities, why we're not going to cheat discrimination exists and it's a real problem. These androids are treated like slaves, for humans they are simple machines, they do not possess emotions, they do not have rights, they have no voice, they do not vote in a society that seems to be something more than a "happy utopia". We are able to live all these discriminations through the skins of Connor, Kara and Markus, since we are the androids, but maybe we are more human than the humans themselves.

Personally I think this is the best videogame that Quantic Dream, has done, it is very well written, although of course it has its faults, but they are not serious enough to say that it is a "bad game". Perhaps the latter is due to the excessive ambition of David Cage for making a video game a movie, but Detroit: Become Human has something that makes me end up far ahead of its predecessors Beyond: Two Soul and Heavy Rain, the most annealed works of the company.

In Detroit: Become Human we deal with difficult issues that most people prefer not to talk about, but they do it in a subtle and elegant way that makes us think if society is really good, on the other hand the story of the characters is intertwined in a way that turns out to be most interesting. In a few words this turns out to be without a doubt the most serious and mature video game of the company.

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The video game is an authentic graphic adventure, we can get involved in a lot of different situations through our interactions with the environment and other characters. Although its gameplay, like most of the company's videogames, is based on quick time events (QTE), this last one seems to be recurrent in the titles created by the company, but I have to say that in this title it turns out to be pleasant since in Detroit: Become Human the most important thing turns out to be making decisions that end up influencing the story in a meaningful way. I also think it is important to highlight that this is the Quantic Dream videogame that offers us the greatest feeling of freedom when exploring the scenarios that turn out to be something more extensive than what we are used to seeing in this type of video game.

I also think that the realism of the videogame at the graphic level is the best I've seen lately and maybe I should not mention it because it is obvious, but it should be noted that the work achieved in this aspect is simply something sensational. The expressions of the characters and the scenes are so detailed that they seem to be taken from a Hollywood movie. Besides, the game is not only realistic in this aspect, because the atmosphere is also realistic and it makes us feel in those moments when we walk through the streets of Detroit, the buildings, the vehicles, the clothes of the people, all these things in the end they do not turn out to be exaggerated, much less unbelievable, of course bearing in mind that it is a near future.

As for the soundtrack I just have to say it is of the highest quality. The music increases and falls precisely, according to what happens on the screen.

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THE JUDGMENT

Well, I think we've talked enough about the game and the time has come to issue the respective judgment.

Detroit: Become Human surpasses all the videogames created so far by Quantic Dream, so in my opinion the video game turns out to be superior to titles like Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls as it ends up consolidating the classic formula of the study. Your story hooks you from the start and makes you wonder things like what the human being really is.

Anyway, now I must answer that question, How many points do I give to Detroit: Become Human? 87/100.

The video game as I said before is the best of the studio, but it has some flaws in the script that I can not ignore. In addition there is another thing, if this was not a video game of Quantic Dream would certainly give a higher rating, but this will not be possible because the study despite promising an "innovative" game does not end up fulfilling at all with this, why the videogame instead of being something "innovative" what it ends up doing is consolidating the formula that the studio has been using during the last years.

It should be noted that the aforementioned has been very critical, since it makes us think about the direction that Quantic Dream n the industry. Will they continue to make only videogames in the style of Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two souls and Detroit: Become Human or perhaps the next title of the company will bring us something really different to what has accustomed us David Cage and his team? I honestly do not know and time will be the one to answer this question.

In a nutshell the video game is great and if you liked Heavy Rain or Beyond: Two souls I recommend you buy it, but if my opinion does not convince you at all I invite you to try the demo of Detroit: Become Human and then you'll see whether to buy it or not.

Now my question is how many points do you give? Do not forget to vote and leave your opinion in the comments. I'm Jacks and see you in the next one.