I have a love/hate relationship with David Cage games. Having played Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls, my opinion was split down the middle when it came to Quantic Dream's unique brand of storytelling. I appreciated the phenomenal style of Heavy Rain (clearly taking a few notes from David Fincher's Seven), and for the most part, I was captivated by the story, but I felt that came at the expense of well-written or compelling characters. The problem was only further emphasized in Beyond: Two Souls, where I felt a strange disconnect with the characters that I couldn't quite shake. Ultimately, it impeded my enjoyment of both games to some degree - which is why I was so pleasantly surprised by Detroit: Become Human.

NOTE: This feature is spoiler-free, and contains no spoilers whatsoever from the story and its several twists and turns.



I still find it bizarre that I felt such a strong connection to the three main characters from Detroit: Become Human, given that they aren't actually humans, but stoic androids. I approached Detroit with some hesitation, and needless to say, had minimal expectations going in. After finally buckling and giving into playing the game (thank you, PlayStation Plus), I was incredibly impressed. Don't get me wrong, some of the nagging issues that I do have with David Cage games still persisted in the experience, but I walked away from the end credits feeling emotionally fulfilled in a way that I didn't expect to.

To get the few gripes out of the way first, Detroit: Become Human's foundations are built on some hamfisted politics. It does come across as forceful and blatant, especially towards the second half of the game, but strangely, Detroit didn't succumb to the "put plot first" negatives that I felt hindered Heavy Rain and especially Beyond: Two Souls. Instead, it wisely chose to put the characters at the forefront of the game - a narrative driven by the emotional reactions of its characters rather than the plot merely being a vehicle for them to get from point A to point B (and C, D, E, and F). I did get the sense that Cage was forcing in some on-the-nose themes and subject matters ranging from xenophobia to domestic abuse, but these moments were gratefully sparse in the grand scheme of things. When the action kicked into high gear, I was behind the characters and invested in their plights, instead of simply going along for the narrative ride.



That's the biggest praise I can actually give Detroit: Become Human. It knew exactly when to take a breather, to sit down with its characters and let small banter and quippy dialogue exchanges shape their characteristics. For example, I'll use my favourite arc in the game, that of Connor's. As a proclaimed "deviant hunter" sent by CyberLife to hunt down deviant androids, Connor's story is one of redemption and realization that fondly reminded me of the good portions of I, Robot - in particular, the android Sonny and his exploration of emotions, existentialism, and what constitutes emotion. Connor is a deeply complex character that continuously finds himself at crossroads throughout the story. His relationship with Lieutenant Hank Anderson flourishes as we begin to see these two unlikely partners form a strong bond depending on the actions you take in the story.

After taking the survey at the end of the game, I wasn't in the least bit surprised to see Connor as the fan-favourite character of choice.

Connor's road to redemption is especially poignant when you factor in Hank's cold demeanour and polar opposite sense of duty and heroism to Connor. They bounce off of each other wonderfully, and their relationship - a butting of heads on two sides of the same coin - creates great character building on both of their parts. After taking the survey at the end of the game, I wasn't in the least bit surprised to see Connor as the fan-favourite character of choice. Without a doubt, his journey felt the most fleshed out and developed at a perfect pace, so you begin to understand that each calculated decision he takes is slowly shaped by his self-discovery. Detroit does provide you with the option for Connor to remain the stone-cold deviant hunter, yes, but directly shaping his character growth is what elevates the experience so much more.



This isn't to say that Connor is the only character worth following. The game constantly splits its chapters between Connor, Markus, and Kara. Let's start with Markus. Markus is a far more well-groomed android who serves as the caretaker for an aged and wheelchair-bound millionaire, Carl Manfred. This relationship is explored brilliantly, albeit briefly, as Carl tries to groom Markus to be the son he wished he had (real son not withstanding for reasons). Their bonding opens Markus' eyes to the possibility of emotions, which sends his character arc on a long and satisfying journey. Without spoiling the second half, I will say that his relationship with another certain android is given plenty of weight, especially when you see just how intricately their stories converge, even from Connor's perspective.

Finally, there's Kara, an android hired to be a caretaker of a household and a little girl named Alice. This particular segment of the narrative caused quite a stir before the game's release because of its bold tackling of domestic abuse. Thankfully, that doesn't take up too much of the story, and ends rather abruptly, but nonetheless effectively, in order to get to the meat of the matter. We see Kara slowly start to adopt the mother figure, coming to terms with being a role model and caretaker of Alice. I felt that their bond and development was sweet, hitting all the right emotional notes. At first, it does seem pretty generic in that we've seen something like this before in movies and other video games, but the main thing that differentiates Kara so well is her determination.



She's a terrific female protagonist that's nurturing and strong-willed when she needs to be. However, her strength manifests in her will to protect Alice, and that makes her a far more compelling character than simply showing the physical strength. For the same reasons that made Ellen Ripley an endearing and powerful lead in Aliens, Kara follows her steps closely in that department. She is well-written to the point of having some gaping weaknesses, but seeing her overcome that in the face of adversity to protect Alice's life is truly something special. I must collectively praise the three lead actors, Jesse Williams (Markus), Valorie Curry (Kara), and Bryan Dechart (Connor). Their performances, motion capture, and voice acting are some of the best I've seen and heard in a video game.

...one simple lapse in judgment spiraled an entirely new branching narrative that - looking at the decision tree after the mission was over - I was overwhelmed at just how many options and choices I was given.

When it comes to gameplay, Detroit: Become Human seemingly learns from the shortcomings of its predecessors and then boosts it with far more interactivity and decision-making that I could've anticipated. The first time I felt this was in the early stages of the game, where one simple lapse in judgment spiraled an entirely new branching narrative that - looking at the decision tree after the mission was over - I was overwhelmed at just how many options and choices I was given. It's quite bewildering, actually. The team at Quantic Dream certainly did their work in the replay value department, because I'm now itching to play the game again just to see how vastly different certain outcomes could've been had I chosen left instead of right.



To that end, I must honestly commend Quantic Dream. I haven't been this engrossed in a video game's story in a while, and a large part of that was due to how much I actually gave a sh*t about the characters this time around. With each passing tough decision and branching narrative presented to me, I was always conflicted and torn because I worried for the safety of the characters. The writing does tend to rely on genre cliches to evoke stronger emotional reactions, but my word, did it work like a charm on me. It could've been that I simply didn't give a damn if they were intentionally trying to get an emotional rise out of me, but it simply worked in the context of Detroit's narrative. Yes, it's not the most complex plot ever, but it embraces the tropes with open arms and wrings every ounce of emotion out of them as possible. For many, that might be a big negative, though.

Detroit: Become Human, like its three central characters, evolves its emotions with every passing chapter. There's not a single moment that I felt was wasted when it came to building their tremendous arcs, and even though it has varying degrees of success depending on each players experiences with the absurdly massive branching decision tree, it more often than not stuck its landing. I can't wait to dive back into the game to shape a new kind of experience. David Cage, I'm still indifferent about your games, but you've done something remarkable here that I must applaud. I love this game.