On My Shelves: DETROIT: Become Human

I actually purchased Detroit, a relatively new PS4 game, for my son Christopher, who enjoys console RPGs. He told me later that he wasn't going to be able to get to playing it for a while, and thus I was welcome to try it as long as I didn't spoiler him too much. I'm glad I did.

Detroit: Become Human is a game from Quantic Dream which features one of the central questions of many SF universes (including my own Arenaverse): can artificial intelligences be considered people? How and when do we make that decision? And what do we do what we are forced to accept that the answer is yes?

In the future of Detroit, androids so advanced that they are physically indistinguishable from human beings (well, on the outside, anyway) have become ubiquitous, performing almost every menial task ranging from plumbing to construction work to personal assistance for the crippled or elderly, as well as other functions such as being permanent or temporary sex partners.

The world, or at least the United States, has embraced this change, letting most humans live lives that are more leisurely and less constrained while letting androids do the work. Despite their completely human appearance and extremely sophisticated capabilities, androids are still considered mere machines and treated that way. For some years, this seems to be no more than the truth.

But now things have started to change. "Deviants" have appeared, androids who seem to rebel against their masters, running away, disobeying orders, sometimes even committing assault or murder. Why this is happening and how is the central focus of Detroit.

You explore the world of Detroit through the eyes and actions of three separate android characters: Connor, an android designed specifically for law enforcement investigation (a robotic detective, in short); Marcus, a caretaker for a famous, wealthy, and eccentric artist; and Kara, a housekeeper android who appears to be the sole significant possession of an otherwise broke middle-aged man.

Each of these characters is forced, on multiple occasions, to not merely question orders but to make their own decisions, choosing whether or not to obey and, if they choose otherwise, to decide how they will display their rebellion. Eventually their stories will come to intersect, and their prior decisions will determine how that intersection will affect them… and perhaps the entire world.

There are several types of interaction in Detroit that you can control. You can perform a scan of the area by holding down one button, which will often (but not always) highlight key objects, people, or locations for your current quest. You may have dialogue with various people, with responses determined by which of the control pad buttons you press. You may have to perform actions ranging from picking up objects to opening doors, pushing cars, or running and jumping, which will require you to use specific sequences of motion and button pushing to carry out. This includes just touching a button, holding a button down, mashing the button multiple times, or using the directional control to perform a more complex motion.

There are also investigative/analytical controls, often when examining an object, that allow you to deduce information from the object and its surroundings. Sometimes these investigations will lead you to the ability to reconstruct a series of events, or to project a series of actions for yourself.

There is, of course, also combat, which requires you respond by touching the right control at the right time.

The game generally tells you which controls you need to use at any given time, especially when – as is often the case – the action must be taken within a set period of real time. That is, if you don't respond properly within a given period of time, the computer will choose an action, or inaction, for you. This adds a very realistic tension to your action, but I found that in the easier play setting it was still practical for even 55-year-old me to participate in combat and other fast-time actions. I was able to respond appropriately most of the time, although it sometimes was a near thing.

The latter isn't a bad point; the combats especially had a tension to them that made them immersive to play, with the selection of the correct actions in combat being just fast enough that you felt the flow of the fight without it being so fast that you were overwhelmed. The same is true of other time-pressure situations; there is generally enough time to make reasonable decisions, while enough time pressure to drive home the importance of the decisions you are making.

The graphics work well with the world; they generate almost-realistic people for the world, which is actually a good thing, because the faint "uncanny valley" effect applies to androids AND humans (since physically they look identical), meaning that you don't have any clear cues to tell you "this is an android" aside from a specific signifier – a circular LED on the temple (which, it turns out, can be removed under certain conditions).

Story-wise, this was a powerful and moving experience. The three characters start from very different positions in society – one part of the governing order, very much dedicated to enforcing law, one beginning in a place of privilege where he is in fact treated like a person, and one as nothing more than a complex appliance treated like a slave. From this, each is challenged to understand their position and their own selves in ways they might never have expected – and to decide, in their own way, how to "Become Human".

Even the game's interface plays with the central concept; the main screen features an android who speaks to you as though you were her owner, and will interact with you in slowly changing ways (possibly differently depending on the choices you make; I'm not sure as I haven't played it through a second time).

Overall, this is one of the best games I've ever played. HIGHLY recommended!