PAX Australia 2017 — Detroit: Become Human impressions
Negotiating towards a successful launch
When Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls developer Quantic Dream announced that it was adding Detroit: Become Human to its library of story-driven titles during Paris Games Week in 2015, it immediately captured my interest; a choice-oriented experience set in a future where androids have become commonplace simply sounded too good to ignore. Although the French studio didn’t give much away in 2015, the game continued to capture gamers’ attention at the following two Electronic Entertainment Expos before receiving its 2018 release window. I was lucky enough to play a demo of the game at PAX Australia this past weekend, and it was nothing short of absolutely breathtaking.
On first impression, Detroit: Become Human is one of the best looking games on PlayStation 4 to date, especially when running on the enhanced PS4 Pro hardware. Aside from a moment in the opening cutscene, the game ran flawlessly with no lag or drops in frame rate, which is an encouraging sign to see from a pre-release build; given that this was only a small snippet of the game, however, there isn’t too much to say from a technical standpoint.
The demo casts players into the role of the android negotiator Connor, who is called to diffuse a hostage situation propagated by a “deviant” android. Players can view their probability of success from the moment they take control of Connor and explore the apartment in which the deviant android used to live in harmony with his owners, and utilise this information to decide when they are ready to negotiate with the android. Like an intricate puzzle, Connor can use his android abilities to recreate the crime scene a la Batman: Arkham Origins, complete with the ability to fast-forward and rewind the recreation in order to discover hidden objects and information that can be used in the final negotiation.
Once players have collected enough information — a quantity that is completely subjective, by the way — they can go on to confront the deviant android and attempt to negotiate his hostage’s release, which is where this demo really shines. It has been quite some time since I held my breath throughout a playable segment in a video game, but the sound direction, music and voice acting all come together to bring a cinematic quality to the already-tense moment that stands head and shoulders above any other title I’ve played lately.
One of the most intriguing aspects of Detroit: Become Human is the fact that every event has a variety of potential endings, and they’re all based on the player’s own choices. Even if a player manages to find everything they can find to increase their chances of success, poor choices made during the negotiation can lead to a terrible outcome for the deviant android, the little girl or even Connor himself. The idea of an interchanging web of possibilities is what piques my interest when it comes to Detroit: Become Human; very few games in the past have managed to create that atmosphere, and if it’s executed successfully throughout the rest of the game there is no doubt in my mind that Detroit: Become Human will find itself in the realms of gaming masterpieces.
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