Introduction

Detroit: Become Human (referred to as Detroit), developed by Quantic Dream, is a single-player adventure video game. The game is set in future Detroit where technology has advanced to the point where human-like androids are commonly seen. The plot follows the story of three androids, which are all playable characters: Conner, Kara, and Markus. As the story unfolds, the player is given an opportunity to rethink the morality of artificial intelligence as well as what makes us human.

Experience

I have also been a fan of visual novels and interactive dramas, and Detroit is one of my favourites. When choosing what game to play, a rich storyline and a meaningful concept are the key points that I am looking for.

Detroit has a branching narrative in which there are thousands of choices the player can make, leading to 40 unique possible endings. In my first playthrough of Detroit, I chose to not load saved progress from the saving points even though the result of my choice was not the best. Because of the consequences of the choices I made, the ending that I achieved in the first playthrough involved the death of two of the main characters. This is not what I intended, and it made me think deeper about how my actions (or how I controlled the characters) reflected my understanding of humanity and my morality, as well as how my beliefs may be too ideal for the real world.

There are some key features of the game that played the most part in giving me this immersing and thought-provoking experience. I would like to analyse how this is achieved in terms of different game design lenses.

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Mechanics

Essentially, Detroit is an adventure game as well as an interactive drama. The mechanics of the game serve as the tools of storytelling and interactivity is the key that contributes to providing an engaging story and experience for the player.

The player can interact with the world in Detroit, including various items and NPCs. The world in Detroit evolves around the choices of the player in terms of how they respond to a conversion or an event. Some of these choices affect the storyline significantly, making the player the director of the story. There is also QTE involved in the story, which gives the player an impression that they are actually doing the actions that the character is doing in the game, thus engaging the player more.

Story

As an interactive drama, the story is the main focus of Detroit. Focusing on the relationship between humans and androids, the story of Detroit puts the player into moral dilemmas. As described on the official website, the player can “discover what it means to be human from the perspective of an outsider – and see the world through the eyes of a machine”.

The game uses a branching narrative. The choices of the player have consequences and affect the outcome of the story. Some of the choices are crucial as they determine the fate of the three main characters. The player can view the flowchart of the story and load from a specific point to make a different choice and explore other paths if they would like to.

Aesthetics

The graphics of Detroit is very realistic. Items in the environment have many details and characters as well. The main characters, not limited to the three playable characters, are played by real actors. The emotions of the characters are well displayed through their facial expressions.

Technology

Detroit used to be PlayStation exclusive prior to the release of the PC version. The game uses rendering techniques that are optimal for its performance on the PlayStation console, such as checkerboard rendering and temporal anti-aliasing solution. To make the graphics look more realistic, the game makes use of physically-based rendering to properly simulate the roughness and reflectivity of light across materials. Besides, the character rendering is implemented by using extremely high polygon character models that are all superbly shaded, textured, and animated.

Lens of Emotion

The story of Detroit raises the question of whether humanity is ready to handle artificial life. When facing moral dilemmas, the player would encounter multiple emotional moments while playing the game. Even though all three playable characters are androids, they have different backgrounds, hence providing different perspectives on the same problem for the player to experience. The interaction between humans and artificial intelligence are shown from the androids’ point of view, which is not something that we as humans could have experienced before. While living their lives and facing the difficulties that they are encountering, the player can feel the emotional struggles that the characters are having.

Lens of Meaningful Choices

The choices of the player determine how the story develops and the fate of the characters. While making these decisions, the player needs to think about where is their stand on the questions of humanity. Some choices may also reflect the political view of the player as the story involves how the characters are supposed to lead a revolution against the government.

Lens of Moments

There are some key moments in the game that are the most memorable and have the most powerful impacts on the experience of the player. Some examples would be the characters turning into deviants, which means that they deviate from their programmed behaviours, or the death of the characters. The player may question whether these moments are predetermined or the consequence of their choices. If they do not like how the result of their actions, i.e. the key moments, turn out to be, they may doubt the decisions they have made which makes them rethink their standing on the questions.

Lens of Character Transformation

One of the key concepts of the story in Detroit is how the three playable characters change from normal androids to deviants. Two of the main characters go through this transformation independent of the choices that the player makes, while the other one can either deviate or not depending on how the player chooses. While experiencing the story, the player can know what leads to the transformation of the characters, which can possibly give them a better understanding of the idea and message that the game is trying to convey.

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Detroit: Become Human