I didn't get racism until it happened to robots
This game is so baffling and just awe-inspiring in its clunky, cumbersome, QTE-laced, barely functional gameplay and its message, that is delivered in the most CLUMSY way possible, along with simply laughable in your face symbolism evoking slavery and the fucking holocaust to drive home the point.
And to top it all of, this shit-stew is presented with such a genuine earnestness that one really has to wonder if David Cage has any capacity to understand human emotion at all. Or has never talked to a person in his life. Or both.
I have not finished this yet, but it has proven itself to be such an abominable piece of garbage that I struggle to even think about putting the disc back in.
Maybe someday.
But I already know this: This might not be the worst game I ever played, but it is without a question the most incompetent and infuriating one.
Edit: Reduced to 1/10
I overcame my struggles and finally finished this... video game, I guess, and now I feel a myriad of emotions. None of them good, really.
There is sadness, disgust, anger, despair and most of all, overwhelming boredom and a general sense of uncertainity if my love for video games actually survived contact with this apocalyptic piece of unfathomable incompetence.
Second Edit: It did. Thank god. I still like video games quite a bit. And all the negative emotions vanished over time too.
And now there is one positive thing I can say about the game:
It left me with a sick sense of amusement about life, the universe and everything else that makes me feel like I am on the brink of insanity.
It's actually quite... interesting.
.. I like it.
cough Anyways: Do not play this... thing. Ever.
And to top it all of, this shit-stew is presented with such a genuine earnestness that one really has to wonder if David Cage has any capacity to understand human emotion at all. Or has never talked to a person in his life. Or both.
I have not finished this yet, but it has proven itself to be such an abominable piece of garbage that I struggle to even think about putting the disc back in.
Maybe someday.
But I already know this: This might not be the worst game I ever played, but it is without a question the most incompetent and infuriating one.
Edit: Reduced to 1/10
I overcame my struggles and finally finished this... video game, I guess, and now I feel a myriad of emotions. None of them good, really.
There is sadness, disgust, anger, despair and most of all, overwhelming boredom and a general sense of uncertainity if my love for video games actually survived contact with this apocalyptic piece of unfathomable incompetence.
Second Edit: It did. Thank god. I still like video games quite a bit. And all the negative emotions vanished over time too.
And now there is one positive thing I can say about the game:
It left me with a sick sense of amusement about life, the universe and everything else that makes me feel like I am on the brink of insanity.
It's actually quite... interesting.
.. I like it.
cough Anyways: Do not play this... thing. Ever.
"that is a quote from Martin Luther King."
He's done it Daves solved racism
Lol, and lol.
You know, I really gotta give props to David Cage, he really is an innovator. Like how do you manage to make a game about discrimination/segregation/slavery with an allegory for civil rights so flawed, so stupid, that it double backs and ends up becoming offensive. Really impressive. Even still, if I'd completely ignore that and take this game at face value, there are so many issues with this that you could break it apart piece by piece (the melodramatic writing; David's usual misery porn; a "plot twist" so unnecessary that it ruins a whole character arc; the plot holes, holy shit, the amount of plot holes). Also, can we stop and think that this line was written, if not by an English white dude, by a French white man? Lmao.
As difficult as it is to talk positively about this I do have to mention a huge improvement over past Quantic Dreams games, and that's the presentation. Which I think it's also the main reason for the positive feedback Detroit has compared to their previous. Everything from the graphics, to the music, acting (specially Connor and Hank), and even the cinematic feel, is considerably better. I guess this would be Quantic Dream's closest attempt at making a game that feels like a movie, and it's really close to achieving it. Kind of disappointing that players find that enough to be tricked and ignore everything else about it that's a flaw, though.
Anyway, I'm currently dead sick so spending any effort in talking about this is exhausting enough... David Cage's best game so far.
★½ – Unplayable ❌
You know, I really gotta give props to David Cage, he really is an innovator. Like how do you manage to make a game about discrimination/segregation/slavery with an allegory for civil rights so flawed, so stupid, that it double backs and ends up becoming offensive. Really impressive. Even still, if I'd completely ignore that and take this game at face value, there are so many issues with this that you could break it apart piece by piece (the melodramatic writing; David's usual misery porn; a "plot twist" so unnecessary that it ruins a whole character arc; the plot holes, holy shit, the amount of plot holes). Also, can we stop and think that this line was written, if not by an English white dude, by a French white man? Lmao.
As difficult as it is to talk positively about this I do have to mention a huge improvement over past Quantic Dreams games, and that's the presentation. Which I think it's also the main reason for the positive feedback Detroit has compared to their previous. Everything from the graphics, to the music, acting (specially Connor and Hank), and even the cinematic feel, is considerably better. I guess this would be Quantic Dream's closest attempt at making a game that feels like a movie, and it's really close to achieving it. Kind of disappointing that players find that enough to be tricked and ignore everything else about it that's a flaw, though.
Anyway, I'm currently dead sick so spending any effort in talking about this is exhausting enough... David Cage's best game so far.
★½ – Unplayable ❌
david cage you've done it again
Hey did you guys know black people are JUST like robots? Haha I am very smart
36
Self-proclaimed auteur David Cage is known for his egotistically performative attitude on “games as art,” but he still lets his games speak their own stories rather than a meta-parroting of his design ideologies. Indigo Prophecy and Heavy Rain, however flawed they may be, will live on as independent stories, “challenging” the medium by how they’re told and not what’s told. This is not the case for Detroit: Become Human.
Detroit: Become Human is not just pretentious; it’s pretentiousness in it’s purest form. The pretentiousness bleeds out from the game and into a clumsy, half-baked attempt at a meta-narrative (which obliviously turned into biting satire of itself). It is one of very few games I would genuinely call offensive and tasteless. I have no idea where to begin with what I hate about Detroit: Become Human, so let’s kick it off with a positive.
Detroit: Become Human has very good graphics. Its aesthetic style, however, is as visually bland as that sentence. Cage is hyper-focused on literally predicting the future to the point where it’s boring; it just looks like Apple stores started popping up around local neighborhoods. There’s no grittiness to the future, there’s only a clean everyman future applied to the grittiness of the modern world. It’s hard to call this game “cyberpunk,” it seems content with just being “cyber.”
Okay, now for an actual positive note: I have never seen a narrative-choice game branch out so far before. Choices do actually matter, fail-states are one-and-done and change handfuls of facets up to the end of the game. Decisions rarely have fleeting impact, where things change then slowly revert back to a one-size-fits-all conclusion; Detroit: Become Human is a game-changer (no pun intended) when it comes to narrative design. Although, it would be way better if the narrative was actually written well.
Here’s where offensive and tasteless come in. Detroit: Become Human has only one message: slavery is bad. Maybe it says more, but I can’t decipher anything else as clear-cut as that, because the game shoves gluttonous amounts of political imagery down the player’s throat so hard, you can’t help but gag.
One character, Markus, is the leader of an android resistance group. In one scene, the player can choose to march peacefully, which I did. It (very blatantly) evokes the 1965 marches from Selma to Montgomery. There’s lots of civil rights imagery that doesn’t come across well, going as far as the “fist-in-the-air” of black power movements being one of four symbols the player can choose to adopt as the new symbol for “android resistance” and graffiti over city walls.
Then I hear the phrase “android camps,” and any good faith I had in this game leaves me like a wet fart. Yes, David Cage decided to co-opt, not just imagery or evocation, but an entire setting and scene based on the Holocaust. Naturally, I’m appalled! You can’t solve the Holocaust through peaceful protest! So, as Markus, I throw away the peaceful approach and ordered my resistance team to turn to violent measures.
It was then that my brain processed these separate moments into a coherent story, and I realized that Detroit: Become Human just combined the American civil rights movement, the Holocaust, and robots into one scene. If this is David Cage’s idea of serious storytelling, I think I’d rupture something if he made a comedy game.
What makes Detroit: Become Human so unenjoyable is not just the cowardice of its non-challenging setting, nor the writing that’s so on-the-nose it picks its own boogers; the worst part is when, for a fleeting moment, I enjoy it. Those moments when I grip my controller tighter, hoping, wanting to heed Cage’s siren call of a briefly compelling scene, are the most unbearable. The story, ears plugged with wax, refuses to face that glimpse of beauty and rows into more toxic waters.
It is never in my interest to recommend substituting the personal experience of playing a game with YouTube videos, but Detroit: Become Human has so little to offer to the player, and what it does offer feels like the game taunting them for expecting better. Watch two playthroughs to ooh-n-aah at the branching paths. This is a game better off being witnessed than involved in; it makes the fremdschämen much easier to bear.
Self-proclaimed auteur David Cage is known for his egotistically performative attitude on “games as art,” but he still lets his games speak their own stories rather than a meta-parroting of his design ideologies. Indigo Prophecy and Heavy Rain, however flawed they may be, will live on as independent stories, “challenging” the medium by how they’re told and not what’s told. This is not the case for Detroit: Become Human.
Detroit: Become Human is not just pretentious; it’s pretentiousness in it’s purest form. The pretentiousness bleeds out from the game and into a clumsy, half-baked attempt at a meta-narrative (which obliviously turned into biting satire of itself). It is one of very few games I would genuinely call offensive and tasteless. I have no idea where to begin with what I hate about Detroit: Become Human, so let’s kick it off with a positive.
Detroit: Become Human has very good graphics. Its aesthetic style, however, is as visually bland as that sentence. Cage is hyper-focused on literally predicting the future to the point where it’s boring; it just looks like Apple stores started popping up around local neighborhoods. There’s no grittiness to the future, there’s only a clean everyman future applied to the grittiness of the modern world. It’s hard to call this game “cyberpunk,” it seems content with just being “cyber.”
Okay, now for an actual positive note: I have never seen a narrative-choice game branch out so far before. Choices do actually matter, fail-states are one-and-done and change handfuls of facets up to the end of the game. Decisions rarely have fleeting impact, where things change then slowly revert back to a one-size-fits-all conclusion; Detroit: Become Human is a game-changer (no pun intended) when it comes to narrative design. Although, it would be way better if the narrative was actually written well.
Here’s where offensive and tasteless come in. Detroit: Become Human has only one message: slavery is bad. Maybe it says more, but I can’t decipher anything else as clear-cut as that, because the game shoves gluttonous amounts of political imagery down the player’s throat so hard, you can’t help but gag.
One character, Markus, is the leader of an android resistance group. In one scene, the player can choose to march peacefully, which I did. It (very blatantly) evokes the 1965 marches from Selma to Montgomery. There’s lots of civil rights imagery that doesn’t come across well, going as far as the “fist-in-the-air” of black power movements being one of four symbols the player can choose to adopt as the new symbol for “android resistance” and graffiti over city walls.
Then I hear the phrase “android camps,” and any good faith I had in this game leaves me like a wet fart. Yes, David Cage decided to co-opt, not just imagery or evocation, but an entire setting and scene based on the Holocaust. Naturally, I’m appalled! You can’t solve the Holocaust through peaceful protest! So, as Markus, I throw away the peaceful approach and ordered my resistance team to turn to violent measures.
It was then that my brain processed these separate moments into a coherent story, and I realized that Detroit: Become Human just combined the American civil rights movement, the Holocaust, and robots into one scene. If this is David Cage’s idea of serious storytelling, I think I’d rupture something if he made a comedy game.
What makes Detroit: Become Human so unenjoyable is not just the cowardice of its non-challenging setting, nor the writing that’s so on-the-nose it picks its own boogers; the worst part is when, for a fleeting moment, I enjoy it. Those moments when I grip my controller tighter, hoping, wanting to heed Cage’s siren call of a briefly compelling scene, are the most unbearable. The story, ears plugged with wax, refuses to face that glimpse of beauty and rows into more toxic waters.
It is never in my interest to recommend substituting the personal experience of playing a game with YouTube videos, but Detroit: Become Human has so little to offer to the player, and what it does offer feels like the game taunting them for expecting better. Watch two playthroughs to ooh-n-aah at the branching paths. This is a game better off being witnessed than involved in; it makes the fremdschämen much easier to bear.
This is probably one of the most insulting games I have ever experienced. David Cage deliriously compares the situation of damn robots with the situation of black people; the slavery and the apartheid policy of the US, even the Holocaust.
Funnily enough, it doesn’t even make sense to combine slavery and apartheid policy. When slavery was a thing, black people weren’t separated from white people, because they had to work for white people. Separating them would’ve been counterproductive. The apartheid policy was a result of the end of the slavery. David Cage obviously didn’t pay attention in history lessons, nor did he care to look that up or to come to logical conclusions.
This game plays down all the horrible acts Europeans and white Americans have committed over time. It’s straight up an insult.
How can you mess up that hard?
Funnily enough, it doesn’t even make sense to combine slavery and apartheid policy. When slavery was a thing, black people weren’t separated from white people, because they had to work for white people. Separating them would’ve been counterproductive. The apartheid policy was a result of the end of the slavery. David Cage obviously didn’t pay attention in history lessons, nor did he care to look that up or to come to logical conclusions.
This game plays down all the horrible acts Europeans and white Americans have committed over time. It’s straight up an insult.
How can you mess up that hard?
Such a captivating story that left me in tears multiple times. An incredible cast of characters and many great endings that all depend on your own choices.
It's still very clear to me David Cage has the mental capacity of a 9-year-old.
David Cage hoje me dia é conhecido e reconhecido por fazer jogos narrativos com alto nível de investimento na produção, e nesse não poderia ser diferente. Sendo o ultimo jogo da parceria Quantic Dream/PlayStaition, Detroit é ambicioso, sólido e ofensivo.
Quando digo que existe ambição, falo referente ao sistema de escolhas do jogo que realmente faz a diferença ao decorrer do jogo, tudo realmente importa para seu futuro, as escolhas darão frutos ou cicatrizes, e a solidez vem como consequência da boa execução do game design.
Mas ele é ofensivo, e com esse adjetivo vem os problemas . Por mais que David Cage diga aos quatro ventos que Detroit não é politico, que não faz paralelos a momentos da historia humana, ainda não tira as evidencias de dentro do jogo.
Segregação, holocausto e a luta por direitos civis, são algumas das citações diretas da narrativa, e o que mais me pega nessa imprudência do Cage é o não entendimento do seu próprio jogo e muito menos das pautas que ele abordou.
Cheguei a um ponto de apenas aceitar que Cage é um jumento funcional, pois a outra alternativa seria mau caratismo. A narrativa de Detroit é claramente sobre racismo, vinda de um homem branco, europeu e burro, e tendo isso em mente, a narrativa passa por diversos problemas, como por exemplo:
- O não entendimento do contexto histórico dos direitos civis
- Criação de caricaturas pacifistas
- Medidas desmobilizantes contra algozes
- Não dar a devida complexidade entre as relações humanas
Isso tudo que lembro de cabeça, mas decreto: David Cage é irresponsável.
O diretor/escritor do jogo dizer que não há politica dentro de uma narrativa que mostra a revolução e mudança do status quo soa como desrespeito a inteligência de todos os jogadores e principalmente as pessoas que morreram e morrem por causa de racismo.
David Cage não se responsabiliza por passar uma mensagem, mas ainda passa, uma péssima, de que qualquer idiota é capaz de fazer jogos, principalmente se eles forem brancos. Usou de personagens negros para falar sobre a dor negra, usa androides como paralelos horríveis sobre equidade, usa a marca dos panteras negras pra não dizer nada.
E sendo sincero, eu não tenho muito o que falar sobre a campanha de Kara, ou Connor, pois elas são ofuscadas pelo rio de merda que vem do plot principal/Markus. Existe qualidade dentro desse jogo oportunista, mas me nego reconhece-las. Eu, como homem negro, saí de Detroit com ódio, tristeza e desesperança, pois se David Cage se atrever a fazer mais um jogo, pode decretar que a indústria errou com os negros. E pra fechar, meus sinceros "Vai tomar no cu" pro David Cage
Quando digo que existe ambição, falo referente ao sistema de escolhas do jogo que realmente faz a diferença ao decorrer do jogo, tudo realmente importa para seu futuro, as escolhas darão frutos ou cicatrizes, e a solidez vem como consequência da boa execução do game design.
Mas ele é ofensivo, e com esse adjetivo vem os problemas . Por mais que David Cage diga aos quatro ventos que Detroit não é politico, que não faz paralelos a momentos da historia humana, ainda não tira as evidencias de dentro do jogo.
Segregação, holocausto e a luta por direitos civis, são algumas das citações diretas da narrativa, e o que mais me pega nessa imprudência do Cage é o não entendimento do seu próprio jogo e muito menos das pautas que ele abordou.
Cheguei a um ponto de apenas aceitar que Cage é um jumento funcional, pois a outra alternativa seria mau caratismo. A narrativa de Detroit é claramente sobre racismo, vinda de um homem branco, europeu e burro, e tendo isso em mente, a narrativa passa por diversos problemas, como por exemplo:
- O não entendimento do contexto histórico dos direitos civis
- Criação de caricaturas pacifistas
- Medidas desmobilizantes contra algozes
- Não dar a devida complexidade entre as relações humanas
Isso tudo que lembro de cabeça, mas decreto: David Cage é irresponsável.
O diretor/escritor do jogo dizer que não há politica dentro de uma narrativa que mostra a revolução e mudança do status quo soa como desrespeito a inteligência de todos os jogadores e principalmente as pessoas que morreram e morrem por causa de racismo.
David Cage não se responsabiliza por passar uma mensagem, mas ainda passa, uma péssima, de que qualquer idiota é capaz de fazer jogos, principalmente se eles forem brancos. Usou de personagens negros para falar sobre a dor negra, usa androides como paralelos horríveis sobre equidade, usa a marca dos panteras negras pra não dizer nada.
E sendo sincero, eu não tenho muito o que falar sobre a campanha de Kara, ou Connor, pois elas são ofuscadas pelo rio de merda que vem do plot principal/Markus. Existe qualidade dentro desse jogo oportunista, mas me nego reconhece-las. Eu, como homem negro, saí de Detroit com ódio, tristeza e desesperança, pois se David Cage se atrever a fazer mais um jogo, pode decretar que a indústria errou com os negros. E pra fechar, meus sinceros "Vai tomar no cu" pro David Cage
this game rlly said press x to emancipate. this game rlly. it really. just
look. it Looks very good. and i thought oh surely im playing a cool game about artificial intelligence and human/android bonding but actually i was an idiot and anyway its not good. dont talk to me
look. it Looks very good. and i thought oh surely im playing a cool game about artificial intelligence and human/android bonding but actually i was an idiot and anyway its not good. dont talk to me
Detroit: Become Human is a game that attempts to show the humanity of robots.
More like Detroit: Become Boring When Not Play as Connor, am I right?
More like Detroit: Become Boring When Not Play as Connor, am I right?
David Cage might be a genius.
That's not to say he's a good writer, God forbid, but rather that he is an incredible entertainer. The sheer clownery that is this game's core premise is almost too much to bear at times, and yet it manages to completely grab my attention. I started this game on a whim hoping to laugh at it, and ended up playing from start to finish.
This is because this game is broken up into three segments, each with VASTLY different quality, keeping the pace up quite nicely. Connor's story, as I'm absolutely positive you know, is far and away the best. It's the only story in this game that I would actually go as far as to say is extremely well written. The relationship between Connor and Hank is extremely compelling and - for me - nervewracking. The dichotomy between them is so perfect that every second spent on these portions is bliss, and every decision not only made me think about what to do for the sake of what happened around me, but dread how it would affect my relationship with Hank. Every choice being a new challenge to face and every interaction with Hank being insightful to his character, simply entertaining to watch thanks to Clancy Brown and Bryan Dechart's performances and the truly, truly quality writing on display for the both of them. The whole game could have been this, and it would be David Cage's masterpiece. Unfortunately, it wasn't. He put Markus in the game.
Markus's portions are bad. They're awful. Every character met has little to no character in their body (almost as if they were robots,) and Markus himself can change personalities on a whim since his "backstory" is flimsy at best. Naturally, this segment has the most impact on the story at large. All is well, though, because it is hilarious. This is the David Cage I was looking for. Markus felt like such a non-entity that being given the freedom to do anything I want with the world and just about 0 consequences was truly liberating and lead to some of my hardest guffaws in the entire playthrough. Seeing such a melodramatic and stupid story that shouldn't even exist unfold into chaos when my benevolent and godlike hands get to hold the reigns of it is truly a wonderful time, and it, too, I wholly recommend to behold.
Kara could not be in this game and nothing would change.
Overall, this game continues to cement David Cage as a staple of the shitty interactive game industry, and I truly don't know where we'd be without him. I sincerely hope he does not make movies because while he is sometimes capable of really reaching the stars, even his blunders are extremely worthwhile entertainment. God speed you clown prince of crap
Also David, did you see what I did there? I spent more time on characters the more interesting they were, and less time when they sucked and nobody cares. Just a little tip from one novice to another
That's not to say he's a good writer, God forbid, but rather that he is an incredible entertainer. The sheer clownery that is this game's core premise is almost too much to bear at times, and yet it manages to completely grab my attention. I started this game on a whim hoping to laugh at it, and ended up playing from start to finish.
This is because this game is broken up into three segments, each with VASTLY different quality, keeping the pace up quite nicely. Connor's story, as I'm absolutely positive you know, is far and away the best. It's the only story in this game that I would actually go as far as to say is extremely well written. The relationship between Connor and Hank is extremely compelling and - for me - nervewracking. The dichotomy between them is so perfect that every second spent on these portions is bliss, and every decision not only made me think about what to do for the sake of what happened around me, but dread how it would affect my relationship with Hank. Every choice being a new challenge to face and every interaction with Hank being insightful to his character, simply entertaining to watch thanks to Clancy Brown and Bryan Dechart's performances and the truly, truly quality writing on display for the both of them. The whole game could have been this, and it would be David Cage's masterpiece. Unfortunately, it wasn't. He put Markus in the game.
Markus's portions are bad. They're awful. Every character met has little to no character in their body (almost as if they were robots,) and Markus himself can change personalities on a whim since his "backstory" is flimsy at best. Naturally, this segment has the most impact on the story at large. All is well, though, because it is hilarious. This is the David Cage I was looking for. Markus felt like such a non-entity that being given the freedom to do anything I want with the world and just about 0 consequences was truly liberating and lead to some of my hardest guffaws in the entire playthrough. Seeing such a melodramatic and stupid story that shouldn't even exist unfold into chaos when my benevolent and godlike hands get to hold the reigns of it is truly a wonderful time, and it, too, I wholly recommend to behold.
Kara could not be in this game and nothing would change.
Overall, this game continues to cement David Cage as a staple of the shitty interactive game industry, and I truly don't know where we'd be without him. I sincerely hope he does not make movies because while he is sometimes capable of really reaching the stars, even his blunders are extremely worthwhile entertainment. God speed you clown prince of crap
Also David, did you see what I did there? I spent more time on characters the more interesting they were, and less time when they sucked and nobody cares. Just a little tip from one novice to another
I’m already a human, dumbass
Press x to cum
david cage.
Simplesmente um dos melhores jogos que já joguei na minha vida, minha experiência com essa obra prima foi incrível, uma história e gameplay maravilhosa e te faz querer explorar cada escolha e cada final para ver oque acontece, os gráficos acho que nem preciso falar que são impecáveis, a sensação de que a qualquer momento você pode perder um personagem é maravilhosa. Se tornou um dos meus jogos favoritos de todos os tempos. Super recomendo!
A decent game from a studio that has put out stinker after stinker. Even so, with this probably being the game of theirs that has the best moments in it, it also has some of the worst. Of course the themes of the game are handled badly! David Cage is barely even human. He doesn't understand what makes a good story good. And of course Kara's entire plot is just an excuse to have his favorite "pretty woman in peril" trope. I've seen it all before.
What I did not expect was the genuinely awesome buddy cop between Android and Human. Connor and Hank are great, and their scenes together feel the most believable and human of any of them. And from what I understand, that is almost all attributed to Clancy Brown and Bryan Dechart's improvisation during filming these scenes. And apparently they had to fight tooth and nail to keep those little moments in the game because of David Cage who did not understand why they would do such improvisation. Ridiculous french man tries to self sabotage his own game.
It's one of those games that you play it, you have a good time, and then the next day you start to think about it and it all falls apart. If the game was all Connor and Hank? Possible 10/10. But with the Madison Paige 2.0 bot having one of the worst story moments I've ever seen, and Jesus bot Marcus as the leader of the robot civil rights movement, Detroit disappears SO FAR up David Cage's ass and miles away from anything that was initially likeable about it.
That Star Wars game is gonna SUUUUUUUCK.
What I did not expect was the genuinely awesome buddy cop between Android and Human. Connor and Hank are great, and their scenes together feel the most believable and human of any of them. And from what I understand, that is almost all attributed to Clancy Brown and Bryan Dechart's improvisation during filming these scenes. And apparently they had to fight tooth and nail to keep those little moments in the game because of David Cage who did not understand why they would do such improvisation. Ridiculous french man tries to self sabotage his own game.
It's one of those games that you play it, you have a good time, and then the next day you start to think about it and it all falls apart. If the game was all Connor and Hank? Possible 10/10. But with the Madison Paige 2.0 bot having one of the worst story moments I've ever seen, and Jesus bot Marcus as the leader of the robot civil rights movement, Detroit disappears SO FAR up David Cage's ass and miles away from anything that was initially likeable about it.
That Star Wars game is gonna SUUUUUUUCK.
I could probably take scenes from this like Markus just mind controlling other androids into caring about racism and make an analysis of this as a scathing satire of the privileged view of the civil rights movement, but then I'd have to suffer through it again.
"Remember, this is not just a story, this is our future."
You can't be serious I haven't even started the game...
There's a lot of adjectives you can throw at David Cage's Detroit: Become Human. On-the-nose, vain, and uninspired are some that come to mind; but incompetent is what best describes this game. From gameplay to storyline, themes to executions, characters to references, every single aspect of this game is a mess. There's not one thing it has going for it except graphics, but come on. A triple-A game made in 2018 is supposed to have good graphics. What kinda positive is that…
I'll start from the beginning. The loading screen girl is kinda creepy and just said some pretentious stuff out of nowhere. You then start the game as Connor. His first mission is awesome. The pacing, buildup, atmosphere and every other detail works harmoniously to create one of the strongest impressions of a video game you could ask for. Even the shitty gameplay made total sense for what I assumed would be a detective game of an android busting other Androids with a few twists here and there to keep things interesting. A faux blade runner type game. Unfortunately, that never really turned out to be the case. At least not the entirety of it. Connor's storyline is also the only half-decent one here. His relationship with Hank and their interactions are super fun to play through, and throughout the game it's the only thing that stays interesting through the very end. Although it's obviously not nearly good enough to sustain the whole game and justify anything it does.
Soon after completing the first mission successfully, you wake up as Kara, a household maid that works in a disjointed household, rebels against her abusive owner, and runs with the daughter. This is where the game starts to feel ridiculous. Every. Little. Movement. Forces you to interact with the game in a cyclic manner. Point. Click. Move. Cutscene. It becomes old really quick. You have to move a certain way? Do a rotation thingy with your mouse. You want to pick something up? Do a rotation thingy with your mouse. You have to fight someone? Do a rotation thingy with your mouse, but this time press D. What in the fuck is the right click mechanic WHO FUCKING IMPLEMENTED THIS (I was playing on mouse and keyboard, which is probably why I hate this mechanic so much). I genuinely feel like this game set the medium back at least 20 years in terms of game design. It is barely functional and does absolutely wonders at making you want to quit playing this piece of shit game.
Next comes Markus. And his storyline is the reason why this game goes from barely passable to horseshit. He's a caretaker taking care of an old, dying artist who loves painting (he's an idiot). I have no idea why 2038 would have a single painter alive that does painting by brush. It'd be more interesting if it was treated like a dead art form, but we get no indication of that. Just "people don't appreciate art boo hoo." Anyway, there is this one great scene, on paper at least, that serves as an example of how this already crumbling story is completely butchered in this medium. Markus is told to paint something, anything. Markus, being a machine, just replicates his surroundings on canvas. A perfect copy. But the old greaseball insists that he draw something only he can imagine and asks him to close his eyes (btw, why would closing his eyes do shit he's a fucking android he can just imagine the scenery once more or google some other scenery). Anyway after doing a little dance with your mouse to get the goddamn brush moving the music steadily builds up as Marcus, an android, lifts his brush, marks it with paint, goes against his programming and...
You get a prompt asking to pick one of the two topics to combine, one of which quite literally says "android/pain.” What?
How do you even manage to mess up a key moment like this? The game is so terrified of the player disengaging with the game that it quite literally turns everything into a quick-time event and in the process manages to undermine crucial moments such as this and many more. It is borderline comical how naive the game thinks you are. Almost insulting, but that would mean that there is something to feel insulted about. When Kara has to tell a story, you have to pick the options. When Markus has to give a speech, you have to pick the options. The characters don't feel like characters anymore, just cardboard, cookie cutter puppets that exist to shove themes up your face. This isn't a detective game; these are key moments that are supposed to define the psychology of your characters WHAT GOOD DOES IT DO TO GIVE YOUR PLAYERS A CHOICE IN THIS. Of course, I don't want the whole game to be a gigantic cutscene, but if you're going to do one then what's the point in half-assing it?
“Cinematic Video Games” always feel like you’re playing in a movie. You don’t need groundbreaking gameplay mechanics to make it stick. It’s the immersion that counts. If you’re going to break it every 2 minutes then what’s the point?
I had a strong feeling during the early parts of the game that this story would really benefit in a TV format. But now, after completing it, I think it needs a complete rewrite. Outside the game my saved files crashed one time halfway through, so I had to replay it all again. I really have nothing good to say about this.
The branching pathways/endings are a gimmick, designed to hide a weak story behind. Many games have a choice system during crucial moments that defines what trajectory their story takes. Encouraging replays and increasing the tension/stakes. The way Detroit does this is every action becomes a choice, where most choices don't mean anything. It’s copious and treats serious and heavy topics with as much finesse as an 80s sitcom would.
Markus also feels like a disingenuous leader. He climbs the ranks too fast, becomes trusted too quickly for it to be believable. While marching you can have him chant “WE HAVE A DREAM” which genuinely brings tears to my eyes dear god this game is so baffling 💀.
The writing is really bad. The story itself is intriguing and exciting, but lacks a crucial novelty factor. We've all seen the matrix, blade runner, lain, ghost in the shell and countless other IPs that delve into the topic of AI and what have you. What does Detroit: Become Human have anything new to say about that? Very little. It's basically your typical dystopian sci-fi written by a 10 year old who failed history. It's just stupid. Of course, when I see a kid smiling, I'm going to feel happy, when I see a person gain freedom, I'm going to be proud of them. Good writing isn't when you sandwich scenes of obvious emotional resonance in a sad attempt to sway the audience by pulling on their heartstrings. Most writers fail to grasp the idea of what buildup means or how the journey matters more than the climaxes in the grand scheme of things. Of course, the average audience is going to praise an emotionally charged scene, but that doesn't mean they're oblivious to how a good writer GETS to that scene. It requires finesse and skill which unfortunately David Cage lacks horribly.
I think two of the most hilarious writing choices they made is including actual nazi concentration camps for androids and that one scene where Markus kisses North and a whole SWAT team surrounding them goes "aight my bad" and just backs off 😭😭😭. I'm not even making this up, that's an actual scene in the game.
My BIGGEST problem with this is how the androids are treated and written like actual humans. No, not like machines that have gained sentience, but rather a whole race of "people," a clear allusion to racial minorities. That's another thing that makes this story boring and offensive to the ACTUAL HISTORY of black people. You can find a bunch of articles online that properly address this issue. The game doesn't ever treat these androids as a "new form of intelligent life" but rather as a substitute for minorities living in some futuristic "racist" city. Which doesn’t even feel believable because worldbuilding sucks in this. Why isn't there a proper explanation or theory for how these androids achieve sentience? Why are androids not doing super smart shit like idk the sky's the limit you can make them do anything. Why do these robots feel like boring old humans? Why is there a lack of any philosophical discourse?
Detroit has zero grasp on history and a naive understanding of storytelling. It's a fun game sometimes. I can't even deny that. But it's a massive trainwreck that deserves zero amount of praise that it got and every bit of criticism (that it also got) but what makes it so fun is how seriously it takes itself despite being so utterly out of touch. Like you almost feel genuinely moved by some of the moments in the game until you realise how fucking cheesy and just downright hilarious those moments are. The good ending is really sweet though.
If Detroit is an allegory for the civil rights movement, then after playing this my life has become an allegory to Van Gogh because I wanna shoot myself now.
3/10 I wanna bang Chloe so bad though.
You can't be serious I haven't even started the game...
There's a lot of adjectives you can throw at David Cage's Detroit: Become Human. On-the-nose, vain, and uninspired are some that come to mind; but incompetent is what best describes this game. From gameplay to storyline, themes to executions, characters to references, every single aspect of this game is a mess. There's not one thing it has going for it except graphics, but come on. A triple-A game made in 2018 is supposed to have good graphics. What kinda positive is that…
I'll start from the beginning. The loading screen girl is kinda creepy and just said some pretentious stuff out of nowhere. You then start the game as Connor. His first mission is awesome. The pacing, buildup, atmosphere and every other detail works harmoniously to create one of the strongest impressions of a video game you could ask for. Even the shitty gameplay made total sense for what I assumed would be a detective game of an android busting other Androids with a few twists here and there to keep things interesting. A faux blade runner type game. Unfortunately, that never really turned out to be the case. At least not the entirety of it. Connor's storyline is also the only half-decent one here. His relationship with Hank and their interactions are super fun to play through, and throughout the game it's the only thing that stays interesting through the very end. Although it's obviously not nearly good enough to sustain the whole game and justify anything it does.
Soon after completing the first mission successfully, you wake up as Kara, a household maid that works in a disjointed household, rebels against her abusive owner, and runs with the daughter. This is where the game starts to feel ridiculous. Every. Little. Movement. Forces you to interact with the game in a cyclic manner. Point. Click. Move. Cutscene. It becomes old really quick. You have to move a certain way? Do a rotation thingy with your mouse. You want to pick something up? Do a rotation thingy with your mouse. You have to fight someone? Do a rotation thingy with your mouse, but this time press D. What in the fuck is the right click mechanic WHO FUCKING IMPLEMENTED THIS (I was playing on mouse and keyboard, which is probably why I hate this mechanic so much). I genuinely feel like this game set the medium back at least 20 years in terms of game design. It is barely functional and does absolutely wonders at making you want to quit playing this piece of shit game.
Next comes Markus. And his storyline is the reason why this game goes from barely passable to horseshit. He's a caretaker taking care of an old, dying artist who loves painting (he's an idiot). I have no idea why 2038 would have a single painter alive that does painting by brush. It'd be more interesting if it was treated like a dead art form, but we get no indication of that. Just "people don't appreciate art boo hoo." Anyway, there is this one great scene, on paper at least, that serves as an example of how this already crumbling story is completely butchered in this medium. Markus is told to paint something, anything. Markus, being a machine, just replicates his surroundings on canvas. A perfect copy. But the old greaseball insists that he draw something only he can imagine and asks him to close his eyes (btw, why would closing his eyes do shit he's a fucking android he can just imagine the scenery once more or google some other scenery). Anyway after doing a little dance with your mouse to get the goddamn brush moving the music steadily builds up as Marcus, an android, lifts his brush, marks it with paint, goes against his programming and...
You get a prompt asking to pick one of the two topics to combine, one of which quite literally says "android/pain.” What?
How do you even manage to mess up a key moment like this? The game is so terrified of the player disengaging with the game that it quite literally turns everything into a quick-time event and in the process manages to undermine crucial moments such as this and many more. It is borderline comical how naive the game thinks you are. Almost insulting, but that would mean that there is something to feel insulted about. When Kara has to tell a story, you have to pick the options. When Markus has to give a speech, you have to pick the options. The characters don't feel like characters anymore, just cardboard, cookie cutter puppets that exist to shove themes up your face. This isn't a detective game; these are key moments that are supposed to define the psychology of your characters WHAT GOOD DOES IT DO TO GIVE YOUR PLAYERS A CHOICE IN THIS. Of course, I don't want the whole game to be a gigantic cutscene, but if you're going to do one then what's the point in half-assing it?
“Cinematic Video Games” always feel like you’re playing in a movie. You don’t need groundbreaking gameplay mechanics to make it stick. It’s the immersion that counts. If you’re going to break it every 2 minutes then what’s the point?
I had a strong feeling during the early parts of the game that this story would really benefit in a TV format. But now, after completing it, I think it needs a complete rewrite. Outside the game my saved files crashed one time halfway through, so I had to replay it all again. I really have nothing good to say about this.
The branching pathways/endings are a gimmick, designed to hide a weak story behind. Many games have a choice system during crucial moments that defines what trajectory their story takes. Encouraging replays and increasing the tension/stakes. The way Detroit does this is every action becomes a choice, where most choices don't mean anything. It’s copious and treats serious and heavy topics with as much finesse as an 80s sitcom would.
Markus also feels like a disingenuous leader. He climbs the ranks too fast, becomes trusted too quickly for it to be believable. While marching you can have him chant “WE HAVE A DREAM” which genuinely brings tears to my eyes dear god this game is so baffling 💀.
The writing is really bad. The story itself is intriguing and exciting, but lacks a crucial novelty factor. We've all seen the matrix, blade runner, lain, ghost in the shell and countless other IPs that delve into the topic of AI and what have you. What does Detroit: Become Human have anything new to say about that? Very little. It's basically your typical dystopian sci-fi written by a 10 year old who failed history. It's just stupid. Of course, when I see a kid smiling, I'm going to feel happy, when I see a person gain freedom, I'm going to be proud of them. Good writing isn't when you sandwich scenes of obvious emotional resonance in a sad attempt to sway the audience by pulling on their heartstrings. Most writers fail to grasp the idea of what buildup means or how the journey matters more than the climaxes in the grand scheme of things. Of course, the average audience is going to praise an emotionally charged scene, but that doesn't mean they're oblivious to how a good writer GETS to that scene. It requires finesse and skill which unfortunately David Cage lacks horribly.
I think two of the most hilarious writing choices they made is including actual nazi concentration camps for androids and that one scene where Markus kisses North and a whole SWAT team surrounding them goes "aight my bad" and just backs off 😭😭😭. I'm not even making this up, that's an actual scene in the game.
My BIGGEST problem with this is how the androids are treated and written like actual humans. No, not like machines that have gained sentience, but rather a whole race of "people," a clear allusion to racial minorities. That's another thing that makes this story boring and offensive to the ACTUAL HISTORY of black people. You can find a bunch of articles online that properly address this issue. The game doesn't ever treat these androids as a "new form of intelligent life" but rather as a substitute for minorities living in some futuristic "racist" city. Which doesn’t even feel believable because worldbuilding sucks in this. Why isn't there a proper explanation or theory for how these androids achieve sentience? Why are androids not doing super smart shit like idk the sky's the limit you can make them do anything. Why do these robots feel like boring old humans? Why is there a lack of any philosophical discourse?
Detroit has zero grasp on history and a naive understanding of storytelling. It's a fun game sometimes. I can't even deny that. But it's a massive trainwreck that deserves zero amount of praise that it got and every bit of criticism (that it also got) but what makes it so fun is how seriously it takes itself despite being so utterly out of touch. Like you almost feel genuinely moved by some of the moments in the game until you realise how fucking cheesy and just downright hilarious those moments are. The good ending is really sweet though.
If Detroit is an allegory for the civil rights movement, then after playing this my life has become an allegory to Van Gogh because I wanna shoot myself now.
3/10 I wanna bang Chloe so bad though.
i haven't actually played this one but this is just on principle
the only thing "profound" about david cage's catalog of games is how each one is profoundly bad
soooo close to saying anything.. but it completely fumbles the bag
At least Conner and Hank made this worth it
At least Conner and Hank made this worth it
explore over 3 levels
David Cage should have his fingers taped to his palm for eternity for writing everything he did
I'm just a bird in a david cage. Making robots an allegory for POC has always been weird and this game doesn't do anything to innovate or sell me on the concept. It has some really fun moments of tension, but the overall narrative just falls completely flat.
very subtle
Press X to give a ham-fisted, barely accurate, thoughtless metaphor on race.