Sunday, March 29, 2020

DETROIT BECOME HUMAN (PS4)


The year I spent working in Paris was in Quantic Dream, and the project Detroit become human. It was a weird experience because of the company – and particularly its owner, David Cage – idiosyncrasies, so I tried to stay away from the game once it was released to avoid bad memories. Some time ago Playstation Plus gave it away for free, and recently I felt enough emotional distance with that period as to play it objectively

Overall I liked it. After all, that was the main reason why I accepted the job, I like QD´s games. You could say it´s Heavy Rain with a more interesting setting: A futuristic Detroit, reborn from the ashes as the manufacturing capital of intelligent androids for the world markets. On the bright side the characters and story are interesting and keep you engaged until the end. The art direction is adequate – scifi but not too much as to not relate to today´s world – and the UI/AR is elegant. It all piles up to a good combination

On the minus side, gameplay wise is more of the same, compared to previous QD games: Over-abundance of QTEs and environment interactions; Branched stories rich in sad moments/decisions (don´t expect any comedy) that keep you in a constant melancholic mood since no matter what you choose, it always makes you feel a bit miserable; and a certain feeling the more you approach the end that the game loses a bit its focus and delivers sub-optimal closures, likely due to lack of time and too many potential outcomes

All in all I can recommend it if you like interactive storytelling. The setting might be among the best the company has created, and if you buy the gameplay proposal you can find it time well spent, and maybe even enriching