Quantic Dream's 'Detroit: Become Human' is a game about robots. Robots that suddenly, magically, become human (ergo the name).
Detroit isn't a game about sentience. It isn't about life and what life is. It isn't existential. It is about being a minority.
In Detroit androids begin coming to life and they are treated poorly for it because they aren't like everyone else. This is as deep as it gets.
In a work with such an excellent premise and a luscious budget it is easy to wish for something a bit more ambitious, but it is clear the studio can barely handle a basic discussion about egalitarian rights, often fantasizing success and brutalizing failure unrealistically. For all its shortcomings, however, Detroit succeeds in providing spectacle.
Playing the game on a PS5 most likely provided the PS4 Pro rendition of the game (smoothing out any hiccups with the extra performance). It looked phenomenal. Facial capture and animations, along with fine detail in the faces, were excellent. The game world never fails to deliver in scale, either. Detroit seems to bustle with life, whether in a well maintained area or the detritus of the suburbs. It looks good.
Directorially the game also seems to shine. This is a fine example of having very little to say, but saying it quite well. Scenes are dramatic and moving. Engaging. Immersive. A shining example of interactive fiction hooking you. But, hooking you to eventually tell you... what? Treat people nicely, no matter what they are made of. Or, stand up for yourself! Don't let them drag you down!
Just be yourself.
It is quite trite.
It is also difficult to recommend, with copious amounts of mature content (from swearing to sexual, gore and violence). This isn't one that is worth the price of entry, sadly, beyond an academic analysis of its stellar narrative design. Stellar narrative design without narrative content worthy of it.
It is sad there is so little intelligence behind Detroit: Become Human. It is often dramatic for the sake of drama, with contrived scenes and motives. It utterly fails to capitalize on the premise.
I have begun calling it Detroit: Become Magically Human, after the sudden transformation these robots seem to undergo. They understand human emotion, they understand the human condition, they have a moral compass. Pretty impressive stuff to just randomly happen to a machine. It is a pity the game did not follow suite. It doesn't seem to understand any of that stuff.
