Detroit: Become Human Reviews
Occasionally fun but often unconscientious, Detroit: Beyond Human takes steps in the right direction but retains too much of the old Quantic dream formula.
Detroit: Become Human, the latest game from Heavy Rain developer Quantic Dream, tells an engaging story using some of the best graphics in any video game to date.
Detroit: Become Human is a poignantly pulpy interactive sci-fi drama where your choices can impact events to a greater and more satisfying degree than in most games of this type. Though I wish its story had been handled with a softer touch, especially considering the subtlety that can be conveyed through its tech and performances, its well-written and acted central trio were vital enough to me that I found myself feeling genuine distress when they were in danger and a sense of victory when they triumphed. Most importantly, Detroit offers a multitude of transparent branching paths that entice further playthroughs, and choices have a permanence that raise the stakes throughout.
Its big themes are glibly handled, though this is still Quantic Dream's most credible and satisfying interactive yarn by far.
Immerse yourself in Detroit's wonderfully realised world, engage with its characters and stories, and you'll love this game.
The overall message about technology and our future lingers long after the credits roll, making me wonder how I'll handle my relationship with technology as it takes us to new places.
Quantic Dream has mastered making a very playable, even enjoyable interactive experience. But there's always this performative feeling behind it — always this reminder that, for as much as someone wants to help out a cause, there's a difference between saying it and doing it.
Detroit: Become Human presents a gripping tale that's occasionally sullied by blatant missteps.
Detroit tells a story of robots who look and act relatively human, making their way through a nonsense world where everyone, even the humans, doesn't actually look or act human at all. It's a fragmented radio broadcast from a valley within the uncanny valley, so many layers deep in unreality that it could never hope to make it out intact.
The story never finds its footing, its characters never feel fully realised, and as a game, all you're left with are tiresome quick time events and awkward controls, through linear corridors with tedious puzzles.
Try it if you really want to see how hard it is to make branching narrative work on this scale. Otherwise, just catch up on Westworld.
Detroit is the best possible version of itself.
Detroit: Become Human takes on complex themes about humanity and technology and is visually stunning, but it's too heavy-handed in its storytelling and has lackluster acting.
Detroit is a perfect game to livestream, or play with three mates and half a bottle of tequila – but if you tell me you genuinely think the story is well done, I will immediately be sus that you, yourself, are an android poorly trying to replicate human behaviour.
Detroit: Become Human is best when it foresees the consequences of our decisions and sets up a clear choice — or a muddy choice. It creates the illusion of the Butterfly Effect, where small actions can lead to big consequences.
A cliche-ridden written story that has some decent ideas throughout, but is so bleak it's hard to grow attached to.
Detroit: Become Human wants to move you. It wants to elicit an emotional response through its story. The thing is, it really doesn't. The flowchart is a nice inclusion and adds some variance, but when the narrative is as cringey and ham-fisted as it is you won't want to play through it multiple times.
Detroit has produced an exciting dramatic story based on fictional events but very close to our reality. A group of well-designed characters, both in terms of dramatic appearance and background, the way they interact with events, the dazzling cinematic level of film and the player's options directly affect the story, The game delays procrastination in some seasons and the difficulty of controlling some situations even though the title depends entirely on the options that appear on the screen, in addition to the expected surprises at the end of the story and some positions that are not explained satisfactorily.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
A great adventure that looks as awesome as it plays with multiple choices that really matter and a compelling history that it's worth your time.
Review in Spanish | Read full review