Can you imagine a world in which machines behave in a more human way than human beings themselves? Can an android be more empathetic than a person? Would you entrust your life to an AI? Can an android find meaning in its own existence, far from the wishes and obligations imposed by its creator? And, in your sense, find your freedom? All of these questions are raised in Detroit: Become Human , Sony’s new PlayStation 4 game that recreates a dystopian world with endless possibilities , depending on the player’s choices. The video game goes on sale on May 25.
This is the differentiating element of this game, designed for a single player: the ‘ decision making’ concept, ( that is, the player’s own decision-making power), that Sony already brought back in its day with the revolutionary Heavy Rain , a pioneering game that made this way of conceiving the individual game fashionable.
In fact, a classic problem that arises when purchasing a video game is reusability. But Detroit: Become Human , despite being a single player, allows replaying as many times the player wants to imagine, since the different choices allow the fate of the characters to change with each game.
The creators even recognize that the world is much more open to the player than previous titles such as Beyond: Two Souls, whose developer, Quantic Dreams, is, for many, the best in the world when it comes to creating interactive graphic adventures.
Plot and characters
With Detroit: Become Human we have before us an open world of science fiction available to the players, which presents us with a society (Detroit in 2038) in which the human being has become even more selfish and egocentric, owner of intelligent machines through those that he is willing to exploit without qualms. In this context, an interesting dilemma arises. In a world that has become cruel and ruthless, can an AI be more “human” than human beings themselves?
The values that once characterized good people are rare, and are now represented by some AIs: empathy, courage, honor, and even aspirations for freedom.
This is the case of Kara , a domestic assistant who flees with little Alice, protecting her from the abuse of Todd, her father.
The cold robotic casing of an AI can be more emotional than a denatured human heart. And this “humanity”, poetically, is now haunted by the humans who have lost it. Thus, the AIs that decide to disobey their programming or the orders of their human owners in pursuit of those feelings of empathy and honorability that begin to be born inside them are harshly persecuted; in fact, by other intelligences.
Like the case of Connor who, very much like Blade Runner, is dedicated to chasing these insurgent machines ( deviants ) as was done with the replicants in the 1982 classic. But the most interesting thing is that, depending on the choices of the gamer, you may begin to empathize with your fellow droids and question the legitimacy of your mission. Or, you can choose to carry out his hunting duties with ruthless efficiency and remain loyal to his creators, becoming the terror of those he hunts.
Another interesting character from this brutal world is Markus . Like Kara, she is thrown into the world out of irreconcilable differences with her human ‘family’; After some difficulties, he becomes the leader of a group of rebellious AIs. Similarly, depending on the player’s choices, Markus can become a feared and loved warrior, just as Spartacus or Malcolm X were. Or, instead, he will become a persecuted and admired pacifist, in the style of Martin Luther King. or Ghandi.
All three androids will be controlled by the player. Despite this, an exciting aspect of the game is that there is no game over : if any of the characters dies, the plot continues to unfold without them.
Can you imagine how many stories, unexpected deaths and exciting adventures can derive from this concept? You will have to play a lot to find out.
All the possible scripts of this frenetic dystopia cannot be seen unless the player returns to it several times, which makes this video game one of the most anticipated and interesting bets of this year.
More information: https://blog.es.playstation.com/?s=detroit
