Hamster's personal Detroit: Become Human playthrough musings

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

I love David Cage games. Heavy Rain is one of my all time favourites and I totally bought into the story and the feel. I was in Japan when it came out so I was posting all the crazy stuff that was happening in the game in spoilers in the Sony thread before it came out in the UK/US.

I even enjoyed Beyond: Two Souls and I still believe that the early scene at the party was incredibly told to bring you utterly close to the protagonist that you play. I enjoyed the periods of reflection and the slow moving scenes too (such as on the ranch).

 

So, I picked up Detroit: Become Human recently for £15.99. In the spring I made a decision to not play full price for videogames again. I have plenty of unfinished games if I want to play something and it actually didn't take all that much to switch my thinking away from needing to pick something up on release. It DOES mean that I have an ongoing wishlist of games I REALLY want to play such as Farcry 5, RDR2 and a few others. However it does mean that I snatched up Kingdom Come Deliverance for under £20 despite it being £40+ for ages and I finally got Detroit. It's almost quite exciting checking up prices instore time to time. Also, I want physical media where possible, rather than just the downloads.

 

All that aside, David Cage games are an event. One where you can play through numerous times for different story outcomes but your first time through and first time through alone is canon. So I don't rush them. As with Detroit, I've played just the five first chapters over the first two evenings and will continue to only play 1 or 2 chapters per play, allowing my thoughts to swirl around my head and enrich my play. As part of that and as this has been a game that has been top of my list since the very first teaser trailers, I am going to post my thoughts on each chapter as I complete them. Not necessarily the gameplay or maybe not even the outcome, but the feel, the emotions and the political/social thoughts that the chapters left me with.

 

Each chapter will be spoilered of course, with just the number available and then the title, character, screenshot and my thoughts in the spoiler. Feel free to comment, read or ignore. This is for my enjoyment as much as anything.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

CHAPTER 1

 

 

 

The Hostage

Connor

 

 

First things first, the graphics are beautiful of course. I expected nothing less from Quantic Dream. A fine display of uncanny valley gloriousness which actually works really well here due to the subject matter. Connor seems particularly dry and emotionless. The top of the range. The company man. The best programming. Maybe he will have the furthest to fall?

 

I play these games with a serious morality. I play how I feel, not to experiment or to let the world burn for the sake of finding out what happens when it does. I'm also very completeist in that I'll look at everything, read everything and with this chance of success increased by learning what I could about the situation. Recreating the crime scene was cool, a bit like Remember Me on PS3 which I loved but was deemed pretty average by most.

 

So anyway, I'm a father. A girl is in peril so of course I'm doing everything to save her. Interestingly the weight of this chapter didn't reveal itself fully to me until the end of chapter 2 (more in a bit) but although the girl was my number one priority I got the hurt in a few ways:

a) The "deviant" had been told that he was part of the family. The girl loved him.

b) Then he found out that he was being replaced and upgraded.

c) I won his trust to get him to release the girl and then of course he was instantly betrayed as they shot him down....and he let me know I had lied to him too. That sucked, even though he was a murderer and was threatening to kill the girl. I doubt any of us would react well if we were being replaced in some way.

 

There's more at play in the minds of the androids than the humans were let on to.

 

 

 

OPENING CREDITS

 

 

 

Opening Credits

Kara

 

 

Nice intro. Loads of insight into the world. How things look, how things feel, what's changed, what has stayed the same. It opens with you as an unmoving Kara standing in an android showroom with customers admiring different models around you. It's not a pleasant feeling to be in the position of being the product. Kind of like an old fashioned slave auction or something.

 

Even worse, your owner sloshes his way over to you. Turns out you were pretty badly damaged and he's back to take you home now. BUT I DON'T WANT HIM TO BE MY OWNER! He's well nasty. Tough though, 'cos you ain't got no choice. You were built to serve whoever buys you. Maybe his house is ok though? Nope....welcome to the butthole of Detroit where you're doomed to serve your butthole master.

 

(Through trailers I know how this relationship with the owner ends, but still, this became forewarning to that storyline. Shudder.)

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

CHAPTER 2

 

 

 

Shades of Colo(u)r

Markus

 

 

This is where I started thinking. On one hand I don't want to fall into the trap that Ex Machina dragged Domhnall Gleeson and the viewer into. However, there are also some very clear issues which got the ol' feels kicking in.

Firstly, unlike Connor, from the first instant you see him, Markus looks like there something going on behind his eyes. While his behaviour and calm exterior is certainly android (even in the face of aggression) there's something about him that suggests more of a consciousness and thought process taking place. This becomes less of a surprise when you meet his owner in a couple of chapters time.

For me, as well as again putting you into an environment where you can see how things have changed over the years, there is plenty here that shows, for me, that this is an apartheid society. There are definite nods to attitudes to immigration (androids have taken our jobs!) but the apartheid is clear....and it certainly ain't nice when you're on the receiving end. Most of us are very fortunate that we're not in the minority or are living in a country where society functions in a way that negatively affect us. When I lived in Japan though there were definitely laws and attitudes that were definitely in place to ensure I was at a disadvantage, that I was very clear I was not the ideal citizen. It was not nice.

Here we have everything from the little "no androids allowed" signs and warnings in shop windows and on the big android store. You have the preacher, comments from people and, most obviously, the protesters who attack you in the street for being an android. You have no choice in being in android, you had no say, you're just following what you've been told to do. Even the policeman who breaks it up refers to you as an "it" and warns the man that he'll have to fine him if he damaged you, not that he CAN'T damage you.

The final real apartheid flavour is the android section on the bus. It's Rosa Parks, it's South Africa. To the citizens of Detroit maybe the androids are just glorified toasters, but there have already been enough hints that people see them as part of the family and can even grow to love them or rely on them (magazine articles show that they are allowed in sports teams and men are having sex with them). There are a lot of androids around though, even in the paint shop you're served by an android.

[OctoberRaven]

Spoiler

I still really think they could have not done the back of the bus thing. Nevermind how incredibly heavy-handed it is, to the point where you can't even call it symbolism, it dulls the suspension of disbelief, given Detroit's demographics and the fact that this takes place in 2038, meaning that there's a good possibility that there are a number of people who were alive during Jim Crow and the rest would have certainly learned about it in schools yet that aspect gets completely ignored. Especially when established in that chapter.

Thoroughly enjoyed this game but it could have been so much more if David Cage had an editor willing to help him refine ideas like that.

 

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

52 minutes ago, OctoberRaven said:

  Hide contents

I still really think they could have not done the back of the bus thing. Nevermind how incredibly heavy-handed it is, to the point where you can't even call it symbolism, it dulls the suspension of disbelief, given Detroit's demographics and the fact that this takes place in 2038, meaning that there's a good possibility that there are a number of people who were alive during Jim Crow and the rest would have certainly learned about it in schools yet that aspect gets completely ignored. Especially when established in that chapter.

Thoroughly enjoyed this game but it could have been so much more if David Cage had an editor willing to help him refine ideas like that.

 

It WAS heavy handed, but even in current times we would ask "how did people let the Nazi party rise to power?" while currently  we are seeing the rise of the far right through exactly the same ways. In fsct people who shout down the Nazis in one breath are following similar political beliefs at the same time.

 

If androids were seen as mindless, lifeless toasters with arms and legs then I could see it happening. Maybe not so openly 1950s US-style but still, not given the same respect or care as humans for sure.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

CHAPTER 3

 

A New Home

Kara

 

 

Todd's a nasty piece of work. I get that his wife left and that's not nice at all. But he's a nasty piece of work. Again as a father it hurts me to see him taking drugs that make him aggressive while utterly ignoring his poor little daughter except to shout angrily at her or, at the end, tease the kind of violence he's capable of (and I am aware properly comes to a head soon).

 

I got into a strange rhythm as Kara though. Just wandering around as Kara, I found myself just trying to keep out of his way to avoid him getting larey, so in a way I became quite diminutive. Totally did all I could to try and cheer the daughter up though. The pictures in her locked box were bleak. The whole vibe was bleak, even worse than Ethan's apartment with a totally emotionally absent Shawn early in Heavy Rain.

 

Kara has a lot of scope to be an interesting character. As the chapter progressed more and more I made it totally my mission to break any programming to protect the daughter. To have to watch such things unfold was terrible. The idea of the blue/yellow/red light on the head was really explored well here though, with yellow flashes while I was cleaning upstairs totally putting me on edge.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

CHAPTER 4

 

 

The Painter

Markus

 

 

....and then we head to a totally, completely different house and human/android relationship. First thing first, Carl's house is beautiful. I love it. I love his workshop/studio too. Again Markus cruises through it all with that combination of neutral detachment, duty but also with something ticking away behind his eyes. Carl comes across as a great man, his son sadly far less so. Carl's seen it all, done it all and is aware that he is approaching his end, that humanity is weak. I love that his relationship with Markus is much more mentor/student, that he feels he can impart something into Markus, warning him that one day he will have to take care of himself and choose his own path in life. I chose to read Plato's Republic (which I have read in real life too) which was one of Carl's suggested books. This, his desire for Markus to attempt to paint (I ended up with the painting shown above which is how I felt from the two Markus chapters).

 

This was just one of those lovely, thoughtful, considered chapters, with a level of foreshadowing, which Quantic Dreams tend to carefully spread throughout their stories. I loved it. It built Markus really well I think.

 

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

CHAPTER 5

 

 

Partners

Connor

 

 

Old, grumpy, boozy detective proves to be distrustful of shiny, swanky by-the-numbers 'droid.

I'm not particularly loving Connor so far and that might be by design. That said, solving the crimes and putting together what happened is interesting. I also loved the perfectly scrawled android graffiti.

This was also potentially an interesting progression for the player's feelings I think. In Connor's first action it was very much SAVE THE GIRL, with a hint of guilt about tricking the android. This time though, the android had been attacked by his drugged out, aggressive owner. It's self-defence, albeit with him totally going off on one after. This time in the loft when he begged me not to turn him in, I honestly felt that it wasn't cut and dried. Human or non-human, the actions of his owner weren't acceptable. Sadly I had no choice to consider my actions as Connor called out that he had found the killer without me getting a choice.

Is this moral journey currently just me or is it affecting Connor at all? Did he pause? Consider? Or not.

[OctoberRaven]

Spoiler

Odd, I remember having the choice to not call out. Then again, I had a different outcome for the prolouge. Are you bonding with Anderson in this game? He's my favorite NPC in this by far and I'd love to see a side story starring him a la the Heavy Rain DLC story (well, besides the fact that Madison was by far the least interesting character in Heavy Rain and was pretty much just there for fanservice IMO).

 

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

I was trying to make him like me - bought him a drink for the road, said I'd stay in the car....and then didn't (which he mentioned but it didn't decrease his view of me at all whereas saying I'd stay in the car increased his view of me). I think he could be a good character for Connor to play off in his chapters.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

CHAPTER 6

 

Stormy Night

Kara

 

 

So I broke Kara's programming. Of course I did. I swore to myself early on that I would save Alice. Breaking the programming for Kara was pretty cool actually. It felt like she was really fighting with what she was wired to do...but there was no way I wasn't gonna save her.

 

So Todd finally flipped, high on the dirty drugs. Apparently if you leave him to go after Alice then he kills him. If you fight him he can break you. Fortunately for me I broke the programming, ran straight to the terrified Alice and got her out the window and to the bus with Todd grabbing at my ankles. I didn't kill him.

 

I didn't see a bit of the horrible bits in the chapter I believe, but what broke my heart the most was at dinner when Todd was getting more and more agitated. If you look at Alice she's slowly edging further and further across her seat ready to flee. She knows what's coming. She's been through it before. THAT was horrible.

I saved her.

CHAPTER 7

 

Broken

Markus

 

 

.....Dad.

So Carl died. You know why? 'Cos when Markus broke his programming I refused to push back at Leo. Carl asked me not to and it seemed more as a protective wish than as an order. Also passive resistance is the most powerful. What happens to Leo in the future happens to Leo, but this is Markus' story and if he's resisting then he's doing it my way.

It was powerful, it was emotional. Carl died of a heart attack watching it unfold and then Leo blamed Markus cos....well, human privilege I guess.

 

So that's two androids who have broken their programming in two chapters and things are heating up. I'm 100% invested in their stories going forward.

 

As an aside, the actor who plays Markus, Jesse Williams, is a civil rights activist. So that seems like good casting.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

CHAPTER 8

Interrogation

Connor

 

 

This is where Connor started to win me over.

We got there in the end but Connor bossed it in that chapter. He had his job to do, to get the confession, but I ensured that the rogue droid got his say, carefully guided him to what he needed to confess and then stepped in against that wanker detective to protect the android when they came to drag him away. Best of all, Hank sided with me. Good ol' Hank, I knew we'd be buddies in the end. Hank knows.

 

It was a heartbreaking confession. Looking at his body, seeing the cigarette scars from a year and a half of abuse from his owner and hearing the story of him breaking and stabbing him. There was serious emotion in that and the chapter played out really nicely. I protected him and got the "the truth is inside" nugget at the end which unlocked something for the future. I'm playing Connor as inquisitive but protective of androids where he can be. That was a good chapter for him.

[Meacon Keaton]

As someone who has yet to play this game, and therefore am avoiding spoilers, this is the worst thread ever. 

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

CHAPTER 9

 

Fugitives

Kara

 

 

This chapter felt like there were options. I grabbed some wire cutters from the store, stole clothes from the laundromat, hid in the abandoned house, met the enlightened/broken android Ralph (I love Ralph) and cuddled Alice while she fell asleep next to the fire I made while Ralph carved away on the walls in the kitchen. So that is canon.

 

As I said previously. while I have the option, Kara's purpose in this world is to be the parent that Alice hasn't had and to protect her with everything she has. Simple as. This relationship tears at my heart as a father and I am bound to make some bad in-game decisions because of it. Shame I wasn't any good at stealing the chocolate though.

 

I felt bad for Ralph who had clearly been badly abused by humans and had taken to hiding away on his own. Humans suck, especially if we think we can get away with it or if the thing we destroy has no consequence. This game challenges that. It challenges many things. It makes me think a lot.

 

Except for when I'm playing as Kara. Then I'm protecting Alice from everything I can. 'Cos I'm gonna protect her forever. I promised her that.

17 minutes ago, Meacon said:

As someone who has yet to play this game, and therefore am avoiding spoilers, this is the worst thread ever. 

You can get it cheaper now. Buy it and join in with the spoilers! It's a hugely spoilerific game with many different options.

[Meacon Keaton]

5 minutes ago, ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster said:

CHAPTER 9

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

Fugitives

Kara

 

 

This chapter felt like there were options. I grabbed some wire cutters from the store, stole clothes from the laundromat, hid in the abandoned house, met the enlightened/broken android Ralph (I love Ralph) and cuddled Alice while she fell asleep next to the fire I made while Ralph carved away on the walls in the kitchen. So that is canon.

 

As I said previously. while I have the option, Kara's purpose in this world is to be the parent that Alice hasn't had and to protect her with everything she has. Simple as. This relationship tears at my heart as a father and I am bound to make some bad in-game decisions because of it. Shame I wasn't any good at stealing the chocolate though.

 

I felt bad for Ralph who had clearly been badly abused by humans and had taken to hiding away on his own. Humans suck, especially if we think we can get away with it or if the thing we destroy has no consequence. This game challenges that. It challenges many things. It makes me think a lot.

 

Except for when I'm playing as Kara. Then I'm protecting Alice from everything I can. 'Cos I'm gonna protect her forever. I promised her that.

 

You can get it cheaper now. Buy it and join in with the spoilers! It's a hugely spoilerific game with many different options.

Oh I got it. I just haven't started it yet. But I want to read what you're doing and what you've done wrong/would do differently. But I also don't want to spoil anything, which makes this thread oh so difficult and tempting. 

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

4 minutes ago, Meacon said:

Oh I got it. I just haven't started it yet. But I want to read what you're doing and what you've done wrong/would do differently. But I also don't want to spoil anything, which makes this thread oh so difficult and tempting. 

I never do anything wrong. Everything I do is perfectly right for my canon.;)

[Chris2K]

I think so far you've pretty much done the exact same route that I did, except (Chapter 8 and 9)

Spoiler

I didn't get the confession because I accidentally made the android smash its head against the desk, and despite getting the wire cutters I didn't even know you could go inside the building. I slept in the car.

 

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

CHAPTER 10

 

Junkyard

Markus

 

 

Feeling like something out of the fevered mind of an android Heironymus Bosch, Junkyard is a horrifyingly stunning chapter. Markus has been thrown into the pit, full of broken, damaged, replaced, mutilated, cast aside androids. With some jammed together, others crawling around mournfully and one rather horrible narrow tunnel full of grabby android arms that Markus has to pull himself through. Most nightmarish of all were the legless torsos of androids doomed to eternally try to pull themselves up the treacherous, steep, rubble at the side of the junkyard before helplessly sliding back down to the bottom before attempting to drag themselves up again.

 

Markus starts in a terrible state and the graphical and audio touches are fantastic as you look for replacement legs and then an eye, ear and power pack. Everything flickers painfully until the eye is found (well...taken), everything buzzes and whirs until the ear is found....and then a moment of blessed relief....replaced a couple of seconds later by painfully clear moaning, groaning and misery of the junkyard around you.

 

Offered the chance to grab the power pack from a female android begging to be left alive, I let her live and found it elsewhere. Begged by another android to kill him, to end it all, I of course obliged. For him it was his only possible freedom of this living android hell. For me? Strong enough to drag myself out of the pit, gouging the sensor out of the side of my head and staggering back to the city.  

[MalaCloudy Black]

That chapter was super fucked up.

[OctoberRaven]

Spoiler

I loved that scene, but since it's where it's established... the idea of the LED being something that can be removed just seems like a major plot conveinence. Granted it's the only way to explain a major plot twist that I'm not going to mention cause I don't know if Hamster's run is even going to have it.