By: Bryce L. Jackson

I finally got around to Detroit: Become Human about a year and a half after release. This was a highly anticipated game for me from its first reveal at E3 2016 because of the concept and the branching story arcs. As life does, I missed it at release. Earlier this year, it became a free game from PlayStation Plus. I got the game the first day it was available. Then I let it sit. Again. Finally, after avoiding general spoilers and tired of a rotation of Destiny 2: Shadowkeep, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Overwatch, and MLB: The Show 19, I took the plunge into Detroit.

Detroit: Become Human is not a long game, nor is it complex in terms of controls. In my opinion, it is one of the best games to use the touchpad and the full capabilities of the DualShock 4. It’s a beautiful game that legitimately makes my launch build glacier white PS4’s fan sound like a jet engine. However, after finishing it in 3 nights, I felt underwhelmed. It’s a fine game, but just fine. Detroit never became the groundbreaking, memorable game I expected. As much as the game wants to beat you over the head with its modern allegory of slavery and the Civil Rights Movement, I ended up oddly detached from that angle. The story does give decent tests of personal morals in non-Markus chapters. In Markus-centric chapters, I felt a need to be a pacifist but I turned public opinion against me and the story at large turned out of my favor later on.

*SPOILERS* On a scale of 1-10, Detroit: Become Human gets a 7.5. The story has a message but it’s a message that anyone with an iota of empathy already understands. It hits on super familiar tropes of technology rising to overthrow its creators and the conundrums of civil protests. I’m still soul searching as to why I was detached from the Markus storyline, but I did enjoy the Kara storyline and the gameplay of Connor’s storyline. I will admit, I knew I messed up my playthrough when I killed the guard during the TV Station Assault. I pretty much got a bad ending with Kara sacrificed, Hank and Markus dead, and Connor replaced by his newer model. One thing I will give the game credit for is a twist at the end of the game between Kara and Alice where Alice turned out to be a child android model. I truly did not see it coming.

I’m still deliberating if I want to replay the game to correct the mistakes I made, trophy hunt, and try to get the better endings. The latter point is the intent of Quantic Dream and director David Cage, but I would have to convince or downright force myself to play for unlocked story branches and trophies. I do want to do a full pacifist Markus run and get Kara across the Canadian border with everyone, but it’s not an urgent task.