Absolutely One To Watch Confirms Our Detroit: Become Human Preview

Heavy rain came out and was a huge hit. Then Beyond: Two Souls limped out the gate and people started to question David Cage and his team’s vision for making movie style interactive games. He did not invent the format but he did a so much to promote it and to refine the multi layered, multiple choice approach to interactive storytelling. People could now discuss their endings and have vastly different outcomes based solely on their in game choices. In the years that followed Heavy Rain, TellTale arose and delivered episodic video games that took David Cage’s idea and ran with it.

Intense storytelling

Detroit: Become Human is David Cage’s third game of this ilk and it looks simply… amazing. We were treated to an on stage demo where one key scene was played out twice and two possible outcomes were shown. We were told there were many more outcomes too but these were two extreme versions of the story. The demo showed a crime scene and a non-human detective (you) about to confront a man who is holding a girl hostage.

Before you enter the negotiations, first of all you explore the crime scene. The more information you gather, the greater the chance of a successful outcome, simple right? Once you have inspected the scene and feel as if you know enough to confront this chap, the game gets intense! You walk out onto the balcony and are greeted by a very hostile scene that really gets the adrenaline pumping. As you make choices, a percentage meter increases or decreases, depending on how well or badly you are doing. This is a terrific mechanic. You get instant feedback to your bad choices and can try and adjust accordingly but it is never quite that simple.

In the first run of the demo, the tension got wild and the girl died, mission failed, game over right? Not at all, in fact the game uses this failure and carries on adding weight to the future story. Furthermore the second run of the game showed the girl being saved and how different the choices were. It was incredibly impressive and I cant fathom how to make a game like this.

Take Our Money

Detroit could well be a game of the year contender next year. The PS4 exclusive really shows David Cage on top form. The audience who saw the demo were all completely invested and wanted more. If the game is as good as this vertical slice, take our money Sony!