Detroit: Become Human
An interactive movie masterpiece by Quantic Dream, set in Detroit 2038 telling the story of android awakening. Cinema-level three-protagonist ensemble narrative with superb motion capture acting and strong immersion, though plot logic doesn't hold up to scrutiny and controls have console privilege feel.
Art Appreciation
Rating Breakdown
Deductions
Has a Sony-style console privilege design, the mouse circling interaction on PC feels strange.
Can only switch between two camera angles with buttons, overall view is very restrictive. Even though the game allows your camera to move around, options only appear above characters' heads, sometimes causing players to miss options.
For this game, level design is almost just about choices, but choices aren't always useful with many inexplicable nodes. Key node hints aren't obvious, sometimes after selecting you immediately realize you didn't want that option, leaving regrets for a long time.
Highlights
Machine uprising itself isn't a very novel theme, but some detailed settings in the game, like the mascot awakening and leaving, are quite innovative.
The 'interactive movie' design, plus the crew's excellent skills, creates great immersion that keeps attracting players to continue to the next scene.
Deductions
Even in such enclosed chapter scenes, small objects clip through, and scenes with many NPCs can block movement.
Deductions
There are issues with incomplete voice acting for minor language additional content. (I played in French)
Highlights
Motion capture is very vivid, many actors are seasoned veterans, impeccable.
Deductions
Logically, many parts don't hold up to scrutiny, can only be viewed as a 10-hour standalone movie. For example, android models are fixed and everywhere on the streets, Kara couldn't possibly only learn Alice is a child android near the end. Or police can't recognize that the android trying to pass is a common model's face. Markus suddenly has a godly left hand that can convert androids with just a touch? Later he can even remotely convert and hack into various systems, combat power settings completely collapsed.
The three protagonists each have their own characteristics, representing different stances - Qiao Feng-like figure, rebel leader, and an ordinary android just wanting to escape. But the setting of Alice being a robot is very disliked and unnecessary. Originally an android truly bringing a human little girl along, such special existence setting is often an important plot turning point or even a philosophical sublimation point about coexistence with humans, but it suddenly reverses at the end.
As an interactive movie game, story naturally deserves high expectations. The game wants to give players the interactive choice of playing as androids deciding between peaceful resistance or revolution. But the overall framework is still based on some clichés of the AI takeover theme, lacking very novel concepts.
This game has almost no side content outside the tense plot that could make players smile, which is also one of the reasons for the shorter game length - it really feels more like a movie.
All three lines have positive and negative endings matching their decisions - whether escape succeeds, peaceful protest or revolution, Qiao Feng choosing Khitan or Song. Overall design is good. Limited by length, there's no need to delve into subsequent developments. However, Markus's line, whether peaceful protest or revolution, ends rather abruptly - feels like a milestone but definitely not an ending, making you feel the staff credits suddenly started rolling.
Highlights
Three protagonists ensemble, cinema-level control.
This is one of the reasons it's excellent - if you truly view it as a movie, the presentation is very professional.
Deductions
Neither game length nor gameplay outside the main story can be considered rich. Genre limitations, with a good script, this isn't fatal.
A three-protagonist ensemble drama with a fairly grand background setting, yet first playthrough ends in just 10 hours, slightly short.
If you want to explore all options, constantly repeating without skip function is actually quite unfriendly.
Highlights
The only real collectibles are magazines, full collection comes with an achievement, the content written on them is quite interesting, I took screenshots to comment on several.
Basically each chapter gives achievements based on different choices you make, providing positive feedback in motivating players to explore different options - I replayed several chapters because of this.