STACK #163 May 2018

GAMES FEATURE

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May, it would seem, is a month celebrating artificial intelligence. Westworld is back on television, and Quantic Dream has brought us Detroit: Become Human – a tale about the humanity, or lack thereof, in AI. Words Alesha Kolbe W ritten and directed by Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls ' creator David Cage, Detroit: Become Human (DBH) throws players into (you

Each choice you make – or choose not to make – will have repercussions in-game

guessed it) Detroit in the near future. Androids have become so advanced and so lifelike that they are being used as aides of all descriptions, from maids to personal investigators and everything in between.

Some of the AI, however, have become ‘deviant’, and as such ‘deviated’ from their programming to varied degrees of severity. It is your job in DBH to find out the cause of the digressions and restore peace to Detroit.

killed. You never know what the consequences of your actions will be before you enact them, and in that way DBH is able to keep you permanently on your toes, with measured nagging anxiety. We went hands-on with an early build of the game late last year. Playing as Connor, we arrived at a hostage situation within an apartment. It was up to us to talk the deviant android with the hostage down from a ledge, with minimal collateral damage. Which all sounds easy enough, until you realise that there’s a percentage of success that displays

working out where she fits in to society, and Connor – a police android helping the humans track down deviants. Of course, being a David Cage game, any of your protagonists can die, so making wise decisions is recommended. With the game on the cusp of release we're still relatively unsure of the details surrounding DBH, save for its branching narrative. Each choice you make – or choose not to make – will have repercussions in-game, whether that’s failing to notice an important piece of information, or worse still, getting someone

Quantic Dream’s forward-thinking title gives you the chance to

play as one of three androids. Markus – leader

of the android uprising, Kara – a new android

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MAY 2018

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