Detroit: Becoming Human: The seductive cherry on the cake of an interactive movie game

Recently, some "uncle party" broke the news that NetEase plans to acquire Quantic Dream, a French studio for interactive movie game development, within this year.

In fact, as a leader and innovator in the industry, the studio that has developed interactive movie games such as Rainstorm and The Amazing Twins has always been well-known in the industry, and in 2018, they went on to launch an interactive movie game with an artificial intelligence theme , Detroit: Incarnate as a Human.

Set in the virtual city of Detroit in 2038, players will play as Kara, a domestic nanny robot, Marcus, a personal assistant, and Connor, a bionic policeman, to experience the awakening of the consciousness of the bionic robot hovering on the edge of the new world and the conflict with humans.

1. The past and present lives of interactive movie games

Interactive cinematic games, a genre that may be both loved and hated.

Those who hate it think it's a movie rather than a game, and those who love it see it as a new direction for future games — giving it the smallest manipulation and the purest popcorn-esque experience.

But there is no doubt that interactive movie games are a genre with a long history.

Back in the 1980s, the first video and computer game, called Rollercoaster, was born, a text adventure game in which a laser disc player was triggered to play parts of the feature film Rollercoaster (1977).

After entering the 21st century, this type of game has driven on the "fast lane" of accelerating and taking off.

In particular, in 2012, VGA announced the complete list of winners and nominations, and "The Walking Dead" beat all the core series to win the Game of the Year with high quality, becoming the first work in VGA history to win both "Best Film Adaptation Game" and "Game of the Year" awards.

You should know that the best game of the year was "Assassin's Creed 3", "Humiliation", "Journey", "Mass Effect 3" and other excellent works.

In recent years, domestic game developers have also made achievements in this genre, especially the "Invisible Guardian" that is out of the circle, because of the success of the game, players are more looking forward to the full-video live-action interactive film game "Hidden Detective" joined by its character team.

Having said that, Quantic Dream abroad is also deeply involved in the field of interactive movie games, and launched an exclusive interactive movie adventure (AVG) game on the PS3 platform in 2010.

With the epoch-making real-time calculus and the ultimate portrayal of the character's heart, the game subsequently sold more than 5 million copies.

In 2013, Quantic Dream launched the interactive movie action adventure game "The Extraordinary Twins" while it was hot, and although the game "only" sold less than 3 million copies, the game was generally "acclaimed and popular".

In 2019, Quantic Dream launched Detroit: Becoming a Human, which depicts a sci-fi world 20 years later for players in an almost showy way.

In a recent press release released by Quantic Dream, the studio's net profit last year exceeded 5.8 million euros, of which Detroit: Becoming a Man is the studio's biggest commercial success so far, with more than 6.5 million PC and PS4 copies sold worldwide.

2. How long can human beings rise above the heavens

Westworld, Terminator, Her... There are countless stories about robots and humans, and even stories about enslaving humans, as well as the three laws of robots, Ke Jie and Alphago's Go man-machine war, writing robots and other "robots & humans" and even "robots vs humans" related topics in recent years are not uncommon.

Detroit: Incarnate As a Human is through the perspective of three different bionic people, on the edge of chaos in this new world, the player's decision will change the plot and ending of the game, and the future of Detroit is in the hands of the player.

Have you ever imagined that a casual choice you made in the game would have a hurricane-like effect on the plot afterwards?

In short, Quantic Dream wants to give players such an option, allowing players to create a huge "butterfly effect" through small decisions.

Although the story of the game has not been able to break out of the framework and innovate with tradition, there are also many "cloud players" who will take it for granted that watching reviews and live broadcasts on the Internet will be able to complete the game.

But on the contrary, due to the huge plot text of the game, some players play "Detroit: Incarnate as a Human" into a climactic and blood-boiling heroic drama, some people play a funny drama that can't be laughed at and can't walk, and some people play a creepy, terrifying detective suspense drama.

Why, to this day, there are still so many inconsistent reviews and discussions on the Internet, Gein has given players a different and strange experience as much as possible under the careful conception and clever management of the developer.

So, it's a game that only players who have actually played it can reap the rewards.

In terms of specific gameplay, the game also gives as many players as possible a sufficiently low threshold for participation.

In addition to the basic movement, the rest of the operation is basically a "QTE" operation, so the self-proclaimed "handbag" player can also start this type of game without hesitation.

In terms of picture quality, although there are also ancestral real-time rendering and real-time calculation functions, because of the subject matter, the studio will focus mainly on the performance of the characters and the construction of the environment.

In order to pursue authenticity, the game uses a large number of live actors to make up the action and face simulation, from the pupils, hair, to the action, expression, with the textbook cinematic mirror, and then to the voice of the character, all of which strive to give the player an authentic, pure, and real experience and beauty.

In this complete experience of 10-35 hours a week, it is as if you are really watching a large live-action movie.

Among them, there are many detective scenes set up in the game scene, and the first entry may be dazzling.

But in the actual experience, players can find that the cracking of these keys depends on whether you are careful enough to find the necessary items, and in most cases it is still controlled "QTE" to solve the puzzle.

Therefore, for most newcomer players, you can complete all the chases, fights, and solve cases in the operation of "QTE" to get the thrill of a cool film.

Speaking of the essence and core of this game - the story, in the near future, the human world has been inseparable from the existence of robots.

From small families to large countries, all dirty and dangerous work can be "walked" by robots.

This also leads to an irreparable question: if robots can replace humans, how will the value of the human self be realized?

Obviously, this is not a floating water flower, a mirror moon-like fantasy of emptiness, but a real realistic topic.

In the current situation of our human society, the traces of robots replacing humans are almost always on the stage: sweeping robots, high-risk job detective machines, writing robots... Almost everyone's career can be replaced in the foreseeable future.

Some people say that humans have something irreplaceable for robots — noble souls.

The truth is that this is a rebuttal based on the premise that the technology is still not complete.

Imagine if one day, the machinery and technology are developed enough, he/she even has emotions, thoughts, and even souls, how will the uniqueness of that person be reflected?

In the city of Detroit, which was constructed in Detroit: Becoming a Man, for some reason, three bionic robots that were originally different and loyally and honestly serving their masters suddenly awakened after seeing the ugliness of human beings or feeling the warmth of human love.

In the game, the "cold" robot is endowed with the good qualities of sincerity, justice, kindness and simplicity, but the selfishness, indifference and brutality of the "real" human beings, the conflict between the robot and the person, every moment is mobilizing the audience's emotions, making people feel refreshing, warm and moving, as well as despair and anger.

In addition, the game always emphasizes that this is "your" choice, so it seems that the happiness, sorrow, sadness, and melancholy between the characters can all feel that this is "my" choice, "my" life.

If you're looking for a wonderful, twisty, immersive, and moving story, Then Detroit: Becoming Human is definitely a better choice than most movies.

3. The world doesn't like people who are different

In order to make the player have a stronger immersive experience, so that you understand that "you" is the bionic robot in the game, the game creates a tense and irreconcilable conflict between robots and people.

For example, the ubiquitous demonstrations on the street, the cold and even angry eyes, the provocations for no reason, and even the human beings in the protagonist's story: Todd, the human father who forced Carla on the road to escape, the son of the elderly painter Karl who put Marcus in prison, and The Amanda who let Connor find himself.

Obviously, in order to make the player feel the robot as a vulnerable group in the game, break the player's attribute as a "person", let the player temporarily give way to the role of "human" to the "robot", so as to feel deeply resentful of humans, for this reason, the game has made a full preparation in the early stage.

I love the scene of the uprising in the game: Marcus leads thousands of robots, bravely walking into the streets, fearlessly facing the loaded SWAT officers.

At that moment, my adrenaline seemed to be mobilized, burning, rushing, as if I was not me, I was Marcus.

The police in front of us shouted and ordered "us" to lay down our weapons, but at that moment, for the happiness of our compatriots, "I" abandoned the obedience to the laborers, which was carved into the procedure, and "I" bravely marched towards freedom.

If you are not free, you would rather die!

Finally, "I" fell into a pool of blood, just like the warriors of history who fought for the bright future and supreme freedom of mankind.

Although "I" was heroic and righteous, there were still thousands of me who stood up.

Why is "I" so brave, because the old owner, the painter Karl, once said:

Someday, I won't be able to continue to take care of you... You have to protect yourself, make your own decisions, decide who you really are? What kind of person do you want to be? The world doesn't like people who are different, Marcus. Don't let people tell you what kind of person you should be.

Score

Storytelling: ★★★★★

Operability: ★★★

Screen infectivity: ★★★★★

merit

Suitable for: Suitable for players who like immersive movies and less operation

The picture is real, the character performance is super strong, and the details are polished to be affirmed

The ending and content are rich and diverse, and the choice of dialogue, item collection, and favorability can all affect the plot

Core and essence: excellent plot and highly human thinking

shortcoming

As always, the perspective problem is turned, and the air wall leads to an incomplete free world

Occasionally stuttering and dropping frames over the scene

Poor PC-side optimization