You know, usually, I am not one for David Cage’s games. I think he is pretentious, that his games barely qualify as games, that his writing is atrocious and rife with plotholes, contrived situations, and inconsistencies, and that his games are the exact antithesis of what I want my games to be. But even in spite of all of that, I can’t help but be enamored by the promise of Detroit: Be Human- the game’s theme and subject matter resonates very well with me, as a fan of science fiction media.
Themes of what makes someone human, and artificial intelligence and sentience, have of course been well explored in literature and movies – Arthur C. Clarke’s Space Odyssey, Isaac Asimov’s Foundation, Orson Scott Card’s Ender series, Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, plus movies such as Blade Runner and Terminator have all dealt with the subject matter at some point or the other. But a game has a unique ability to theoretically handle any given subject in a way that a movie or a book cannot. And while I know that my hope is misplaced, I cannot help but expect the best from Detroit too, in spite of m distaste for its creator, and his style.
Here are the new screenshots for this game, which promise a Blade Runner-esque dystopian landscape:
