Detroit: Become Human Devs Detail the Game’s Impressive Level of Player Choice

[Nergal]

Recent Sony-published games like Until Dawn and Hidden Agenda have put a lot of emphasis on player choice, and it sounds like Detroit: Become Human is going to push this Butterfly Effect mechanic to the next level. In a new IGN First video, the makers of Detroit detail the impressive level of player choice possible, and explain why it matters to the game. Check it out, below.

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According to Detroit creative director David Cage, Detroit will go beyond the typical “left path or right path” choices we’ve seen in games in the past…

 

“Depending on how you play, there are entire scenes you can see or miss. There are characters that can be with you for just one scene or until the very end of the game. In Detroit, all the three player characters can die at different points in the story, so you really have to be careful and think about your choices, and really care for them, because you might lose them. It’s always surprising to see the permutations [when people play Detroit] — how did you get this? How did you do that? It’s a real nightmare for the QA teams to be honest with you. “

So, how many endings will this branching approach result in? It’s not quite that simple says Detroit head writer Adam Willaims.

“The story you get when you play the game will be incredibly personal to you. You’re going to get a kind of ‘narrative fingerprint,’ because no two people are going to get quite the same experience. There’s a map of all the possibilities in the game, and it looks like a constellation or galaxy. The question ‘How many endings are there?’ implies there’s one horizontal axis of ‘Ending A, Ending B, Ending C,’ but even what one considers an ending is variable. There’s not a cannon version of Detroit. It’s not a single story you can tweak, it’s a context in which you can make your own story.”

Detroit: Become Human and Quantic Dream have been the subject of controversy as of late. The French studio has been rocked by allegations of harassment and an unhealthy studio culture, which the company’s leaders have dismissed as “ridiculous, absurd, and grotesque” and a “smear campaign.” Needless to say, there’s a bit of a cloud hanging over Detroit: Become Human, but maybe the game can rise above the controversy if it ends up being as innovative as promised. We shall see.

Detroit: Become Human launches exclusively on PS4 on May 25.