How is the game? Give your thoughts. (No Spoilers)

It goes without saying that there shouldn't be any spoilers for the game here since it came out today, but with that said I am curious what you think of the game so far. I personally haven't been that excited about it myself for one reason or another, but so far it has been getting mixed reviews it seems. I've seen equal parts high praise for it, and criticism. Some saying the game is extremely well made: the best Quantic Dream title (without the 'but that's not saying much'), while some say the game is doing everything wrong that the previous ones did, even with a decidedly less exciting story. What is your take on it? I am not sure I want it.

I played Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy and I played the remaster of Beyond: Two Souls. At this point, I don't think I'll ever play Heavy Rain despite really wanting to around the time of its release, but a small part of me wants to play that before playing Detroit. I think it's just because I like experiencing, with a controller in hand, the games that came before from Quantic Dream. I already know what happens in the game with some of the major story points though, and the voice work is just terrible to me which is a turn off for a game that's solely trying to tell a story.

This game is a sci-fi, so that alone should have me more excited, but I am a little wary of the hokeyness, and how cliche-ridden the game might be. I am not sure how true the statements about it are, or if those aspects would even bother me, but still. Anyways, what is your take on the game so far? If you aren't playing it, do you plan on playing it? It's interesting to see some really liking it a lot, some thinking it's okay, and some saying it's just bad coming from the different places I visit.

I'm a couple of hours in. The game looks incredible, with probably the best looking characters I have seen. However, only a couple of hours in, the story is already way too much; there's so much heavy-handedness. Cage needs to reel himself in and stop attempting to tell ambitious tales bloated with self-importance. He's clearly too incompetent to do so. I can only imagine what a good writing team could do with the talented artists at Quantic. You should play Heavy Rain, though. The story is ridiculous and doesn't hold up upon review, but it's a damn fun ride nonetheless. It also manages to avoid the deathly bloat of Beyond, which was full of so much bullshit.

@mylifeforaiur: I kinda liked Beyond, heavy-handed bullshit and all.

No one else makes games quite like Quantic Dream. The closest thing I can think of is Until Dawn, a game that I actively disdain.

I think the Quantic Dream games are ambitious, interesting, and a wild ride and will continue to check them out, warts (writing, localization, absurd QTE mechanics, JASON) and all.

Their games have their issues, but my appreciation of what they’re going for weighs heavier than my criticisms.

Jeff's reactions to Alex filling them in on that game was my favorite part of the podcast this week. And *spoilers on Jeff Bakalar opinions...I'm with him. I don't want to play this game after hearing about it. It sounds too dumb. The graphics are pretty impressive though, and I'm not against that style of game. But man, the android design decisions that were made in the fiction of the game are ridiculous, and it sounds like they were all used for story conveniences.

It's certainly surpassed my expectations in many ways, most of which are visual and other surface elements. It not only just looks stunning on a straight technical level, the way some scenes are composed along with the music is just wonderfully done imo. I think the actors all do a great job with what they're given.

It's what comes out of characters' mouths and often what they do is where the game starts to fall apart. As Alex pointed out, most of the androids just seem human which makes me have even less sympathy for them. It's weird and I don't know why that is, but it's just how I feel. One moment, they were simple "machines." The next, they were all "alive." I feel like there's a big chunk of growth missing those two phases so my brain doesn't buy into it so I just end up feeling disconnected. There was hardly any "becoming human" in Detroit: Become Human (at least up to where I am).

It's hard to explain and I know it has much bigger issues, but it just bothers me so, so much. Again, I don't think this thing is like a dumpster fire, but it definitely has issues.

@babychoochoo: I thought Beyond: Two Souls had the issue of not bridging the gap between two moments in time. As an example, it jumps from Jodie being super angry that she has leave and be in the CIA, pretty much detesting the Ryan character, to her wanting to make sure everything is perfect because she then likes him. They show a little bit of them working together or her being on a mission, but there's never any insight into their relationship beyond a bit of work so it didn't work for me. The same thing actually happened in Indigo Prophecy, though it was a worse offender in that game as it felt like they were just rushing it.

The game is great. Definitely my game of the year so far.

The narrative feels so fucking selfish in a way that completely undermines its entire fucking fiction. the game completely ignores human history in a way that I find so fucking profound it's crazy. Good graphics though

This is my first David Cage game and so far it has been an extremely fun and unique experience. I cannot get over how beautiful and glorious it is just taking everything in. The production and presentation is absolute top tier. On occasion, with the right angle and lighting I will notice a still that looks 100 percent true to real life. I am not sure I have ever encountered that in a game.

The story and dialogue so far has been pretty decent, but it has its ups and downs. Also, the Lieutenants hair looks so fucking bad compared to everything else in this game. And fuck Connor. He sounds and looks like a fucking idiot. I want to punch him square in the jaw.

Loving every minute of it, really liking the characters and their interactions with each other, looks amazing and the music is just as good.

Yea... first impression is damn this is a nice looking game. Pretty goofy B movie feel to me but I'm enjoying it. I like seeing the flowchart after each section although some of it seems dumb like you can either save a fish or let it die.

Very slight spoilers (I guess) within the first 20-30 mins... Think Alex was a little misleading with "androids go to the back of the bus" thing. Seems like they are treated more like storage as if they are a piece of luggage rather than people which makes sense to me. The part where you get beat up at the beginning was real dumb though.

So far i'm enjoying the game although the state of the world confuses me. Like how is this crack head unemployed father able to afford an android to look after him and his child? Is it goverment issued? I'm sure if I read more magazines they'd probably explain it. (also there was no nuance in his character, same with the son of the artist, just fucking dopes)

The game looks great and is presented well and i'm looking forward to playing the rest of it. But like every David Cage game it has the subtlety of a ton of bricks to the face.

I'm enjoying it, it is what it is.

It's the best one so far and i even played Omnicron! I love me some Bowie but o boy! The start is kinda slow but it has it reasons to do so. Also think the dialogue is ok but take it with a grain of salt when it's coming from a non native english speaking European.

@moderp: Human history? do you mean slavery?

@soulcake: that is one of the things that is just touched on by a 10 foot pole in this game, I'm not really good at articulating my feelings on this game but on the latest beastcast, they talk about it in a way I feel aligns with my views in a parallel

How is the performance? The demo ran amazingly on ps4 pro but that could have been a smaller level. How does the full game run?

Also considering the reviews are as good as they are I bet I'll love it seeing as the I loved the ones that everyone else hated.

@hayt: a few frame drops here and there but nothing to serious.

@moderp: Do you mean in the way that they put the androids in the back of the bus and what have you? If so, yeah it's a bit on the nose. That said, sometimes humans don't learn from mistakes of the past, but I feel like that's not a good reason for the game to be on the nose. I don't know. I don't want to defend the game too much because I could very well be put off by it myself, but I feel like it's not entirely unrealistic, even if we wish it were. You might have to step away from the fact that things are being blatantly allegorical, and simply ask 'Would/could this really happen? How likely would it happen?' To me, it's all about how it's presented, and how likely the things the game shows are to really happen. It is currently starting to be an issue, where people are losing jobs to machines, and it is likely to happen in the future more. I'll have to play the game to decide how I feel.

@handlas: Yeah, I saw a video of that in a review, and it didn't feel like it was being as overt as I expected it to be with the back of the bus topic.

This is equivalent to saying "I shouldn't have an opinion because I haven't yet played the game, but I'm going to try to make one up anyway".

@kcin: Not really, since I wasn't giving a final, informed opinion on the game. I was trying to give the game the benefit of the doubt for now, and trying to say maybe to appreciate it more, if possible, you (or myself when/if I play it) can look at it a different way. I don't know though. I would hope to enjoy it obviously, but it can fall flat. Lastly... Do you have anything else to say other than taking a jab at my comment? Usually, comments like yours are more tolerable if you actually give your own opinion on the topic, otherwise, it just comes off as (if only slightly) offensive and only with one purpose, which is to attack someone. Just seems unreasonable.

Everything aside, how is the games Detroit setting?

We should just get Skallagrim to do some sparring tests. That'll give us the answer. Also, I think the scene doesn't accurately reflect what would happen in an even head-to-head human vs. human fight. Androids seem a little bit more durable than the average human, certainly at least reflecting humans at their peak physical conditioning. The other guy Knifey McKniferson-bot-droid was fighting on the other hand was probably average physical conditioning at best.

I'm just interested in seeing if the game will fill out a bingo card of [David] Cage-isms.

I'm conflicted on this game-- for context I'm a person who loves characters in stories. Always my favorite part, and I get attached to characters very easily. Plus, when given a plot-hole-ish story, my mind has an okay time filling in those holes without too much confusion.

So, with that in mind, I LOVE the characters of Detroit, and was so-so on the story. Whenever it pulled out and tried to address the overall plot were the weakest parts of the game, I thought. It got preachy, silly, and up it's own ass while painting a very sheltered/limited version of the world. As many others have said in more eloquent ways, this game is cringe-worthy when it tries to deal with the concept of slavery.

But in spite of all that? I would fucking push over mountains if it would make Conner happy, I love Kara so much, and Markus is a freaking sweetheart. I love them all, and grew super attached to the entire cast. In the character moments between the cast, my heartstrings were pulled so hard that I felt physical reactions in my stomach. When it stops trying to tell a big wide story, and spends time with the small scale stuff, this game really shines.

So, is it good? No. And if you've read a piece about the problems of this game vis a vis racism and were turned off? You're not missing out on much if you don't play this. But-- if you were like me and walked away from Heavy Rain and Beyond Two Souls caring deeply about the casts of those games? Then I think there may be some enjoyment for you to get out of this game.

I'm diving into the game tonight. I don't know if it'll be any fun, but I DO know that I'm ready to beat my roommate at bingo.

I finished the game. Personally, I enjoyed it. I've always had a soft spot for Heavy Rain and this is a much better game, and it's nice to see your choices actually having impact.

As for the story, I liked all three main characters which for me was the driving force of the plot. I know everyone focuses on the wider plot which is not as well done (although I don't think it's as bad as people are saying) but that had surprisingly little impact on my enjoyment of the story. I get Alex's criticisms, but I don't have a problem with those issues being in the background when the focus is clearly on the characters themselves and the decisions they make.

On my base PS4, it looked absolutely fantastic and aside from one level (of an avian variety) performance was fine.

Your appreciation for what they're going for weighs heavier? What does that mean? You ask anyone and they will tell you their wild ambitions for what they want to go for, regardless if they actually know what they're doing or not. So why should ambitions hold such great weight when the people with those ambitions don't have the skill to reach for those ambitions? The only difference between the key figures in Quantic Dream driving this ambition and the average layman gamer is the resources to try.

@mpmp: I like what they’re going for more than I dislike what doesn’t work for me.

I agree with this. To expand on the topic, I feel it's next to impossible not to see the historic parallel, but in the context of them being human-created second citizens aka "not people," keeping them in a separate part of the bus is most practical. Let the beings who actually care about comfort sit in the seats. Should your Windows laptop get its own seat because it has Cortana enabled? However, when you think of them as self-aware, the conversation changes.

My brother also wants the game, but he says he is going to wait for a price drop. I'll wait for him to pick it up then play it.

Finished it yesterday, got a somewhat rough ending. I enjoyed it more the further I got, even though parts of the ending were still really bad.

Connor and Hank were easily my favourite characters, even though their whole partnership was pulled straight from the buddy cop cliche archives. Both of their voice actors definitely helped, even if they also had some spectacularly bad line deliveries at times. Kara and Markus were just...ok at best.

It is kinda crazy seeing those flow charts and all the different paths that you could take, especially when there probably are a lot of players who will only play through the game once. I'm not going to play through it all again, but I think I will at least replay a few selected chapters.

Finally, the visual presentation saved a lot. I ended up taking a whole bunch of screenshots throughout most of the game. The parts where it's dark and snowy especially made me think that QD should try and do a horror game...just with a better writer, of course.

Living in Europe, I obviously don't have experience from visiting the place, but for someone who has still consumed a whole lot of urban landscapes through various media, it just felt like a generic, somewhat futuristic city.

I find myself saying, "oh come on, David Cage..." a lot. Particularly when the old artist is talking about how people only make art for the money. That said, I'm still having fun with the game. It looks great on a 4k hdr TV.

There has been much discussion among Minority Gamers regarding the deception of androids as stand in for minorities. One referenced how the game lacks subtly because it puts the Sub-Humans in the back of the bus. For all the good intentions of the game its execution seems to be Quantic Dreams' biggest area of opportunity. That might just be more or less a reflection on the lack of diverse voices present in the game industry.

I thoroughly enjoyed the game, and I'm absolutely gonna replay it once if not multiple times. Sure, it has some issues with the writing, and at certain points it felt like I was replaying Heavy Rain, but it's just an excellently crafted videogame. Comparing it to similar games like Telltales "insert name here" or LA Noire it's easily a step above, if not several. If only Cage could ditch his melodrama and focus on creating a good thriller/mystery script this game could've been a 10/10.

(also, the sixaxis and collectible stuff is really unnecessary.)

I think my reaction to Alex's reaction is probably more negative than what my opinion of the actual game would be. His stuff is never A+ "mind blown!" but I find his stuff is unique, interesting, and generally pretty fun. I really enjoyed Heavy Rain, Indigo Prophecy, and even Beyond Two Souls (narrative pacing aside). I'll play Detroit but I'm more interested in Vampyr. I think its interesting that Alex has a problem with heavy handed, flawed metaphors...

@glots: That's a fantastic anecdote.

It's an entertaining time as long as you don't think about any of the messages it tries to communicate or analyze any of the various plot holes.

I think the game is absolutely impeccable from a visual standpoint and you can tell that hundreds of incredibly talented people worked very hard on this for years. That being said, I think it’s one of the worst games I have ever played.

Story-wise, I think it fails at absolutely everything it tries to do. If the game had focused in on one character (preferably Connor) then I think it could have been far better.

I think it’s such a shame that the game looks as incredible as it does but is a complete failure at everything else. Definitely one of the most disappointing games I’ve played in a long time.

I'm enjoying it very much.

I really enjoyed it. And this is coming from someone who doesn't usually beat games. I beat it. I was even screaming at the end "that's not my ending!" when one of the characters did not have a happy ending. I checked online. It was because I made one bad choice that prevented it. Which brings me to one of the things I really like about this game. I just went to where the bad decision was, and did the other and got to see the other ending.

I really like Quantic Dreams style of games. I was also very interested in the story wanting to see what happens next in the story.

In games I sometimes play characters certain ways (to use GTA V for example, random murders I always used Trevor, Michael always stopped muggers) so with Detroit I gravitated towards certain playstyles because of what I experienced as that character (like I didn't do bad things as Kara because Alice disapproved the first time and Kara cares how Alice thinks of her).

I will be playing this game again to aim for another type of story.

Honestly, playing it via proxy of the Best Friends Zaibatsu, it seems pretty enjoyable; probably the best Quantic Dream game to date with Heavy Rain in second place. Though, having a bingo card of David Cage-isms and storytelling clichés and troupes involving civil rights certainly enhances the experience in a comical way.

I decided to give this a go, thinking some of the stuff I read about it couldn't possibly be as bad as was described by something like Waypoint (not to say I didn't trust their take, just, sometimes I'm admittedly less sensitive to some aspects of games as they are). Haven't finished it yet but it's, boy...sure something in some points. There were multiple attempts at subtle racial undertones, and outright attempts at overtones, and neither were done well, and it's hard to say which I rolled my eyes or groaned at harder. Having said that, if you can ignore that kind of stuff, and you're okay with the fact that David Cage has literally been making the same game (in some cases down to THE EXACT SAME SEQUENCE) for over a decade, it's extremely polished and not without its pulpy enjoyment. If you have access to a Redbox, I'd go that route though, as you can play it quickly and I struggle to imagine what multiple playthroughs really provide, just like Cage's past games.