Sean Marshall Detroit: Beyond Human is the latest entry from Quantic Dream (Beyond:Two Souls, Heavy Rain). This game was actually birthed from a tech demo in 2012 but not officially announced until 2015. At E3 2016 they debuted the first trailer and it was nominated for Best Original Game (but lost to Horizon Zero Dawn). That trailer showed Colin, an android, dealing with a hostage situation gone bad. We got our first hint that not all androids follow human orders.
In our E3 2017 update, we see why androids aren’t following orders. Our trailer opens with a haunting song repeating “hold on just a little while longer…everything will be alright”. Marcus (played by Jesse Williams) then lays out the plan to “set our people free”. He and his partner Kara are androids, and you will decide how they free their android brothers and sisters from slavery. In a tense moment hiding from police, the trailer shows you how you can shape the story. Will you run, blend in with scenery or take cover to evade the cops? Will you fuel the revolution with violence or pacifism? Knowing Quantic Dream, your choices will branch out causing who knows how many paths to a variety of horrifying or satisfying endings. It will be interesting to see how Colin’s story meshes with Marcus, as one seems to be pro status quo and the other obviously not.
With today’s political climate and the rise of Black Lives Matter over the past few years, Jesse Williams is a very intriguing choice to lead this revolution. Given his internet status as “woke bae” his performance should add a level of depth and nuance that could make this Quantic Dream’s best entry yet.
The trailer didn’t mention a release date but a pre order page on Amazon lists its release as December 29, 2017 (we’ll see how accurate that is). Judge for yourself below, but this if you’re a Quantic Dream fan, this is looking like a must buy.
