Detroit: Become Human news: release date, gameplay and demo

Detroit: Become Human is an upcoming sci-fi game created by Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls developer Quantic Dream, led by the acclaimed auteur David Cage, and it’s long been one of our most anticipated games.

It’s now out, and we’ve played through the whole thing to find out what we think – read our Detroit review if you want to know how we got on.

When is the Detroit: Become Human release date?

Detroit: Become Human release date: 25 May 2018

Sony announced that Detroit: Become Human would be available in Spring 2018, following the release of the PGW 2017 trailer. There wasn’t much more said about the game or its release date until February, when developers Quantic Dream announced that the game would be released around the world on 25 May 2018. You can order it from Amazon for £46/$59.99.

Impressively, Detroit: Become Human went gold a month before release. To celebrate the news, Quantic Dreams co-CEO Guillaume de Fondaumiere took to PlayStation Blog to announce something special; a free demo, available to download right now.

The demo includes the first scene in the game, entitled Hostage, where you’ll find yourself playing as Connor, an android and one of the game’s main characters. It’s around half an hour long, and gives you a taste of what to expect from the game – but that’s not all. Quantic Dreams has also worked with Amazon to create an Alexa Skill that will provide details about the game’s world, and some guidance on how to handle the situation. 

Oh, and as the game is being published by Sony, it’s a PS4 exclusive with no plans to come to other platforms later down the line.

What is Detroit: Become Human about?

Detroit: Become Human is a sci-fi game that centres around seven different playable characters in the near future. As with previous Quantic Dream games, Detroit will feature an interactive narrative that apparently took Cage more than two years to write, and includes extensive motion-captured performances.

Gameplay consists of exploring environments to find clues, using quicktime events to navigate encounters, and choosing from expansive dialogue options to decide how conversations progress, which will, in turn, have a significant impact on the branching narrative.

The first playable character is an android with artificial consciousness and human emotions named Kara, who escapes from the factory she was made in. She finds herself in Detroit, USA, where androids are not uncommon but have been made without consciousness, so are simply used as tools to improve the lives of humans.

Originally showcased in the Kara PS3 tech demo (which was never intended to become a game), she was also the focus of Detroit’s original announcement trailer:

After Kara, Connor is the second playable character that has been introduced. Connor is “an advanced prototype assigned to police forces to help them investigate cases involving deviants. He is cold and analytical; he thinks fast and benefits from some surprising advanced features. He is very determined and nothing matters more to him than accomplishing the mission he was programmed for.”

You can watch Connor in action in the gameplay trailer at the top of the page, which is taken from a gameplay demo we had the chance to try at Gamescom 2017 – more on what we thought below. In this section, Connor has to deal with a hostage situation, trying to rescue a young girl from a rogue android holding her at gunpoint.

The third character we’ve seen so far is Marcus, the focus of the E3 2017 trailer for the game. He’s seen leading a raid on an Android shop, and the trailer’s focus is on the choices that players will have to make as they play the game.

Will they hide from the police or fight them? Rescue the androids or abandon them? Start a violent riot or demonstrate peacefully? Each of these, along with countless smaller decisions along the way, will affect not only the gameplay but also the way the story plays out.

And finally, most recently we saw a demo showcased during Sony’s PGW 2017 presentation.The footage stars the android Kara, who is living with a human family. It turns out to be one of the most intense family dinners we’ve ever seen, but we’ll leave it to you to watch the trailer below.