'Detroit: Become Human' isn't very good.

So when it comes to me checking story based interactive games, lately I've been trying to go through as many of them as possible. I've done my best to either play through them myself or watch long play versions of these games on Youtube.

Indeed, as a writer who is currently dabbling with a project that has to do with interactive story based gaming, reviewing these games has been a crash course to learn about the genre. It has been a great learning tool in figuring out how to write a similar project myself.

So this time I decided to check and review 'Detroit: Become Human', a story based game that I had in my Playstation 4 library. I had added it when it was free on Ps plus store, but hadn't for some reason tried it, even though the game kinda seemed interesting.

Premise-wise, what we're dealing with here is a futuristic world in the United States that has androids in it. In a not so near future (2038) technology has advanced so rapidly that these human like robots are now assisting humans in our everyday life.

Game-wise, the story consists of three characters / storylines that has androids as our protagonists. We have an investigative android cop "Connor", a housemaid 'Kara' (looks like Jennifer Lawrence) and a servant 'Markus', that we get to control as players during the story.

Catalyst-wise, the story starts when Connor is assigned to investigate why some androids seem to get deviant and stop obeying their masters. These formerly obedient androids have started acting like human beings and are getting in trouble with the law.

Indeed, as we get introduced soon to our other protagonists, 'Kara' is wanted for kidnapping a girl whereas 'Markus' gets caught by the cops for killing a person. Clearly something is going on and we need to figure out what is going on and why.

Story-wise, as we experience things unfolding, the biggest gimmick in the game is that your decisions have an effect on how the story unfolds. The way you choose to react (shoot/not kill etc.) to different situations changes the way the game progresses.

Not surprisingly, the challenge with a genre that has 'story trees' and a huge script is that it's difficult to write a story that makes sense and that can take different directions. It's really challenging to come up with a plausible story that doesn't get ridiculous at some point.

Indeed, especially in a game like this, when you have a script with three storylines that reportedly ran for 6000 pages, that means that you need to know what you're doing. Your premise and structure better be bulletproof and thematically solid in order to work well. 

Unfortunately, In 'Detroit: Become Human', even though at first the 'androids as humans' story seems intriguing, later on things more or less fall apart. It becomes obvious that the premise isn't well thought out and that the questions raised in the first act won't be answered.

Indeed, when you reach like 40% in the game, you'll notice that almost nothing makes sense. Things aren't explained, the plot holes are big, the story has no momentum, deus exes happen and there's no emotional pay-off (Markus's storyline is especially boring) at the end.

In that sense, when I think about 'Detroit: Become Human' and the genre in general, I think it's obvious that it's not easy to come up with a multi-threaded story that works. It's not easy to come up with a story that feels rewarding and keeps you interested from start to finish.

After all, in a game like this, when you give the audience that many decisions to make during the gameplay (it's mostly an interactive movie), it creates so many hurdles. It's challenging to write a coherent story without making serious mistakes in the process.

In that sense, in the end, when it comes to this particular game, even though 'Detroit: Become Human' certainly doesn't have the worst story I've ever seen, that doesn't mean that I enjoyed it that much. I can't say that I was particularly entertained by what I saw.

After all, when you exclude the first act that worked, considering all the problems that followed (heavy handed themes, plot holes, lack of direction, too many bland protagonists etc.) those were bad. You shouldn't get too excited about the game and its story.

On the contrary, unless you're really a fan of 'interactive movies' that have a lot of 'quick time events' and tons of decisions to make, this is not a game for you. 'Detroit: Become Human' isn't a game for you and will likely not entertain you the way it should.

'Life Is Strange 2' has a disappointing story.

So when it comes to my recent interests that have to do with gaming, during the last few weeks I've been catching up with the 'Life Is Strange' series. I managed to check the remaining games in the series that I hadn't managed to play and review before.

Indeed, after playing and reviewing the first 'Life is Strange' some years ago, I wanted to check the rest too. I managed to check and review the third one a month ago and now it was finally time to check and review the second one in the series too. 

So when it comes to the second game in the series (after not particularly liking the third one), I watched the long play version of the second game about two weeks ago. I checked the game and, well, wasn't that impressed with this one either.

Premise-wise, this time we're dealing with two immigrant brothers in the United States, who after an unfortunate incident (their dad gets killed) decide to escape to Mexico. They think that is the only way to handle the situation and so off they go together.

Story-wise, the big 'hook' in this game is that as these two kids flee and run away from the law, it is revealed that the younger kid has super powers. The kid has some sort of an ability to control and move objects with his mind, which leads to all kinds of incidents.

Quality-wise, it has to be said that the game - even though in parts relaxing to watch (13 hours long and has a great soundtrack) - isn't particularly well made. There are so many issues and problems in the story (including plot holes) that it's hard to count all the flaws.

Gaming-wise, one of the worst things is that as a player (you control the older brother) you have very few things to do. The game that is divided to five different chapters (in different locations /w different side characters) is basically one big cut scene show.

As sad as it is, at no point of the game do you get a feel that you're in charge of the story. There's no rewind button with your decisions and since it's the kid who has the super powers (the kid is pretty unlikable) that makes the experience even more frustrating.

Theme-wise, one of the worst things here is without a doubt that the game is extremely "woke" and takes an over-the-top anti-Republican stand that is impossible not to notice. This is evident in every chapter in the story and is something that really bothered me.  

After all, the way they beat-wise kept giving us "Deliverance-style" antagonists everywhere they went was just not believable. You had racists, bigots, religious nut jobs and anti-immigrant cops to such extent that you felt like you were watching a parody.  

Not surprisingly, once you as a 'player' reached the final chapter in the story with your brother, due to the implausible story beats and 'messaging' issues, the stuff doesn't feel satisfying. I just wasn't sold by the story that wasn't that well thought out.

After all, as a whole, when you think about all the implausible things that occurred [no spoilers here], there were simply too many of them. There were too many problems, even though the writers probably tried their best to make a game that had an honest message. 

In that sense, in the end, I have to conclude that unless you're able to look past these problems (story flaws, poor pacing, lack of control, arbitrary chapter endings, demonizing etc), this is not a game for you. You shouldn't be thinking that you'll enjoy the experience.

After all, even though there were some good things too in the game like its relaxing atmosphere in places and its solid soundtrack that I managed to enjoy, those weren't enough. These qualities weren't enough and didn't make the game as a whole a positive experience.