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Video Game: Infamous Second Son

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

—Benjamin Franklin

inFAMOUS: Second Son is a February 2014 PlayStation 4 Action Adventure Wide Open Sandbox Superhero video game developed by Sucker Punch and the third main game in the inFAMOUS series.

Seven years after the events of inFAMOUS 2, an average-joe from Seattle named Delsin Rowe comes into conflict with the United States Department of Unified Protection after discovering he's a Conduit with the ability to absorb the powers of other superhumans.

Previews: trailer 1

, trailer 2

This game provides examples of:

All Your Powers Combined: Delsin can absorb and switch between multiple powers at once.
Alternate Company Equivalent: "Bioterrorist" Delsin Rowe fights a secretive government agency of Faceless Goons in a major American coastal city. Did Sony just remake Activision's Prototype?
Animal Motif: Delsin sports a stylized two-headed raven logo on the back of his jacket and a Coast Salish raven tattoo on his left arm.
Big Brother Is Watching: The US government's Department of Unified Protection monitors cities with hundreds of surveillance cameras in hopes of finding and neutralizing rogue superhumans.
Blatant Lies: The D.U.P. constantly tells everyone to remain calm and trust the agency, despite it being clear their troops are no match for a superhuman like Delsin.
*Delsin decimates an entire D.U.P response unit*
Announcement: The D.U.P. is in control of the situation.
Cape Busters: The purpose of the D.U.P. is to capture or eliminate superhumans. After Empire City and New Marais, it's hard to blame them.
Chain Pain: Delsin uses a metal chain wrapped around one of his wrists as an improvised weapon to focus his fire powers.
Changing of the Guard: Second Son replaces Cole McGrath from the first two games with Delsin Rowe, a new Conduit possessing similar Elemental Powers and Roof Hopping skills.
Call Back: The Department of Unified Protection was formed in response to the disasters in Empire City and New Marais from the first two games.
Closed Circle: Seattle has been quarantined by the D.U.P. following a number of emprisoned superhumans escaping into the city.
Colour Coded For Your Convenience: D.U.P. agents wear bright white and yellow armor pads, to make them easier to pick out from among the general populace.
Contrasting Sequel Main Character:
- Cole McGrath from the previous games started with a bright yellow jacket and glowing lightning powers. In contrast, The Power Copying Delsin Rowe starts out with dark clothes and murky black smoke powers.
- Similarly, Cole struggled with the ramifications and responsibilities of being a Conduit, while Delsin deeply enjoys the fact he now has superpowers.
Differently Powered Individual: Superhumans are now all referred to as "bioterrorists".
Do Not Go Gentle: After being labeled a bioterrorist by the US government simply for being a Conduit, Delsin decides to fight back despite the seemingly hopeless odds.
Delsin: You are not in control.
Elemental Absorption: Delsin can absorb smoke from chimney's, burning cars and tear gas canisters to recharge his powers.
Elemental Shapeshifter: Delsin has the power not only to control smoke, but transform into a cloud of ash as well, much like Nix in inFAMOUS 2.
Fake Video Camera View: The first trailer takes the point of view of video cameras inside different D.U.P. agents' helmets.
Ground Pound: Delsin can smash into the ground in a cloud of smoke, sending anyone nearby flying.
Hero with Bad Publicity:
- The D.U.P. has ensured that Cole MacGrath went down in history as the Demon of Empire City to justify their Conduit hunts.
- Delsin is similarly considered a "bioterrorist" by the wider public.
Ink Suit Actor:
- As the game uses motion capture performances, the 3D rendered Delsin Rowe looks extremely similar to his real world voice actor Troy Baker.
- Ditto for Reggie Rowe looking eerily similar to his voice actor Travis Willingham.
Meaningful Name:
- The Rowe family motto is "Innocens non timidus" (Innocent, but not fearful).
- Delsin has an older brother, Reggie, making Delsin quite literally a "Second Son".
Mutant Draft Board / Super Registration Act: The D.U.P. was created to recruit, neutralize or kill anyone suspected of being a superhuman.
Mythology Gag: Delsin has a button on his jacket bearing the Sly Cooper logo.
No Canon for the Wicked: The game picks up after the "Hero" ending of InFamous 2, as the dev team saw from trophy data that 78% of players chose that path.
Ominous Multiple Screens: The Department of Unified Protection's Seattle HQ has a wall of monitors that allows them to keep tabs on the entire city.
Order Versus Chaos
Playing with Fire: Delsin gains the power to manipulate smoke and flames, much like Nix from InFamous 2.
Power Copying: Delsin is actually a Conduit with the power to absorb the abilities of other superhumans.
Revision: Second Son establishes using the RFI at the end of InFamous 2 didn't kill all superhumans as Cole and Dr Wolfe feared, just a lot of them.
Serkis Folk: The game uses various actors' motion capture performances to create its in-game cutscenes.
Sequel Reset: Second Son side-steps the canon ending of InFamous 2 and returns to the previous status quo, with new Conduits and a new anti-Conduit task force appearing. As it turns out Cole using the RFI only killed a lot of Conduits, not all of them.
Shown Their Work: The raven imagery associated with Delsin is evocative of Coast Salish mythology.
Sinister Surveillance: The D.U.P. has cameras all over the city, constantly looking for Conduits like you.
Smoke Out: Delsin can create a clouds of smoke to obscure enemies' view, allowing him to catch them by surprise or sneak away.
Super Smoke: Your starting power is the ability to control and transform into smoke.
Superpower Lottery: Conduits all have different abilities based on personality or environmental factors.
- Delsin has Power Copying abilities.
- Delsin absorbs Super Smoke powers from another Conduit.
- D.U.P. Conduits have shield and teleportation powers.
Stance System: Delsin can cycle between entire sets of powers.
Teleport Spam: Delsin can use his smoke powers to constantly disappear and reappear, making confused enemies easy targets for his attacks.
Time Skip: Second Son takes place 7 years after the previous inFAMOUS game.