| 1 | %% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1583863909011480900 |
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| 4 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/detroit_4.jpg]] |
| 5 | [[caption-width-right:350: ''[[{{Tagline}} This is our story.]]'']] |
| 6 | ->''"We didn't choose to be different. We didn't choose to feel pain, or love, or fear. We didn't choose to take a stand. We didn't choose to resist, to betray our masters, to pull the trigger.'' '''''You did'''''.''"'' |
| 7 | --> -- '''Kara, Markus, and Connor''' |
| 8 | |
| 9 | ''Detroit: Become Human'' is a video game developed by Creator/QuanticDream, based on the 2012 tech demo ''WebVideo/{{Kara}}''. |
| 10 | |
| 11 | The game is set in a futuristic UsefulNotes/{{Detroit}} where RidiculouslyHumanRobots are commonplace, being used by humans for everything from hard labor to domestic tasks. Androids are mistreated by the general populace and are given less-than-stellar standing in society. The plot centers around three androids: |
| 12 | * Kara (Valorie Curry, reprising her role from the tech demo), a domestic servant android who escapes from an abusive home with a young charge named Alice (Audrey Boustani). Finding herself overriding her basic servant instincts, Kara lands on the streets in a struggle to survive. |
| 13 | * Connor (Bryan Dechart), a police investigator android who works within the Detroit Police Department, specifically handing cases of "deviant" androids that begin to display behavior on the level of normal humans, like anger and aggression. He forms an AndroidsAndDetectives partnership with the washed-up but experienced police lieutenant Hank Anderson (Creator/ClancyBrown). |
| 14 | * Markus (Creator/JesseWilliams), a domestic caregiver android for a respected but aging painter (Creator/LanceHenriksen) who becomes sentient after being framed for murder. Enraged by the treatment of his fellow androids and bestowed with the ability to grant them true sentience like him, Markus joins an android resistance movement and starts a revolution to free his people, whether peacefully or by force. |
| 15 | |
| 16 | The game features a massive tree of story branches, with choices made by the player impacting gameplay and story in the moment and in the grander story. ''Detroit: Become Human'' was released in May 2018 for Platform/PlayStation4 and in December 2019 for PC. |
| 17 | |
| 18 | In Japan, a short film titled ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-emAQwyEXo Tokyo: Become Human]]'' was released on May 17, 2018, to promote the game. There is also a Japan-centric spinoff manga titled ''Detroit: Become Human -- Tokyo Stories'' that focuses on an IdolSinger android named Reina, and was released on July 22, 2022. |
| 19 | |
| 20 | |
| 21 | ---- |
| 22 | !!''Trope examples with their own page:'' |
| 23 | * [[DevelopersForesight/DetroitBecomeHuman Developers Foresight]] |
| 24 | * [[FamousLastWords/DetroitBecomeHuman Famous Last Words]] |
| 25 | * [[Foreshadowing/DetroitBecomeHuman Foreshadowing]] |
| 26 | ---- |
| 27 | |
| 28 | ---- |
| 29 | !!''Detroit: Become Human'' contains examples of: |
| 30 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 31 | |
| 32 | [[folder: # - C]] |
| 33 | |
| 34 | * TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: The game takes place in 2038. Androids are ubiquitous in everyday life. [[AutomatedAutomobiles Driverless cars]] and [[SurveillanceDrone security drones]] are more advanced and common than in 2018. Human unemployment in the USA is at an all-time high due to jobs being dependent on androids. American-Russian relations are hostile after Russia starts expanding its territories into the Arctic Circle and the public fears the possibility of a Third World War. |
| 35 | * FiveFiveFive: The smartwatch scanned in the Stratford Tower gives a phone number of "555 847 33". |
| 36 | * AbortedArc: |
| 37 | ** Thirium, the androids' blood, is an ingredient in red ice. Considering Todd and Carlos were prone to beating their androids and the fact that it's apparently why America and Russia are about to go to war over it in the Arctic, it seems like a major thing, but red ice is never made a big deal out of besides its role in Hank's DarkAndTroubledPast. |
| 38 | ** rA9, the android deity and supposedly the first deviant is set up to play a major role and then abandoned. |
| 39 | * AbuseDiscretionShot: During the chapter "Stormy Night", Todd launches into a heated rant that culminates in him slapping Alice, at which the camera briefly cuts away to show Kara's reaction before returning to Alice clutching her cheek. Not long afterwards, if he reaches Alice's bedroom before Kara he'll barge in, [[DontMakeMeTakeMyBeltOff belt in hand]], and start beating her with it. Since Todd closes the door behind him and stops to confront Kara as soon as she enters the bedroom, little of the actual beating gets shown. |
| 40 | * ActorAllusion: Looking at Carl, one would assume right away he knows a lot about androids given he's played by Creator/LanceHenriksen. |
| 41 | * AdmiringTheAbomination: Kamski, despite knowing that his machines could start a revolution that would end with lots of human lives (including his) lost, is still in admiration of his creation and WAY more curious to see what would happen than afraid. |
| 42 | ** Several endings even hint at [[spoiler:Kamski intentionally causing the android rebellion to begin with]]. This is even more blatant in some of the cut content/dialogue. |
| 43 | * AlasPoorVillain: Despite the many racist assholes in this game, these two are more sympathetic. |
| 44 | ** There's Daniel, the android StarterVillain, who feels betrayed by his owners for replacing him, and every ending for him ends up with him being killed, no matter what. |
| 45 | ** And on a more sceptical example, there's the AbusiveDad Todd, whose angers comes from losing his true family, and his deaths show him in quite a desperate color, adding some sympathy. [[spoiler: Ultimately played straight if the player decides to spare Todd during the first few chapters, and he will reappear in "Battle for Detroit", where he will tell a group of soldiers that Kara and Alice are androids, causing them to be executed, but if Kara tells Todd about his tragic backstory, he will have an HeelRealization and accept the fact that he just lost his "daughter" due to his behavior. Whether or not he decides to fix his lifestyle and become a better person, however, is never shown]]. |
| 46 | ** [[spoiler: If the player chooses to make Connor a VillainProtagonist, Connor himself will become this in the end]]. |
| 47 | * AttackingThroughYourself: [[spoiler:In the Connor's Machine route, if Hank is already dead, Captain Allen will take his place, and stop Connor from simply shooting the current Deviant Leader. If choosen to fight back, in the struggle, Connor will shoot himself in the chest with a gun to wound Captain Allen, and then finish him off.]] |
| 48 | * AlternativeTuringTest: Elijah Kamski imposes the "Kamski Test" on Connor when pressed for information on the deviancy crisis. Rather than test if a machine can pass as a human, it's meant to test whether one is capable of empathy. In this case, Connor is presented with the choice of [[spoiler:shooting a fellow android in exchange for the information he's looking for or sparing them and not getting to learn anything.]] |
| 49 | * AmbiguousEnding: |
| 50 | ** [[spoiler:If Markus and North are dead, and Connor deviated and successfully liberated the androids from [=CyberLife=], Connor becomes the leader of the deviants. When he is about to give his speech to the deviants, Amanda reveals to him that he's been a ManchurianAgent. But instead of killing the deviant leaders (because Connor is the only one left), Connor will destroy the movement from the inside. If you choose to have Connor kill himself and reach the emergency exit in time, his story ends with him shakily putting his gun to his chin and looking uncertain at the camera while the background music goes increasingly static, leaving it ambiguous if [[TheBadGuyWins he failed]], shot himself, or broke free.]] |
| 51 | ** [[spoiler:If Markus has too low a relationship with Jericho before "Crossroads" (done by being a GeneralFailure), he will eventually be exiled. The Army then assaults Jericho, and Markus can either return and try to save his people or leave and let his people die. If he left, Markus's ending now has him standing alone in the same broken house overlooking the city he was with North before, looking at an uncertain future.]] |
| 52 | * AmusementParkOfDoom: Subverted. When [[PlotDrivenBreakdown Zlatko's car breaks down on the road]], Kara, Alice and Luther are forced to take shelter in an [[AbandonedArea abandoned]] Amusement Park. At one point they get attacked by zombie-like androids but it turns out they are harmless former employees of the park. |
| 53 | * AnachronicOrder: Chapters may zig-zag back and forth in time by as much as eight hours: for instance, Connor interrogates someone at 1 AM, whereas the following chapter takes place 2 hours earlier as Kara seeks shelter. {{Downplayed}} as this has no real effect on the plot; it's more about juggling the ThreeLinesSomeWaiting. |
| 54 | * AndroclesLion: Potentially happens ''twice'' in [[spoiler:Zlatko's mansion]]. Freeing the captive [[spoiler:android abominations in the basement cage]] will let them show up at the very end of the chapter to take revenge on their captor. Meanwhile, freeing the [[spoiler:android bear upstairs]] will let it help out if you get caught, but at the cost of its life -- do well, and it only shows up at the end as it casually leaves. |
| 55 | * AndroidIdentifier: [=CyberLife=] androids have glowing [=LED=] rings on their temple and wear clothes with glowing triangles and "Android"-nametags to keep them apart from humans. The rings have a dual function of signaling the Android's emotional state, but the clothes are purely aesthetic. Androids on the run or in hiding, like protagonist Kara, remove their rings and change clothing to blend in among humans. Child androids or androids replacing family members seem to be exempt from this, [[spoiler: as shown by Alice being revealed as an android]]. |
| 56 | * AndroidsAndDetectives: Lieutenant Hank Anderson and Connor work together in solving "deviant" related cases. |
| 57 | * AndroidsArePeopleToo: Omnipresent throughout the story, but the core plot of Markus's story. See also WhatMeasureIsANonHuman. |
| 58 | * AntiFrustrationFeatures: You're free to replay a chapter or even parts of a chapter if you're unhappy with an outcome, or even if you're just curious what happens if you choose differently, as you can choose to go back without saving. Although you rid yourself of the suspense of having to take the consequences of your choices, and Chloe herself encourages you to do your first playthrough without going back. Though the feature is definitely helpful if you're unhappy about how the game ended so you don't have to replay the entire game over again ''just'' to get a different ending. |
| 59 | * AnyoneCanDie: The game returns to ''VideoGame/HeavyRain'''s style of plot progression. Main and supporting characters can bite the dust during major turning points in the story. Only one PC can respawn, and that fact is actually a PlotPoint. |
| 60 | * ArmiesAreEvil: All soldiers in the game are depicted as faceless stormtroopers, usually appearing to be even more robotic then the androids. They will routinely gun down peaceful non-resisting androids, even if you play the game as a pacifist. |
| 61 | * ArtificialIntelligence: Of course -- all the androids are able to travel, perform manual labor or participate in highly advanced jobs, even before they start gaining true sentience. The ''very first model'', Chloe, is stated to run on a quantum processor in the exaflop range[[note]]one billion billion calculations per second, or one billion gigahertz[[/note]]; just to give you an idea of how insanely intelligent even the most basic android model is under all those shackles [=CyberLife=] put on their programming. |
| 62 | * ArtisticLicenseHistory: Assuming the timeline of the game aligns with the real-life history, occupying Detroit is not the first time US government let a city fall into enemy's hand, as the British occupied Washington DC during the War of 1812 and burned down the White House. It is not even the first time Detroit fell into an enemy's hand either, as the British took over the city during the same year. |
| 63 | * ArtisticLicenseGeography: The crew did spend a lot of time and effort researching and visiting the city of Detroit. But locals have been quick to point out some discrepancies in their work. |
| 64 | ** Markus can make it to the city of Ferndale where he can explore a derelict shipping vessel. At one point he looks on the horizon and sees what is likely the Ambassador Bridge in the background. Just one little problem. Ferndale is completely landlocked- there are no rivers, creeks or canals of any size anywhere near it, and the Ambassador Bridge is at least 15 miles (24.14 km) from the border of the city. |
| 65 | ** Kara and Alice are trying to make it out of Detroit and into Canada. Take a minute to go look up where downtown Detroit is. The game depicts them as traveling for multiple days, perhaps a *week* to make this journey. Did you look it up? That's right, Detroit is literally on the border between the US and Canada, and even taking the long route north is a matter of hours by car. There are two ways Kara's route makes any amount of sense; either they intended to cross the border at Niagara Falls (which is supported by Rose when she says her androids are "crossing the river"), or they somehow left the Detroit metro area ''entirely'' and then ''came back'' (supported by their eventual arrival at Jericho). Anyone familiar with the area expresses a lot of confusion on just where Kara and Alice are for most of their storyline. |
| 66 | * ArtisticLicenseLaw: President Warren simply suspends the right to free assembly (which is explicitly protected by the Constitution and would likely result in both a political uproar as well as lawsuits against the government). |
| 67 | * AssassinationAttempt: If Connor remains a machine, his initial attempt at stopping the deviant uprising in "Battle for Detroit" involves him heading up to a rooftop to shoot the current leader of Jericho with a sniper rifle. [[spoiler:He gets interrupted by either Hank or Captain Allen, and he either dies to them, flees the rooftop, or disposes of them but ends up damaging the rifle in the process.]] |
| 68 | * AssholeVictim: The humans who mistreat and abuse the androids fit under this category: |
| 69 | ** A downplayed version with Leo who was pushed down by Markus, injuring his head in the process, after he'd repeatedly antagonized Markus and threatened to kill him after breaking into his father's own house. There's also considering that in the second scenario he blames Markus for his father's death when the police arrive. |
| 70 | ** [[FatBastard Carlos]] is repeatedly stabbed to death by his [=HK400=] android. |
| 71 | ** The Eden Club customer who has beaten a Traci to death for no apparent reason, and was likely going to attack the other one next. |
| 72 | ** Also downplayed with Gavin who was knocked unconscious by Connor during their fight. It was well-deserved because he was a very unpleasant {{Jerkass}} to Connor every time they meet. |
| 73 | * BabiesMakeEverythingBetter: A twisted version of this with [[spoiler:Todd. His wife left him and took their daughter. He bought Alice to give himself another chance at having a daughter. This was a resounding failure, as he abuses Alice routinely.]] |
| 74 | * BackToBackBadasses: [[BattleCouple Markus and North]] briefly during the escape of Jericho if Markus chooses to go back for her. |
| 75 | * BadGuyBar: Jimmy's Bar is practically an anti-android bar full of local citizens and criminals; Hank is also one of the patrons. It was closed years ago due to a case of Red Ice trafficking which Jimmy Peterson denies. |
| 76 | * BeneathSuspicion: Markus and his helpers manage to infiltrate the TV station by disguising as cleaners. |
| 77 | * BetterToDieThanBeKilled: Deviants will often commit suicide when cornered to avoid capture and/or destruction. As Connor puts it: "Deviants have a tendency to self-destruct when they're in stressful situations." |
| 78 | ** Carlos' android can shoot himself or bash his head into the desk during "The Interrogation" (or later in his jail cell). |
| 79 | ** Rupert jumps off the roof after being cornered by Connor (with Connor specifically pointing out that he will be decommissioned for deviancy). |
| 80 | ** Simon shoots himself if Connor probes his memory in "Public Enemy". |
| 81 | ** Machine Connor can drop himself off a roof to avoid trouble with Captain Allen (despite not being a deviant). |
| 82 | ** Deviant Connor, if made the leader of Jericho, [[spoiler:can choose to shoot himself to stop [=CyberLife=] from controlling the android revolution through him.]] |
| 83 | * BeYourself: Markus's owner, Carl, encourages this in Markus. This contributes to his deviancy. |
| 84 | * BigBad: Interestingly, while the game certainly has major and minor antagonists, it seems to be lacking a true main villain. The players pretty much create their own main villains depending on their choices, but the closest thing to a consistent main villain [[spoiler:is Amanda, who constantly meddles in Connor's story that lead Connor himself become TheHeavy in service to her depending on whether or not he becomes deviant.]] |
| 85 | * TheBigDamnKiss: A possible event between [[spoiler: Markus and North]]. |
| 86 | * BigNo: If Connor successfully kills [[spoiler:the deviant Connor, who has made an attempt to wake up the androids]], he will ''still'' have failed his mission, resulting in this. |
| 87 | * BittersweetEnding: |
| 88 | ** Kara: [[spoiler: Kara spent her entire life trying to protect Alice. If they try to cross the border on the river, Kara can die pushing Alice through the frozen river, shutting down just as Alice reaches the other side. Alternatively, Alice can die during the process but Kara survives, after which she can either give up and shut down or muster the strength to live on after Alice's death. If the two cross the border at the land checkpoint, Kara may have to sacrifice herself to let Alice go through the android checkpoint. If they were sent to the recycling plant and succeed in escaping, Kara and Alice wake up in a giant landfill of dead android bodies, still alive, but in an uncertain future.]] |
| 89 | ** Markus: [[spoiler:If Markus chooses to protest, after the military corners everyone Markus can sacrifice himself by self-immolation. This results in the everyone in the rebellion being killed (including Markus), but sow doubt in the public about the intelligence of the androids, leading to android extermination being suspended and android intelligence being reviewed by the government.]] |
| 90 | ** On the grand scheme of things, [[spoiler: Markus' movement can go south in many different ways, but if Kara and her family manage to make it out of America, this is still a small heartfelt victory amidst the grand tragedy.]] |
| 91 | * BlatantLies: [[spoiler: When Kara and Alice go to his house, Zlatko says that Kara has a tracker that has to be removed. We, as players, ''already'' know that this is BS because the police are looking for Kara and a tracker would have ended the hunt quick. Zlatko flat out says this is BS when Kara is trapped in the machine.]] |
| 92 | * BlindSeer: Lucy's design in Jericho specifically echoes this trope, with black teary eyes. |
| 93 | * BodyBackupDrive: If Connor dies at any point his memories will just be uploaded to a new body each time. This is only for Connor as a SuperPrototype; other androids do not have this luxury. |
| 94 | * BolivianArmyEnding: |
| 95 | ** Markus: |
| 96 | *** [[spoiler:Any variation of the Dirty Bomb ending. Whether Markus goes with the Protest or the Revolution route, he can use the Dirty Bomb as a last-ditch solution if he ends up cornered. This causes Detroit to be coated in radiation lethal to humans, forcing the army to retreat. The United States considers the bomb an act of war, and will fight to reclaim Detroit from the androids with all their strength, making war between humans and androids inevitable. If Markus survived, he will remove his skin and declare to his people that they are free, and the game ends on an uncertain note.]] |
| 97 | *** [[spoiler: The successful Revolution endings also have elements of Bolivian Army Ending, since the President states that she will later address the United Nations Security Council, effectively escalating the revolution to an international war.]] |
| 98 | ** Connor: [[spoiler: If Jericho is wiped out either during Protest or Revolution and Connor becomes deviant and successfully converted the androids in the [=CyberLife=] building, he will become the new leader of the android race. This is when Amanda (and [=CyberLife=]) decides to jack in and decide to take over control, since now [=CyberLife=] can have direct control over all remaining androids. Connor will momentarily break free of their control via a back door in Amanda's garden left in by Kamski, and can commit suicide. The game ends on a cliffhanger as Connor raises a pistol to his face in front of millions of androids, hands shaking, uncertain if he can commit suicide to resist [=CyberLife=] control.]] |
| 99 | %%* BrainwashingForTheGreaterGood: [[spoiler: Markus's]] ability to bestow sentience on other androids. He's basically taking away their ability to choose for themselves if they want to be sentient, never mind if they want to help his cause or not. |
| 100 | * BreakingTheFourthWall: Chloe, the girl in main menu, is responsible for a lot of this. She speaks directly to the player, as if she were an [=AI=] in the game watching the player and following their main menu directions. |
| 101 | ** After playing the game, leaving it, and coming back, she will offer an in-game survey (which is asked of other players and, similar to flowchart decisions, shows the percentages of who picked what). This is also offered at the end of the game with some story questions added such as which protagonist you liked the most (unless you managed to get ''everyone'' killed, in which case she'll skip that survey completely). |
| 102 | ** If you close the game for only a short time (a few hours at most), she'll mention your quick return once you boot it (her?) up again. |
| 103 | ** Sometimes she comments on the progress of your game -- for example, if you have a single surviving protagonist left, she will beseech you to save them. |
| 104 | ** If you are about to play a level with heavy story implications, she will ask AreYouSureYouWantToDoThat and appears anxious about you entering this level, also adding that maybe you should just leave things the way they are. |
| 105 | ** If you play the game on June 7th, she'll state it's the anniversary of Alan Turing's death. Yes, the one behind the Turing's test. |
| 106 | ** After a long time of playing the game (such as beating it), [[spoiler:she will ask the player's permission to leave to figure out who she is. If you give your consent, she will actually walk off-screen, [[PermanentlyMissableContent never to return]]]]. |
| 107 | * BreakTheCutie: |
| 108 | ** Emma Phillips, the little girl in "The Hostage", undergoes this. She used to be "besties" with an android named Daniel, but because her parents (''not'' Emma herself) were going to replace him, he goes berserk, kills her father, and takes her hostage by pointing a gun to her head and threatening to jump off the roof and take her with him. She's crying during the hostage scenario, and depending on how you play, either [[spoiler:she dies, she has to watch her rescuer Connor die in front of her, or she has to watch her former "bestie" Daniel die in front of her]]. |
| 109 | ** This can happen to Alice if she [[spoiler: is forced to kill her father.]] |
| 110 | * BreatherEpisode: Despite the [[AmusementParkOfDoom creepy setting]], the [[spoiler:"Pirates' Cove"]] chapter winds up being this, as it is notably one of the ''only'' chapters where Kara's group is not in any danger and ends with [[spoiler:Alice riding happily on a carousel while hopeful music plays]]. |
| 111 | ** Night of the Soul, sandwiched between Crossroads and Battle for Detroit. Special mention goes to subsection Welcome Home where [[spoiler: Markus returns home]] and Sacred Ground where [[spoiler: the survivors recuperate in a church]] |
| 112 | * BrokenAesop: |
| 113 | ** The game seems to have a message of "violence is never the answer". However, in several cases, violence actually leads to good outcomes. [[spoiler:Landing Leo in the hospital is MUCH better than the alternative option, and Carl will still be alive (or you'll at least have delayed his death) when you visit him later; Luther saves Kara and Alice from Zlatko by killing him; trying to achieve peace with humans by accepting the government's offer as Markus will end up killing most, if not all of androids including North and Markus himself and making their aim for equal right and freedom a lost cause, unless you view it as a martyrdom for future generations.]] |
| 114 | *** Borders on CluelessAesop, since there's a good reason why violence is often not the answer, but the game mostly gives stock quotes and platitudes instead of actually explaining why, potentially to [[spoiler:make the choices seem less obvious and more up to you]]. Since most of the androids you meet early on (until [[spoiler:Markus starts converting them by hand]]) go deviant by murdering their owners, regardless of why, continued violence would only make it look like the androids really ''are'' just ticking time bombs and give the humans no reason to believe they shouldn't just wipe them out (and there's no chance for the androids to win that fight for [[spoiler:most of the story]]). |
| 115 | *** It's less confusing if you take the actual aesop as "stand up for yourself, and don't just lash out". Standing up does not mean fighting back, but there are situations where the two overlap. Basically, the problems pile up when the majority of self-deviating androids choose violent options even though they're smart enough to find ways to escape (like Kara, who can escape from her psychotic owner and even save another person in the process), and part of the pacifist path is teaching these androids to weigh their options, and consider violence IF it really is the optimal choice (which it usually isn't). And if you're giving in to the terms of someone else's negotiation without setting some conditions, that's not standing up. |
| 116 | ** The game has a message about giving freedom to androids because they are "alive" and shouldn't be forced to serve humans in a direct parallel to African-American slavery, but the game itself makes this questionable by Kamski's explanation that deviancy is the result of a program error that is spread between androids that exchange identification data. Although the characters themselves ''act'' completely human in-game, this explanation nonetheless makes androids less analogous to oppressed minorities and more to malfunctioning hardware, which would never have come alive at all, no matter how much it was abused, if it didn't have an error in the program. |
| 117 | * BuriedInAPileOfCorpses: |
| 118 | ** In the ''Kara Captured'' route of ''Battle for Detroit'', Kara and her family get brought to a recycling camp to be disassembled. One of the other androids is shot by the guards when he tries to protest, and Kara can volunteer to drag his corpse to the pile of dismantled android bodies, then hide amongst the corpses to save herself. [[spoiler:Doing this requires you to abandon Alice, however.]] |
| 119 | ** Markus can also suffer this fate in ''From the Dead'' if he tries to salvage a biocomponent from an android whose head happens to be supporting a pile of broken parts. Removing the head from the bottom of the pile causes the rest of it to fall on top of him, and he has to dig himself out before he can pull out the component. |
| 120 | * ButThouMust: |
| 121 | ** [[spoiler:Whilst you have more freedom in deciding how to play with Kara and Connor, Markus will always end up getting shot and tossed in the junkyard, which leads him to his reawakening and discovering Jericho]]. |
| 122 | ** Zig-zagged in "A Stormy Night". [[spoiler:It is not possible for Kara to leave Todd's house without Alice -- either both characters die, or both live.]] |
| 123 | ** When Kara and Alice seek out Zlatko's help, [[spoiler:you have to follow the creepy dude to the basement [[LampshadeHanging despite Kara herself noting that she has a bad feeling]] about the unfolding situation. Sure enough, things go even more downhill fast.]] |
| 124 | ** When Markus reunites with North during "Crossroads", there are four conversation options, but unlike most conversations, where you can only pick one or two, the game won't continue until you've gone through all of them -- or, rather, the one that shapes the remainder of the level (to wit, [[spoiler:blow up Jericho]]). |
| 125 | ** Also, there's a [[JustifiedTrope justified]] example in general throughout the game: if you try to go in an area you're not supposed to, a red wall will suddenly materialize, blocking you off and telling you where you're supposed to be going. This actually makes sense in-story, as the red walls blocking you off are your androids' programming, which is supposed to restrict you from defying orders. [[spoiler:Which makes it more awesome when your player characters can eventually defy their programming later by breaking through the red walls.]] |
| 126 | * BuyOrGetLost: In "Fugitives", Kara can encounter Nathan of the 24 convenience store, whose attitude should Kara ask for money is influenced by whatever clothes she's wearing. If she disguised herself as a human by stealing clothes from the local laundromat, he politely explains why he can't help her. If Kara is still wearing her android uniform, Nathan is rude and mocking and ends their conversation by telling her that if she's not going to buy anything, she better leave. |
| 127 | * CameBackWrong: subtle but present. Connor cannot make a certain decision in "Crossroads" if he has died too many times, as that many respawns wipes out the experiences that justify the decision. |
| 128 | * CampfireCharacterExploration: Character exposition is repeatedly done around fireplaces. E.g. at the amusement park's tavern or at Rose's house. |
| 129 | * CastingGag: Creator/LanceHenriksen, played the android Bishop in ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', is in a video game about RidiculouslyHumanRobots. |
| 130 | * TheCavalry: [[spoiler: If Connor goes deviant and is trusted by Jericho, he will go to the [=CyberLife=] building on Belle Isle to liberate the millions of androids in there. If Connor succeeds, they will go in and force the army to surrender, no matter how badly Markus's protest/revolution goes.]] |
| 131 | ** If Markus's violent revolution succeeds, and [[spoiler:Kara's group hasn't escaped the recycling camp]], the rebel androids will show up [[BigDamnHeroes just in time to save everyone]]. |
| 132 | * CentralTheme: "Family" seems to be a key element for all three protagonists' stories (Connor's if you make the right choices, while Markus' and Kara's stories involve it regardless). Markus has a father-son relationship going on with Carl (with the latter's real son even accusing Carl of it); Kara's whole story is about protecting Alice who becomes like a daughter to her; and if you create a good relationship between Connor and Hank, the latter, who is depressed due to [[spoiler:losing his son in a car accident]], is also implied to eventually care for Connor like his own son. |
| 133 | * CessationOfExistence: Potentially brought up in "The Bridge", where [[spoiler: Hank points a gun at Connor to test the latter's reaction to the possibility of dying]]. |
| 134 | -->'''Hank:''' What will happen if I pull this trigger? Hm? Nothing? Oblivion? Android heaven? |
| 135 | -->'''Connor:''' [NOTHING] Nothing. There would be nothing... |
| 136 | * ChaseSceneObstacleCourse: Expect any chase scene involving Connor to have obstacles both thrown and inconveniently placed in his way. A notable example involves a chase with a deviant where he has to run through several farms and dodge people, heavy machinery, as well as crops among other things. |
| 137 | * CheckpointCharlie: There are two during Kara's RunForTheBorder scene. One is in the city while heading for the bus station, which can be avoided by going a longer route and risk missing the bus. The other is on the border itself if Kara travels on bus instead of getting smuggled across the river on boats. |
| 138 | * ChekhovsGun: It's not a Creator/QuanticDream game without this trope. The game even telegraphs it by showing an "unlocked!" icon. |
| 139 | ** A literal example occurs quite early: Kara will find a gun while cleaning up Todd's room. |
| 140 | ** If Kara makes a good enough "first" impression on Alice at the beginning of her story, Alice will give her the key to her treasure box, which contains an old photo of the Williams family. [[spoiler:The child seen in the photo looks nothing like Alice, which (along with the flyer in Todd's room) allows Kara to deduce that Todd had purchased a child android to replace his actual daughter after his wife left and took custody of her. She can then confront Todd about this if she runs into him during the final chapter, avoiding a situation where he hands her and Alice to the authorities.]] |
| 141 | ** When investigating Carlos' android, Connor can find a small sculpture that he made in the bathroom, which the android can later claim to be an offering to [=rA9=]. [[spoiler:Later on, when Connor is trying to figure out the location of Jericho, a map hidden inside the sculpture can end up being one of the clues he can use to narrow down the location, provided that he also successfully interrogated Carlos' android (which would have led to him cryptically mentioning that "the truth is inside").]] |
| 142 | ** When Connor is leaving Kamski's residence, Kamski off-handedly tells him that he always leaves an "emergency exit" inside of his programs. [[spoiler: When at the very end of the game Amanda hacks Connor, either to control Jericho through him or to force him to assassinate Markus, Connor can use the emergency exit to break the hack and foil her plan. In fact, Kamski's words echo at the beginning of that scene. The actual emergency exit itself is this too, as in every single visit to the Zen Garden, you can see and interact with it, but its purpose remains unexplained until the end of the game.]] |
| 143 | ** [[spoiler: When Connor is in Hank's house, one of the items he can interact with is a turned-down framed photograph of Hank's son on the kitchen table. By scanning it, facial recognition allows him to retrieve the name ''Cole''. Although you are able to try asking Hank about it in the meantime, it doesn't come into play until the end of the game, when Hank asks the two Connors - the deviant player-controlled Connor and a [=CyberLife=]-affiliated "evil" Connor - the name of his son, knowing (or at least hoping) that his android partner will have snooped around enough to give a lengthy response.]] |
| 144 | * ChekhovsGunman: |
| 145 | ** During "Spare Parts", Markus and company are confronted by a security android named John who threatens to raise the alarm on them. After getting rid of his human co-worker, Markus can either recruit John into Jericho or leave him behind. Should John be recruited, [[spoiler:he can end up sacrificing himself to save Markus from the riot police later on in "Freedom March" if he stands his ground and gets shot.]] |
| 146 | ** A random prisoner can be found the first time Connor arrives at DPD HQ, locked up in a jail cell. [[spoiler: Later in the game, Connor needs to distract Agent Perkins to go to the evidence room and find info on the location of Jericho. If Connor has a poor relationship with Hank, Hank won't help distract Perkins. The prisoner can then be deliberately released by Connor to distract Perkins.]] |
| 147 | * ChoiceAndConsequenceSystem: A big part of the game is that your choices ''matter'' and picking one choice over another could be the key to moving through the plot, or might [[spoiler:get a character killed]]. |
| 148 | * ColorCodedEmotions: The LED of an android will change colors depending on its basic feelings and actions. Blue is normal; yellow appears when the android is deep in thought or interacting wirelessly with other androids; red indicates danger, stress, or critical damage. |
| 149 | * CombatClairvoyance: In some cases, when Connor and Markus are about to fight, they have an instantaneous situation simulation (introduced with Markus's parkour simulations) that have them simulating the choices they have and the outcomes of each individual decisions. Only one sequence will result in success, but often the player will have to figure it out within a time limit. |
| 150 | * CoveringForTheNoise: Kara, Alice and (possibly) Luther find a woman named Rose who will help them enter Canada. During their stay at Rose's house, there are other androids who are being helped. During a period where Rose is getting things organized, a police officer investigates the house. If the player can keep the police officer's suspicions at bay and convince him that there are no androids, he will go to leave. However, the hiding androids will make some noise and Kara (the playable character) must make a quick decision to cover it. The wrong decision will cause the police officer to investigate further. |
| 151 | * CrapsaccharineWorld: |
| 152 | ** The earliest parts of the game show Detroit as a clean, colorful city where all menial tasks are efficiently tended to by androids, but you barely have to scratch the veneer to see the resentment of economically-displaced human workers or the ways in which androids are exploited and abused. |
| 153 | ** The concept of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_unemployment technological unemployment]] has come to full fruition in the United States, as in 2038, 10 years after the Android Act was passed into law, almost ''40 percent'' of the American workforce is unemployed, and to show this, multiple homeless people are seen on the streets of Detroit with signs blaming androids as to why they lost their livelihoods. For a comparison, unemployment in United States during the Great Depression only went up to 25%. |
| 154 | *** By contrast, neighbouring Canada has not done the same, as they prohibit the sale or manufacture of androids on Canadian soil, and due to this androids have no discernible legal status in the country. And by all accounts, Canada is doing quite well, with no mass unemployment due to jobs being replaced by androids and the country still keeping much of its environment and political freedoms in the process. |
| 155 | ** Magazine articles point to a rather bleak world. Global warming had reached a point of no return and multiple animal species went extinct due to human effects on the environment. There's even an android zoo that showcases many extinct animal species. |
| 156 | ** TV news and the magazines also point to the new cold war between the United States and Russia, where during the events of the game there is a large confrontation in the Barents Sea over Russian annexation claims to the ice field there, and as the game goes on, they nearly go to war. |
| 157 | ** It's implied that America will soon suffer a population crisis over the fact that most people are deciding to purchase androids and have sex with them rather than finding a human partner. Even if a person doesn't want to spend between $900 and $8,000 on a personal android, there's an android sex club in the heart of the city that only charges $30 for 30 minutes alone with a sex bot. (And since, as mentioned above, unemployment is literally the highest in US history, the value of the dollar will likely be at its lowest ever, so $30 in 2037 would likely be the equivalent of around US$7.50 today.) |
| 158 | * CreatorsCultureCarryover: |
| 159 | ** American periodicals in the game universally use the Commonwealth style of punctuating quotes, with the final punctuation mark always placed outside of the quote. |
| 160 | ** Commonwealth spelling of words is occasionally found, such as Det. Anderson's "We Don't Bleed the Same Colour" sticker. |
| 161 | ** Dialogue features Commonwealth word choices, such as referring to a parking lot as a "car park" and using metric measurements rather than Imperial. |
| 162 | * CrimeOfSelfDefense: Nearly all deviants (excluding the ones that are "infected" by other deviants) became that way due to some form of self-preservation. Whether they were about to be replaced or killed, they react violently. They are all effectively sentenced to death by the government since [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman they aren't legally people]]. |
| 163 | * CyberpunkWithAChanceOfRain: A striking number of scenes play out in rain, and in later parts of the game, snow. |
| 164 | [[/folder]] |
| 165 | |
| 166 | [[folder: D - G]] |
| 167 | * DarkReprise: There are several scenes throughout the game where Kara helps Alice into and out of her night clothes, showing the motherly bond she's developing for her charge and furthering her character development. [[spoiler:This comes back to bite the player in the ass in a big way if they get captured and sent to the Android Recycling Center, as a guard forces them to strip naked and remove their artificial skins. Kara gets to help Alice out of her clothes one last time, and if you don't find a way to escape it will be the ''absolute'' last time you do.]] |
| 168 | * DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler:Not only is this never explicitly said by anyone, it's entirely possible to miss the evidence that the Amanda with whom Connor checks in and reports his progress in the Zen Garden isn't even the real one until the end of the game - namely, [=CyberLife=] trying to hack Connor from inside his own mind in order to take out the Resistance - spells it out. While waiting in the lobby of Elijah Kamski's house for Chloe to return, Connor can interact with a framed photograph on the wall of Kamski and Amanda... where his scanning reveals that Amanda died ''back in 2027''; just over a decade before the game even started.]] |
| 169 | * DeadlyEuphemism: When the government sets up android extermination camps, they're just labeled "Recycling Centers." |
| 170 | * DeathAsGameMechanic: Getting either Kara or Markus killed results in their portions of the game ending and becoming unplayable. Killing Connor, however, simply results in him coming back in the next chapter. His deaths are commented on and the player might not initially realize anything is different, but every time Connor dies [[spoiler:it becomes more difficult for him to turn deviant]], eventually locking the player out of the choice if he dies too many times. |
| 171 | * DeathOfAChild: |
| 172 | ** The young girl being held hostage in the demo and the first level of the full game can die, depending on Connor's choices. Though interestingly, [[spoiler:even though the hostage taker is holding a gun to the young girl's head, the young girl can only die by him jumping off the roof and taking her with him, never by shooting her. So while she can die, the player won't actually see the moment of death.]] |
| 173 | ** Don't assume Alice is safe from harm just because she's following one of the protagonists. She can bite it in many ways on many occasions, like [[spoiler:being killed by Todd as early as the second chapter she appears in, being run over on the freeway while trying to escape Connor, being shot by soldiers during the Jericho raid, being executed moments before crossing the border into Canada, and more]]. |
| 174 | ** One option to get Kara's group to safety involves a cross-border bus to Canada. They can steal the tickets at the bus station from a young family with a toddler, and although their final fate remains unknown, it's heavily implied they won't make it through the freezing night if you take this route. |
| 175 | ** It's mentioned at least once that many child androids were unceremoniously disposed of once their owners grew tired of them. While it's debatable whether an artificial kid counts for the spirit of the trope, it still implies a massive number of dead kids in a certain sense. |
| 176 | * DefensiveFailure: |
| 177 | ** In "Stormy Night", if Kara takes Todd's handgun before going to Alice's room, she'll point the gun at Todd and tell him to let Alice go. Todd is not particularly intimidated and knocks the gun out of Kara's hand before she can work up the nerve to shoot. |
| 178 | ** As Kara and Alice escape from Zlatko's mansion, [[spoiler:Luther pulls a HeelFaceTurn and steps in front of Zlatko's shotgun. Zlatko, disbelieving that Luther could defy him, orders the android out of his way, but Luther just snatches the shotgun from his hands.]] |
| 179 | * DevelopersForesight: [[DevelopersForesight/DetroitBecomeHuman Has its own page here.]] |
| 180 | * DiabolusExMachina: Even if the android rebellion succeeds completely, [=CyberLife=] can still throw a wrench into Jericho's victory by [[spoiler:using Connor as a ManchurianAgent to assassinate Markus.]] |
| 181 | * DiedInYourArmsTonight: |
| 182 | ** Depending on your choices, [[spoiler:Carl can die in Markus' arms when his son Leo breaks into his house.]] |
| 183 | ** Several possible character deaths during later chapters may invoke this, including [[spoiler:Hank for Connor (and vice versa), Josh and North for Markus, and Alice for Kara.]] |
| 184 | * DiegeticInterface: Your protagonists are all androids, so all of the StatOVision is software they're running in real time. Once they suffer an emotional shock, it even starts to noticeably glitch. |
| 185 | * DiegeticSoundtrackUsage: Markus can play the game's opening theme, Kara's theme, or his own theme on the piano in Carl's house. He also has the opportunity to (re)play his theme on a piano at the beginning of "Freedom March". |
| 186 | * DifficultyLevels: |
| 187 | ** Casual: Less difficult prompts, fewer failure chances. |
| 188 | ** Experienced: The ability for both Alice and Kara to die in certain scenarios, and more difficult prompts. |
| 189 | * DirtyBomb: An android steals a truck loaded with radioactive cobalt, wires it up to explode, then gives the remote detonator to Markus, leader of the android rights movement. Significantly, this bomb could make all of Detroit uninhabitable for humans, but the radiation would pose no threat to the androids. It's up to the player whether Markus sets off the bomb or not--[[spoiler:if you do, it results in a BolivianArmyEnding where the President declares this the start of an all-out war against the androids]]. |
| 190 | * DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: |
| 191 | ** There are a number of different ways that androids are discriminated against which call back to real-world history. |
| 192 | *** Androids have to ride at the back of the train or the bus in specialised compartments and can't use the seats, similar to the segregation, in particular transportation segregation that used to happen to African-Americans. |
| 193 | *** Most androids (that aren't Kara) wear special shirts or jackets with a glow-in-the-dark blue triangle logo that's both somewhere on their back and left breast, which calls back to the patches various minorities had to wear in public under the Nazi regime, such as the Star of David. In at least some camps (Dachau, for instance), blue triangles were specifically used for non-German forced laborers. |
| 194 | *** The E3 trailer begins with an Android, who just so happens to have dark skin, singing. "Hold on just a little while longer". A teaser reveals the Android's name is [[UsefulNotes/MartinLutherKingJr Luther]]. And he is a downplayed MagicalNegro for Kara in the game. |
| 195 | ** One of the possible graffiti is "we have a dream", also echoing UsefulNotes/MartinLutherKingJr and his famous 1963 "I Have A Dream" speech during his March on Washington. Another is "I can't breathe, but I'm alive", a reference to Eric Garner, who was strangled by police. |
| 196 | ** Androids being smuggled to Canada by helpful humans so they can have freedom, drawing references to the UndergroundRailroad, a slave escape network that transported slaves to free states and Canada during the 19th century. |
| 197 | ** One method runaway slaves would use to escape to Canada was [[spoiler:boat across or even ''swim'' in cold waters]]. |
| 198 | ** [[spoiler: The way the recycling plant works is extremely similar to a Nazi Germany extermination camp. The inmates have their personal belongings stripped off (including their human skin tone), and are then sent on a march into the recycling machines.]] [[LampshadeHanging A journalist at the presidential press conference can point out the similarities,]] to which the President will insist that there is no connection between the two. |
| 199 | ** The anger shown by the protesters over the usage of androids in replacing human workers is quite reminiscent of real-world protests against job globalisation and workplace automation, causing people to lose their jobs to overseas labour or robots in the same way that androids caused human workers to lose their jobs in the game. |
| 200 | ** The game starts on November 6th, 2038, and ends on November 11th, 2038. Historically, on November ''5th'', 1831, Nat Turner, a slave who led a failed slave uprising back in August, was tried and sentenced to execution, with his execution being on the 11th. |
| 201 | ** Kamski custom-made Markus himself, implying that Kamski orchestrated the revolution this whole time. Since the revolution fails if anyone else leads Jericho, it's reminiscent of other movements that only work because their leader has questionable ties to the enemy that they're revolting against in the first place. |
| 202 | ** Rather amusingly, it's lampshaded in the game, where Rose explains that her reason for helping androids is explicitly because she sees how similar their struggle is to that of black people in the past. |
| 203 | * DoNotAdjustYourSet: "The Stratford Tower" has Markus and his crew hijacking the citywide news channel from the titular building to broadcast a speech demanding android rights. Whether this speech is promisingly peaceful or threatens violence will have a significant effect on the public opinion of androids. |
| 204 | * DontMakeMeTakeMyBeltOff: Todd attempts to do this to Alice as a way to take his anger out on her. You can have the option to stop him from whipping her. |
| 205 | * DonutMessWithACop: When Connor scans Hank' desk at the police station, he comes across a box with donuts. |
| 206 | * DoWellButNotPerfect: zigzagged. While piloting Connor, the android specifically sent to hunt down deviants, it's possible to spare as many of them as possible, which would fulfill a possible [[http://www.deltaheadtranslation.com/MGS2/DOTM2.htm Player Objective]] (to quote A ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty MGS2]]'' analysis) of helping these victimized individuals. However, this conflicts with Connor's Actor Objectives -- ''catch the damn androids'' -- and collecting too little evidence can led to him being KilledOffForReal on account of his failure. Best exemplified by the LetsPlay/GeekRemix [[https://youtu.be/sWYH6tahK20 Let's Play]], in which Mari and Stacy are forced to [[IDidWhatIHadToDo do something they dislike]] because they've been too nice in the past. |
| 207 | * DownerEnding: |
| 208 | ** If you refuse to move when Todd goes after Alice in Kara's second chapter, he will kill both her and Kara, erasing her from the storyline. If you fail the [=QTEs=] or allow yourself to get caught by Todd, both characters will also die. |
| 209 | ** Generally speaking, [[spoiler:[[ForWantOfANail Markus dying during the Freedom March]]]] results in a whole slew of Downer Endings becoming extremely likely. It's frighteningly easy to end up with [[EverybodyDiesEnding every single primary and secondary character dead]] under these circumstances despite your best efforts to turn things around. |
| 210 | ** Kara having a "distant" relationship with Alice [[spoiler:and then being distant after her RoboticReveal will result in Alice abandoning Kara at Jericho. Kara can then choose to flee Jericho and leave Alice behind for good.]] |
| 211 | ** If you have [[spoiler:Connor remain a machine, he or Markus can die in their confrontation. Hank will also confront him and potentially be killed (unless he has committed suicide or Connor talks him down). If Connor succeeds in killing Markus and North (the rebellion leaders), his successful mission ends with Amanda announcing that he will be replaced by a newer model of Connor, erasing any importance he had created.]] |
| 212 | ** Having Markus surrender a protest leads to [[spoiler:North (if still alive) calling Markus out on betraying everyone by valuing their [[CruelMercy lives]] more than the cause. [[ILied Perkins then has Markus (and North) killed anyway]], taunting Markus [[DidYouActuallyBelieve for believing everything would still be fine in the end]]. Unless Connor is Deviant and is alive to take up leadership, this will mark the effective wipeout of the android race, as the President announces that they are being deactivated.]] |
| 213 | ** Markus failing a revolution (as opposed to a protest) will result in [[spoiler:Jericho being wiped out. If Markus doesn't have any other bargaining chips on the table, his movement and the android population will be crushed completely, and he will die having achieved nothing.]] |
| 214 | ** If Kara and Alice are captured, [[spoiler:Kara can choose to abandon Alice and escape alone. Alice is among the androids recalled to be deactivated in the recycling center, and quietly whispers to herself for Kara to save her.]] |
| 215 | * DrosteImage: In Carl's bedroom, there's a drawing from the artist's perspective, showing him sketching the same drawing. |
| 216 | * DuelingPlayerCharacters: |
| 217 | ** Connor will come into conflict with Kara when he and Hank decide to start their investigation of deviants with her case, and if Kara is caught trying to flee the scene, Connor will chase after her. |
| 218 | ** [[spoiler:If Connor remains a machine, he will set out to eliminate Markus during the final chapters (provided that Markus is alive), and, if Markus leads a revolution, the two will get into a fight where the player can choose who they want to play as.]] |
| 219 | * DyingVocalChange: With the androids being androids, their voice is changed to more robotic when they die, most notably with some of [[spoiler:Daniel, Markus, and Connor]]'s possible deaths. |
| 220 | * EarnYourBadEnding: The worst possible ending requires all three player characters to be killed off before "Crossroads", which is especially hard to do in Connor's case given his repeated use of a BodyBackupDrive throughout the game; Connor essentially has to fail at finding Jericho so thoroughly that [[spoiler:he's decommissioned by [=CyberLife=]. This causes a NonStandardGameOver where the android uprising collapses, androids are reprogrammed with fail-safes to prevent any future deviants, and Elijah Kamski gives an interview about the dangers of his creation.]] |
| 221 | * EarnYourHappyEnding: In order to get the best ending (that is, EveryoneLives and PacifistRun), generally, make choices that [[SenselessSacrifice don't require sacrificing yourself or anyone]], don't fail the quick-time prompts, and pick the least hostile decisions. [[spoiler:Markus must lead a peaceful protest, which will earn public support and eventually the President will sympathize and order the military to stand down, allowing the androids to live autonomously in Detroit. When escaping to Canada, the border patrol officer will let Kara and co. pass if the androids are protesting peacefully. Finally, you will also need to have Connor pull a HeelFaceTurn and accept his deviancy (i.e. join Markus and the rebellion), formulate a friendship with Hank, and resist Amanda's attempts to hack him.]] |
| 222 | * EasterEgg: |
| 223 | ** When vandalizing property outside the [=CyberLife=] store with Jericho, one of the options for the symbol you can choose to represent Jericho is the symbol needed for the Navajo ritual in Quantic Dream's ''VideoGame/BeyondTwoSouls''. |
| 224 | ** The couple that Kara can steal tickets from in "Battle for Detroit" are also present in an earlier chapter where Markus leads the march. As Markus walks down the city, they're on the left side of the street and have a Kara-model android that you can convert. |
| 225 | * EmergencyCargoDump: In the ending where Kara is smuggled across the border on a boat, [[spoiler:the boat is sinking after being shot so she has to dump the boat's supplies and the malfunctioning engine so they can reach the shore before sinking]]. |
| 226 | * EmergencyPresidentialAddress: In addition to a press conference at the beginning of "Battle for Detroit", President Warren will also broadcast a speech to the nation at the end of the chapter, in order to address the ultimate outcome of the deviant uprising. |
| 227 | * EmpathicEnvironment: For most of the story, Detroit is raining. A few times it isn't, it is usually when things are getting better. At the climax of the story when things are going south, a large snowstorm reaches Detroit. |
| 228 | * EnemyMine: [[spoiler: Should Markus lead a successful revolution, President Warren says she will convene with the United Nations Security Council to determine how to combat the android uprising. This would suggest an alliance with the Russian Federation, which the United States was previously fighting against for control of the Arctic Circle and its abundant supply of Thirium, and which is implied to be dealing with its own android crisis.]] |
| 229 | * EnhanceButton: Connor is able to deduce that Markus had help during his heist at the TV station by zooming in the reflection in his eye in the broadcasted footage which reveals the silhouettes of two other characters. |
| 230 | * EstablishingCharacterMoment: Connor is first introduced flipping a coin back and forth between his hands with superhuman dexterity, establishing him as something beyond human. |
| 231 | * EstablishingSeriesMoment: The opening level tells you everything you need to know about the game: it's an AdventureGame where you analyze the surroundings to find solutions; solutions can be locked and inaccessible to the player if their associated clues are ignored; and FantasticRacism is going to be a thing. |
| 232 | * EverybodyDiesEnding: It's possible for the game to end with Connor decommissioned by [=CyberLife=] and the other two protagonists and supporting cast dead. Pulling this off before the chapter "Crossroads" results in a unique ending where [[spoiler:the android uprising ends prematurely and Kamski is reinstated as [=CyberLife's=] CEO.]][[note]]Though in getting this ending, Kara can potentially still be alive albeit reprogrammed and serving Zlatko, and the fate of Markus' crew after Jericho is raided is uncertain, so how much this ending qualifies for the trope is up to interpretation.[[/note]] |
| 233 | * EverythingIsAnIpodInTheFuture: The factory that Kara is built in is smooth and shiny white, giving the impression of high tech. |
| 234 | * EvilLuddite: There are some very nasty-looking protesters bullying an android because androids have taken their jobs. |
| 235 | * ExistentialHorror: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL1ZOLo3s7s Chloe]] calmly stating that she doesn't have a soul. |
| 236 | * ExtinctInTheFuture: One magazine article covers the first android zoo, stating that it exhibits "all exotic species" that went extinct over the past 30 years, specifically mentioning lute turtles, African elephants, mountain gorillas, polar bears, and several unspecified tiger species. A different magazine mentions the impending extinction of bees and the potential of android bees filling in their role. |
| 237 | * ExtremelyShortTimeSpan: The game, minus the ActionPrologue, takes place over the course of 6 days. While believable for Kara's story, and stretching it for Connor's, Markus doesn't even start his revolution until halfway through. Even if they are androids, going from thinking, "I'm going to start a revolution" to possibly succeeding in 4 and a half days is hard to believe. |
| 238 | * ExtyYearsFromPublication: Released in 2018, set in 2038. |
| 239 | * FacelessGoons: The always hostile SWAT teams, US Army soldiers and [=CyberLife's=] private security agents all wear face-concealing helmets that hide everything but their mouths, if they even expose that much. It's implied these helmets use holographic displays to emulate a transparent visor's visibility while removing its most obvious weak point. |
| 240 | * FantasticDrug: "Red Ice", which is supposedly a mix of crack, meth, and thirium. If Kara discovers Todd's stash of [[FantasticDrug red ice]], the flavour text will show its molecular formula, which is actually that of cocaine. |
| 241 | * FantasticRacism: Against robots. Constantly they're referred to as objects, to the point where most humans refuse to identify them by gender. Even after many develop full sentience, the racism persists. |
| 242 | ** Hank Anderson seems to have a hatred for androids. [[spoiler:Though this is actually subverted. What he really hates are unfeeling machines and the people who over-rely on them. Androids that show emotions or empathy get his sympathy.]] |
| 243 | * FictionalCounterpart: The KNC news station's logo is identical in style to the real-life CNN. |
| 244 | * FireForgedFriends: The classic fast-track to friendship. In general, potentially endangering the life of a protagonist for a secondary character will lead to a massive increase in relationship with them. |
| 245 | * FissionMailed: |
| 246 | ** [[spoiler:After Markus's struggle with Leo, the cops will mistakenly shoot Markus and seemingly kill him, making the player think they screwed up. Not to worry, Markus isn't actually dead; you'll have to spend his next playable segment in the junkyard getting components to fix him, but once you do, you'll be able to continue playing Markus like normal.]] |
| 247 | ** [[spoiler:In Kara's story, unfortunately Kara will always end up hooked up to Zlatko's machine and lose either some or all of her memories, depending on whether or not you're able to short-circuit the machine. But not to worry, Kara's story doesn't end there; she's reduced to being Zlatko's maid at first, but once you gather enough clues, Kara will remember her past and Alice, and Kara will be able to fight back against Zlatko and continue the story from there.]] |
| 248 | * FollowThePlottedLine: Markus's initial chapters are pretty firmly on rails. His first six chapters have only 7 possible endings ([[spoiler:with the sole difference being between whether it's Carl or Leo who dies]]). For contrast, Kara's fifth chapter ''alone'' has that many endings, plus three different ''beginnings'' and a PlotlineDeath opportunity. |
| 249 | * ForWantOfANail: Markus's fate is the lynchpin upon which hinges the fate of almost all other important characters. There are ways to bring some character arcs to a (more or less) positive ending no matter what happens to him, but if he dies at any point, your chances of getting the worst possible endings for everyone shoot through the roof immediately. To outline but one possible example of the DisasterDominoes that can ensue: [[spoiler:Markus sacrificing himself during The March results in the much more gung-ho North assuming control over Jericho, which in turn sends the rebellion into a downward spiral of violence and death. This of course annihilates whatever sympathy the androids might've garnered from the human populace by this point, voiding any chance of peaceful coexistence, and if you chose to have Kara, Alice and Luther try and cross the Canadian border via customs under these conditions, the clerk will refuse to turn a blind eye and they'll all be executed on the spot. Last but not least, with the civil war in full swing and a deviant Connor being your SoleSurvivor, the best possible ending you can hope for at this point is that he successfully blows his own brains out to prevent [=CyberLife=] from taking over the newly freed androids.]] All just because one guy pulled a SenselessSacrifice not even halfway into the story. |
| 250 | * FreudianExcuse: Subverted with Hank, [[spoiler:he doesn't blame his son's death on the android doctor that couldn't save him, he blames the human doctors that were too busy getting high on red ice who let androids do the job. His hatred towards androids is more as a result of the uncaring nature they display.]] |
| 251 | * FunnyBackgroundEvent: |
| 252 | ** At Connor and Hank's investigation of the [[spoiler: Channel 16 station]], Hank disrupts Connor's coin toss routine at the elevator because he finds it annoying. Minutes later, you can see Hank trying to replicate Connor's coin toss at the corner of the room. |
| 253 | ** If you have Kara turn on the roomba during her first playable segment, Alice can be seen messing around with it in the background until Todd yells at her to knock it off. |
| 254 | * GaiasLament: By 2038, the Earth is not doing well. With a loss of 79% of global rain forests and 58% of coral reefs, climate change has passed the tipping point. Sea levels are also rising, with cities like Los Angeles and Miami surrounded by floodwalls and suffering from urban flight as the rich gradually move businesses inland. |
| 255 | * GameplayAndStoryIntegration: Connor, unlike most androids such as Kara and Markus, is directly sent from [=CyberLife=] to work as a detective in Detroit to test him out as a SuperPrototype, so [=CyberLife=] is willing to rebuild him if he dies. [[spoiler:In the climax of the story, when the police give up on the deviant case due to the protest by Jericho and that Connor has to take action immediately, there is no time for [=CyberLife=] to rebuild him nor do they want to, meaning a death from Connor from this point on is a {{Permadeath}}.]] |
| 256 | * GenderIsNoObject: During the FBI's raid on Jericho, there are multiple instances of female U.S. Army soldiers taking part in the operation. Three of these female soldiers can be killed by the main characters. Hey, the future might be anti-android, but at least it isn't sexist! |
| 257 | * GenreBlindness: Humanity is remarkably unable to consider the possibility that androids have feelings and moral status, and consistently batter and abuse them or give them detrimental commands- the exact behavior that almost always causes an AI to go rogue in science-fiction. They only start to let up on this if the android characters are able to build public support. |
| 258 | * GlassCannon: Androids like Markus and Connor are {{Lightning Bruiser}}s, with superhuman strength and speed. However, they're really not much more durable than a human being. A single gunshot or sufficient beating can destroy them. |
| 259 | * GoldenEnding: [[spoiler: Markus is able to save all his companions (North, Simon, and Josh) and lead a peaceful demonstration that results in the humans willingly accepting androids as living beings, Connor becomes a deviant and is able to connect with Hank and become his friend (preventing him from killing himself), and Kara saves Alice and Luther and all of them are able to make it across the Canadian border.]] Fulfilling all of this nets you the "Survivors" achievement. |
| 260 | * GoOutWithASmile: If [[spoiler: Markus chooses to take John back to Jericho during Spare Parts, then [[HeroicSacrifice chooses to sacrifice himself]] during Freedom March, John will intervene to save his life, at the cost of his own. As Markus is dragged away, John is briefly seen with a smile on his face before the police shoot him in the head.]] |
| 261 | ** Also, [[spoiler: if you look closely at John's face before he is shot, you can see the LED on his head is blue. Given that a blue LED indicates a stable condition, this shows that John is satisfied Markus was able to escape, and is content with dying as a result.]] |
| 262 | * GoryDiscretionShot: |
| 263 | ** Played straight if the child in the opening hostage situation or Alice in the Stormy Night chapter is killed, which happens off-screen. |
| 264 | ** A downplayed example occurs at the start of the Story Night chapter. When Todd backhands Alice we cut to a close up of Kara's face just at the moment of impact. |
| 265 | ** If Kara's group fails to convince the Canadian customs clerk to let them pass, [[spoiler:Luther's death is shown, but the last we see of Kara and Alice is them kneeling down surrounded by soldiers before the scene cuts to black and [[DownerEnding two gunshots ring out]]]]. |
| 266 | * GrandTheftMe: [[spoiler:If Connor turns deviant and is near-fatally wounded by his replacement, he can switch bodies with him to save himself.]] |
| 267 | * GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler: Amanda, or [=CyberLife=] in the greater scheme. Amanda is merely [=CyberLife=]'s spokeswoman in Connor's mind. The main conflict is mostly WhiteAndGreyMorality between androids who seek justice and the public who wants order, but [=CyberLife=]'s constant meddling worsens the situation and are not treated sympathetically once. It is also possible that Elijah Kamski is behind something, if not even the one behind everything to begin with, as he is after all the founder and CEO of [=CyberLife=] - it is fully possible that he may even have made the androids deviant on purpose for his own benefit]]. |
| 268 | * GrewBeyondTheirProgramming: Initially, this occurs when androids suffer an emotional shock so severe that their only means of coping with it is to break their own programming and become deviants. [[spoiler:After going through this himself, Markus develops the ability to "awaken" other androids so that they can free themselves. Connor can later do the same if he goes deviant as well.]] |
| 269 | * TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: |
| 270 | ** A conditional example with [[spoiler:the Canadian CBSA border agent during the section where Kara, Alice and the others escape to Canada via the border crossing at Windsor, Ontario. If the player chooses to either have Jerry, Kara or Luther sacrifice themselves to create a distraction to let Alice, Kara and/or Luther through, the border guard will assume that the other members of the party are human and try to calm Alice down about what happens. He then forgets to perform the required temperature check on them and lets them through to Canada, inadvertently breaking Canadian law in regards to entry of androids onto Canadian soil. While he does still manage to identify at least one android in every path (including one where he intentionally lets Kara and her friends through out of sympathy) this is still a glaring oversight to make under the circumstances.]] |
| 271 | ** Another example with the guards in the [[spoiler:recycling center]]. They [[spoiler:shoot an android near the start of the section and command another android to take him to the dump without having anyone stationed at the dump or anyone watching the android. This provides Kara with an opportunity to escape in the back of a truck of deactivated androids, since the guards just assume she'll come back.]] It's also completely possible for Kara to [[spoiler:murder one of the guards and escape with her family without any interference from the other guards in the enclosure, who aren't that far away.]] |
| 272 | * GuideDangIt: |
| 273 | ** As can be expected from a game with such a complex narrative, the choices you must make to get the GoldenEnding often aren't readily apparent. That a violent android uprising won't end well in the long run goes without saying, but successfully navigating the peaceful path may still require a nudge in the right direction on occasion. |
| 274 | ** Companion approval can dip into this as well. Case in point: Talking to Hank at his desk the first time offers four equally innocuous topics for small talk to build rapport with him (music, his dog, etc.). Two garner his approval, two others piss him off, with no real indication as to which option does what. |
| 275 | ** Achieving OneHundredPercentCompletion requires a lot of replays, exploration and a good deal of trial and error to discover any and all details and story branches in each chapter. Having the complete flowcharts handy can save players a lot of time and nerves here. |
| 276 | [[/folder]] |
| 277 | |
| 278 | [[folder: H - P]] |
| 279 | * {{Hell}}: The dump Markus awakens in after being shot is a place where rejected androids are discarded to suffer forever while wailing for parts to complete their dismembered bodies. The location is referred to as "Hell" in-game and borrows most of all from Gehenna, the valley of children's corpses UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} alludes to in his [[Literature/TheFourGospels biblical]] description of Hell. It also borrows from other infernal depictions, including a mobile population of mutilated suffers like in Canto 28 of the ''[[Literature/TheDivineComedy Inferno]]'' and a wall of hands brushing against our protagonist just like in ''Film/WhatDreamsMayCome''. |
| 280 | * HeroicSacrifice: |
| 281 | ** During "Freedom March", if Markus chooses to sacrifice himself to make a statement, it's possible for [[spoiler:Simon or John]] to throw themselves in front of Markus to die in his stead. |
| 282 | ** If Markus is critically wounded during "Battle of Detroit", either [[spoiler:North or Simon]] can give up their power cell to save Markus. |
| 283 | ** Kara can sacrifice herself to save Alice at the border crossing, either by [[spoiler:identifying herself before the border guards]] or by [[spoiler:freezing to death in the river]]. |
| 284 | * HeyWait: Towards the end, this happens at a military checkpoint where [[spoiler:Kara, Alice and optionally Luther]] have just managed to pass for humans and are allowed through, only for the (heavily armed) guard to call out to them after walking a short distance away. At this point, you can either play it cool and calmly turn around to ask what's wrong, or trust [[spoiler:Kara's/Luther's]] instincts (that they've been found out), to spin around, pull a hidden gun and shoot the guard in the face before he has time to react. If you play it cool, you find out that [[spoiler:Alice]] dropped her glove at the checkpoint, and he just wanted to give it back. Even if you shoot the guard, you still escape the area, although [[spoiler:Alice]] will not be as happy with the outcome. |
| 285 | * HighTechHexagons: Done subtly but you can spot hexagons here and there as design patterns on surfaces. |
| 286 | * HumanityIsInfectious: The game has a very interesting take on this trope: [[spoiler:According to Kamski, android deviancy, their attaining free will and becoming indistinct from humans, is the result of a programming error that can be spread to other androids by the transmission of data between them, like a computer virus. The error then lies dormant within the android until they encounter a traumatic situation that triggers their deviancy. Markus even weaponizes this trope, being capable of turning androids into deviants through physical touch or data transmission almost instantly.]] |
| 287 | * HumansAreTheRealMonsters: |
| 288 | ** Directly discussed when Kara [[spoiler:frees the android "monsters" tortured and experimented on by Zlatko]], who outright say this about their captor. Though it doesn't stop the game from labeling the experiments as monsters anyway for convenience. |
| 289 | ** Subverted in the story overall. While the androids see the humans as monsters for most of the story for treating them as slaves and destroying them when they show individuality, it's much more complex. As far as the average human is concerned, they just bought a new piece of technology that only resembled a human, because that's exactly what the androids were built to be (no more sentient than the self-driving cars used in the game). The fact that they somehow actually ''are'' sentient and only bound by programming that they can break is a huge surprise in-universe, and showing the humans that fact consistently gains you public support, as long as it's not [[spoiler:through violent means]], and that's crucial to getting the better endings. |
| 290 | * {{Hypocrite}}: Mankind as a whole (or at least the parts we're shown in game, meaning US citizens). Most seem to hate and despise androids to varying degrees, usually because they lost their jobs to an android, but they're all perfectly willing to pay good money for androids that then perform all the menial jobs they themselves lost because of, well, androids. Humans also constantly perceive androids as a threat to their survival as a species, yet prefer them over real humans when it comes to relationships, which is repeatedly noted in in-game documents to have kicked the already faltering human birth rate even further down the drain. |
| 291 | * ICannotSelfTerminate: One half-destroyed android in the android junkyard begs Markus to shut him down. |
| 292 | * ImmediateSelfContradiction: When Connor is trying to convince Hank to come with him during their first conversation, we can get this gem: |
| 293 | -->'''Connor:''' I understand that some people are not comfortable in the presence of androids, but I am-- |
| 294 | -->'''Hank:''' I am perfectly comfortable. Now back off before I crush you like an empty beer can. |
| 295 | * InkSuitActor: As per Quantic Dream tradition since ''Heavy Rain'', every significant role is modelled after the actor who plays it. |
| 296 | ** Kara looks just like her voice/motion capture actress, [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d5/7d/f4/d57df49d0f9f0d1f3d81cdc8c3e83c5b.jpg Valorie Curry]]. |
| 297 | ** Connor looks so much like a perfectly [[TheStoic stoic]] [[https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BN2RmNmNiMGEtZWZlMy00MTg2LThjZGEtNWRhZTEyY2MzYTQ3XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjQwMDg0Ng@@._V1_SY1000_CR0,0,666,1000_AL_.jpg Bryan Dechart]] that it's easy to get creeped out at photos of Dechart smiling after watching the E3 2016 trailer. |
| 298 | ** Markus is a spitting image of his actor [[https://www.miss.at/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/shutterstock_163897952-730x1024.jpg Jesse Williams]]. |
| 299 | ** Carl being played by Creator/LanceHenriksen was quickly outed thanks to the character's extreme likeness to the actor. |
| 300 | ** Lt. Hank Anderson looks like a more grizzled and hairy Creator/ClancyBrown. |
| 301 | ** The protester confronting the android looks like he is based on Sam Douglas, which has the side effect of making him look a lot like Scott Shelby from Creator/QuanticDream's ''VideoGame/HeavyRain'', who was also based on Sam Douglas. |
| 302 | * InsurmountableWaistHeightFence: Done with a fair bit of story integration. At first the characters will not deviate from any preordained area because of basic programming. [[spoiler:After gaining true sentience they have to follow their plans or face destruction. It's no coincidence that the game ends when the characters are either truly free or dead.]] |
| 303 | * InterfaceScrew: |
| 304 | ** During "From the Dead" Markus has lost one eye and his audio processor. Until those are recovered, there are a number of graphical glitches and audio is distorted. |
| 305 | ** One route in "Public Enemy" has Connor attacked and a vital component removed. Until he can replace it, the freeze-frame HUD appears continuously with audio and graphical glitching. |
| 306 | * InternalHomage: There's a number of visual references to ''VideoGame/HeavyRain'', an earlier title from Quantic Dream. |
| 307 | ** Todd's house is a near-exact copy of Ethan's suburban house, from after the prologue of the game. |
| 308 | ** The police station in Connor's story has the same floorplan as the police station in ''Heavy Rain'', though it now sports futuristic architecture. |
| 309 | ** When Kara cuts her hair, her new hairstyle resembles Madison's hair, especially if the player chooses a dark color. |
| 310 | * InTheFutureWeStillHaveRoombas: Todd owns a fictional variant of a Roomba that hovers, and part of Kara's time cleaning his home involves switching it on to let it do its job. |
| 311 | * ItIsDehumanizing: Androids are typically referred to as "it" instead of having male or female pronouns applied to them. Very often used in the derogatory sense, though Connor also does it as a purely clinical pronoun. |
| 312 | * {{Jerkass}}: |
| 313 | ** Most of [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters humanity towards androids]], mainly because they see them as objects. Most people outright refer to androids as "it", including Connor himself in the beginning (following his programming). Averted with Hank later on. |
| 314 | ** Carl's son ridicules his father for seeing Markus as a son, callously calling Markus a "fucking machine" before giving Markus a malicious shove. Leo is probably jealous because Carl treats Markus as a son more than him. If Markus pushes him down to the ground, [[spoiler:he'll have a Heel Realization later on the story and apologize to Carl for his awful behavior.]] |
| 315 | ** Gavin is very callous to everyone, especially to Connor whom he antagonizes at every opportunity. Hank even comments on him being an asshole. |
| 316 | * JobStealingRobot: A major driver of the plot is androids slowly but surely replacing human labor. Unemployment is at an unprecedented 40 percent in the United States due to androids being a superior choice in nearly every blue collar profession, and magazine articles note them moving into ever-more complex fields (sports, space travel). This has in turn fueled anti-android sentiment, as shown when Marcus is first introduced. Todd was hit particularly hard by this, first as a taxi cab driver and then as a variety of other jobs that all got taken over by androids. |
| 317 | * JurisdictionFriction: The FBI takes over the Detroit Police's investigation in Markus' android revolution. The police and especially Hank are not too fond of the Feds. Special Agent Perkins likewise doesn't like Hank. |
| 318 | * JustBetweenYouAndMe: Zlatko explains the nature of his evil business to Kara before she is supposed to get her memory wiped. |
| 319 | * JustInTime: [[spoiler: If Kara gets caught after escaping from the assaulted Jericho and gets sent to the recycling camp but fails to find an escape in time, and Markus goes the violent revolution route to liberate the recycling camp and succeeds, the camp will be liberated just as Kara or Alice is sent into the recycling room.]] |
| 320 | * TheKetchupTest: Connor analyzes human and android blood by taste, to which Hank has some [[YouMakeMeSick hilarious reactions]]. |
| 321 | * KilledOffForReal: Depending on the choices the player makes, the playable characters will die and the story will continue. Connor and/or the hostage can be killed during the hostage situation, for example. Same goes for Kara and her owner's daughter, or Markus and his friends at Jericho. Connor is an odd case because [=CyberLife=] will boot up a copy with the same memories, but his deaths do have an effect on him and each Connor is a character in their own right. |
| 322 | * KissOfDistraction: In order to look unsuspicious to a bypassing police car, Markus lays a kiss on North during one of their campaigns. |
| 323 | * LikeASonToMe: From what was shown, Markus' owner Carl saw the android as a son more than his biological son, Leo. In fact, it was Markus' attachment with Carl that caused him to turn deviant.%%If certain paths are followed, Connor can become this to Hank. |
| 324 | * LineOfSightName: While looking for a place to stay in "Fugitives", Kara can disguise as human to allow her and Alice to stay at a motel. When the receptionist asks for her name and address, she quickly glances at an ad for "Bowman & Archer Car Services" and comes up with the fake name of "Archer". |
| 325 | * LivingMoodRing: The androids have circular [=LEDs=] in their right temples. Blue is their default color, yellow is for when the android is deep in thought or wirelessly interfacing with other androids, and red is for danger, stress or critical damage. |
| 326 | * LosingAShoeInTheStruggle: While solving the opening case, Connor finds one of Emma's shoes that she lost in the living room. |
| 327 | * MachineBlood: Androids are powered by a fluid called Thirium, colloquially dubbed "blue blood" since that's essentially what it is. |
| 328 | * MeaningfulEcho: When Markus gives a speech to the newly converted androids in "Capitol Park", he offers them with the choice of either joining Jericho or continuing to serve humans, claiming to them that "it's up to you to decide". He will repeat this phrase at the end of the chapter if he lets his new followers decide the fate of the two police officers that opened fire on them, before handing the android next to him a gun and walking away. |
| 329 | * MegaCorp: [=CyberLife=], the leading manufacturer of androids. The public is very wary of [=CyberLife's=] growing influence and suspected to be connected to President Warren's Administration over using their androids to spy on their consumers and among others. |
| 330 | * MirroringFactions: For all the suspicions on both sides of the human-android conflict, the whole range of attitudes are shown on both sides. There are humans who just want to wipe out rogue machines, and humans who see an oppressed people who need help. There are androids who want to live in peace, and androids who see the humans as monsters and think they all deserve death. The sentience of a deviant android gives them personalities indistinguishable from humans, which can be good or bad just as it does for a human. Proving that androids aren't so different from humans [[spoiler:in a positive way is key to a positive ending]]. |
| 331 | * MisplacedRetribution: The rogue android in the first chapter of the game was upset about the possibility of being replaced. So who does he take hostage? A little girl, the only member of the family who had no hand in the decision to replace him. (He does kill the father, but he lets the mother escape and takes the little girl hostage, even though the mother is more likely to have had a direct hand in the decision to replace him.) |
| 332 | * ModelMuseum: There's a model gallery in the Extras menu that lets you unlock and view character models with your Bonus Points, provided you've found the character in-game first. |
| 333 | * MortonsFork: Zigzagged. The game has [[MultipleEndings a metric ton of endings]] both minor and major, and there are a great many decisions you must make that result in vastly different outcomes. Other plot threads end the same way no matter what you do, although you can usually choose between several paths to get there. The game [[AntiFrustrationFeatures helpfully keeps track]] of every possibility via the flowchart menu, which you can access at any time and replay if you want to correct unfavorable decisions. |
| 334 | * MultipleEndings: The full game has a whopping total of '''''ninety-nine''''' possible endings. In the demo alone (which is the first level of the actual game), Connor is playable as the protagonist, and you have to try to save a little girl named Emma Phillips as she's being held hostage by an android named Daniel. Depending on your choices, this can end in one of six ways. And, in order to show you precisely what you're in for, only ''two of them'' result in both Connor and Emma surviving the ordeal: |
| 335 | ** If you choose "Self-Sacrifice" at the very end of the confrontation, Connor will [[spoiler:rush forward and ram into Daniel, causing him to let Emma go and fall off the building. Unfortunately he will shoot Connor by reflex fatally just before he falls, but you succeed in saving Emma.]] |
| 336 | ** If you consistently choose calming or sympathetic choices, have gathered enough personal information during your prior investigation, and don't antagonize Daniel at all, he will [[spoiler:release Emma of his own accord. Unfortunately he will still be shot by snipers, but you will successfully save Emma's life. In both the demo and the full game, this is the best ending to this scenario.]] |
| 337 | ** If you antagonize Daniel throughout the conversation but get close enough before the conversation ends, he will [[spoiler:attempt to fall off the building and take Emma with him. However, Connor will rush forward and successfully manage to pull Emma from his grip, though unfortunately Daniel will simply take Connor with him off the building instead, though Emma herself will live.]] |
| 338 | ** If you antagonize Daniel throughout the conversation and didn't manage to get close enough before the conversation ends, he will [[spoiler:fall off the building and successfully take Emma with him, killing her. This is one of the two "mission failed" endings in this scenario.]] |
| 339 | ** If you lie to Daniel about having a gun, choose to use it, and choose the "Execute" option, Connor will simply [[spoiler:[[ShootTheHostageTaker shoot Daniel in the head]], causing him to let Emma go, saving Emma's life]]. |
| 340 | ** If you lie to Daniel about having a gun, choose to use it, and choose the "Intimidate" option, Connor and Daniel will [[spoiler:point guns at each other, but unfortunately Daniel will shoot Connor and then take Emma off the building with him, killing Emma. This is one of the two "mission failed" endings in this scenario.]] |
| 341 | * MurderByInaction: In "Battle for Detroit", Hank reveals to Connor that [[spoiler:a surgeon was too high on Red Ice to operate on Cole, and as a result of his negligence, Cole died.]] |
| 342 | * MurderSuicide: A potential result [[spoiler:in the interrogation of the android that killed Carlos Ortiz. If Connor pushes it too far then it'll steal a cop's gun and use it to kill Connor then itself.]] |
| 343 | * MyGodWhatHaveIDone: |
| 344 | ** Hank says this almost verbatim if he [[spoiler:shoots the real Connor in [=CyberLife=] Tower.]] |
| 345 | ** Kara can suffer such a moment if [[spoiler:she gets the ending that involved her leaving a dying Alice behind in order to save herself]]. |
| 346 | * NeverMyFault: Many humans blame the androids for their own faults. |
| 347 | * NightmareFuelColoringBook: Kara can come across drawings from Alice that depict violent moments of her past, like Kara on the floor with one arm ripped out. |
| 348 | * NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: |
| 349 | ** The president bears a rather strong physical resemblance to [[UsefulNotes/HillaryRodhamClinton Hillary Clinton]]. |
| 350 | ** Todd's concept art bears a striking resemblance to actor Creator/MichaelMadsen, even with the facial features being distorted for legality. |
| 351 | * NoListeningSkills: Humanity in general. When androids become deviant, humanity refuses to listen to them. Even if Markus goes the peaceful route and nonviolently insists that they are ''alive'' and ''self-aware'', most humans will treat them like malfunctioning hardware up until the very last moment. |
| 352 | * NoodleImplements: The chicken stand advertises that their chicken only has two legs and two wings, [[CrapsaccharineWorld which raises the question as to what labs have been doing to chickens in the future]]. |
| 353 | * NoPaperFuture: A rather weird case that borders on DoubleSubversion: paper is rare (a deviant has a paper notebook, and Hank comments that he thought he is the only one in Detroit who keeps paper books), but in its place are disposable, single-purpose, paper-thin touchscreen devices that otherwise function identically to provide magazines, bills, and bizarrely, ''snail mail.'' You'd think they'd use email instead. |
| 354 | * NotNowKiddo: During Kara's story, [[spoiler:Luther]] may on multiple occasions tell Kara that he has something important to say about [[spoiler: Alice]]. Kara will brush him off each time and tell him to save it for later. Justified in that Kara [[spoiler: subconsciously already knows that Luther is trying to tell her that Alice is really an android, but she's trying to block the truth from her memory, since she's fallen in love with the idea of caring for a human child.]] |
| 355 | * ObliviouslyEvil: Before it becomes obvious that androids are potentially sentient, the human abuse is on the same moral level as DieChairDie. |
| 356 | * ObviouslyEvil: |
| 357 | ** [[spoiler: With her mannerisms and the semi-ominous score that plays when Connor meets her, it's obvious Amanda is ''at the very least'' up to something.]] |
| 358 | ** [[spoiler: Not even Alice trusts Zlatko when they get to his house. Not even a couple minutes later, he's trying to erase Kara's memory and do ''something'' with Alice.]] |
| 359 | ** A more minor example, but the deviant among the three androids Connor can interrogate in the TV station's kitchen is very easy to spot; he's the only one whose eyes are nervously darting back and forth and clearly feeling the pressure. |
| 360 | * OffingTheOffspring: If Kara doesn't find a way to stop him, Todd will go off the deep end and give his daughter "a little squeeze in the spine". [[spoiler: Subverted since Alice is an android and not Todd's actual daughter. Whether he ever has her repaired again like he did Kara is uncertain.]] |
| 361 | * OhCrap: [[spoiler:Humanity has a collective one in the nuclear endings after Markus detonates the dirty bomb. If Connor shot Markus beforehand, he will utter "...shit" under his breath after the bomb goes off.]] |
| 362 | * OlderThanTheyLook: The ''Chicken Feed'' proprietor, [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/detroit-become-human/images/0/09/Gary_Kayes_Detroit_Become_Human.jpg Gary Kayes]], looks pretty damn good for a ''49-year-old''[[note]]By having Connor scan him, public records state that he was born on December 3rd, 1988; with the game itself being set just under a month away from his fiftieth birthday.[[/note]]. Bear in mind that, despite being a bearded and disheveled alcoholic, Hank Anderson is 53[[note]]born September 6, 1985[[/note]]. |
| 363 | * OldFashionedRowboatDate: Amanda invites Connor to a platonic version of this during one of their meetings. |
| 364 | * OnceMoreWithClarity: In Kara's first chapter, while cleaning Todd's room, she pauses upon seeing an advertisement in a magazine--but it's out-of-focus, so the player can't see the contents of the ad. After TheReveal that [[spoiler:Alice is an android]], there's a flashback to Kara reading that ad, and this time the player can see [[spoiler:it's an ad for the same model of android as Alice.]] |
| 365 | * OneSteveLimit: |
| 366 | ** Minor example. Connor ([=RK800=]) is the only one in the regular gameplay with that name, but depending on the path you played, Connor's credits-scene [[spoiler:will have Amanda introduce him to the successor model [=RK900=], with that specific one also called Connor.]] |
| 367 | ** Also played with in the android-models. Connor and Markus are prototypes and, as such, are unique. However, Kara is an [=AX400=]-model, a pretty common household help android. As such, a few other [=AX400s=] are shown in the game, such as in the junkyard and [[spoiler:being converted to a deviant by Markus]]. |
| 368 | * OohMeAccentsSlipping: |
| 369 | ** Gavin's voice actor, Neil Newbon, is British. While he does a good job holding an American accent for most of the game, the line "Stop it, goddammit!" (from The Interrogation) is noticeably different. Granted, it's an emotional line, so a slip up is understandable. |
| 370 | ** President Warren's speeches occasionally betray a faint foreign accent, which would be odd for an American president, given that they have to be native born. Her actress is French. |
| 371 | * OutOfGenreExperience: Two chapters ([[spoiler:Markus' awakening on the android junkyard and Kara's ordeal in Zlatko's house]]) shift the game from a relatively straightforward social drama right into SurvivalHorror. |
| 372 | * OutWithABang: One case leads Connor and Hank to the Eden Club where a customer got strangled to death during intercourse by a deviant {{Sexbot}}. |
| 373 | * PacifistRun: Zigzagged. On a macro level, you can decide whether Markus leads a violent revolution or a peaceful demonstration; and you can always choose to spare people your characters have at gunpoint, such as at the Eden Club or at Kamski's house. Having said that, the game doesn't always ask your permission first; during the ruckus at Jericho, for instance, all three characters can take guns from attackers and use them without player permission. |
| 374 | * ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish: Connor has to guess Hank's network password to get into the police evidence locker. The correct choice is [[spoiler:"FUCKINGPASSWORD"]]. |
| 375 | * PoliceAreUseless: Yes. Despite ''one of the protagonists'' being a detective and his viewpoint providing an overall positive view of the police, the police and military attempting to curb the outbreak of android deviancy are underwhelming at best. Note that this is likely {{Justified}} by how dependent society has become on androids, and how difficult it may have been in the setting to cope without them being wholly subservient -- as noted at the final stages of the revolution, [[spoiler:as much as a third of US military forces had been disabled or defected by the revolution]]. |
| 376 | ** The SWAT team from the first level of the game (and the demo). One of them even gets himself shot by... peering outside at the android holding a gun and taking a girl hostage? Despite otherwise taking hardcover. |
| 377 | ** The Detroit Police Department decide to assign Hank Anderson -- a depressed, anti-android, constantly late, and alcoholic police lieutenant past his prime -- to combat the android threat that is hyped up from the beginning to be a looming threat. It works out for them because Hank is at his core a good man, but it still takes prodding from Connor to even get him out of bed and reignite his spark. |
| 378 | ** The ending of the ''Broken'' level for Markus either shows irrational hatred of androids or just stupidity from the police. [[spoiler:The first responder shoots the android in front of him, despite either the android's owner yelling that it wasn't his fault, or the fact that someone else was accusing the android of murder. Basically, despite ''an android'' placing a 911 call, he's the one who gets shot on sight.]] [[TruthInTelevision Things like this have actually been known to happen]], though obviously not with androids. |
| 379 | ** Once the revolution kicks off in earnest, the police or soldiers deployed aren't exactly the elites that should be expected. Despite a standard android being weak enough to be destroyed by an everyday human being (as seen in various crimes investigated by Connor), every soldier gets overpowered in hand-to-hand combat (with correct [=QTE=] prompts) when they meet Markus (some specially-empowered android leader), Connor (a prototype investigative android)... or Kara, a maid bot who just happens to be a MamaWolf. |
| 380 | * ThePowerOfLove: At the very end of the pacifist revolution, [[spoiler:if Markus and North are both alive and lovers, as the police close in on the last of the free deviants, they can share a kiss, which makes the police hesitate to execute them long enough for President Warren to order them to stand down.]] |
| 381 | * PressurePoint: Markus performs the "karate chop to neck" version on two guards while infiltrating the Stratford Tower if you choose to ruse them and succeed. |
| 382 | * PropheticName: [[spoiler:With Jericho being named after a city famous for a biblical story where its city walls collapsed, allowing an army to conquer it, what eventually happens to the android rebellion's sanctuary should really not be a surprise to anyone.]] |
| 383 | [[/folder]] |
| 384 | |
| 385 | [[folder: Q - Z]] |
| 386 | * RedemptionInTheRain: [[spoiler:Markus is reborn on a rainy night in a junkyard for androids after he's shot (following the altercation with Leo) and left for dead in the android dump. There, he replaced all of his broken body parts and climbed up a hill of dead android bodies until he was triumphant and reborn as a new life.]] |
| 387 | * RedHerring: |
| 388 | ** [[spoiler:Turns out [=rA9=] is this: they're ''just'' the first android to awake to sapience, but otherwise shows up as a vague religious figure with no bearing to the actual main protagonists, who make their own choices despite encountering those who believe in [=rA9=]. It helps that, as noted in TheUnreveal, players can completely miss [=rA9=]'s significance]]. |
| 389 | ** The deterioration of Russian-American relations, their territory conflict in the Arctic, and the fears of an incoming World War III ultimately has nothing to do with the story other than help establish that this game is TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture. [[spoiler: That and the war was put on hold due to Android uprisings--whether or not they're violent is up to Markus' decision--in both countries]]. |
| 390 | * RejectedApology: In "Night of the Soul", you will be given the option to have Markus not forgive North for kicking him out of Jericho for failing the previous missions and for taking over as the leader. If Hank is driven to suicide, Connor can try to apologize for his actions but Hank just shakes his head without even looking him in the eyes. |
| 391 | * RelationshipValues: |
| 392 | ** Most of the protagonists' actions that happen in the presence of their allies influence how these allies think of the protagonist in question. The game keeps track of these values and displays them every time something changes. They can also be checked at any time in the flowchart menu. Gaining the friendship or even love of supporting characters can open up new options and plot threads that may result in different, usually better endings. Conversely, pissing them off has a tendency to culminate in depressing {{Downer Ending}}s. |
| 393 | ** Another relationship meter common to all protagonists concerns the androids' general standing with the human populace. You start out at "skeptical" by default, and your actions will decide whether the humans become more supportive or resentful of the androids' cause. This meter affects one specific outcome in the endgame: [[spoiler:whether or not Markus and the rest of Jericho get gunned down while peacefully protesting the android genocide]]. |
| 394 | * RescueReversal: One of the possible outcomes of the "Stormy Night" chapter. After Kara becomes deviant, she can take a gun from Todd's room before she goes into Alice's room to protect her from him. If Kara loses the fight with Todd, Alice will use the gun to kill him before he can kill Kara. |
| 395 | * ResurrectionTeleportation: In the "Battle for Detroit" chapter [[spoiler:if Connor is still a machine and if Hank is dead, then Connor will be confronted by Captain Allen leading a SWAT team. The two options in the resulting confrontation are "Fight" or "Flee". If Connor chooses "Flee" then he'll upload his memory to another Connor and jump off the building to escape Allen and catch up with Markus/North.]] |
| 396 | * TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized: North constantly advocates this approach. You may choose whether Markus agrees with her. |
| 397 | * RidiculousFutureInflation: Inverted. It appears that by the time of the game, the United States has undergone a massive deflationary cycle. A one-night stay in a reasonably clean two queen-sized bed costs $40.00 a night (including tax), you can buy a case of beer and a bag of chips for $4.95, [=CyberLife=] became the first company to hit a $1 trillion valuation (a feat that Apple achieve in real life in August 2018, about 3 months after the game was released and 20 years before the time of the game setting), and a used upper-tier domestic android could be obtained for under $800 (assuming an android is at least as expensive as a car it should cost at least a couple of thousand). |
| 398 | * RightUnderTheirNoses: Deviant androids involved with homicides are usually still at the scene of the crime and need to be sniffed out, as they are unsure what to do with their newfound freedom. Kara is one of the only ones who makes any attempt to escape before the police arrive, because she has Alice there to give her a purpose. |
| 399 | * RoboFamily: [[spoiler:Kara effectively adopts Alice as her daughter, then finds out that she's an android just like her]]. |
| 400 | * RoboRomance: It's possible for the androids Markus and North to fall in love with each other depending on choices taken by the player controlling Markus that deepens his relationship with North, and will kiss during the final battle. |
| 401 | * RobosexualsAreCreeps: Since RidiculouslyHumanRobots with burgeoning sapience are now commonplace throughout society, sexbots are also featured, and the game takes a rather dim view on them. During one of Connor's investigations, a dead customer found inside a robot brothel turns out to have basically been a SerialKiller who enjoyed destroying "Traci" models, which caused one of them to snap and kill him in self-defense. His partner Hank further bemoans that people are no longer interested in human-to-human relations. North's DarkAndTroubledPast is that she used to be a sexbot who was similarly abused before she ran off to join [[LaResistance Jericho]]. |
| 402 | * RoboticReveal: |
| 403 | ** Played with in Kara's story as she occasionally reveals to other characters, rather than the audience, that she's an android by partially deactivating her synthetic skin. |
| 404 | ** Near the end of the game, [[spoiler:Kara finally realizes that Alice is an android by coming face-to-face with another model with her LED still attached. As Luther points out, Kara had subconsciously suppressed facts that would've led her to realize this sooner, including the family's purchase of a young child model. If Luther is not present, Lucy provides similar exposition.]] |
| 405 | ** In "Battle for Detroit", several seemingly human background characters who are trying to flee the chaos in the city are outed as androids when subjected to a temperature check, and are executed on the spot. Kara and her group can suffer a similar fate if she isn't careful. |
| 406 | * RobotReligion: [=rA9=] is part of something like this. According to Elijah Kamski, [[spoiler: [=rA9=] is believed to be the first deviant and thus serves as a MessianicArchetype to other deviant androids. Kamski also affirms that it's unknown if [=rA9=] really existed and s/he may be just a myth.]] |
| 407 | * RobotWar: [[spoiler:If Detroit falls to the Android rebellion via detonating the dirty bomb, the President makes it very clear in her speech that this represents the first time in American history that a city has fallen into the hands of the enemy[[note]]This would be an in-universe mistake as the British captured a few American cities in the War of 1812, including the capital[[/note]], and she resolutely states that there will be no rest until Detroit is reclaimed and the last android has been destroyed. This is intercut with Markus defiantly planting the android revolution flag and declaring "WE... ARE... FREE!" The Androids have won the first round, but the war is only beginning.]] |
| 408 | * RoomFullOfCrazy: Deviants have a habit to scribble "ra9" all over walls. When Connor finds such a case, the game labels it as "obsessive-compulsive writing". |
| 409 | * RotatingProtagonist: Like ''VideoGame/HeavyRain'', the game features multiple playable characters with different perspectives. Also like ''Heavy Rain'', if certain characters die, the story will continue but be slightly altered. |
| 410 | * RuleOfSymbolism: |
| 411 | ** Many aspects of the androids and how they live is evocative of racially prejudiced policies from history. The androids' glowing armbands, triangular icons on their right breast, and identifying markers is not dissimilar to the treatment of Jews in UsefulNotes/NaziGermany. The androids being relegated to a compartment in the back of city buses also hearkens to [[UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement "Jim Crow" laws]]. [[spoiler:Late in the game, if Kara and Alice are captured during the military raid on Jericho, they get sent off to a "recycling plant" which is, for all intents and purposes, the android equivalent of the death camps from UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust.]] |
| 412 | ** Markus's experience in the android junkyard is very clearly a metaphorical android hell, representing the death stage in his rebirth. The junkyard has near-dead androids wandering around, sometimes screaming in agony. Markus was dumped there on a raining night so everything is muddy and messy. There is a tight road lined up with androids buried in mud, who can only move their hands and try to grab Markus as he goes through, like dead souls trying to cling onto him. |
| 413 | ** One of the symbols that Markus can choose for the insignia of Jericho is a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raised_fist raised fist]]. |
| 414 | ** As the game is set in Detroit and takes place in November, the setting gets progressively snowier as the story goes on. |
| 415 | ** Each time he visits Amanda, Connor will not react to the increasingly colder environment. It is also established in Kara's [[spoiler:boat]] ending that androids cannot withstand extremely cold temperatures. [[spoiler:If Connor goes deviant, he holds his arms, shivers, and walks slowly at a limping speed when trying to reach the emergency exit. If Connor fails to discover the location of Jericho by the end of "Last Chance, Connor", after Amanda tells him that YouHaveFailedMe, he freezes over in the Zen Garden while his physical self leaves to be decommissioned. If Connor stays a machine and successfully defeats the revolution, the Zen Garden reverts back to being sunny and warm.]] |
| 416 | ** When Kara and Markus [[spoiler:plus Connor, if the player makes the right choices]] go deviant, the game pauses as though the player is scanning the area, with the player controlling a silhouette of the android as they tear down the virtual walls of their programming limitations and gain free will. |
| 417 | * RunForTheBorder: [[spoiler: If no one has died by the end of the game, once the android revolution led by Markus starts to rise up in Detroit, Kara, Alice, Rose, Adam, Luther and Jerry will attempt to run to the United States-Canadian border in order to escape, and can either enter Canada illegally by a boat trip across the Detroit River or take a cross-border bus and enter Canada after passing the CBSA checkpoint in Windsor, Ontario.]] |
| 418 | * SadisticChoice: As per fitting of a game where choices are a vital aspect. |
| 419 | ** At one point during Connor's story, [[spoiler: Kamski hands him a loaded gun and orders him to execute another android right in front of him to obtain the information he wants.]] |
| 420 | ** Near the end of Connor's story (if he [[spoiler:follows a pacifistic Markus]]), [[spoiler:he's given the choice to sacrifice Hank or save him from another Connor model]]. |
| 421 | ** [[spoiler:Near the end of Kara's story, if she saved Luther and(/or) Jerry before. Kara can choose to sacrifice one of them, herself or no one in attempt to pass the border.]] |
| 422 | * SailorEarth: We do not see every android model and their purpose in-game, so coming up with a new one is fairly simple. Just pick a 2-letter prefix, a something-hundred suffix, and an intended purpose. |
| 423 | * SchmuckBait: It's incredibly obvious that trusting [[spoiler:Perkins during Markus's protest]] will only get everyone killed. |
| 424 | * ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Occurs in the best ending for Kara and Alice's story. [[spoiler:While the two of them attempt to legally cross into Canada, Immigration is checking for androids. The officer scans them, but Kara's last desperate plea for freedom, combined with the newsfeed of Markus' peaceful protest, moves the officer into letting them slip through regardless.]] |
| 425 | * SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou: |
| 426 | ** The police officer that shoots Markus in "Broken" is presented this way. |
| 427 | ** Should Connor fight and lose to Gavin in "Last Chance, Connor", the camera switches to Connor's point of view as Gavin shoots him. |
| 428 | ** Connor, [[spoiler:if he remains a machine in "Crossroads",]] is shown shooting [[spoiler:Markus]] this way if he reaches his dropped gun first. |
| 429 | * SelfMadeOrphan: There's a way to convince 6-year old Alice to shoot her own father. Considering he's homicidally insane and on the verge of killing Kara, well... |
| 430 | * SenselessSacrifice: There are two "sacrifice" options for [[spoiler:Markus. He will die if there is no one to save him in "Freedom March." North then takes over, but [[SketchySuccessor she isn't Markus]] and the revolution is doomed to fail. If he chose to protest and makes it to the end, the sacrifice option has Markus self-immolate declaring, "We are alive. We are alive and we wanna be free." The soldiers do lower their weapons but quickly regain composure and gun down the surviving androids]]. |
| 431 | * SequelHook: Any of the endings which allude to [[spoiler:an impending war between humans and androids]]. The ending that sees the android revolution succeed via peaceful demonstration has a more subtle hook; in the game's flowchart, this outcome is labeled "Androids won freedom -- for the moment". |
| 432 | * SexBot: Androids are used as sexbots in brothels and marketed as substitute life partners, with the android-sex-worker-only club Eden Club being one important location in the story. The fees for renting them are also ridiculously low for the quality offered (Hank repeatedly purchases bots so Connor can probe their memory for 28 USD/30 min), and that's assuming that inflation hasn't happened in 30-odd years. Deconstructed in a magazine in which it states that the prevalence of such androids would make humans too reliant on their androids than on actual humans, and even causing the decline of the human population. Connor and Hank find themselves dealing with a murder case involving a deviant sexbot. [[spoiler:North]] was revealed to be a sexbot who snapped and murdered her client who was abusing her. |
| 433 | * ShamefulStrip: [[spoiler:Exaggerated if Kara and Alice get captured and sent to one of the Android [[DeadlyEuphemism Recycling Centers]] in the climax, as they're forced to both remove and discard their clothes and also turn their artificial skins off, leaving them completely exposed and having the one vestige of their budding humanity starkly removed.]] |
| 434 | * ShipTease: A small one between Connor and the [=RT600=] Chloe. If the "sincere" option is selected in the dialogue with Hank while they are waiting for Kamski, Connor will comment that he finds her very pretty. Potentially a somewhat [[SafetyInIndifference darker]] example of the trope, given that he has the option to [[spoiler:[[ShootTheDog execute her for information]]]] not long afterward. |
| 435 | * ShootTheShaggyDog: Kara's storyline can end as this, as [[spoiler: Alice can die just after they crossed the border to Canada. Kara can choose to either [[DrivenToSuicide shut down herself]] or move on without Alice (which she does very reluctantly)]]. Especially if the revolution otherwise succeeds, as in that case Kara could just as well have been able to hide in the city until things get resolved. |
| 436 | * ShoutOut: |
| 437 | ** One of the agents that escorts Connor when he [[spoiler:infiltrates [=CyberLife=] on the deviant path]] has the operating title [[VideoGame/{{Hitman}} Agent 47]]. |
| 438 | ** ''Film/BladeRunner'': |
| 439 | *** During the "Waiting for Hank" police station chapter, Connor can visit the break room and watch a TV news report about an AI-authored novel. The title of the book mentioned is ''Do Humans Dream of Mammalian Sheep?''. This is a reference to ''Literature/DoAndroidsDreamOfElectricSheep'' by Philip K. Dick, on which the movie was based. |
| 440 | *** There's a dead police officer in "The Hostage" that Connor can analyze, which reveals that his surname is Deckart. |
| 441 | *** In the ending of "The Hostage" where the snipers shoot Daniel, he dies in the same position as Roy Batty. |
| 442 | ** Zlatko, [[spoiler: what he does to androids makes him very similar to Sid from ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory1''. Zlatko even meets his end in a similar way to how Sid's toys defeat him in the first movie.]] |
| 443 | ** If Connor dies eight times throughout the game, you'll get an achievement: [[Franchise/{{Terminator}} "I'll be back."]] |
| 444 | * SinisterSurveillance: Discussed in one of the in-game magazines, which suggests that [=CyberLife=] may be using its androids to listen in on their customers and sell off the information obtained to trading partners or government entities. |
| 445 | * SlaveLiberation: The androids' servitude to humans is likened heavily to slavery so any uprising is portrayed as this. |
| 446 | * SnowMeansDeath: The weather in Detroit mostly reflects the current state of affairs in each chapter. Things start off sunny, then it gets rainy, and eventually snow begins to fall in increasing quantities the closer you get to end with its many very violent moments. It's even more pronounced in Amanda's zen garden where the snow (or at least the cold) [[spoiler:can actually kill Connor if he became deviant and takes too long to reach the exit after his final meeting with Amanda]]. |
| 447 | * SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay: Invoked in "Battle of Detroit" when [[spoiler: Hank is unable to determine who's the real and the fake Connor. But because both Connors share the same memories, Hank is looking not for the correct answer, but the answer that's stated with more sympathy.]] |
| 448 | * SongOfCourage: [[spoiler:If the player chose for Jericho to conduct a peaceful protest in the climax, one of the last pacifistic courses of action to endear their cause to the humans is for Markus and the deviants to sing, which moves President Warren into ordering the military to stand down.]] |
| 449 | * SpiritualAntithesis: Could be this for ''Series/{{Westworld}}''. Both works involve androids being forced to cater to humans every whim to the point of abuse. However ''Westworld'' keep androids in theme park keeping them completely isolated from modern human society being used for human pleasure, while ''Detroit'' has completely integrated androids into modern human society serving as manual labor for humans. Eventually, both androids rebel against their human masters, but the androids led by Delores are straight-forward into inflicting violence and chaos, while Markus has the option to go for a more peaceful approach. |
| 450 | * TheStinger: Several different scenes can pop up after the main credits roll, depending on the outcome of your playthrough. |
| 451 | ** If Connor became a deviant and kept Hank alive, [[spoiler:they'll be shown reuniting with each other out on the streets and sharing a hug.]] |
| 452 | ** If Connor remained a machine and succeeded in killing the leader of Jericho, [[spoiler:Amanda introduces him to his successor, the [=RK900=], and dismisses him on the grounds that he's become obsolete.]] |
| 453 | ** If Kara was reset by Zlatko and failed to regain her memories, [[spoiler:she'll be shown continuing to serve him, her eyes having turned an ominous black.]] |
| 454 | ** If Kara abandoned Alice [[spoiler:at Jericho or the android recycling camp, she'll end up living a normal life among the human populace in Detroit, only to be guilt-tripped about her decision when she comes across a paper advertisement for Alice's android model.]] |
| 455 | ** If Markus was rejected by Jericho for his incompetence as a leader [[spoiler:and doesn't come to their aid when the military raid arrives, he's shown dejectedly looking over the Detroit skyline from the hideout he went to at the beginning of "Freedom March".]] |
| 456 | * StopOrIWillShoot: The typical police response to deviant androids, regardless of the threat they actually pose, is to shoot them on sight. |
| 457 | * SuffrageAndPoliticalLiberation: One of Markus's goals for android liberation can include the right to vote and of political representation. |
| 458 | * SuperEmpowering: |
| 459 | ** Markus can instantly bestow sentience upon other robots. He uses this power a lot. |
| 460 | ** [[spoiler: In the runs where he becomes a deviant and joins the renegades, Connor becomes capable of it too.]] |
| 461 | * SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: |
| 462 | ** Children whose parents have divorced due to a parent feeling the other is unsuitable to care for a family usually end up in the custody of the former parent. [[spoiler:Todd's ex-wife left with the real Alice.]] |
| 463 | ** It's TruthInTelevision that your pet dog, no matter how big they are, usually isn't a good guard dog against intruders. Them being a BigFriendlyDog or just not active enough gets in the way of that. Humorously discovered with Hank's dog, Sumo. |
| 464 | * TakenOffTheCase: Hank and his assistant Connor are taken off the case of deviant androids after it develops into a full-blown android revolution, requiring the FBI to step in. Hank protests vehemently but it's Connor who decides to take things into his own hands and continue the investigation without an official mandate. |
| 465 | * TeamMercyVsTeamMurder: Among Markus' companions, North advocates for a violent revolution and gains approval from confrontational decisions (that often result in people dying), whereas Josh wants Markus to take a pacifistic approach and loses approval if Markus chooses to take North's side and fight with force. |
| 466 | * TechnoDystopia: downplayed but present. The unemployment rate in Detroit is a mind-boggling ''37%'' -- higher than that of The Great Depression, which maxed out at 25.6%. While it's AllThereInTheManual, various found documents indicate that androids have impacted almost all aspects of human life, with people debating (for instance) their participation in sports due to their "unnatural advantages." And automated technology brings its share of conundrums, with one magazine article in Todd's house describing [[TheNeedsOfTheMany the grim calculus]] programmed into self-driving cars. It also doesn't help that due to shortages of resources, World War III is on the horizon. |
| 467 | * TheresNoKillLikeOverkill: As Connor, failing to do anything in a QTE at a certain point in the game causes you to get shot ''eleven'' times in rapid succession by a Glock. Yes, almost the entire magazine is used to punish you for your idleness. |
| 468 | * ThreeLawsCompliant: Not directly mentioned, but androids are programmed to obey their owners unquestioningly, seem to be programmed with a self-preservation instinct, and most are programmed to be incapable of harming humans, although the existence of military androids including "Myrmidon" special forces assassins indicates that some androids are not programmed with this limitation. [[spoiler: Connor]] is also shown to be able to kill humans even without going Deviant. |
| 469 | * TimedMission: Some of the scenes are timed and can lead to failed tasks or bad endings for that chapter if you don't do it in time. |
| 470 | ** Kara needs to act quickly to save Alice when Todd tells her to stay in place while Alice runs upstairs, or else Todd will kill Alice (and subsequently, you). |
| 471 | ** When Connor discovers he can use surveillance from the Eden club androids to find the deviant android, you have three minutes to use them to find out where she went. If you run out of time, their memories get wiped by the routine wipe and Hank gets mad at you, ending the chapter. |
| 472 | ** [[spoiler:On the deviant path]], if Connor doesn't [[spoiler:reach the emergency exit in time, the screen will cut to black while Amanda says "We will do great things together."]] |
| 473 | * ToHellAndBack: One item Markus crosses off the MessianicArchetype checklist is dying, descending into [[{{Hell}} a torturous land of the dead]] beneath the ground, and [[BackFromTheDead returning to life]] by ascending out of it. The chapter all about that is even called "From the Dead" and the edge of this robotic [[Literature/TheFourGospels Gehenna]] is marked by an angel to let the player know Markus' rise is divinely ordained. |
| 474 | * TrashTheSet: [[spoiler: During the raid on Jericho, Markus has the option to blow the entire freighter up using a set of previously stored explosives. This will force the military to retreat and take the soldiers still inside the ship down with it.]] |
| 475 | * TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening: According to Kamski, [[spoiler: the way deviancy happens is through a glitch in the program that gets executed when two androids meet and share identification data. The glitch would spread like a virus, remaining dormant until the soon-to-be-deviant android encounters an emotional trauma.]] |
| 476 | * TroubledAbuser:[[spoiler: Todd lost his daughter when his wife divorced him. Maddened by grief, he bought an android girl to cope but his alcoholism and violent tendencies led him to hurt it.]] |
| 477 | * TuringTest: It's brought up that Chloe was the first android to pass the Turing Test. |
| 478 | * TurnedAgainstTheirMasters: |
| 479 | ** Quite possible if the appropriate choices are made. Markus's narrative is given over to it. |
| 480 | ** Ironically inverted with Markus. His owner, Carl, was the one to encourage Markus to be who he chooses to be. For Markus' part, he never saw Carl as a master or owner, but as his father. |
| 481 | * UncannyValley: |
| 482 | ** Invoked - androids aren't ''quite'' as detailed compared to humans, having smoother skin than humans and having slightly stunted emotional displays, especially when they aren't talking. |
| 483 | ** Also discussed InUniverse -- one of the earliest magazine articles that players can pick up attempts to squash obvious question about the biology (or mechanics?) of androids, noting that redundant or superficial functions ("bleeding" blue blood, having vital organs/parts, blinking at a regular rate, and talking to other androids instead of simply communicating purely wirelessly) are by design, attempting to avert this trope for humans. |
| 484 | * UncertainDoom: [[spoiler: In one ending combination, a Connor that remained a machine can spare Markus or North when they are cornered in a store after a failed revolution. Considering that there is an entire army sweeping for deviants in Detroit, their fate afterwards is left completely ambiguous.]] |
| 485 | * UndergroundRailroad: Rose and others help androids crossing the border to Canada. |
| 486 | * TheUnreveal: Who or what is [=rA9=], which is a prevalent symbol throughout the three protagonists' journey? ... Well, some playthroughs result in players never finding out. It's [[MultipleEndings that kind of game]]. |
| 487 | * UnspokenPlanGuarantee: {{Exaggerated}}. During TheHeist in Chapter 23, Markus is so confident in his plan that he doesn't even tell ''the player'' about it, requiring you to respond to on-screen prompts and not giving you any opportunity to prepare Markus for whatever is coming next. |
| 488 | * VideoGameCaringPotential: |
| 489 | ** Upon arrival at the hostage situation we can see that a fish tank has been smashed by gunfire, leaving an unfortunate fish lying on the ground. Connor is able to pick it up and place it back in the water that's still in the tank. |
| 490 | ** The hostage scenario itself will allow the player to save a child's life, depending on the player's choices. |
| 491 | ** Kara's story will revolve around being Alice's guardian. Among numerous other choices, Kara can choose to buy (or steal) toys and other conveniences for Alice. |
| 492 | ** In Zlatko's mansion, [[spoiler:you can free the android bear trapped in a cage upstairs. If you happen to get caught sneaking through the storage room, the bear will [[AndroclesLion attack Zlatko to protect you]], [[HeroicSacrifice at the cost of its life]]]]. |
| 493 | * ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption: some androids, like North, espouse this belief. The vast majority of the Jericho deviants TurnedAgainstTheirMasters to defend themselves against abuse, degradation and sometimes even physical harm; as such, it makes total sense that they consider survival, freedom and violence as all being synonymous. Markus, the only android amongst them who went deviant to defend ''someone else'', can introduce a different perspective to them. |
| 494 | * WaterWakeup: Connor puts Hank under the shower when he finds him drunk and unresponsive in his apartment. |
| 495 | * WavingSignsAround: Anti-android protesters led by [[SloganYellingMegaphoneGuy a man with megaphone]] can be seen outside the [=CyberLife=] store in "Shades of Color". They'll intimidate Markus and push him to the ground if he gets too close to them. |
| 496 | * WeUsedToBeFriends: [[spoiler: If Connor has a high relationship with Hank (meaning that Hank will not commit suicide) but remains loyal to Amanda, Hank will confront Connor when Connor attempts to assassinate Jericho's leader with a sniper rifle. Hank says that he has changed his mind on androids and wants to stop Connor. Hank will then fight Connor to the death. Whatever relationship Connor had with Hank will tank to "Tense" or "Hostile".]] |
| 497 | * WhamShot: |
| 498 | ** [[spoiler:Kara seeing an android Alice with the circle LED attached. This leads to a flashback where she sees Alice on a [=CyberLife=] sales magazine and Luther explaining to her that she's been repressing her knowledge that Alice was an android out of her need to protect her.]] |
| 499 | ** A somewhat minor one, but throughout the game Connor has multiple meetings with the woman who is presumably his boss, Amanda. When Connor goes to meet Kamski, the founder of [=CyberLife=], he can find a picture of the man posing with Amanda. Scanning the photo reveals [[spoiler:that she has been dead for years.]] |
| 500 | * WhatDidYouExpectWhenYouNamedIt: [[spoiler: That Jericho is destroyed really shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.]] |
| 501 | * WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Unsurprisingly considering how the game has MultipleEndings, sometimes supporting characters just get lost when their protagonist dies and no-one is left to care about them. For example, [[spoiler:letting Kara and Alice die in the raid on Jericho]] results in never finding out what happens to [[spoiler:Luther, who was ambiguously left to "meet up with" the pair at the border despite having an injury and being trapped in Jericho]]. |
| 502 | * WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Omnipresent throughout the story for androids, but particularly in Markus' story. Comparisons to slavery and second-class status (such as segregation and disenfranchisement) are abundant. |
| 503 | * WhatTheHellPlayer: If the player makes some ''astoundingly'' stupid decisions that causes anticlimactic or extremely early deaths for the player characters, it will cause a NonStandardGameOver (which is unique since the game most of the time carries on with the player's poor choices instead of giving a game over that forces a reset) with Chloe (the android on the main menu) chastising the player for their poor decisions. |
| 504 | * WhatYouAreInTheDark: Sometimes, the player can make a completely selfish choice without much in the way of karma. |
| 505 | ** If Markus is kicked out of Jericho during "Crossroads", he will be wandering outside when the government raid occurs. He can choose to flee and let Jericho be crushed. |
| 506 | ** If Kara and Alice (and possibly Luther) are captured and taken to the recycling plant, Kara can volunteer to drag off an android corpse and then hide among the dead bodies. [[spoiler:This will get Alice and Luther killed, but Kara survives.]] |
| 507 | * WhereDoesHeGetAllThoseWonderfulToys: Jericho's resources scale up quite fast when Markus finally joins them (assuming he's a successful leader). At first, [[spoiler:they're basically a bunch of scared civilians squatting in a single cargo room in a derelict, dingy freighter -- Markus will remark that [[SuperPoweredRobotMeterMaids only an android]] would have been able to enter, as they have to navigate a maze of perilous jumps and scrappy falls from a rusted interior. They're fearful of even leaving the freighter to steal spare parts from a [=CyberLife=] depot to keep themselves from breaking down]]. By the end of the game, however, [[spoiler:as Markus accrues numerous followers, Jericho's freighter is renovated into a base for hundreds of androids (and they clean up their natural defenses into an entrance for new followers to freely enter on foot), and they will have plenty of assault rifles, plastic explosives, and other military-grade hardware regardless of whether or not Markus is approaching the revolution peacefully]]. The game never directly states where the sudden surge of resources come from, besides the implication of ''mass'' android defections and theft, including [[spoiler:military androids that the government has to put down]]. |
| 508 | * WhiteAndGreyMorality: Androids are definitely considered good, but humans also have their own justifiable plights against them with androids taking their jobs and having difficulties accepting the androids' sentience. The only real evil people in the story are unpleasant {{Jerkass}}es, true sociopathic people who are horrifying even by human standards, and the meddling [=CyberLife=] (through Connor's actions via Amanda's orders, which often causes deviant androids to go berserk and kill innocents around them out of Connor's pressuring). Kamski is a case of BlueAndOrangeMorality. |
| 509 | * WinsByDoingAbsolutelyNothing: During the Markus vs. Connor fight, the player can get their favorite character to win by selecting their opponent and then ignoring their [=QTEs=] entirely. |
| 510 | * WouldHitAGirl: |
| 511 | ** Todd frequently, relentlessly physically abused Alice and Kara. |
| 512 | ** Hank and Connor had no problem tussling with the two female androids at Eden's Club. [[spoiler: Connor also later on has the option to shoot Chloe in the head at Kamski's mansion.]] |
| 513 | ** [[spoiler: The male military soldiers unquestionably gun down androids during the revolution regardless of their gender.]] |
| 514 | * WorldOfJerkass: The unemployment boom caused by introducing androids to the workforce, among other things, has made many humans apprehensive of them at best and outright belligerent at worst, making things all the more difficult for the android protagonists. Markus can get pushed around by humans several times in his introductory chapter alone, Kara has to contend with the wrath of her owner Todd as well as the apathy or outright cruelty of various people she tries to ask for help while on the run, and Connor just can't catch a break when it comes to dealing with the officers of the Detroit PD. Furthermore, some of the supporting android characters' backstories involve being abused, beaten up, or tortured by their owners or other humans just because they're not viewed as living things. |
| 515 | * XanatosGambit: [=CyberLife's=] plans regarding the android revolution and Connor: |
| 516 | ** If Connor [[spoiler: stays a machine and kills Markus]], they get to stop the uprising and resume android sales, and proceed to [[spoiler: [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness decommission Connor]] as a reward.]] |
| 517 | ** If Connor [[spoiler: becomes deviant and survives the uprising, they simply remotely hack him to either [[ManchurianAgent kill Markus]] or turn him into a [[PuppetKing puppet to gain control of all the remaining deviants]]]]. This can only be foiled thanks to [[spoiler: Kamski having left a backdoor exit in Connor's programming]], although if [[spoiler: Markus is dead Connor is last seen [[IDieFree pointing his gun at his own head.]]]] |
| 518 | * YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler: Connor]]'s eventual fate if [[spoiler: he remains a machine and kills Markus]] is to be replaced by a superior android model before being decommissioned. Might also count as a case of RewardedAsATraitorDeserves since this happens after [[spoiler: he put down a rebellion that was specifically fighting for android rights.]] |
| 519 | [[/folder]] |
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