GameTech: The gaming equivalent of Blade Runner

Do androids dream of electric sheep? Only if you pull the wool over their eyes. Director David Cage has fooled us before, but this time he might be on to something.

His latest ‘cinematic adventure’ looks like the gaming equivalent of Blade Runner, which isn’t a bad place to start.

We’d like to say that Detroit: Become Human is set in a world where lifelike robots are treated equally and loved by everyone, but that wouldn’t make for good science-fiction. As you might expect, the robots in Become Human are the minority class, looked down upon by the humans and treated as second-class citizens.

For a director like David Cage, this makes for ideal material. Cage, who also made Heavy Rain and Become: Two Souls, the latter with Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe, has never been great with human conflict or resolutions. His games have always been better when they leaned towards science fiction and the bizarre.

Become Human could be the perfect middle ground for the French auteur – a platform for Cage to explore what it means to be human, without worrying about the nuances of performance and plotting.

You’ll play as three difference robots in Become Human, each of them with a very different perspective on life.

The first, Marcus, takes care of a painters who believes all androids should have their freedom. The second, Kara, is a housekeeper who lives with an abusive father. The third, Connor, is an investigator tasked with tracking down rogue robots.

We’ve only had glimpses of the game so far, including a demo that released on the PlayStation Network recently. Playing as Connor, we’ve learned that he can see ‘clues’ at a crime scene in a matter of seconds and he can replay ‘memories’ of those crimes scenes when he has enough information.

We’ve also learned that your decisions really seem to matter this time. In his previous games, Cage was accused of creating experiences with the illusion of consequence only, but Become Human appears to have improved on this score. There are variety of outcomes in the demo, during which Connor negotiates with a gun-wielding hostage-taker, including the ‘permanent’ death of Connor himself.

It’s too early to tell if David Cage has finally created a game that fulfils its promise, but the early signs are encouraging. Become Human is released on May 25 — ironically, on PlayStation 4 and not Android.

Dublin Games Summit

10 Days until Early bird tickets go off sale, grab your tickets today for the Dublin Games Summit before their are gone!

Get them at https://t.co/vlyaJmpNAn pic.twitter.com/iV9fxAf263

— Dublin Games Summit (@DubGamesSummit) May 1, 2018

Another event with promise is the Dublin Games Summit, currently scheduled for July 19 at the Alex hotel, Dublin. Managed by AeonSpark Events, the summit is being run by ‘six Irish directors who are gamers at heart’. They include the people behind TotalExpo, GFD.ie and 8-bit Conference. Unlike the glut of other games conferences that have sprung up in Ireland over the last year, Dublin Games Summit is aimed at businesses and the industry more than families and fans.

The organisers claims it will be the “newest and only dedicated industry standard meeting between gaming professionals across multiple platforms both here and abroad”.

According to the event website, “the day will consist of two rooms holding over 12 different topics from industry professionals. There will be keynotes, panels, 1-1 meetups, networking lunch and evening event, on-site activations and more.” One of the speakers will be the co-founder of Havok, Steve Collins. Havok is arguably Ireland’s most successful story in gaming, though the company is now owned by Microsoft. Other speakers include virtual reality expert Sam Watts and former League of Legends producer Travis George.

God of War

Finally, from one summit to another. God of War keeps stealing the headlines for being one of best games of the generation. As Kratos and his son travel to the highest peak in Midgard, gamers are treated to some of the ‘highest’ quality gaming in return.

Gamers who bought the special edition of God of War recently discovered another fantastic detail about the game. The special edition came with a physical map, with runes written along the edges of the map. When translated, the runes direct gamers to a special area in the game where they receive unique treasure. It’s another fantastic touch from a game that had already ‘peaked’.