Now, We’ll Never Know How Angry People Would Have Been
Several years later, we’re still awaiting the release of developer Quantic Deam’s Detroit: Become Human. We know the game will offer a narrative with dark and controversial aspects, but according to founder David Cage, some scenes were deleted because of how they might be construed.
Cage and team have tackled heavy subject matter before with past projects like Fahrenheit, Heavy Rain, and Beyond: Two Souls. This time around, however, they felt they got carried away. Thus, in an interview with Official PlayStation Magazine (OPM UK issue #139), Cage said the following:
“Dealing with this kind of subject matter, where we deal with violence… I just wanted to make sure that whatever we do in Detroit: Become Human, there is no ambiguity and our meaning is absolutely clear.
“Honestly, I canceled a couple of scenes where I felt the meaning could be interpreted wrongly. It was a very interesting thing for me because it made me realize that with Detroit: Become Human, that we are dealing with very meaningful things and that you need to be careful and be respectful and pay attention to what you have to say.
“And that was scary but at the same time, once the fear has gone, you say ‘wait a second, I’m working on a video game, it’s meaningful, it’s important, it has something to say, it needs to be respectful, I need to pay attention to everything, but at the same time I’m talking about something’.”
Cage didn’t specify what was involved in the scenes. But if he felt compelled to cancel them then they must have been rather radical. In fact, it seems they were relevant to modern-day issues. Now, we won’t know how. Judging by his next statement, however, the scenes didn’t necessarily contribute to the entertainment value. Despite Detroit: Become Human being story-focused, the goal is not to convey a message.
“For me, there was no way I wanted to use existing issues in a game that is still entertainment,” Cage resumed, “no matter how much passion and honesty we put into it, it’s still just a game. There are some very serious things happening and we didn’t want to ‘use’ them, so we had many conversations about that.”
Detroit: Become Human arrives in 2018 for the PlayStation 4. With all its years of development, there’s still been a relatively small amount of gameplay revealed. But we expect more on the road to release. Until then, stay tuned for updates.