During Paris Games Week, we saw our first glimpse of Detroit: Become Human’s third character, Kara. Her purpose was to be a nanny and housekeeper for a young girl named Alice and a single dad named Todd.
During that demo, Todd turned out to be a horrible human being capable of atrocious acts, and we saw a range of emotions move across Kara’s face. There was a lot of internet drama around the demo, but it is clear that the game wants to be more than just a story about an android uprising.
David Cage has dropped a new video that shows Kara’s origins as a tech demo on the PS3. The video is something that looks like it was taken from Westworld, even though Cage’s team hurriedly made it in 2012. It shows a young female android being assembled and disassembled in the goal of demonstrating multiple, believable emotions in a short time.
The tech was impressive then, but, when you see the video of her from Detroit: Become Human, there is no comparison. The eyes, subtle muscle movements in the face and mouth, and the look of the skin all contribute to a much more believable character.
This is no accident. Quantic Dream has been working with a new engine on every game. They have also improved their motion capture system to use a wireless mic for sound and a camera system that can capture smaller details like the light shining through your ear or the separate movement of an actor’s eyes. They do this without adding the helmet, old style dots, or backpack and wires.
All of this tech is not just for bragging rights. They are trying to take the actions, movement, expressions, and performances of their actors and let gamers see them exactly as they happened without Quantic Dream needing to make artificial changes inside a modeling program. This should result in a more natural and “human” portrayal of the androids.
Detroit: Become Human looks like an interesting game for next year. Will it elevate the man vs. machine story we have seen in the past, and will it be one of those rare games that pulls emotion out of our stony hearts? (Both are possible, we guess, but nothing tops Terminator 2: Judgement Day.)
Check out the video and the article on the PlayStation Blog for more info, and let us know your thoughts in the comments. Are you excited about Detroit: Become Human’s new tech?
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