"The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise." —Tacitus
Detroit: Become Human
Kara Part 1 - Innocence Lost
Meet Kara, an AX400 android designed and programmed to function as a housemaid. Having just been repaired and reset, she is now once again experiencing the world for the first time. Todd, her owner has explained she was hit by a car in an accident a few weeks back. After retrieving her from the shop he brings her home.
Arriving back home Todd gives her the lay of the land. She’s to tidy up, clean the dishes, do the laundry and take care of his daughter Alice. Kara can sense a distance between her and Alice and tries her best to strike up conversation. Unfortunately Alice is very reserved and not very talkative. Throughout the day however, Kara catches Alice watching intently as she completes the tasks Todd has set out for her.
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It’s not long before Kara realizes that things are not quite as they seem. Todd is not a nice man. When she discovers a package of narcotics hidden in the laundry detergent his true self is revealed. Grabbing Kara by the throat he warns her to stay out of his business. In a particularly rotten mood Todd explodes at Alice and terrified she looks at Kara with tears streaming down her face.
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Later that evening, during dinner, Todd has another emotional breakdown. Screaming about his failed marriage and androids taking his job he throws the table across the room. As Alice sit petrified with fear Todd slaps her across the face yelling at her that it’s all your fault. Bawling she runs upstairs to her room. Kara begins to head up to comfort her but Todd orders her not to move. He tells her if she does he will break her worse than he did last time.
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It’s at this very moment that something inside of her changes. She fights against her programming and disobeys the order. She darts upstairs and tells Alice they are leaving. Enraged Todd comes after them but Kara is able to escape the house. They burst out of the house and run to a bus waiting down the street. As the bus pulls away Todd can be heard yelling you have to obey me. You belong to me!
Scared and confused Kara and Alice come to the end of the line and the bus driver tells them they have to get off. They are downtown and have no money, no friends, nothing. It’s cold and raining and Kara knows they have to find shelter. She spots a nearby derelict house that’s fenced off and boarded up and decides it will do for tonight. As they try to enter the home a disfigured android comes after Alice with a knife. He has been damaged and beaten by humans and doesn’t trust her. Kara pleads that she is just an innocent and begs for compassion. He agrees to let them stay the night.
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The next morning Kara decides to let Alice sleep in while she changes her appearance. She’s learned of a man on the other side of town that may be able to help them and she needs to be able to blend in better. Before heading back to get Alice, Kara sees the police searching the area. As a police detective enters the house they flee and he gives chase. Gambling with their lives they dash across the freeway as fast moving autonomous cars whiz by.
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Having evaded the police Kara and Alice finally reach the far side of town. They head to at the address of the man who can help them get away from Detroit. Unfortunately for them, they have just stumbled into a deadly trap and will soon learn about the horrors truly evil men.
To be continued...
Alice and Kara's storyline is quite sad. Having 3 different scenarios and characters in the game feels like having & playing 3 different games at once. My favorite story is Connor's, I love how they're melding AI technology with criminal investigations.
I was actually trying to decide which storyline I liked the best. I sort of agree that Connor has the most interesting one, but without Markus you wouldn't have the last few chapters where everything comes together and some of his missions are really fun. But Kara and Alice are absolutely the emotional center of the game. If it weren't for their story I don't think the androids would gain nearly as much empathy from me. They really bring the humanity to the overarching android debate.
Nice one - Looking forward to follow this thread :) I'm a BIG fan of AI & if used judiciously for the right purposes the world will be revolutionized ! I reckon we are not too far-fetched from a reality that was probably more than a dream a couple years ago :)
I've watched way too many sci-fi movies and don't trust AI at all lol. I'm more in line with Elon Musk's stance that the advancement of AI poses an existential threat to humanity lol.
Yes I dont debate/argue that from an ethical standpoint...echo that as-well. There is a "fear" that someday machines will become so intelligent that they may not honor their "Masters" instruct however all technological advancements gave their own set of pros n cons ! Which is why I used the term "Judiciously use" & the debate can go on and on lol :)
Absolutely. Technology has such amazing potential and such inherent risks. I really hope that someday soon we can unleash a omnipotent and benevolent set of AI systems that can usher in a new dawn of mankind. There just seems to be a lot of geo-political problems standing in the way of that scenario currently. And for the skeptics like me I always assume the worst so even if a nice AI is created someone will hack it or clone it and make it's evil twin :)
Yaah . Good Game
It was much better than I had anticipated. It's probably my favorite narrative Adventure game. It's far better than anything Telltale has ever put out, and although I liked Life is Strange this just blows it out of the water. The only game I've played in this category that comes close to this quality would be Until Dawn.
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