Detroit Become Human - Realizing Missed Potential 

I think Kara and Alice's relationship would've been more interesting if Alice wasn't an android. Felt like her being an android was an unneeded plot twist for the sake of having a plot twist.

Alice being a human, mistaken for an android and possibly killed for being an android, would've been so much better.

another thing about north is how north is always against your positive suggestions yet meant to be your love interest.

This is definitely controversial but I always felt that Kara's story peaked in early Chapter 1, where she's trapped at Todd's house forced to do all the housework and constantly walk on eggshells around this dirtbag of a father, or else he'll beat up her or the kid. It felt like an allegory for real women trapped in abusive marriages where they're given no meaningful autonomy or life outside the home, to the point that they may as well be mindless androids. It felt real and hard to watch.

I am sorry, but Kara's reason for being so hellbent on taking care of Alice is said in a flat text in-game: she wants to be a mother. Taking care of someone is quite literally her program, so is Alice's program is being taken care of. Of course, Alice being an android is a separate can of worms and yes, Kara's plotline is fundamentally broken and ultimately devalued for a cheap plot twist, its just broken for other reasons. It is even very heavily implied that she was perfectly aware about Alice being an android, she just chose to ignore that.

Kara’s arc would have been so much more impactful if SPOILER Alice was human. That to me ruined the impact of their bond. It was so beautiful to have and android nurturing a human child while the other two plot lines showed the android human animosity

I don’t know why Markus going around touching androids to “free” them bothered me so much. It might be the cheesy dialogue or just simply the fact that those androids have no choice in that freedom. I feel like it would’ve been more impactful if we saw more scenes of androids listening to Markus’s words and then deciding for themselves to be deviant.

I was expecting the Evil Markus playthrough to take advantage of the stuff we hear in his story about the US military being mostly androids and the ongoing crisis in the Arctic Ocean. Imagine if his wave of deviancy reached that far, and suddenly he wasn't just begging for mercy or irradiating one city but had a whole military superpower at his back, able to literally hold the world hostage to get what he wanted.

I read a reddit post once that combined Kara and Markus's story into one. The characters were combined into one android named Karma. Todd is Carl's drug addicted son with a daughter. I don't really remember what all happened. But I do remember Alice was human and your desire to protect her and keep her safe pushed you into leading the revolution.

Just a small correction. Kara knows Alice is an android for the entire game. She finds the magazine in Alice's room showing Alice's model very early on, and she willfully ignores this information because her desire is to be a mother, and Alice wants to be a happy girl who has a family. They both ignore and fight against the idea that they are androids on purpose and for each other in a sense

My biggest issue with the civil rights parallels is the fact that humans in the game are justified in believing androids are just machine because, well, they are, at least until the bug and develop conscience or Marcus touches them. On the other hand, opposition to the civil rights movement was no justified because black people are clearly humans with feelings.

“Detroit become human is one of my favorite games of all time. Not because it’s a great game.” That’s a backhanded compliment if I’ve ever seen one

11:55 But that's exactly what happened. We piece together that Kamski was behind making a new line of RK prototype androids, a secret project that got him booted out of his position as CEO of Cyberlife due to his experimental ideas diverging from the company's profits. When Connor analyses the image of Marcus on-screen at the Stratford Tower, he sees that Marcus is a gift from Kamski to Carl Manfred. Carl was the perfect person to nurture Marcus' deviancy, and sending him there was likely to hide him from Cyberlife's eyes or pretend that Marcus was just another harmless android. More importantly, Marcus is an RK200 model- an old but direct predecessor of Connor (RK800). When Hank asks him what he sees, Connor hides these facts because he realizes he's the same as Marcus & starts connecting why he's been feeling all these 'software instabilities' beyond his investigative protocols and why he's been caring to learn more things about Hank that have nothing to do with stopping deviants. Amanda was programmed into him because Cyberlife knew this all along. Connor can bring these feelings up to Amanda, but she strictly acts cold and shoots down any mistakes as an order from Cyberlife to control him. It's only the player who doesn't know that Connor/the whole RK line was a project from Kamski to test out more advanced Androids. Cyberlife installed her as a way to get Connor to not follow old RK models and instead used his already advanced program to shape him into a useful detective android for humans to take down other androids that Kamski may have affected already. So Connor and Markus have been deviant the whole time, because of the fact that Connor has 'software instability' in the first place, and Marcus had an impressive amount of individuality before officially deviating from Carl's orders. But Connor needs Marcus' direct influence and support to finally convince himself that he doesn't need Cyberlife/Amanda's approval to feel like he has purpose outside of his orders.

Clancy Brown did an interview after the game essentially saying he was proud to be a part of it but it needed more time. not time for game development, but time for story development. he was legitimately pleading with David Cage to not rush it, but David didn’t listen to good advice. i love DBH but i agree, a huge part of loving it is recognizing its potential over what we actually got. but oh well. we have fanfiction for that.

Only just finished the Kara section of the vid, but I feel they couldn’t let go of the Kara plot line because she was the character they used in short film as the animation test for the entire game back in like 2012 Where she showed sentience on the assembly line and had to beg the worker for a chance to live Maybe her story could have followed how deviance isn’t enough. people have free will but are still stuck in their situations She’s not breaking out of her programming but from the fear that grips her Her denying her deviancy because she thinks she’ll be destroyed the second she’s out of line

I kinda agree with the idea Markus could go either direction as a hero fighting for revolution or a villain fighting for control. Especially since you can essentially make Connor the villain of Markus’s story. I feel that it’s a missed opportunity to not portray Markus in a more negative light if you choose a more violent path. I think a good scenario would actually be to end the game where you have all three playable characters in the middle of a live scene. Give Kara the switch to the bomb and you have to convince her as either Markus or Connor on what to do. Depending on how things have played out, you could have them with completely different standpoints.

My biggest issue with Kara's story is the fact that David Cage doesn't give her the same kind of attention that he does for Connor and Markus. The story never has any time to let Kara slow down and process what she's been through and dealt with, even when she's just hiding in an old house while Alice sleeps. Connor has Amanda and Hank that he can use as soundboards, and Markus has North. But even after Kara meets Luther, not once does she actually talk to him about what she's thinking and feeling outside of 'Alice is a sweet little girl.' There are multiple moments where the two are alone and have the opportunity to safely get to know each other, but the game doesn't ever take advantage of those moments. There's no check-in with Kara like there is for Connor and Markus; we never actually learn about Kara and her struggles, her opinions on the situation at hand, how she's processing things, etc. We get to learn interesting things about the experiences and emotions of Connor and Markus, but for some reason there just isn't any time to do the same in Kara's story. For a game called 'Detroit: Become Human' it never actually humanises Kara.

It sucks because Alice being an android feels like a cheap plot twist when i think they wanted to make a good point - that Alice's life isnt lesser for being an android or a human, and that Cara getting her out of that abusive household and safe is still important But the delivery was so, so, SO awful that it feels like a cheap plot twist

“U would think a French writer would know a thing or two about revolutions” 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

32:36 idk if its said later on but i think if the game is like "if u agree w north, you two will fall in love." then like the same should apply to josh. why isnt he an option 🤨

I felt good when I got the good ending with Kara not becuase I care about her and Alice, but because I simply beat the game. On the other hand, I nearly cried when I saw the post credits scene of Connor and Hank hugging because thier relationship, arcs, and personalities are second to none. Kara's scenes just feel like they put children and somber music to make people get attached, but the problem is there is nothing to get attached to. The only character I like in her story is Luther, and he honestly has more of a motive than Kara does.

I wish Alice was actually a human her being an Andriod cuts off how emotional the story wants to be. Its obvious Kara wants to be a mother to Alice that is literally her model but it never feels like she break free from her programing. If Alice was human it could be a much stronger and interesting story why Kara wants to take care of her. As for why she doesnt bring her to the police maybe because the story is about Androids not having rights she would have been straight up shot on sight look what they did to Markus already. Its a shame how much big scary men they use instead of straight up developing Kara and Alice relationship in creating a family

Alice and Kara have much deeper history than just a day or two. The reason Kara was in the CyberLife shop in the beginning is because Todd beat her and broke her so badly she needed to be repaired by an expert, hinting at the fact that she had been through lots of abuse at Todd’s hands. Todd claims she was “hit by a car” or something of the likes, but Alice’s drawings show that Kara “died” because of Todd. Kara sees that and her LED flashes red- she recognizes/remembers what happened and feels the need to keep Alice safe and provide for her a healthy familial relationship by becoming her mother. Kara was well aware Alice was an android- after becoming deviant, Kara (and the other deviants) see themselves as equal to humans. In Kara’s eyes, Alice is just as human as a regular little girl.

Using a human as one of the 3 protagonists would’ve been amazing and really smart

My issue with Markus is that his story is civil rights and slavery coded but it’s the white historian perspective of these issues. I am speaking as a black woman who has done extensive research on the civil rights movement . Without getting on a huge rant, the fact that the story only views the androids pacifism as the “correct” or “best” route completely ignores the history of the civil rights movement. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was not a pacifist and has never claimed to be, that’s just how white people in history has chosen to portray him. That being said, it took him being a martyr for change to happen. so inherently violence is still a huge part of the civil rights movement. But Dr. Martin Luther King was not a pushover and when it came to self-defense, had no issue with it. Not to mention organizations character, character, character, such as the Black Panther party, historically had guns with them to keep themselves protected in self defense from the mobs. This is because without a sign that they could defend themselves or kill them in return, the racist groups against the Black Panther party were more likely to be violent. But with the black panther party, and how it’s viewed in the eyes of historians and some other books, they are often seen as less favorable to someone like Dr. Martin Luther King, which is done on purpose. Because, historically pacifism is seen as better by the oppressor. Also the lack of support from the humans is also strange considering how empathetic human can be to non human beings.

I feel that Kara’s narrative was extremely strong and was actually my favorite story to follow. Early on her reasoning for wanting to save Alice is revealed in numerous ways. I feel like each character was a strong representation of the diversity of struggle to find ones humanity. Kara was amazing!

I think that Alice believed she wouldn't be loved as an Android because od Todd. Not only because of the abuse, but also because he sometimes (I believe more than one time) complained about how Androids ruined his life (cuz he lost his job because of them). I know it still wouldn't make sense for her to believe that Kara would alos dislike her for being an Android, but it's a small idea I had about why she would probably think that.

11:06 that’s….that’s literally the actual plot of the game. They were all deviant but bound by coding 😅

While I agree on most of your suggestions, I find it difficult to understand how flipping the roles of androids and humans will be good for the plot. If androids were the higher beings, Markus' revolution story wouldn't make sense. What will he be fighting for if they are already treated as higher than humans?

ive always thought that the three characters represented pretty accurately the positions in war and conflict. the fighter for their beliefs, wants, dreams, rights through markus, the inevitable and often blinded opposition through connor, and the innocent and powerless caught in the crossfire through kara. connor's and markus' stories are very closely interconnected because their goals pertain to the same thing with different outcomes. free androids or stop them. their decisions feel more large and epic because they are, they're primary characters in shaping the future of a people, a place in the world or their extermination. you follow the "good" side and the "bad" side, and through connor it's shown the bad sides fighting against you sometimes are not necessarily villainous or evil, just driven by what they feel is right, blinded by their own motivations that might be justified in their eyes. they're part of a larger game, just blind followers that do as their told, followers who can be shown the right way with the right dialogue. i think the helplessness and comparative impactlesness of kara's story delivers her side well. she's not meant to be powerful or influential, her story and her end is directly shaped by the actions of the other two. she's killed if markus paves a way of blood and she's saved if markus fights in peace. she's not meant to be epic or cool, she's meant to show desperation of the common person, juggling so many problems and dangers, clutching at light at the end of the tunnel to survive, having to rely on the bigger people's decisions to shape her future. it's not particularly as fun to play as her, but it's not fun to watch a woman in the midst of a war struggle to make ends meet and get through the day alive either. it's also why i don't mind the bad endings for kara as much as the other two. it's realistic, it's probable, it happens to those like her. it sends a more gut wrenching message.

I always read Connor as "always programmed as a deviant" even if he is not. He had that tendency from the beggining, but Connor needed to choose himself OVER his mission. As for Simon; THEY DID HIM SO DIRTY. He was going to be another option for a relationship, like North, and the one that symbolized "integrity". BUT NOOO, david cage was afraid of homophobia and JUST ERASED EVERYTHING HE WANTED TO DO WITH SIMON.

The way I interpreted it: Kara’s story: Nothing is ever as it seems, for better or worse Markus’ story: A strong man stands up for himself, a stronger man stands up for others Connor’s story: Accept yourself for who you are, not who others want you to be

It makes sense for kara not to go looking for the mother since she presumably left alice. It makes sense for her to not go to the police since in a lot of abuse cases they do nothing and sometimes even take the victim back to the abuser. There is also a route in which you kill todd to get away so obviously you couldn’t go to the police in that scenario.

it could never reach its full potential because its a david cage game

I agree with 2 of the 3 points but the general flat "Kara's story sucks period" sentiment feels... off? Not wrong, but off definitely because it seems there's a big disconnection between what (I think) was intended and what people interpret. I think I'm willing to let it slide more because I realize this: A symptom of their story "sucking" is Alice, Kara and Luther being flat and inconsistent. However, the reason they're flat is that it's very obvious, at least to me, that they're personal inserts for all the androids that are caught in the middle of this battle for Detroit. They're not revolutionaries, they're refugees, they just want to be safe. They don't want to change the world like Markus. They have no arc because they represent a collective, their motivations feel inconsistent because they represent a collective, their fears feel inconsistent because they represent a collective. I also think that's why Alice and Luther are even present; to kind of shove it in your face that Kara's story was never meant to really be just *one* android's story. Their story is "unsalvageable" ultimately because David Cage tried to cram most of an entire species' dreams, needs, and fears into one playable character with two lackeys. It's also why I think she got the least chapters of all 3 protagonists; You can only carry that representation and story in a few characters for a few chapters at most without it entirely breaking it down. I think Kara's story *could* have been salvaged... if it had been given to even more playable characters. I feel like her chapter's could've easily been broken down and written written and given to more androids to show that their journey is almost an entire species' experience.

I think Amanda's purpose is explained in the story, although vaguely (and maybe in only a few routes), but she's essentially what's supposed to keep Connor from turning into a deviant, that's why she acts cold towards him, doesn't show emotions and doesnt let him either. The twist "it was planned from the start", although unexpected, is explained as a safeguard, where Cyberlife uses "amanda" to remotely control Connor, even while he's a deviant.

Yeah seems like Kara and Alice are just following theirs programs. I wish they were upfront with alice being an android. Then it seems like karas breaking programing by caring about an android kid insead of a human. I do love the beginning of her story but all that satisfaction of the story goes away when you realize all the hoops you jumped through for alice were pointless.

My biggest gripe is there’s simply not enough world building around Kara’s story. We connect with them on a very surface level, that being the fact most people feel empathy for children,women and mothers but that’s where the empathy ends. I wish I knew more about Kara and Alice’s experiences & mindset but I think that was taken away with the cheap excuse of “Kara had her previous memory wiped.” When she deviates she should’ve gotten her old memory back leading to an earlier discovery of Alice being an android and that could’ve set the basis for a deeper goal that also ties in with the other storylines instead of just “I’m kara and have to care for this kid well because it’s a kid” If they did this it would also allow for more world building dialogue scenes between Alice and Kara. As it stands we still don’t really know much about them besides what the game has shown.

The biggest flaw of this game is not trying to link the three characters as much as possible to each other but also trying to give marcus and connor something to do either together or against each other while Kara is doing a whole different thing like her and connor never interact unless marcus dies in the ship and connor becomes the leader instead of him which is definitely a super rare scene that nobody's gonna get and even if they interacted its not a huge thing at all bc she's barely doing anything for the revolution shes just running away. I understand the idea of needing a "normal" android one that is affected by the revolution instead of someone who is trying to change it but it doesnt work that well here bc at the very least her and alice couldve done so much to the story without them actually meaning to instead theyre frankly boring and after the horrible plot twist idrc if we get alice to safety or not a human child couldve changed so much the plot twist did nothing to the story in fact it cheapened kara's story. Also what marcus chooses to do indirectly affects Kara's story but Kara has a choice that nobody can save her from which is going to Canada through the water she's doomed 100% if she went there so why is it a very common thing that could happen to the player? It should've been either the airport or the concentration camp bc if marcus chose to free them she will be freed too and if he chose to be peaceful it affects her in the airport as well and I think it's cool but it's still so messy and people could end up in whole different places for each character

I’m 5 mins in but bro like I can’t watch this anymore. Kara disobeyed orders meaning she’s a rogue AI of whom the whole plot was how the police capture and kill them. So she can’t go to the police or she’d die and her only option is to run. This was like front and center of the entire arc and game. Wasn’t her whole plot that she’s programmed to be a mother so that’s why she cared for the girl and her finding out the girl was a robot was like a big blow to her. Also the girl being an ai perfectly explains why she doesn’t have trauma from the abuse why are you treating them like they are human. All the ai in this game showed extremely dialed down emotions compared to the humans. Regarding plot, you even said that a lot of exposition in and dialogue around ai happens in her story. Not every story has to be a character arc yet can still add value to the story and have purpose. Hers had a theme and that theme was the life of a normal ai rogue robot trying to live and escape and love even if it fails. It was to show a normal ai life in these time vs the revolutionary theme Markus and the detective theme Connor. Which is why it’s such a great compliment to these 2 other stories

one of the larger drawbacks of the gameplay comes from the fact that the player is always in control. (Hear me out) Gameplay wise, the player "acts" as deviency, shaping the narrative with knowledge that the characters shouldn't have. Simon's fate is one example, as we know that he's in the building hiding out. And as Conner we're given the choice to reveal and kill him or let him hide away and live. There is absolutely no reason that Simon shouldn't have gotten caught and killed, but simply because Connor doesn't pursue a suspicious door. One way to get around this would to have moments in the game where the choices made originally lead to scenes where the characters freely act as a result.

God I would've loved if Connor and Markus had some more rapport, like Lupin and Inspector Ganimard, they'll always clash until either Connor is convinced, or Connor stays with cyber life... Great vid !

I love this video and it perfectly describes my gripes with most David Cage Games. David Cage's writing tends to be like that of a film writer who couldn't hack it because he's a hack. Detroit Become Human especially showcased this with extremely heavy handed writing and poor usage of parallels while exploring a very common theme. My biggest gripe was particularly how poorly it used its setting, and it failed to explore the extreme poverty and class inequity that existed within the world. D:BH could have been a great story if it explored the ideas of human loneliness, suffering and inability to survive in a world post-android society where the inequalities of society has been deepened by Androids. Kara's story would have been a great exploration of how Androids have left working class people destitute and lost in their own searches for meaning. It would have been perfect playing as Todd (Kara's Owner) and control his journey. Todd was a decent man, who lost everything to androids, and we get to help him move past his hatred and solve his pains. Hank and Conner would have been a perfect exploration of the ideas of humans working with Androids, and the continued fears of robots replacing humans in their jobs. Playing as Hank and choose how much you're really willing to trust Conner, and explore the ideas of being able to let go of fears. Markus' story, instead of being a civil rights parallel, could have been a perfect parallel to something like the french revolution, Having Markus work with his surrogate father to help others, spread a revolution around. His story being how much you're willing to sacrifice for the sake of everyone else. In a setting like detroit where there are people like Kamski, who has a mansion filled with android sex bots, and then also people like Kara's owner, who has been financially ruined by Androids replacing them. Not exploring the economic factors is such a letdown.

I have to disagree about Kara, while I agree that they should have given more time to allow Alice and Kara to bond and give Kara more of a character are, saying that it's "objectively bad" is not only wrong, but also makes me not want to listen to anything you say because you talk like your opinion is the truth, when its not, it's your opinion, nothing wrong about having that opinion but you need to acknowledge that others also can have an opinion that is different from yours. Now, on to Kara. Saying the "kidnapps" Alice is beyond ridiculous. The word "kidnapp" has a negative connotation, when you say that without providing other context you are deliberately framing the story in a way that fits your narrative, which off the bat makes you an unreliable story teller, but anyway, Kara SAVES Alice from Todd, becuase if she didn't do that Alice would have been killed (which you do show a clip of, but somehow fail to mention) now, why does Kara want to protect Alice? Because she's a child who can not survive on her own. You deliberately ignore the scene where Kara asks, "Do you have any family that could help us?" And Alice says no, so how is Kara supposed to know where to find Alice's mother? And as far as Kara knows, her mother abandoned Alice alone with an abusive father, Todd says "f***ing whore walked out on me for a f***ing accountant" so clearly her mom didn't love her enough to take Alice with her when she left, so why on earth would Kara, who just saved a child from her abuser, take her to someone who (as far as Kara knows) abandoned her? Alice does ask questions about her abuse: "Why didn't he ever love me? Why was he always so upset with me?" And then she asks Kara to promise she won't ever leave her. I don't know what you think abused children act like, but this is it, she asked a question about her abuse, and the made the only person who was kind to her promise to never leave her. And if you choose to steal the money from the convenience store, Alice goes off on you: "You used me to steal that! How could you do that? I trusted you!" She's questioning if Kara is any better than Todd. She doesn't want her current caretaker to be just as bad as the one she just left. And now on to why Alice thought Kara wouldn't love her if she found out she was an Android: Todd did not love Alice becuase she was an Android, Todd wanted a human daughter, but got an Android instead and could not love her because she was an Android. Kara spends the entire story saying that Alice is human, and Alice knows that Kara knows that she's an android but chooses to ignore that and pretend that she's human, so it only makes sense for Alice to belive that someone could only love her if she pretended to be human. She acts like the abused child you want. And by the way, you do get the option to abandon Alice. When Todd is beating her, simply do nothing, you abandoned her, as a result of your abandonment, she died. You seem to forget that this is a game, and it can only have so much content. There are already 3 different characters who all have very different story lines and each have so many different choices and outcomes you can make, allowing you to abandon Alice and still continue the game would require creating an entirely new storyline and plot for Kara, and entirely new choices and outcomes. You know full well that it is impossible to create a game where you can do absolutely whatever you want while still following a storyline. Seriously, there are plenty of reasons to not like Kara's story, but most of the reasons you listed only apply if you choose to be ignorant of the actual story. For example, I do agree that Kara didn't have much of a character arc, I guess you could argue that she learned through time about what it means to be alive and to love someone, but it isn't shown really well. And yes, I do agree that if they really wanted Alice to be an android, they should have done more with it besides a single scene. But honestly, your cockyness about your opinion is what ultimately drives me away from the message you're trying to make

Good content, my walk home gonna hit different tonight

Well the "You wouldn't love me anything" from Alice actually makes sense though. Think about it, her "dad" kept saying how he didn't like andriods, and civilization says how they don't like them either. So what would make Kara the exception?

Markus and Kara’s stories can get boring at times, but Connor is great

You can actually abandon her

A theory on how Markus is able to convert androids is because he is a prototype. One of the RK series. He's RK200. He was made personally by Elijah Kamski, the former CEO of CyberLife, as a gift to Carl Manfred. It is theorized that RK series androids are a highly secretive project of CyberLife. This also explain how Connor, RK800, was able to convert androids as well - shown in the final acts when Connor is a deviant and went to CyberLife storage facility to convert hundreds of androids. Although this doesn't exactly explain it, but the fact that RK series are prototypes might have something that contributes to that ability. Considering only RK series androids, Markus and Connor, were the only androids we see have actively converted androids.

When you revealed that Markus was the least liked character i was SHOOK LIKE WTF HES MY FAVORITE

I think that D:BH would’ve really benefited from being a trilogy series. One game for Connor, one game for Markus, and one game for Kara. That way, you have much more time to flesh things out and have better character development.

6:30 Not to say the writers intended this, but Alice was purchased by her dad to replace his real daughter. With that in mind, it’s much more reasonable for Alice to think Kara will react negatively to that. The kid androids in particular are made to look and act human until you no longer want them to, so they’re likely encouraged not to remind their owners of their reality either. idk just some thoughts 🤷

The point about Rose's son doesn't really make sense because in the canada ending he admits he finally understands what his mom means in front of her, and Rose is absolutely gleaming at the conversation.

Dawg I'm being so deadass right now when I say that I never knew Alice was an android till now. Years of knowing about the game and multiple videos of it. Crazy.

Kara: 7 minutes. 🤓 Connor: 4 minutes. 🤓 Markus: 26 minutes. 🗿

I'll be editing this comment as I go. Kara isn't a brand new android, she's an android that has already lived with Alice and was named by Alice. Her program was to take care of Alice so the deviant virus (or whatever it actually is) caused that programming to turn into a desire to be a mother. This is kinda the only problem I had with this section. The Connor segment was great, no problems with this and your version of the story does sound like s great way to make it better. The changes to Markus are also great, my only problem is because of personal bias. I like Simon the most because he seems like the one who actually cares about Markus as a person so having his death be mandatory for the story just doesn't feel right for me personally even though it does make sense

Honestly something that really bothered me with the Markus storyline was how he would free the androids. Freeing the androids by itself was all fine and dandy but immediately the androids are made to join Jericho and fight with Markus. Obviously there isn't really a safe space for deviants that isn't Jericho, but the way they are "freed" to then go on and listen to all of Markus' orders bugged me. Especially with the way he lived a decent life before deviating, he had a good home where his "handler" actually pushed him to express himself, now he is taking in all these other androids who have lived worse lives and is telling them what to do and they listen. North says it herself during the scene where you break into the cyberlife stores when she says they follow Markus. I don't know, it always bugged me how he would convert them saying "you're free" but then they would follow him around and do whatever he wanted just like they would with their "handlers".

While I almost agree with you on many of your criticisms and truly appreciate your work on addressing the game's issues, I don't honestly think Kara and Alice's story is as useless and dispensable as you think. I mean there are certainly some drawbacks and they could've made their mother-daughter relationship more profound and engaging if given more time and care, but Kara was actually the one who made us feel empathy towards androids in the first place and therefore it would have made the rest of the story feel meaningless and without any depths if Kara's wasn't there at all. And about her not having a character, Luther clearly states during Alice's identity reveal that forgetting who you are to become what someone needs you to be may just be the true meaning of being alive which can itself describe a unique type of personality. After all, it is how maternal love(or parental love in general) can shape someone's character. Finally about Alice's plot twist, I think the whole point of the game was actually to address our morals and to test if after all the events of the game, do we really believe that androids have the same capacity to feel, love, and care for each other as much as humans do and must be treated as equals, or did we just care for Kara and Alice's relationship because there was simply a human involved? It's just like the Kamski test. In the end, what difference should it really make if she's human or an android?

um... I disagree about evil play-through Connor story being unsatisfying. It's just becomes Hank story with Connor as Villain Protagonist the problem is you need to make sure that Hank survives to have a rooftop fight and that Connor never completely destroyed after that scene even tho letting Hank win and throw him of a roof is a great conclusion to this story arc. A story of a man learning empathy to robots by observing robot who completly lacks it. "Your a machine Connor. Just a machine."

I would have liked to see more of the interior of Cyberlife and what Conner's living conditions were like behind the scenes. I also wish that there was a bit more playable inter action between Hank and Conner.

"I'm Caucasian, so i can't speak for any African-Americans." Holy shit!! Somebody with a fucking brain just entered the chat!

The "Alice is an android" twist is the most pointless thing in the whole story.

I know a lot of people are talking about Alice and Kara, but I really felt disappointed with the writing of Jericho in this story. Markus being a leader should’ve been emphasized by the people he’s leading, not just the people he’s leading WITH. It would’ve been very interesting to see how Markus bonds with the Jericho community and how they push him to take on the leader role. Maybe a couple of chapters or scenes could’ve been dedicated to fleshing out Jericho itself (conflict between refugees, wholesome moments, maybe humans could’ve joined at some point! Like Alice, if they removed that god awful plot twist). It could’ve been a great opportunity to make the androids seem more human outside constant victimization - while also respecting those they are based on. If the Android movement truly represented the civil rights movement/history of slavery, the writers should have done a better job of also portraying the positive things that continued thrived in that movement (family, culture, art, achievements, etc…) through community-bonding instead of making victimization the sole focal point. Instead, it just remains Jericho™ throughout the course of the game.

On the note of the "evil" playthrough being unsatisfying: I made my husband play this game because I wanted to watch because I like the game and there are so many branching paths, all that good stuff. Imagine my dismay when I realized that him being a paranoid technophobe meant that the whole time he was against the androids being sentient. He was actively not wanting any of the characters to be "human" at all. He had a horrible relationship with Hank because he was playing Connor as a machine, Marcus died and North took over, all the evil route things. All of that just because he didn't want to be in the characters' shoes at all and viewed them as an enemy to humankind. Ugh. I was very annoyed with him the whole time. Especially for making Hank hate him, LOL. That was unforgivable for me.

Me and my cursed run in which Kara doesn't become deviant and Alice fucking dies, Connor becomes a deviant to better hunt down other deviants, going against orders to actually complete his mission, and Marcus being a chad and leaving the hoebot in the cold

Kara's story was a more personal one while the other two affected the overarching story and world as a whole. Think it comes down to whether you play Quantic dream games as action adventure or interpersonal dramas. Their past games swing wildy back and forth. This one actually had a better story flow. But you'll always have your more interesting pov's vs. boring ones.

I also feel like the androids never really feel like machines. Like you said for Connor: it would be nice, if saving the fish wasn't even an option. I think it would also be so cool, if you could only run in straight lines as long as the android hasn't deviated. I mean, they are androids, why can I make them run in circles or walk the literally most inefficient way possible, when androids are machines that would take the shortest route. Another idea if they would make it that way is that each time Connor has a software instability you could walk a bit more freely. I guess this would probalbly be hard to programm, but I feel like this would help with understanding the human side of the story more. At the end of the day, unlesss they deviate, they are just machines but it sadly never really comes across like this in my opinion.

36:14 Cruel Theory of Morality: Man will support any idea that has not been shown to cause extreme cruelty. We can extrapolate this theory to suggest that man will not hold sympathy towards an oppressed group, unless said group suffers extreme cruelty. However, there's a considerable likelihood that most people are not flat out repulsed by extreme cruelty. Rather, most people will only disapprove of extreme cruelty if it is unjustified. Therefore, if the androids choose to violently rebel against the military, they will appear as less sympathetic to the general public. Human soldiers are being killed, which is justification enough to enact cruelty upon the androids according to most people.

This is such a well done video as someone who didn't play DBH I felt like you explained the problems within the writing for Markus and Kara's stories really well. Also, 3:25-3:34 made me LOL

I legitimately hated Kara story too because it’s essentially her being a mother. No driving factor no real introspection of why she needs to save Alice just. She’s a mom now because what’s more human than a mother’s love?

Kara's story would've been far more interesting, like you mentioned, if they made the goal of it to be her bringing Alice to her mother, only to eventually become a mother to Alice herself. Show how her affection for Alice goes beyond her programming directing her to protect the child in her care. It gives their story a goal and tension by making it so that Kara has something stopping her from being a mother to Alice, but showing how androids can be just as loving as a human and how family isn't defined by blood just like we saw with Carl and Markus and even Hank and Connor to a degree. As for Amanda's part in Connor's story, I think you nailed it right on the head with the 'cold mother' analogy. She is never happy with Connor, regardless of if it's his fault or not, because she is like a narcissistic parent. She needs Connor to be perfect and obedient, but to also somehow recognise any possible outcome, putting unrealistic standards on him that she KNOWS he will never be able to meet. We even see how she uses Connor's clear affection for her (notice how the first time we see Connor smile in-game is AT Amanda when she greets him) until the very end when, especially in the bad ending, she replaces him with RK900. Connor, like an abused "gifted" child, will never be enough for Amanda and she manipulates him to chase after approval he will never receive.

Detroit Become Human is a great idea but it wasn't executed well, this video points out basically everything I feel about it

16:07 CorixKenshin is black and he liked this scene so I think it's at least somewhat valid. Yes black people are still treated badly but this moment is still somewhat ok

I feel like they were going for Connor already having some semblance of deviance within him, but it starts incredibly small and grows throughout the story, but it's already brimming at the start of the story. It's weird though, the other two characters have to break through their "wall" to make any deviant decision, but Connor makes a bunch before having to do the same. I get why they did that narratively, since they wanted a buildup to that decision, but it's just inconsistent.

I really liked your POV that North and Josh should've represented military and diplomacy for Markus. I agree that would've added an extra layer of depth and interest. Nice video! Gave it a like.

8:40 Connor’s machine story be unsatisfying? Bro Connor turns into John wick that way it’s awesome so many cool scenes and different missions with machine Connor idk how you found it that way

MAJOR SPOILERS: IF YOU HAVEN'Y FINISHED THE GAME CAUTION: I know that I am a couple of months late but I would like too add a few more points. With the dirty bomb ending, you have some very good points but I would like to add a few more. If Markus took the detonator and fought in the revolution and he got shot too many times and you didn't have Simon or North (bc they died obv of your choices) to give you their hearts as Markus was slowly shutting down. Markus should of then had the choice of detonating the dirty bomb instead of him just slowly dying on the battlefield as an ending. We do see this concept if Markus does fail the revolution and retreats into the cyberlife store with North (if she was still alive) or him alone, we can see this ending. But refusing the detonator of the dirty bomb can be another "path unlocked" in the game too. If Markus dies in any point into his story before the last chapter, players will see North be next in line and taking Markus's spot with her ideology and ideas she obv chooses to declare war and fight to liberate the androids in the camps. Players will then see her fighting and gaining ground, but she loses too many androids in the process (and depending on the choice you made with Conner becoming deviant or staying a machine) you will see North get shot by the soldiers if Conner was a deviant and trying to converted the androids in the cyberlife tower or was decommissioned. If the player chooses Conner to remain a machine, North will retreat into the cyberlife store and Conner will enter the store choosing to kill or spare North. I think we should have had a choice to detonate the dirty bomb as North if Conner chose to spare her or see North already detonating it as it is her last resort for them to win before Conner arrives. Overall I think we should have played as North in the revolution if Markus was killed instead of seeing her lose it. I doubt not many of you will actually read and see this but if you do thank you. Let me know of your thoughts of ideas on possible endings and other alt paths you think we should of had.

I think this game is great but still think your completely right just imagine what this could’ve been

Idk what are u talking about. Most of these "ideas" are literally in the game. The story of both Markus, Connor and Kara were all perfect. I wouldn't wanna change any of them a single bit. The only thing i could ask is for the game to be longer. D:BH is a masterpiece in my eyes and always will be

The thing is with kara and alice is that the player didn't know Alice wasn't a human until the end, but Kara knew early on at the house. She always knew from the magazine clippings/advertisements that were obscured and dropped onto the floor.

I've always said that DBH should have been 3 different games. That way each story has more time to explore them and build up better. It would have been cool to raid Jericho as Connor then see it in its dilapidated state as Markus and grow it into what Kara flees to. That way, knowing your actions in the other stories, the tension builds on itself and you get to see how large-scale decisions affect the everyday common people. You wouldn't even have to change much

Only at the beginning of the video right now, but I think Kara does have a character. And she forms such a fast bond with Alice because she sees how Todd is treating her, she finds clues that Todd broke the previous Android and is abusive to his daughter, and when she decides to save Kara, Todd is trying to break her again. Thats why Androids at other points in the story killed their owners, like the RA9 Android that got interrogated. They have started to care about surviving, and an android designed to be nurturing just went through a life or death moment with a child, so the android cares about her

Glad I’m not the only one who still thinks about this game and what it could have been. Shocked you don’t have more subscribers- great quality video and critique! Subscribed :)

I like that Leo survived, I think it could be cool if he needed a wheelchair after. A nice reminder.

I will say that Kara’s motivation is simply a mother’s instinct and need to nurture. When androids become deviants they feel human emotions, and so Kara wants to be a mother and will do anything for her child, just like a regular human mother would. And vice versa, Alice is a child who is programmed to be taken care of

Just starting this video, so I apologize if you answer this question later, but I think Kara's motivation makes a lot of sense, even with the information given. You suggest that she should've given Alice to the police but the purpose of the police is to maintain and enforce the law. Within that purpose, Alice would've been returned to her legal guardian, even if she was a human child. It's a lot harder to take kids away from their biological parents than you'd think, and in many states corporeal punishment is legal, and it's only considered physical abuse if it becomes too extreme, but what counts as extreme can be incredibly arbitrary and vary based on which cop, CPS agent, or judge (if it even goes to court--which many abuse allegations never do)--is reviewing the facts of the case. Not to mention that Alice has no family willing to take custody of her other than her dad. The government is very hesitant to put kids in foster care as it's a strain on government resources. Going to the police would in no way get Alice out of that house.

I think that Kara’s entire character is to give the player attachment to androids, and give the player something to think on when deciding whether or not they are more for deviants or machines. The whole reason she exists is “Well if I kill/ destroy all deviants, I destroy Kara and she’s actually a really good person, I would also be taking away from Alices ‘mother’, and there could be more like her. “She’s just a mindless plot device

About Kara realizing Alice is an android; it doesn't make sense why she would hate someone of her own kind, especially since they both share the same problem. I think it would be more compelling if Kara made herself believe that Alice is an android because she despises humans so much after being withTodd that she makes up this story in her head and kidnaps his actual daughter. She is still saving her from abuse, but this time there's a bigger impact on Kara's case because she took a human child and the police are actively looking for her. This would also reenforce the fact Alice has to stay with Kara to survive. Kara wants to be a mother to an android child and Alice is playing along because she's afraid Kara will hate her if she was a human. What can also happen is that maybe Alice very heavly resembles a model for child androids which can fool some humans into thinking she's an android as well (like Zlatko). The fact that Alice can feel cold and hunger can also just be seen by Kara as her child needs program and in one scene she tries to turn it off but there's an error since her program doesn't detect anything but it doesn't directly tell us why. This could porbably have a lot of holes I can't think of right now but maybe it can be worked around.

Kara: I personally feel indifferent to Kara's story. It's a nice side story, but that's the problem. It's a side story. Kara has almost zero relevance to the story. She's the only one who can die before the Android revolution starts, and the game goes on just fine. You'll skip the chaper where Connor is looking for her, but all that does is fast forward to lunch with Hank and looking for Rupert. No major changes. If you are doing a D:BH speed run, you'll kill Kara at the first opportunity. Connor: I really don't have much to critique with him. He's my favorite character of the trio. I guess his "deaths" don't impact the story. Every time Connor dies, you get an update that his software was damaged, and he says himself that "dying" causes a loss of memory. Despite this, Connor still performs alright. Amanda and CyberLife are a little convoluted. Amanda explains in the Deviant ending that CyberLife knew that an Android Revolution was going to happen and Connor's purpose wasn't to stop it, but to control it. This is the ending where Markus and his whole circle dies, and Connor is left to lead the revolution. In an ending where Markus survives, Connor is just an assassin. In Connor's evil ending, CyberLife returns to business as usual. They'll suffer for a while after the Android revolution, but there will still be a large demand for Androids. In fact, Connor is told that the state department requested shipments of the new RK900 model. Amanda tells Connor that he is now obsolete and is sent to be dismantled. Felt unsatisfying that your reward is to be discarded and replaced. Would've been better if Amanda had Connor's AI transferred to an RK900 model as a reward for having a high approval with her. Markus: I enjoyed Markus's story a lot, but it felt almost hypocritical. The whole point is to liberate Androids and fight for their freedom. Except when you free an Android, they don't feel human at all. They feel like... robots. They are instantly loyal to him. Do whatever he asks. They feel less like a growing community of free Androids and more like a Hive mind, where most of them are blindly obedient plastic dolls. It also was pretty black and white. We see in Kara's introduction scene that Androids are expensive. Android 2-6,000 dollars, iirc. People spent a lot of money on something that was built and programmed to serve. It's not the same as humans enslaving humans, because human beings aren't created for a particular purpose. We are born out of passion and raised with love and care over many years. There's no exact purpose for our being. We are simply people who have our fates unwritten. Androids, on the other hand, are assembled and programmed inside a factory where they are assigned exact purposes and functions. People didn't spend lots of money on an Android, just so some random Android can give them free will and tell them to stop cleaning the house.

Personally I think Kara took care of her purely from her programming to be a babysitter maid

Compared to everyone else’s story and chapters, Kara’s feels underwhelming and tedious. The task was always “protect alice” “comfort alice” etc. The whole thing feels less rewarding especially when you find out that Alice’s is an android and she didn’t need as much of the resources that Kara gave her (warm clothes, food, etc.)

My story Connor: Protagonists Kara: Protector Markus: Antagonist

This game notoriously keeps it's 3 main characters from interacting w/each other as much as possible, which reminds me a lot of RE. Not a trait from RE I would use

missed potential is DC's specialty mostly because of how dire his writing can be

honestly because of the way the story is done, i always thought that the androids markus “freed” weren’t actually free. they just had a new master

that 1 year break was cooking up a fire video

I'll be honest really love the idea of marcus's new story, man that one sounds insane and most people trying to be peaceful fucking up the debate with the ending having them just nuke everyone to save the revolution would've been huge,.

Objection! Simon and Marcus had way more chemistry together, Simon should've been the love interest instead of North. So let her be the one who HAS to die.

Biggest sin of the game is thinking Hillary Clinton of all people would be the calm collected leader America needs to prosper

I love the yearly uploads. Can't wait until 2025 when X uploads a video on Fallout 3