This is just a short review of a very ambitious game. The game is a very interesting concept, about Androids becoming self-aware and taking on human qualities. It has been explored a little in popular Sci Fi, in TV shows such as “Humans” and “Almost Human”, both of which I’ve watched and really enjoyed. So coming into the game I was pretty interested.

I’ll try to keep this as spoiler-free as I can while still giving my opinion.

The game starts off very abruptly, getting you to make a critical decision to try to save someone’s life. I wasn’t expecting to make such important decisions so early in the game, I thought it’d warm you up to it, but nope. Big decisions right off the bat.

You play as 3 main characters, built fictional company “CyberLife”. Connor, aka RK800, an android model designed to help solve crimes. Kara, aka AX400, a domestic worker, housekeeper and caretaker of young children. And Markus aka RX200, a domestic assistant and companion. Trying not to spoil too much, but you follow their rather turbulent “lives” as they become more human. You’re put in charge to make important decisions that affect the progression and ultimate ending of the game. As well as some quick-time events and movement controls to move and interact with events in the game. It’s very much a story-driven game where you choose dialogue options to make decisions. Decisions which can make drastic differences in the game. Some of them are good/bad decisions, that lead to good/bad consequences. Some of them more philosophical choices, such as whether to be more “human” or not. Which also affects things.

I got through most of the game without anyone dying, and developed a strong connection with the characters. I really wanted them to succeed in their own ways. Which was a bit difficult for one particular character. In the Kara storyline, I just went all-out compassionate to make sure I could see her outcome be a good one (it was for me, just..). Connor, I tried to make him as dutiful as I could, which later became difficult to continue with. And Markus, well not to spoil anything, but his path really went a bit off the plot, but I tried to guide it in a peaceful way.

Then came the last 2 or so hours of the game, where things got very serious. No spoilers, but some of the late-game decisions you made had very significant impacts on the ending. Each decision leading to probably very different endings. Which is one criticism of the game, it would have been better to be rewarded for the first 2/3 of the game at the end, than for it to be more pivotal right at the end. My ending was not the best, but it almost could have been a lot better. I must say something about Connor though. I tried to blur the line between “deviant” (sentient) and machine. It didn’t end well, sadly. I thought I would get an interesting ending by doing that, but I did not. They wanted you to make a choice, not let your choices let the game make the choice for you. Which I thought wasn’t so great. But I still enjoyed his plotline for the most part.

Overall I really enjoyed the game, as said I have a bit of a soft-spot for Sci-Fi stories about androids. Data was my favourite Star Trek character as a kid by far. The graphics are quite good. They put a lot of effort into motion capture, so the characters felt quite real and human-like, definitely not “robotic” like you might see in some games. Which must have been intentional. The writing and dialogue was ok, though it felt a little serious at times, with not a lot of humour, sadly. The plot perhaps was a bit irrational near the end.. but that was tolerable as it gave the game a bit more conflict and action sequences (fun). They picked pretty good actors for the characters, and their performance was very good, for a video game especially. Markus was interesting because he could have gone good or evil, but his voice actor made him sound like he could have been either. It was such a good game, I’m not sure what to play next.. It’s hard to decide what follow it up with.

I struggle to give ratings, take it with a grain of salt, but I’d give this game 9 almost-sentient RK800 Connors out of 10. It will be one of my favourites of all time.