Quantic Dream is development studio known for its very unique portfolio of narrative-focused, highly cinematic games and liberal application of the Quick Time Event mechanic. Their past releases, Heavy Rain in 2010 and Beyond: Two Souls in 2013–both PlayStation 3 exclusives, and their predecessor Fahrenheit (titled Indigo Prophecy in NA) in 2005 for PlayStation 2 and Xbox, are demonstrative of the formula the studio has constructed to provide players with an experience less like a traditional “game” and more like an interactive, choose-your-own-adventure-style movie. Quantic Dream recently revealed to the world that they’ve been cookin’ up something new over there in France, and they call it Detroit.
The announcement first came from Quantic Dream’s co-founder and CEO, David Cage, who directed the previous games mentioned, as well as Omikron: The Nomad Soul, which was developed by Eidos. He introduced the trailer seen above to the crowd at Sony’s Paris Games Week press conference, which also happens to be where Quantic Studios is based. Cage is known for his regular use of motion-capture technology in an effort to achieve a realistic and cinematic level of graphic fidelity. Beyond: Two Souls blurred the line between game and film even further by headlining Hollywood actors like Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe and then becoming the second game to ever appear at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2013.
Detroit stars Kara, a character that Quantic Studios came up with a few years back. She first appeared in a tech demo shown in 2012, meant to show off the capabilities and polish of the mo-cap system for future games, but also acted as a narrative teaser to a story they didn’t, at the time, intend to produce. The studio was working on other projects, and Beyond: Two Souls released October of the following year. In the words of Cage himself,
[The demo] was about an android who discovered she could feel emotions and appeared to be sentient. Many people were deeply moved by this character and felt empathy for this character who just wanted to live. But everyone had the same question: what happens to Kara when she leaves the factory?
I kept asking myself the same question since we released this short. I knew I had to find out!
As far as release dates, we’re left with nothing substantial. Quantic Dream’s website states, “We’re some way away from releasing Detroit, but we’re excited to be showing you our new game already. We look forward to letting you know more when we get closer to its release!” What that means, exactly, is anyone’s guess, but it’s likely they’d know by now if the game could possibly be ready by 2016 and they’d want consumers to know that. Keep in mind that is purely a drop of speculation in a ocean of tumultuous factors. When more information is made available, it’ll certainly be posted here at MXDWN games.