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While David Cage is no stranger to hard hitting, adult subjects – for example, the loss of a child in Heavy Rain – it’s fair to say that the newest trailer for Detroit: Become Human revealed at this week’s Paris Games Week has attracted its fair share of debate, due to depicting scenes of child and domestic abuse.
In an interview with Eurogamer, Cage has defended the scenes, saying ‘For me it’s a very strong and moving scene, and I was interested to put the player in the position of this woman.’ He added ‘There’s a context in the story, there’s a reason for that – where she comes from and where she’s going to go. What’s important to me, and what’s important in Detroit is to say that a game is as legitimate as a film or a book or a play to explore any topic such as domestic abuse.’
Cage added that the scene was just one part of Kara’s story (which he describes as ‘beautiful’). When asked why he chose to write a scene about domestic abuse, Cage clarified that he did not, in fact, do that.
‘You don’t choose to talk about domestic abuse,’ Cage said, on the issue of him choosing to write about domestic abuse. ‘It’s not like I was like “oh, let’s write a scene about domestic abuse”. It’s not how it works. When you’re a writer you talk about things that move you, that you feel really deep inside you that’s something that moves you, and you hope it’ll move people too.’
Cage later compared the conversation happening in games right now to how Baudelaire was received in his time.
Detroit: Become Human comes out for the PlayStation 4 next year.
