Detroit Becomes 'Android City' In Quantic Dream's PS4 Video Game

By @GeorgeJFox

DETROIT (CBS Detroit) - Will Detroit build the next generation of androids with artificial intelligence? French game developer Quantic Dream imagines it will. A billboard in the game's trailer reads, "Welcome to Detroit Android City". The Playstation exclusive title is set in Detroit showing a photo realistic version of the city complete with blight and shiny city centers.

A cutting-edge graphics demo called Kara was created in 2012 by Quantic Dream. The concept well received and has been given a full game they've titled "Detroit". The news was part of the Sony's PS4 lineup unveiled at Paris Games Week 2015 and posted on the company's official blog.

The game's protagonist, Kara, narrates the dramatic and cinematic game trailer posted to Sony's PS4 YouTube channel. "This is Detroit. This is where it all began. The world's forge. The place where it all started and it will all end. One error and I came to life. I stepped out of darkness and came to life."

Players will assume the role of an android that becomes self aware, and find out what happens when Kara leaves the factory and explores the streets of Detroit.

The idea of Detroit becoming the manufacturing hub for artificially intelligent robots fits the Motor City's reputation. The trailer footage shows a image of Detroit contrasting blighted factories with ares of shiny bustling city life and blue collar midwestern homes.

These fictitious androids are purchased by consumers to complete routine tasks and manual labor. $7,999 is the purchase price next to new male and female models in a display window.

This isn't the first time Detroit has been used as the primary setting for a video game. The 2011 title, "Deus Ex Human Revolution" showed a dystopian version of the city controlled by corporations in the year 2027.

Details are sparse on gameplay, but from the trailer you can see there will be an open-ended city to explore. Kara gets a dose of reality as she narrates her first impressions of Detroit and its people, "... the world is not what I imagined. It is dark and cold. It is harsh and violent."

Making choices in open-ended massive-world video games is a trend and it appears to be a theme of "Detroit". Kara feels she is more than an obedient machine and searches for how this is possible. The narration adds how Kara will have choices to make, "maybe I will change the world, maybe I'll choose a different path. Now it's up to me to decide."

No release date for "Detroit" has been announced.