What Ben found most interesting was how remarkably different the game experience was for each of the three characters.
However, as the story progressed and different choices were made, the three characters would influence each other within the game.
Connor's gameplay focused more on figuring out puzzles and character development.
In Connor's story, he would get involved in cases of deviant androids.
During these cases, he would need to find the whereabouts of related androids using clues.
But the most fun part wasn't investigating the cases.
It was the interaction with Lieutenant Hank.
Clearly, Captain Hank was not an easy person to get along with, having a bad temper and hating androids.
Yet, Hank also had a hidden past. During one mission, Connor went to Hank's home and found him drunk and unconscious. While drunk, Hank was even playing Russian roulette with just one bullet, where he could die by his own hand. Clearly, Hank had strong suicidal tendencies.
And if you wanted to save Hank and build a good relationship with him, Connor needed to show a human side during everyday activities. For example, when chasing an android, he should save Hank from a cliff edge instead of prioritizing the mission to track the android.
There was also the scene at the Eden Club where Connor hesitated whether to shoot two seemingly pitiful gay deviant androids.
These actions would increase Connor's favorability with Hank.
If done correctly, you would find that Hank wasn't that difficult to get along with, and he would open up to Connor.
At first, Connor thought deviant androids were just programs with glitches; they had no thoughts of their own, no true awareness, just like himself.
But during these days of working with Hank, he himself was enduring injustice and discrimination from humans.
Meanwhile, during the mission to investigate Jericho, the android stronghold, Connor would meet Kamski, who would present Connor with a choice.
This choice was whether to shoot an android that looked like Chloe.
If Connor shot her, Kamski would agree to tell him some information about Jericho.
But if Connor didn't shoot, it would mean Connor had also become a deviant android.
This is because robots don't have empathy; robots only follow commands.
This would also throw Connor into confusion, and he had to make a choice: to be a being with self-awareness or a robot that followed orders.
If Connor chose to remain a robot, then Hank's ending would not be a good one.
He would be at a low point in his life, possibly committing suicide at home, or he might die during subsequent missions executed by Connor after becoming a robot, killed by Connor's own hand.
But if Connor chose to become a deviant android instead of a robot.
Then Hank would also open up to Connor and resolve his inner conflicts, and even help Connor when he invaded the CyberLife Tower at the end.
Hank would admit that his lifelong hatred for androids was just self-avoidance.
His car had skidded on ice, severely injuring his son. When his son was being operated on, the surgeon was an android, and his son did not survive.
But now he understood. Although an android performed the surgery for his son, the real reason was that the surgeon on duty that day was unable to perform the surgery due to drug use, which led to the android being called upon.
With his inner conflict resolved, Hank helped Connor liberate the androids in CyberLife.
It could be said that the success of the android revolution rested mainly in Connor's hands.
As for Markus, his storyline was the most explosive in the game.
It had strategy, choices, and parkour action all included.
Saving his race, that was what Markus needed to do.
Similarly, there were two ways Markus could choose to save the androids: one was to choose a path of pacifism, aiming to achieve goals through peaceful means as much as possible.
Using spray paint to write the Jericho symbol, choosing actions with higher public approval during missions, rather than killing innocents to gain public sympathy.
But even so, players would face several difficult choices.
When Markus decided to lead the androids in rebellion rather than wait to die, they decided to make their voices heard by the world and prepared to storm the Stratford Herald building to give a speech for androids.
During this operation, players would have to choose whether to kill the staff or knock them out.
But even then, even with the choice of peace, in the end, in the speech hall, one human still escaped.
At this point, players would need to choose whether to shoot him.
If the person was killed, public opinion would decline.
But if he was not killed, it would lead to the early arrival of guards, putting everyone in danger, and Simon would be injured in the ensuing fight, ultimately having to be left behind in the building by Markus and his group.
However, this was not a guaranteed death ending. There was an interesting branching path here: if later, when controlling Connor to investigate the TV station, you chose for Connor to go to the rooftop for investigation, he would encounter Simon, and Connor would kill him and read his memories.
But if Connor did not investigate the rooftop, then Simon would survive later and return to Jericho alone.
The three protagonists, with their different choices and actions, would all bring about different outcomes.
If the peaceful approach was chosen, comrades would continuously be sacrificed during operations, and even Markus himself might sacrifice himself during a protest.
So, could peace truly lead to androids being recognized?
This thought would fill the player's mind, especially as they watched android after android fall under military attack during the peaceful route.
Doubt would further increase. Should they really continue to persist on the peaceful path?
But if Markus were to lead the androids in war and resistance, then players would discover that this would also affect the storyline of another protagonist.
That would be Kara, who was with Alice.
The stories of Connor and Markus were heavy and had far-reaching consequences.
Connor's choices and decisions would influence whether the android uprising led by Markus could succeed.
Similarly, Markus and the androids' actions also affected Connor.
As for Kara, her story was entirely passive.
She would only be affected by the decisions of Connor and Markus.
However, although Kara's story did not have the same grand scale as Connor's and Markus's, it did not involve politics, war, the fate of a race, or conspiracies of major events. It was merely an adventure of an android and a little girl.
Yet, many players shared a common feeling: that Kara's story surprisingly offered a more immersive experience and prompted deeper reflection.
The delicate emotions between Kara and Alice were also something that greatly moved many players.
(End of this chapter)
---
Read +100 advanced chapters on my patre*n
patr eon.com/GustinaKamiya
---