Anything for Alice: A Family's Future in Detroit: Become Human (Battle for Detroit)
SPOILER WARNING: The following focuses on one of the final decisions in Detroit: Become Human, during Battle for Detroit.
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Game: Detroit: Become Human
Chapter: Battle for Detroit (Kara)
Location: Bus Terminal, Detroit
Summary: Kara, Luther, and Alice have survived the onslaught of Detroit and are moments away from reaching Canada* where a peaceful future awaits. Tensions in the city are rising as Markus' demonstration takes hold and the government begins mobilising troops: It's crunch-time for refugees vying for a place on the last bus out the terminal. Though transport is for ticket-holders only, fate intervenes when an unsuspecting family drop their passes on the ground. Kara is now faced with a choice that will determine the outcome of her saga: Take the tickets and secure a safe passage or return them to their rightful owners.
Like many decisions throughout the game, this hangs on a balance of ethics vs. survival where the "right" choice and the "good" choice are at odds with one another - a tragic symptom of placing desperate people in impossible situations.
Note: Given the multiple choices/paths of the main questline, this dilemma focuses on one specific set of circumstances and how they may influence the decision.
More information: Battle for Detroit | Detroit: Become Human Wiki | Fandom
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A Family Built on Hope
When sheltering from a snowstorm in an abandoned theme park, Kara tucks Alice into bed for a long-awaited rest, her databank of 9000 fairy-tales at the ready. But Alice longs for a different kind of story to calm her anguished mind: The adventure of a young girl who decided to run away with a robot and live in peace together.
Alice's picture-perfect dream is inspired by a discarded family photo they find in the park, but she is apprehensive in believing happy endings come to be in "real life". Fleeing an abusive household, enduring homelessness, escaping imprisonment, and evading persecution have marred her with trauma. Yet Kara is determined to change Alice's outlook, reassuring her that as long as they are together they bear tangible hope for a kinder future.
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Playthrough images courtesy of Christopher Odd. Screen capture: FetchQuester
Return the Tickets
As Kara searches for tickets, Alice is drawn to a young infant resting tranquilly in his mother's arms as they prepare for departure. Her curiosity exudes a tenderness which has defined her character throughout the story; though the family is human, she sees herself in them. Their hopes, fears, and unconditional commitment to one another are at the core of what all sentient beings share in common: The intrinsic desire to live in peace and safety with their loved ones. This moment of recognition - though understated and subtle - is one of the most powerful and symbolic in the game.
The illusion of sameness is shattered as the husband returns to hustle them towards the gate, a jarring reminder of the "us and them" dichotomy dividing human and android as one is granted refuge while the other struggles to stay alive. The quiet dismay in the atmosphere is palpable until the family's tickets fall out their bag: A miraculous reversal of the playing field.
Kara hesitates, an unusual response for an entity who can calculate all possible outcomes within a nanosecond. But her human-like apprehension reveals a conflict of conscience - a sense of committing something so unspeakable that she is tempted to return the tickets twice in the following sequence. Depending on the player's responses throughout the game, keeping the tickets defies everything Kara has sought to instil in Alice: Don't steal, don't lie, and don't leave people in danger.
Detroit: Become Human reminds us there is always a choice, even in circumstances which drive us to extreme measures where the true depth of our moral core is tested. Alice's convictions are testament to this; despite her experience of intense familial and societal trauma her sense of right and wrong remain untarnished as her actions and emotions exemplify. Whether it is the "malfunction" of her software resulting in "deviance" or the evolution of self-awareness, her courage, compassion, and selflessness have become integral to her identity, and the trust she has built in Kara and Luther as parental figures is upheld to these values. Is such trust worth breaking when Alice already feels disillusionment with the world?
As players, every heart-to-heart with Kara, Alice, and Luther is imprinted on our consciousness, yet we know little about the human family who are virtually indistinguishable to us in this moment. Who are we to determine which family is more deserving of a safe passage and the chance to live freely? What if it was Rose who dropped her tickets during their rendezvous at the station? Whether Markus is leading a peaceful demonstration or violent revolution, these people are witness to a crisis which has instilled enough fear to uproot them from their lives and flee - a decision which is never taken without grief. Can Alice live with the guilt of survivor's syndrome that may come to pass? And more crucially, can an android justify an action which endangers a vulnerable human child like the one in the bus terminal?
Perhaps this is the only chance the family has to escape, whereas Kara's adaptability, Alice's resilience, Luther's strength, and Rose's resourcefulness provide them with alternate routes across the river. Returning the tickets to its owners who have overcome their own obstacles to acquire them is simply the right thing to do.
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Keep the Tickets
As the weary trio find temporary respite in Jericho, Kara is forced to confront a revelation she has suppressed far too long: Alice is an android. Yet it wasn't Alice's supposed "humanness" which gave Kara purpose. It was love. "She wanted a mom and you wanted someone to care for," Luther reminds her. "She became the little girl you wanted, and you became the mother she needed. Forgetting who you are to become what someone needs you to be - maybe that's what it means to be alive."
Luther's dialogue is a heartfelt summation of their journey as a family built on trust and care. Throughout their trials, Kara's constant promise has been that they "will be together forever." Alice wants for little in this life; Kara's mere presence (and later, Luther's) is enough to fill her love-starved soul and bring joy into her otherwise dark and tumultuous world. Life without them would be unthinkable, and we see the earnestness in Alice's eyes as she implores Kara to save Luther during the attack on Jericho and the Detroit streets despite compromising her own chances.
Rose insists they "absolutely must be on that bus" before midnight. Drawing on her own history, she observes the pattern of oppression and genocide unfolding before her as androids are violently killed in the open or rounded up in camps to be exterminated. Kara, Luther, and Alice have witnessed these atrocities first-hand and the gamble of riding out Detroit's disintegration into chaos could be a fatal mistake, just as crossing the river into Canada poses threats from border guards and treacherous weather conditions. After everything they have overcome, it would be counterintuitive to risk their lives yet again by denying themselves one last grasp for freedom.
But what are the consequences for the human family? Unlike the androids, they are not the persecuted minority and can rely on the shelter of the bus station until armed evacuation of citizens is deployed, exponentially increasing their chances of survival.
Yet pragmatism be damned: This is ultimately about Alice and the player's instincts towards protecting a child in danger, driven by Kara's overwhelming love and commitment to upholding the pledge she made to deliver her to safety - even if that entails sacrificing her own life. After all the turmoil and heartache they have weathered, this is the moment which will forever determine their future - a future which has been denied Alice in the cruellest of ways, but relinquished through the actions of those sworn to protect her.
"We'll be together forever, won't we Kara?" "Yes, forever."
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Spoilers affecting choice:
If Kara keeps the tickets and follows all the prompts to secure entry into Canada, they will obtain safe passage via the customs officer (who is positively influenced by Markus' peaceful actions broadcast on the news). Alice does not favour this option, but shows relief as she embraces Kara on the other side of the border. Should they return the tickets and brave the river, a series of events unfold in which only Alice and Kara survive at best. Multiple consequences can be accessed via the Battle for Detroit flowchart.
- Lucy A.
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Sources:
Detroit: Become Human (Quantic Dream/Sony Interactive Entertainment); fandom.com
*A special thanks to Christopher Odd for his reflective commentary and allowing the use of his playthrough for screenshots.
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