Introduction

In the Craft of Criticism, Chapter 25, Games and Gaming, a bunch of elements of gameplay are talked about, especially with games that talk about the past or the present. Storylines of games can influence each other, whether the past influences the present or the present influences the past. However, there is no discussion of games that take place in the future that can influence the present or the past. Here is where a genre like Speculative Fiction would fill that knowledge gap.

Speculative Fiction is a term not often used in the context of video games, but it should be. One clear example of this is the game Detroit: Become Human (DBH). DBH is a Science Fiction video game that was released in 2018. The game takes place in Detroit, Michigan, in 2038, showing the interconnecting stories between three main characters, Conner, Markus, and Kara. These characters are Androids, known in-game as humanoid robots with Artificial Intelligence. Throughout the game, the player learns their stories, and can influence their decisions and even decide whether or not to take paths that deviate from the Android’s programming. (Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe 2020) Throughout this game, there is a clear display of a very tech-savvy future with the benefits and consequences of this, whether that is direct in player choice and interaction with the environment, or even more subtly, like in newspapers. With all of that in mind, just like how games that take place in the past can influence the present and vice versa, this paper contains several examples of how DBH, a game that takes place in the future, can influence perceiving the present and the past.

While there are many examples of magazine connections I have noticed in DBH, four of them stood out, especially with events that have happened between the games release date, 2018, and the year 2025 But even so, and any potential historical references before 2018.

Geopolitics

The first DBH article is “THE NORTH POLE – WHY RUSSIA WANTS IT.” President Warren, the U.S President in DBH, does not like that Russia has territory in the North Pole, and the conflict is phrased as a potential race for important minerals for making Thirium, the main chemical in making the “blood” in Androids, which are in demand in both countries. (The north pole – why Russia wants it n.d. p. 1) There are potential reasons for this conflict, whether that be geopolitical connections or Thirium; both reasons can also be considered for Russia and the U.S to share their goals in the Arctic instead. By the end, the article implies that the conflict either started or became more tense due to an unknown personal motive from President Warren. (The north pole – why Russia wants it n.d. pp 1-2)

While that article on its own is a far-fetched prediction, it is familiar with how Donald Trump has recently been trying to make Greenland become a state. According to Wertheim, (2025), Donald Trump tried to buy Greenland this year, and when the offer was rejected, “Trump doubled-down and now declines to rule out force.” (Wertheim, 2025) One reason why Trump may want Greenland specifically is because of the potential for gold mining, at least according to the interview with Jon Wertheim and Eldur Ólafsson published in the same article. They also argued that the want for Greenland is just to expand. Either way, the want to buy Greenland has shown to be disrespectful to Greenland natives, and the people already there living their lives.

This showcase of imperialist want for land by Donald Trump can be argued as similar to DBH character, President Warren’s response to Russia’s interest in the North Pole. In the DBH article, there is a discovery of minerals in the ice. Russia already has territory in the Arctic, and in said article, President Warren releases a statement. “ ‘It’s simple. Russia has no business in the Arctic. If the Kremlin doesn’t understand that, we will make them understand.’” (as cited in The north pole – why Russia wants it n.d. p. 2)  A showcase of threatening disrespect to a territory where people already live there, while also displaying that this way of trying to get the Arctic territory would benefit President Warren in a personal way.

This is further embellished in a later DBH article, sharing in-universe character, Russian President Ivanoff’s response, displaying a clear distaste for President Warren’s statement. “Ivanoff said he would ‘remind President Warren’ that ‘the United States is subject to UN conventions, like everybody else.’ The conflict shows no signs of abating.” (Ivanoff says “niet”! n.d.)

Privacy & Data

The next DBH article, “IS YOUR ANDROID SPYING ON YOU?” shares that many experts suggest “that CyberLife uses its 120 million androids to record details of private conversations of its customers and sell them to trading partners.” (Is your Android spying on you? n.d.). The article elaborates on how the information collected from these recordings could be used by CyberLife “for targeted advertising” (Is your Android spying on you? n.d. p. 1), and the collection of this information could be used maliciously. Androids recording information all the time is not something anybody except advertisers asked for. “Several consumer rights organizations have requested that CyberLife disclose the information it gathers and who it sells that information to, but the company has always refused.” (Is your Android spying on you? n.d. p. 2) This lack of accountability is familiar to privacy concerns today in the era of smartphones, and how normalized it is for any piece of data on any device to be used for any purpose.

This response in the fictional article is reminiscent of the fact that Google uses “fingerprinting” for data. Fingerprinting is a way of collecting “information about a person’s device and browser and puts it together to create a profile of that person.” (Rahman-Jones, 2025) This information can be anything that becomes data in the device, that can be used for potential advertising. The unnecessary information that goes beyond website functionality such as “their time zone, browser type, battery level – and many other data points” (Rahman-Jones, 2025) are what are often used. Similar to the DBH article, privacy campaigners in the BBC article are concerned since this is not like cookies because there is a lack of control in what and how much information is sent via fingerprinting. (Rahman-Jones, 2025)

The DBH magazine,  “CYBERLIFE’S ‘FORTUNE TELLER’ COMPUTER” showcases the advancements of quantum computing. “CyberLife has unveiled a new quantum supercomputer, capable of ‘exaflops’ – one billion billion operations per second.” (CyberLife’s “Fortune teller” computer. (n.d.). p. 1) It dives briefly into descriptions of the supercomputer that work just like how generative AI works, and plans to use this computer for “calculat[ing] the probability of ‘Mass Extinction Events’, such as aggressive alien invasions or global climate disasters like meteors or super-viruses. (CyberLife’s “Fortune teller” computer. n.d., p. 1) This may prompt reactions from feelings of temporary security that there will be less worry or even no worry at all of the existential realizations of death on a massive scale. On paper, that may sound great, but other reactions include separate “doomsday predictions from those fearful that AI is gaining too much influence already,” (CyberLife’s “Fortune teller” computer. n.d., p. 2) which are mentioned but invalidated in the article itself. This fictional article does not include whether any doomsday predictions made from the quantum supercomputer include anything about artificial intelligence, or even if the supercomputer has a pro-AI stance. Has Cyberlife considered asking that question? Or on the contrary, would the AI include artificial intelligence as a subject for mass extinction events, and would the public of 2038 believe a possibility?

Theorizing aside, this relates to Brooks’ quantum computer news article. (2025) While there is no quantum supercomputer yet, Google released a quantum chip, known as Willow. So, for the next step to be a quantum supercomputer is not really farfetched. However, my concern is that with both of these articles, this leap in technology and processing may not necessarily lead to more knowledge with new information, but rather be more overwhelmed and paranoid with too much information flowing at once, especially with the calculation of Mass extinction events. (Brooks, 2025)

Music

This last DBH article, “ALL-ANDROID BAND TIPPED FOR MUSIC PRIZE,” talks about music and how in 2038, there are very few songs that do not use artificial intelligence. The article starts off with this, “Here4u, the latest all-android boyband to be marketed by Detroit record label Digital Harmony, is hotly tipped to scoop Best New Artist at the Celebrate Music Awards.” (All-android band tipped for music prize n.d.) This tip resulted in some backlash to Digital Harmony, via a public letter, asking the record label “to withdraw the band from consideration,” (All-android band tipped for music prize n.d.) believing that award ceremonies with nominations like that this would further remove the purpose and creativity in making music more than just good enough. In the year 2038, “less than 5% of the music market [is] now produced by human musicians,” (All-android band tipped for music prize n.d.) so there is little inclination for a change or for Digital Harmony to withdraw the boy band.

This article is one of the most far-fetched due to the immense backlash against AI in music in recent years. Specifically in 2023, TikTok user Ghostwriter977 released a song that featured the AI-generated voices of Drake and the Weeknd. This release led to so much backlash and a copyright strike from Universal Music Group, that the existence of the song in the first place led to people questioning the ethics of AI usage in music. (Veltman, 2023) The song was taken down days later. (Willman, 2023) However, things are still very loose in restrictions of AI when it comes to the Spotify music platform in particular. Within the year of 2024, there have been a lot of noticeable new features with Spotify, specifically regarding the usage of AI. In that year, Spotify made an AI DJ for playlists and playlists can now be generated with AI.

Spotify’s debuting of the AI DJ sounds very similar to personalized algorithms they already have but with a couple different things. Spotify claims that the AI DJ can give insight about what the user is listening to, with Generative AI from Open AI and the help of Spotify music editors. They also have bought Sonatic (an AI voice platform) for their technology that creates speech from text. Spotify created the DJ voice model from the voice of “Xavier ‘X’ Jernigan,” who worked on projects with them such as hosting “The Get Up” podcast. (Spotify, 2023) Spotify says that “His voice is the first model for the DJ,” implying that they plan on making new DJ voices in the near future. (Spotify, 2023)

Spotify later elaborates on the importance of personalization with the Beta release of AI playlists. By typing in prompts, a playlist can be generated from that prompt. (Spotify, 2024) While these features do not really change the music itself on Spotify,  Spotify may start actively pushing for more partially or fully AI-generated music.

Revolutionary Messaging, Agency and Consciousness

Moving away from in-game magazines, this second half goes into more general aspects of the game that can reflect history and current matters. Tompkins (2021) article, compares the radio tower mission in Markus’s route in DBH to when “Martin Luther King, Jr. led the Great March to Freedom rally in the Motor City” in 1963, along with other leaders. (p. 5) In DBH, Markus and three other characters, Josh, North, and Simon, take over “a news broadcast center in hopes of better communicating their grievances to the public.” (Tompkins, 2021, p. 5) The player has direct control over what message is said and how it is phrased when the group makes it to the newsroom.

DBH makes it very clear from the start that player choices affect the outcome of the story, not only by the options that come to the character during quick time events but also which controls are used for the character to navigate various environments. What is also used are “dialog options, where the player can frequently choose between two or more paths of what their character is supposed to say or do.” (Schubert, 2021) Since every action is a part of the story and the game mechanics cannot be separated from the story. Every action taken and word spoken becomes politicized because no matter what intentions the player has, they as an Android inevitably become a subject of politics in the narrative of this world. Even when outcomes stumble or fail, that becomes a part of the story.

As a person who has a mental disability that can be masked or hidden, in the year of 2025, the feeling of history itself having its eyes on me is a feeling all too familiar when playing DBH. Connor’s storyline in particular was one that caught my attention the most, when it comes to agency. Connor, an Android detective, has different endings, “based on whether players decide for him to gain consciousness and become “deviant” or whether they want him to remain a “machine.” (Schubert, 2021) I do not see this storyline as one about “gaining consciousness” because I interpret the consciousness as already there; but rather, it is about choosing whether to acknowledge who you are underneath the mask. The choice of recognizing whether or not Connor has a consciousness knowing the risks are becoming persecuted and treated differently, or treated even more harshly than before. So in that moment, I can imagine Connor thinking, is it worth it to never show my conscience for the sake of safety and security; knowing there may be others in my life that have pride in expressing their hatred for me regardless of what I do? By becoming a deviant, Connor’s mission and purpose changes, from finding and catching deviants, to joining them and their revolution.

Games that take place in the future can have an influence on the actions of now and reflections of the past. When DBH came out in 2018, I thought what was happening in the game was somewhat possible but still far-fetched. However, as I see the politics of current events and technology growing and developing around everyday life outside smartphones, a future heavily involved with AI, similar to DBH, is becoming far more plausible than before. This has especially been the case with some of the magazines from DBH and the player’s action and environment interactions throughout the game. DBH is a great model for Speculative Fiction in terms of video games for all these reasons.

Sources

All-android band tipped for music prize. (n.d.). Detroit. https://detroit-become-human.fandom.com/wiki/All-Android_Band_Tipped_for_Music_Prize

Brooks, C. (2025, February 24). Quantum computing has arrived; we need to prepare for its impact. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckbrooks/2025/02/22/quantum-computing-has-arrived-we-need-to-prepare-for-its-impact/ 

CyberLife’s “Fortune teller” computer (n.d.). Detroit. https://detroit-become-human.fandom.com/wiki/CyberLife%27s_%27Fortune_Teller%27_Computer 

Is your Android spying on you? (n.d.). Detroit. https://detroit-become-human.fandom.com/wiki/Is_Your_Android_Spying_on_You%3F 

Ivanoff says “niet”! (n.d.) Detroit. https://detroit-become-human.fandom.com/wiki/Ivanoff_Says_%22Niet%22! 

Rahman-Jones, I. (2025, February 16). Fingerprinting: Critics say google rules put profits over privacy. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm21g0052dno 

Schubert, S. (2021, September 9). “Liberty for Androids!”: Player Choice, Politics, and Populism in Detroit: Become Human. European Journal of American studies. https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/17360

Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe. (2020). Detroit: Become Human [Quantic Dream Video Game]. Retrieved from https://store.steampowered.com/app/1222140/Detroit_Become_Human/: Quantic Dream.

Spotify debuts a new AI DJ, right in your pocket. Spotify. (2023, August 9). https://newsroom.spotify.com/2023-02-22/spotify-debuts-a-new-ai-dj-right-in-your-pocket/ 

Spotify premium users can now turn any idea into a personalized playlist with AI playlist in beta. Spotify. (2024, April 8). https://newsroom.spotify.com/2024-04-07/spotify-premium-users-can-now-turn-any-idea-into-a-personalized-playlist-with-ai-playlist-in-beta/ 

Tompkins, A. (2021). Acts of becoming: An examination of the historical symbolism and embodied empathy in Detroit: Become human. Érudit. https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/loading/2021-v14-n24-loading06644/1084836ar/

Veltman, C. (2023, April 21). When you realize your favorite new song was written and performed by … ai. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2023/04/21/1171032649/ai-music-heart-on-my-sleeve-drake-the-weeknd 

Wertheim, J. (2025, April 13). Trump’s fight for Greenland pushes Earth’s largest island into the spotlight. MSN. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/trumps-fight-for-greenland-pushes-earths-largest-island-into-the-spotlight/ar-AA1CQRSx 

Willman, C. (2023, April 19). AI-generated fake “Drake’/’Weeknd” collaboration, “heart on my sleeve,” delights fans and sets off industry alarm bells. Variety. https://variety.com/2023/music/news/fake-ai-generated-drake-weeknd-collaboration-heart-on-my-sleeve-1235585451/ 

The north pole – why Russia wants it. (n.d.). Detroit. https://detroit-become-human.fandom.com/wiki/The_North_Pole_-_Why_Russia_Wants_It