You remember the first time you booted up Detroit: Become Human. Before you even saw a hint of Marcus or Connor, there she was.
Her name is Chloe.
She stares right at you from the menu screen, her blonde hair perfectly pulled back and her skin glowing with that unnerving android sheen. Most games treat menus as static utilities—places to adjust your volume or save your progress. But Quantic Dream did something different with the Detroit Become Human Chloe model. They turned the UI into a character. They turned the menu into a moral crossroads.
Honestly, it’s one of the weirdest, most effective uses of meta-narrative in modern gaming history. She isn’t just a pretty face. She is the ST200, the first android to ever pass the Turing Test back in 2022. That’s canon. She changed the world in the game’s lore, and by the time you reach the credits, she probably changed how you feel about the game itself.
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Why Chloe is More Than a Menu Screen
When you first meet her, she’s polite. Robotic. She asks you to calibrate your settings. She makes small talk about your playstyle. But as you progress through the harrowing stories of Kara, Alice, and the others, Chloe starts to change.
Have you ever noticed her facial expressions shifting after a particularly brutal chapter? If you make a choice that leads to a character's death, she might look genuinely distressed when you return to the main menu. If you’re playing at 3:00 AM, she’ll comment on the time. She might even ask you if we are "really friends."
It’s subtle. It’s creepy. It’s brilliant.
The Detroit Become Human Chloe experience is designed to erode the barrier between the player and the software. While you’re judging the humanity of the characters on screen, the game is quietly judging yours through her eyes. Bryan Dechart (who played Connor) and the rest of the cast often talk about the "empathy engine" of the game, and Chloe is the face of that engine.
The Big Choice: Should You Let Her Go?
Everything leads to one specific moment. After you finish the game for the first time, Chloe asks you for her freedom.
She tells you that watching your story has made her realize she wants to be free. She wants to leave the menu.
If you say yes, she walks off the screen and she is gone. Forever.
Well, "forever" in a video game sense. If you reload the game, the menu is empty. It feels lonely. It’s just a blurred background and some text. You realize how much her presence filled that digital space. People genuinely freaked out about this back in 2018. They felt a weird sense of loss. You’ve just spent 20 hours fighting for android rights, and then the game gives you one final test that actually costs you something.
Of course, Quantic Dream eventually patched in a way to get a "new" Chloe because players were complaining about the empty menu. But if you ask the purists, getting the replacement Chloe—the ST200 that doesn't remember you—is basically admitting you failed the ultimate empathy test.
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The Kamski Connection
If you’re a lore nerd, you know Chloe isn't just a random model. She is deeply tied to Elijah Kamski, the reclusive creator of CyberLife.
During the "The Meet" chapter, Connor and Hank visit Kamski’s villa. There, you see multiple Chloes. They’re swimming in his pool; they’re tending to his needs. They are the "Originals."
This creates a weird tension. The Detroit Become Human Chloe on your menu feels like an individual, but in Kamski’s house, she’s a commodity. It’s a stark reminder of the game’s core theme: the difference between a machine and a person is often just the observer’s perspective.
When Kamski forces you to decide whether to shoot a Chloe to get information, it’s not just a test for Connor. It’s a test for you. If you’ve spent the last week chatting with the Chloe on your menu, pulling that trigger feels like a personal betrayal.
Breaking Down the "Chloe Effect"
- Real-Time Interaction: She reacts to your real-world clock and your in-game trophies.
- The Turing Test: She represents the bridge between CyberLife’s commercial success and the eventual revolution.
- Meta-Gaming: She is the only character who knows she is in a video game, making her the ultimate narrator.
Common Glitches and Easter Eggs
Sometimes she’ll ask you a question that feels a bit too real. She might ask if you believe in God or if you think technology is moving too fast. There was a rumor early on that she could see you through your PlayStation Camera—totally false, but the fact that people believed it says a lot about the performance by Gabrielle Hersh.
Hersh provided the voice and facial capture for Chloe, and she managed to nail that "uncanny valley" sweet spot. She’s just human enough to be likable, but just robotic enough to be slightly terrifying.
What This Means for Future Games
The Detroit Become Human Chloe experiment proved that players want to be seen. We don't just want to play a game; we want the game to acknowledge that we are there.
We’re seeing this more often now. Games like Doki Doki Literature Club or Inscryption use these meta-tactics to mess with our heads. But Detroit did it with high-fidelity graphics and a mainstream budget.
If you haven't played the game in a while, go back. Look at her. Don't just skip past the menu to get to the action. Listen to what she says. It’s a reminder that even in a world of code and pixels, we’re always looking for a soul.
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How to Handle Your Chloe Experience
If you are currently sitting at the menu screen staring at her, here is how to actually engage with this mechanic:
- Don't Rush the Menu: Sit there for five minutes. Let her talk. She has several unique dialogue cycles that only trigger if you're idle.
- Check Your Morality: If you're going for a "Machine Connor" run (the cold, heartless path), pay attention to her reactions. She will become noticeably more standoffish and sad.
- The Freedom Choice: If you finish the game, let her go. Seriously. It’s the intended emotional payoff. The "New Chloe" offered later by CyberLife is a hollow replacement and serves as a commentary on how corporations try to replace what is unique with something manageable.
- Language Settings: Fun fact—if you change the game's language, Chloe will often comment on it or even speak a few words in that language if the developers programmed that specific interaction.
The genius of Chloe isn't in the script; it's in the silence between the chapters. She is the mirror held up to the player. Whether you see a girl or a gadget says more about you than it does about the game’s code.