How far would you go to save the one you love?
Image credit: Steam (Valve Corporation)
Summary
- Name of the game: Heavy Rain
- Launch date: February 23, 2010
- Developer: Quantic Dream
- Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
- Platforms: PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PC
- Genre: Interactive drama
- Context: Psychological thriller centered on the investigation of the Origami Killer, with multiple protagonists and decisions that affect the story's development.
History and narrative
Have you ever wondered how far you'd go to save someone you love dearly? This is the core premise of Heavy Rain.
The story leads us to 4 characters whose lives intertwine in the search for a killer known as the Origami Killer, which, to be honest, is a rather striking name because you wonder: why origami? Well, it sounds like someone crazy obsessed with paper figures. Although it hides something a little darker than that: trauma.
The game consists of pure decision-making, and its narrative unfolds based on your choices, which, I tell you, my viewer, you must be very careful and pay close attention to the details, as they will lead you to find the killer or perhaps not.
The Origami Killer is a cautious, cold individual, traumatized by a past they cannot let go of. They seek to trap children approximately between the ages of 6 and 12. When the game begins, they have already taken the lives of some victims, so our 4 characters will have to do everything they can to stop them, but clearly with your help as the player.
To begin, the game already has a very sad start with a happy family experiencing a tragedy: a family with a father, mother, and 2 children. One dies, and the other, sometime later, is kidnapped by a serial killer. Our characters play a crucial role in preventing further tragedies:
- Ethan Mars: The father of the kidnapped child is forced to complete 5 very dangerous and extremely sacrificial tasks, which not just anyone can accomplish, imposed by the killer as a test. Each one reveals letters that lead towards a direction to save the child. After the death of his first child, he suffers from attacks where he loses consciousness, so as the player, you must help him.
- Madison Paige: Journalist with insomnia problems who gets involved in the game's conflict and makes a good contribution to it.
- Norman Jayden FBI agent tasked with finding the killer. The most interesting thing about him is his virtual reality goggles, which he uses to find clues and analyze them in real-time. The problem is that excessive use leads him to mental health problems and drug use to alleviate the symptoms.
- Scott Shelby: Private investigator interrogating victims' families to find the killer and bring them to justice.
Each character feels very realistic and emotionally complex; each has their virtues, but at the same time internal problems they must carry to achieve the game's final goal. The dialogues aim for a more cinematic tone, but they could have been better for the game's context, where contradictions can arise or a lot can be revealed in a short time.
I can say that the first time I played this game, I loved it; it really laid a lot of the groundwork for games of its style and led to games like Detroit: Become Human or Beyond: Two Souls being brought to us. If you've played it, were you able to figure out who the killer was? If you haven't played it, it's an interesting challenge.
Gameplay
Since the game is based on quick time events (QTEs) and reaction decisions, there's no traditional combat, exploration, or anything else to consider. It leans heavily into being narrative, so you could say it's more like watching an interactive movie. I also recommend playing it with a partner, with them choosing what to do and you handling the rest; it doesn't seem like it would work, but it does.
The gameplay is basic, nothing complex; it's more relaxing, but it has a huge problem: its controls. For an interactive game with very simple mechanics, I must say its controls are clunky; whether it's moving the character, it feels stiff and doesn't walk normally like a person.
QTEs are the soul of the gameplay, but sometimes they are imprecise and, worst of all, there are parts of the game where if you fail to press a button, you fail the whole thing and have to start that chapter from scratch. And I'm telling you, that's way too tedious. Which, for a game of this type, is an unacceptable problem.
Another detail that makes it tedious is that the game intentionally encourages you to fail in making decisions, primarily in parts where you need to remember things. To explain better: there are parts where they ask you something and options appear to choose from, but it turns out they're not displayed clearly or they move strangely with the intention that you fail, not because you didn't remember, but because the way they are shown to you is unclear.
The game's learning curve is easy; really, if you know the controls well, which I imagine the vast majority do, it shouldn't be a problem.
The game is entertaining and generally does well here, but it doesn't have the most precise controls and also tends to make you fail on purpose with very unfun mechanics, which forces you to repeat an entire chapter; that's how tedious it can be.
Graphics and visual design
For its time, it was impressive: detailed facial modeling and good animations. Although at times the facial expressions can be a bit strange and cringe-worthy, honestly. If you play it today, the passage of time is noticeable, but not enough to say it looks outdated.
Something interesting is its artistic style, which is a very dark, sad, depressing atmosphere, with constant rain. So, in a way, it transmits that same feeling to you as a player, and you feel it. If I compare it to other games, well, by modern standards it doesn't measure up, but for obvious reasons, it's still very good for its time.
Sound and music
The soundtrack is very good, mainly the main theme, but it has many pretty good suspenseful and tense pieces that at least were memorable to me. They fit the mood well on most occasions.
Just like their sound effects, they do what's necessary, and honestly, the highlight could be the rain itself and everything related to Jayden's lenses.
One negative point that becomes very clear during the game is the voice acting: it's very inconsistent. Sometimes it sounds good in the moment, other times it doesn't, and this happened to me with both the English and Spanish voiceovers, so neither is saved. For a narrative game, the voice acting in my opinion leaves much to be desired at times.
Difficulty and accessibility
I feel like it's an easy game; even playing on hard mode it's easy. Maybe the difficult part would be your deductive skills, but that depends more on you. Also, if you're bad at making quick decisions, this game is a good tool to practice.
In its accessibility, it includes the basics that were requested in its time, but don't expect anything special here by modern standards.
Secondary content
The campaign can last approximately 10–12 hours. Depending on your choices, it can be shorter or longer.
The game doesn't offer anything beyond the campaign, which further limits its replayability, though in a way it compensates with its multiple endings and routes to reach the same or different outcomes. I'd say it's a game that could be played several times if you want to get all the alternatives.
Technical Aspects
The performance in my experience was always good. I've played it on 3 different consoles and I must say that it performed well on all of them. I haven't seen any notable bugs or glitches; maybe the animations can be unstable, but they won't ruin the experience.
For its PS4 and PC versions, the optimization is good. I remember on PS3 it could be a bit more demanding, but it's understandable that it wasn't the same. Overall, good experience.
Value for money
Its launch price was $60 USD for PS3, which was very expensive considering it was 2010. Was it worth it for that price back then? Honestly, no. Is it worth it at that price now? Not really.
The PS4 version came out in 2016 for around 30 USD, a big difference, and here, my viewer, the price is very good.
Nowadays you can get it cheaper, and I recommend around 20 USD. I think that price is very good by modern standards. I'm saying this mostly because a lot of people play it once and then they're done, so to avoid risks, it's better at that price.
Trophies / Achievements
- Platinum obtained: Yes
- Percentage of trophies: 100%
- Estimated time: 30 to 50 hours
- Platinum difficulty: 5 out of 10. I can say that the most complicated thing, without a doubt, is getting all the game's endings, which are basically 18 different ways. The advantage is that in one playthrough you can get about 4 endings, but you do have to replay several missions quite a bit and get lucky not to fail at some point because of the controls. It requires a lot of patience.
Conclusion
Heavy Rain is a game that primarily stands out for its story, characters, and the constant tension it manages to convey through its decisions. It's a very different experience from the traditional, closer to an interactive film than a conventional video game, which can be both its greatest strength and its greatest weakness.
Despite its clear control issues, sometimes unfair decisions, and inconsistent voice acting, it manages to hook you with its narrative and that “what if I choose this?” factor.
In summary, it's not a perfect game, but it is one that left its mark and, if you enjoy intense stories and making decisions that actually matter, it's definitely worth playing at least once.
My final rating for Heavy Rain is:
4.3 / 5.0
