15 Years of Heavy Rain: Remembering the Best Interactive Movie of All Time

On February 18, 2010, Heavy Rain, the most famous game by David Cage and his studio Quantic Dream, was released on PlayStation 3. Despite high ratings, some journalists and players had serious complaints about the project. We analyzed the pros and cons of this interactive film, and also tried to answer the main question — does it deserve your attention today, 15 years after its release.

In 2005, 5 years before the release of Heavy Rain, David Cage released the interactive film Fahrenheit. At that time, the gaming press claimed that a new genre had been born. But similar projects had been released before. A striking example is Dragon's Lair from 1983. Fahrenheit's merit is in something else — it brought the storytelling in video games to a qualitatively new level. Its engine-based cutscenes are well-staged, and the need to quickly press a specified sequence of buttons creates the feeling that we really influence what is happening. All this is combined with a good plot, where there is room for a well-thought-out story of characters and truly unexpected turns. In addition, the game provides several endings that directly depend on your actions.

Fahrenheit turned out to be a "sleeper hit" — a great project that no one really expected. Thanks to this game, major publishers such as Sony and Microsoft paid attention to the Quantic Dream studio.

In the mid-2000s, the seventh generation of consoles was launched. At that time, platform holders were especially interested in exclusives, which David Cage took advantage of. However, the basic idea of ​​Heavy Rain with a maniac who kidnaps children seemed too cruel to Microsoft representatives. Therefore, the head of Quantic Dream turned to Sony, and the Japanese company agreed to finance the development of the game. The capabilities of the new engine were demonstrated in May 2006 on the PlayStation 3 devkit. The virtual actress looked as natural as possible — she talked, laughed and cried, and her facial muscles accurately conveyed every emotion. All this made an impression, because nothing like this had ever been seen in games of those years.

Work on Heavy Rain took four years. During this time, hundreds of hours of video with actors were filmed, which were then used to record the character's movements. But not all of David Cage's ideas were implemented in practice. For example, you can find a video online where the main villain strangles his mother after she reveals his identity. They decided to abandon this scene, although it fits perfectly into the logic of what is happening.

The main story revolves around the Origami Master, a maniac who steals children and forces fathers to perform various tests on the verge of life and death. This is exactly the situation Ethan Mars found himself in. If he fails, his son Sean will die. The plot also features journalist Madison Paige, FBI agent Norman Jayden and private detective Scott Shelby. But one of them is not who he claims to be.

An important advantage of Heavy Rain over other interactive films is non-linearity. Ethan can either save his son Sean or lose him, and the fate of each of the characters depends solely on you. Interestingly, David Cage himself called the sad outcome of events, in which all the heroes die, his favorite ending.

Heavy Rain is inspired by such films as Se7en, Saw, and Hard Rain, as well as real stories of maniacs. If this project were a film, it would probably be classified as category B. However, here comes an important factor that distinguishes games from other works of art — interactivity. So we smoothly move on to the gameplay.

Quick Time Events or QTE, also known as a system of quick keystrokes, have reached a qualitatively new level in Heavy Rain. The player is often required to press buttons or twist sticks so that the actions of the fingers coincide with what is happening on the screen. For example, you will have to precisely repeat the movements of mascara on the eyelashes to give Madison Paige a brighter make-up. This mechanic is especially well revealed at a high difficulty level, when you have to hold down several keys at the same time.

But that's not all. Fast, aggressive actions often require swings of the gamepad itself. You'll be furiously jerking it to the side to avoid a collision during a high-speed chase or sharply lowering the controller down to strike the enemy. It turned out to be an interesting situation — due to personal participation, we were imbued with the characters' actions, and their story became more interesting than it actually was. In addition, your mistake at a crucial moment can lead to the death of a key character.

Six months after the release of Heavy Rain, the PlayStation Move motion controller went on sale. A special patch has been released for the game that supports this device. But even without it, the feeling of the characters' movements is perfectly conveyed using the standard DualShock 3 controller that came with the PS3.

Not all players and journalists liked Heavy Rain. Some even called it the main disappointment of 2010. However, there is one peculiarity in their reasoning — as a rule, they compare David Cage's project with a full-length movie. And classic thrillers are really more interesting and deeper.

However, it is important to note that we are not talking about a film. Heavy Rain is first and foremost a game. It took directing and staging to a whole new level, so it began to be perceived as a full-fledged film. In our opinion, this is not entirely fair. In addition, the project has two important advantages — interactivity and non-linearity, but many critics seem to not notice this.

The only thing that can be found fault with is the not very convenient control when exploring locations. The characters' normal walking takes some getting used to. At first, you will probably make mistakes and bump into walls instead of calmly moving towards the goal.

A series of story DLCs were planned for the game. However, only one of them made it to release. It's called Heavy Rain Chronicles: Episode One — The Taxidermist, and it takes place two years before Sean's abduction. Madison Paige, in search of the Origami Master, is on the trail of another maniac who makes stuffed animals out of people. The journalist can turn the criminal over to the police or become his new victim.

"The Taxidermist" remained a PlayStation 3 exclusive — it wasn't included in the PS4 and PC versions. Apparently, the idea with add-ons was considered unsuccessful.

3 years after Heavy Rain, David Cage released Beyond: Two Souls. The game turned out to be noticeably simpler — it can be criticized for its linearity, predictable plot and lack of interesting gameplay situations. User opinions were divided again. Some consider it a masterpiece, while others consider it the main failure of the year.

5 years later, Quantic Dream released Detroit: Become Human, which turned out to be much better. It has a branching plot with many possible developments, a full-fledged drama, a lot of unexpected moments and the possibility of losing a key character due to the wrong action. The question of the presence of a soul in humanoid robots has been raised many times in various works, and Detroit turned out to be an interesting statement on this topic.

I would also like to draw attention to the fact that after the release of Heavy Rain, a fashion for interactive films began in the gaming industry. From 2012 to 2015, The Walking Dead: The Game, The Wolf Among Us, Life is Strange and Until Dawn were released. And these are only the most striking examples. Now fans of the genre are waiting for the second season of "Wolf" and a new series of the anthology The Dark Pictures called Directive 8020.

Since Heavy Rain, not a single interactive film has been madea serious step forward. Moreover, other representatives of the genre often look simpler than the creation of David Cage 15 years ago. As a result, the story of Ethan Mars is perceived well even today. Yes, some moments are implemented clumsily by modern standards, and the control of places is not as convenient as we would like, but all these are trifles against the background of the key advantages of the game. In addition, today you can get acquainted with it not only on Sony consoles, but also on PC.

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Have you played Heavy Rain? Do you like interactive movies? Share your opinions in the comments!