Heavy Rain

[Yeargdribble]

Plot Hole 1

(SPOILER)

If you make sure that Madison survives to the hospital scene near the end, she (but not you) is told the identity of the Origami Killer. Understandably, she is shocked and aghast at the name she hears being associated with such atrocities. Not understandably, she and said killer have never met in the game at this point, and in fact are completely unaware of each other’s existence. She’s reacting to nothing, which becomes even more face-palm-worthy when she scoots immediately round to his house.

Explanation
(SPOILER)
She's an investigative journalist. It's not unrealistic to think she may have been aware of a former high ranking police official who makes his work as a PI.


Plot Hole 2

(SPOILER)While investigating the Origami Killer, private eye Shelby interviews several parents of murdered kids and collects key evidence and messages sent to them by said mysterious child-offer. Question: Why the hell have these parents still got hold of this stuff? Why didn’t give they these clues to the police during the investigations? Did they want their kids to be killed? And if they did hand them in, why haven’t the police still got them in the (still open) case file? Did they give them back as souvenirs when the bodies were found? No wonder they can't catch the killer if they keep giving evidence away.

Explanation

(SPOILER)

Or, like Ethan, some of these people may not have turned everything over to the cops immediately. Sure, that's a stupid move, but obviously people make stupid moves. Emily's mother mentioned her father leaving shortly after their son disappeared. The father could have left attempting trials, given up and bailed (or even died trying).

Plot Hole 4

(SPOILER)Speaking of manhunts, the whole case against Ethan which takes up much of the second half is a farce. The evidence that makes him the definite, absolute, couldn’t-be-anyone-else, number-one suspect in a high-profile murder case? Nothing more than some highly circumstantial hearsay and tittle-tattle about black-outs and bad dreams, from his ex and his psychiatrist (tittle-tattle that in that latter case has to be beaten out of the unwilling source). We know that the cops are looking for a scapegoat, but making public claims of guilt and holding a press conference to celebrate the capture of a notorious serial killer without ever bothering to build any kind of a case against him is the simplistic and lazy thinking of a nine-year old. Even bad movie cops wouldn’t do that.

Explanation

(SPOILER)Perhaps it's cliche, but I don't think Blake gives a sh*t who he gets. He wants to get someone and say he solved the case. Flimsy evidence or not, he wants a scapegoat. Sure this is a lazy trope trotted out in all types of action movies, but far from a significant plot hole.


Plot Hole 5

(SPOILER)
Ethan’s blackouts can be explained as a sympton of the trauma he suffered when hit by the car, but what’s with all the false-lead origami models he keeps waking up with? Was the killer following him 24/7 the whole time with a copy of his medical history, just waiting to pop one in his hand whenever he dropped? Including that time he passed out in his own house?

Does he really have an undiagnosed case of ‘Making-paper-models-in-your-sleep-at-topically-suspicious-times’ syndrome? It’s as sensible an explanation as any.

Explanation

(SPOILER)Shelby made it clear in the ending that he had been paying attention to Ethan. While it might seem far fetched, he seemed to have an extra keen interest in Ethan and very well may have spent sometime placing those figures in Ethan's hand. Far out there, but not that bad.



Tired of typing... maybe more later.

[Laddy]

In response to "Plot Hole" 5:

(SPOILER) Shelby witnessed the accident while he was murdering. That's how he knows so much about him. He knows who it is and it's not exactly hard to track the life of a well-known architect.

[Yeargdribble]

So my wife and I try to revisit the ending after changing a few things. This brought up some interesting thoughts.

(SPOILER)On my original play through I had all of the characters alive in the final scene. However, a single missed QTE made Madison fail her bike rush into the building. She was cuffed and put in the back of a cop car. Jayden messed up and got smashed with a sledgehammer and sliced up.

Ethan wandered out naively and was shot by that bastard Blake's command.

I got my ending. News reports that maybe that Ethan was shot but doesn't implicate Blake's stupidity. Blake seems haunted by Jayden's ghost. Madison writes a terrible book. Lauren (thinking Shelby killed her son) shoots him in the face.


So I tried again to fix some mistakes I'd made.

(SPOILER)This time Madison saved Ethan and Jayden survived.

However, it felt wrong. The ending wasn't the right ending. It wasn't my ending. My wife and I talked about it at great length and somehow the original story that we told with all of its foibles was the the story we brought away from Heavy Rain. We're certainly going back for different takes on different scenes and all of the trophies in the meantime, but I think now the sad ending I wrought for myself the first time will always be the ending that I feel was the true ending to my Heavy Rain.



I loved this game. It had so many flaws (the worst of which being the voice acting made worse by some awkward writing), but I don't care that much. It was the most gripping experience I remember in recent memory. I felt closer to the characters than I ever could have just watching a movie. The way the QTEs played out I felt really worked for the game. I don't think any game has ever made me feel the way Heavy Rain did with such consistency and earnestness. No movies, even great ones, have managed to keep me where I was emotionally and psychologically for such a sustained amount of time.

There need to be more games like this.

[Bolivar]

^ exactly, this experience is something else. The writing has flaws, the acting has flaws, even the tone of the setting has flaws at times, but there's some intangible element of this game that makes it an unmatchable experience in video games.

Heavy Rain will make you tense, it will make you nauseous, it might even make you cry, it's absolutely the most emotionally evocative game I've ever played.

[Croyles]

^ exactly, this experience is something else. The writing has flaws, the acting has flaws, even the tone of the setting has flaws at times, but there's some intangible element of this game that makes it an unmatchable experience in video games.

Heavy Rain will make you tense, it will make you nauseous, it might even make you cry, it's absolutely the most emotionally evocative game I've ever played.

Well, it didnt make me cry, but almost. I did get a little watery eyed

[Yeargdribble]

I'm surprised I didn't cry in retrospect. I blubber at everything. However, there were times that it was almost beyond tears with the gut-wrenchingness.


Playing it again certain little things have happened differently that make me feel a little different about stuff.

(SPOILER)Last time I was crappy about getting Shaun to bed on time and buy the time I got his teddy he was asleep. The first time I went to my office and watched a video of Jason playing in the yard with me and sobbed. This time I got back with Shaun's teddy and he told me it wasn't my fault.

Already I felt differently about him after finishing the game and knowing that he really cared for his father, but the first time around he was so despondent and I thought maybe he actually did blame me or didn't feel comfortable with me.