Heavy Rain – The Identity Of The Origami Killer
Heavy Rain uses the classic storytelling gambit of withholding information from you until the very end. This hardboiled whodunnit lets you investigate a case of kidnapping from several points of view: Ethan, a father whose son is missing; Scott, a private cop; Jayden, an FBI profiler and Madison, a photojournalist.
First up is Ethan, whose son is kidnapped and held captive by a man known only as the Origami Killer. Ethan is taunted by his son’s abductor and forced to take part in a series of trials to get the boy back. The trials, we learn, are a modus operandi that Origami uses to determine whether the child lives or die. Fathers who won’t do everything necessary find their children drowned.
Enter Scott, who has an interest in the case, and spends his time interviewing the Origami Killer’s earlier victims and pouring over the letters penned by the criminal. Then there’s Jayden, an FBI profiler whose superiors believe Ethan is guilty of his son’s death; finally, a photojournalist named Madison adds a humanist slant to the grim action at its center.
As the stories converge and the madcap tension increases, players close in on Ethan’s son. Depending on the actions they’ve chosen, Ethan either successfully saves the boy or watches him perish. It’s around this point we’re treated to a flashback where Scott’s brother dies by drowning, and Scott’s father, too drunk to care, does nothing to save him. Scott has never been investigating the case at all, but obscuring evidence by fetching – and burning – the Origami’s letters in his office wastebasket. Scott is the Origami Killer, and we’ve had a direct hand in his successful evasion of capture.
The payoff is brilliant and it’s the best use of the multiple character device I can think of. Say what you want about David Cage’s storytelling prowess, but Heavy Rain rises above the conventions of a typical whodunnit and delivers an ending that manages to feel both exhilarating and entirely plausible.