Heavy Rain

Delving into mature themes, Heavy Rain is a cinematic psychological thriller exploring complex moral dilemmas. Players assume the roles of multiple characters, each with unique backgrounds, motivations, and abilities. Every decision made by the player shapes the evolving storyline, leading to branching paths and consequences. Through a series of interactive drama and action-adventure sequences, players control four characters from a third-person perspective, with each scene focusing on the experiences of one character. The game's intense narrative is punctuated by quick time events, where split-second decisions can determine the fate of each character, adding layers of tension and suspense to the immersive gameplay experience. Special thanks to vgtriggers on tumblr for pulling together a lot of the information below.

• Release date: 02-18-2010
• Developer: Quantic Dream
• Publisher: Quantic Dream & Sony Computer Entertainment
• Platforms: PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Windows PC

Triggers for this game

Animals & Wildlife

• Cats

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  You may find a dead cat on the train tracks in chapter 3

  • Is avoidable

Crime

• Home Invasion

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  The first time you control Madison, she has a home invasion nightmare where she's attacked by men while she's in her underwear. She can be thrown onto the bed during the fight scene.

  • Can't be avoided

• Murder

  The game’s main villain is a serial killer focused on children (the Origami Killer)

  • Can't be avoided

• Road-Related Violence

  Car accident

  • Can't be avoided

• Stalking

  • Can't be avoided

• Torture

  • Can't be avoided

Death & Loss

• Death of Child

  The game’s main villain is a serial killer focused on children (the Origami Killer)

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Ethan's first son Jason dies in a car accident at the beginning of the game. END GAME SPOILERS: The main plot is about a man who kidnaps children and traps them in vents until heavy rain drowns them, while sending their fathers to complete gruesome trials to save them.

  • Can't be avoided

• Death of Friend

  Each of the main playable characters can die

• Death of Parent

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  In Chapter 31: The Shark, Ethan must shoot and kill a father of two in order to pass the fourth trial. The player can choose to fail this trial by sparing the man's life. It is also heavily implied by Scott Shelby's interviews with mothers of the Origami Killer's victims that that many of the victims' fathers are now "missing" because they died during the trials to save their children.

  • Can't be avoided

• Drowning

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Several characters drown, as that's the way the Origami Killer murders his victims. In one scene, the player and his companion wake up in a submerged car. There is an option to leave the companion to Drown to death. END GAME SPOILERS: The main plot is about a man who kidnaps children and traps them in vents until heavy rain drowns them, while sending their fathers to complete gruesome trials to save them.

  • Can't be avoided

• Missing Person(s)

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Shaun is kidnapped

  • Can't be avoided

• Suicide

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Chapter 15: Suicide Baby — While investigating the family of the victim Jeremy Bowles, Scott Shelby finds his mother Susan Bowles unconscious having just recently attemped suicide. (cannot be avoided) Additionally, during the last trial in Chapter 44: The Rat, Ethan is asked to consume a poison in exchange for the last letters to Shaun's address. The player is led to believe that Ethan has chosen to kill himself to save his son. END GAME SPOILERS: In some of the games endings, Ethan can hang himself in a prison cell or shoot himself in the head. Can be avoided by saving Shaun.

  • Is avoidable
  • Can't be avoided

Drugs & Alcohol

• Alcohol Consumption

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  As Ethan, you are able to pull a beer out of your fridge and drink it.

  • Is avoidable

• Alcoholism

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Brief portrayal of a neglectful, alcoholic father

  • Can't be avoided

• Drug Addiction

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Norman Jayden is addicted to a fictional drug called Triptocaine

  • Can't be avoided

• Forced Drug Use

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  A major character visits a house near the end of the game and the man living there offers her a drink which turns out to be drugged. This can be avoided based on your responses to him, in which case he will physically knock her out instead.

  • Is avoidable

• Misc. Drugs & Alcohol Content

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  END GAME SPOILERS: Overdose — If nobody makes it to the warehouse, a character dies of an overdose.

  • Can't be avoided

• Tobacco & Smoking

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Cigarette smoking

  • Can't be avoided

Gore

• Amputation

  Technically avoidable

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  About halfway through the game the killer asks you to cut off a finger in front of the camera in order to get a clue. You don't HAVE to do it, you can walk away, but you won't get the clue to save your son.

  • Is avoidable

• Blood

  • Can't be avoided

• Body Horror

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Not seen graphically, but someone is pulled under the tires of a vehicle and it's very clear he was crushed entirely.

  • Can't be avoided

• Dismemberment

  Depending on choices

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Ethan, is forced to chop off a segment of his own finger to save his son's life. You can use several instruments to remove the finger. While the camera doesn't show the actual dismemberment, the dread is palpable.

  • Is avoidable

• Misc. Gore

  Depending on choices

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Individuals can be injured/killed or die in the following ways: a woman catches on fire, a man is impaled in the chest by a drill, a man is shot by police officers, a character's throat is slit, an individual can cut off their own finger, a man takes a chainsaw to the chest

  • Is avoidable

Hate & Discrimination

• Ableism

  Sanism

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  A man who 'hears voices' is threatened and insulted. Many characters, including Ethan himself, suspect that he is what they refer to as split personalities (they mean DID), and that the Origami Killer is another of his identities. However, he does not have any mental illness aside from PTSD.

  • Can't be avoided

• Misogyny

  • Can't be avoided

• Sexism

  • Can't be avoided

Horror Themes

• Jump Scares

  • Can't be avoided

Law Enforcement

• Police Brutality

  Several instances

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Carter Blake is constantly violent and breaks police protocol.

  • Can't be avoided

Mental Health

• Hallucinations

  Blackouts and flashbacks

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  There is a scene where Ethan starts to blackout and sees a vision of his other son Jason who had died from being hit by a car.

  • Can't be avoided

• Mental Illness

  Misunderstanding of 'split personalities' & Dissociative Identity Disorder

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Many characters, including Ethan himself, suspect that he is what they refer to as split personalities (they mean DID), and that the killer is another of his identities. However, he does not have any mental illness aside from PTSD.

  • Can't be avoided

• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

  Ethan

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  At one point, Ethan has to push through a crowd. This gives him flashbacks of when his first son Jason died, making him visibly panic.

  • Can't be avoided

• Suicidal Ideation

  Depending on choices

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  A character can express suicidal ideation

  • Can't be avoided

Non-Sexual Abuse & Violence

• Assault

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  A female sex worker is beaten off-screen by a client. The player has the option to immediately go to her aid.

  • Can't be avoided

• Child Abuse

  • Can't be avoided

• Domestic Violence

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Lauren mentions that her missing husband would drink and physically abuse her

  • Can't be avoided

• Emotional Abuse

  • Can't be avoided

• Gaslighting

  Victim blaming

  • Can't be avoided

• Mutilation

  Self (technically avoidable)

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  About halfway through the game the killer asks you to cut off a finger in front of the camera in order to get a clue. You don't HAVE to do it, you can walk away, but you won't get the clue to save your son.

  • Is avoidable

• Stalking

  • Can't be avoided

Phobias

• Agliophobia

  • Can't be avoided

• Claustrophobia

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  There is a claustrophobic environment in the “Butterfly” trial, as the character has to crawl through a tunnel

  • Can't be avoided

• Emetophobia

  Technically avoidable

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Ethan will be in a trial where he has to kill a guy. If you kill him, Ethan Marsh will vomit at the same time he places the chip into the machine. It will last around 10 seconds. but will be shown in different camera angles until the scene ends. If you don't kill him, no one will vomit but you also won't get the next clue.

  • Is avoidable

• Hemophobia

  • Can't be avoided

• Misc. Phobias

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  At the very start of the game there is a clown handing out balloons in the mall

  • Can't be avoided

• Necrophobia

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Players may encounter victims at various crime scenes: a woman (fully clothed) in a bathtub tainted with blood, a child under forensic examination (though the scene is largely narrative and clinical, with no depiction of victim's face or signs of trauma).

  • Is avoidable
  • Can't be avoided

Physical Health & Body Issues

• Pain & Physical Suffering

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  One of the characters use a pair of glasses which make him experience seizure-like symptoms. Multiple trials and events cause your characters pain.

  • Can't be avoided

Sex & Erotica (Consensual)

• Implied Sex

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  A man and a women start to have sex while kissing and unbuckling clothing. The scene fades before anything actually happens. The game contains a prompt-based love scene (kissing and rubbing) in which players match onscreen cues to angle characters' mouths, remove shirts and blouses, unhook bras, and lower to the floor; a woman briefly appears topless amidst the dark shadows and heavy breathing. Actual sex is never depicted as the camera fades to black. The player is able to avoid this scene.

  • Is avoidable

• Kissing

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  A man and a women start to have sex while kissing and unbuckling clothing. One scene features the player talking to a man watching a cartoon on TV, two women on the other end of the couch are kissing each other until they're asked to leave.

  • Can't be avoided

• Nudity

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  There is a scene of a man taking a shower in which you can see his butt. The first time you control Madison, she has a home invasion nightmare where she's attacked by men while she's in her underwear. She can be thrown onto the bed during the fight scene. Madison is forced to strip for Paco at gunpoint. Her level of nudity depends on the player’s actions. In one scene, Madison takes a shower. (can be avoided by choosing not to shower)

  • Is avoidable
  • Can't be avoided

• Sexual Commentary

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Ethan can flirt with his wife at the start, and she hints at sex

  • Can't be avoided

Sexual Abuse

• Misc. Sexual Abuse

  Sexual violence

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  The first time you control Madison, she has a home invasion nightmare where she's attacked by men while she's in her underwear. She can be thrown onto the bed during the fight scene. Madison is forced to strip for Paco at gunpoint. Her level of nudity depends on the player’s actions. Dr. Baker spikes Madison's drink. She wakes up strapped to a medical table and he attempts to violate her with a power drill.

  • Can't be avoided

• Sexual Assault

  Depending on choices

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Dr. Baker spikes Madison's drink. She wakes up strapped to a medical table and he attempts to violate her with a power drill. During the fight that ensues, the murderer strokes her rear end and thighs.

  • Is avoidable

• Sexual Harassment

  • Can't be avoided

Traumatic Events

• Accidents

  • Can't be avoided

• Structure Fire

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  A character is trapped in a burning apartment

  • Can't be avoided

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