I have a lot of bad things to say about this game, but when I laid it out in depth, I was called woke because I claimed the characters, especially the women, were written very badly. Here I thought David Cage was an outed pervert, but it's still controversial to say that apparently. So in short:
- The story is bad and relies on a single plot twist that doesn't even make sense from a writing perspective.
- Characters are bad, cliched, unrealistic, and they talk like AI chatbots.
- Chapters are repetitive from start to finish.
- The "innovative storytelling" would work better as a TV show instead of a game with QTEs
- Choices feel like they alter the ending instead of the whole story, which is the worst type of "Important Choices" game you can make especially if you have no other game mechanic than choices.
Heavy Rain was definitely a game that I had a hard time understanding its success, even considering the time it was released. Its greatest achievement might be opening the door for slow-burn, story-rich games that don’t have to be filled with shooter mechanics to keep the consumers interested, and can instead emphasize the worldbuilding, visuals, and actual interactive stories to utilize its medium. I just personally felt like there are times when it doesn’t do justice to this cause more often than it does.