While at the Eurogamer Expo this past weekend I sat in on the Quantic Dream developer session lead by David Cage, writer and director of Heavy Rain. I have already stated that I have huge expectations (and love) for Heavy Rain in my demo impressions, but here I will dive in a little more to what we were shown in the session and some of the interesting bits shared by Cage.

If it didn’t pick it up in the impressions I wrote this game is asking one key question. How far are you prepared to go to save someone you love? As Cage stated,

It’s set on the East Coast of the US and it’s the story of four characters who’s lives are interlaced around the investigation of a serial killer called the Origami Killer… All four characters will be presented with this question, “How far are you prepared to go to save someone you love?”

It all sounds like a storyline similar to a movie or TV series, nothing too uncommon to see but for many it’s a very different take on gaming used to explore these topics. Cage explains,

We call it dark theater… So Heavy Rain is not about shooting, it’s not about driving, and there is no puzzle. It’s not a story about saving the world or fighting zombies or whatever. It is a story about love, about emotion, about who these characters are… what we are trying to achieve is to make you feel what they feel. Not only stress and competition and frustration or adrenaline. But also make you feel empathy, make you feel sadness… make you laugh make you really feel what they feel.

Since I think more along the lines of Henry Rollins in the fact that feelings, feelings will get you killed you war, this is a very different gaming experience for me. The look and feel is 100% cinema but demanding interaction and influence from the player every step of the way.

There are four main characters you will play as, an architect named Ethan Mars who lost one son in a car accident and is coping with the guilt when his other son is kidnapped by the Origami Killer, leaving him four days to find his boy alive. A photographer named Madison Paige who can only sleep in motels to overcome her insomnia, a private detective named Scott Shelby running a parallel investigation of the Origami Killer, and finally a FBI profiler named Norman Jayden on the trail of the Origami Killer, but of course he is a drug addict, so expect to deal with his addiction problems along the way. This is the world and story you will be exploring. Enjoy.

If David Cage has his way you would only enjoy it once. As a creator he is looking for the player to go through the game once just taking it all in, triggering different emotions and creating an interesting experience for them. Noting it is odd for a game creator to say Cage goes on to say,

I like the idea that you play it once and you will never know what would have happened if you play differently, because this is a bit what life is like, I think. If you want to replay it you can.

The walk through showed us Scott Shelby speaking to the father of an Origami Killer victim who owns of a convenience store. Shelby is trying to dig up any information or clues on the Origami Killer. There are several different dialogue options but we only saw three, all were unsuccessfully in soliciting information. Shelby’s asthma kicks in and you head to the back of the store for an inhaler (not sure why they are there to be honest) but just then a bungling burglar busts in. We saw several paths here, sneak up behind him and drop him with a bottle or frying pan. Which nets in you saving the day and the father gives you information. Or you fail at dropping the burglar and need to talk him out of it. Conversation will result you talking him down, or being forced to beat him down, or getting shot. This scene was playable in the demo on the show floor, as was one with the FBI profiler in a junk yard, in total there will be about 70 scenes in the game.

At the end of walk through the audience got the throw a few questions at Mr. Cage. The standard “is gaming art” and “what about the sex scenes”, shockingly I didn’t hear anyone ask about dedicated servers. The answers were what you would expect, I don’t care if it’s art, I’m here to entertain and Yes, but its an 18+ game, 2 adults together, and part of the story without being gratuitous so it’s fine, I’m sure you can deal. The interesting question was regarding the hardware selection. Is this game possible on anything but the PS3. Dangerous territory but Mr. Cage still braved it,

Whatever I answer my answer will be suspicious. (Laughs) I honestly I don’t think so. It had to be the Playstation 3 for two main reasons. The hardware and the console manufacturer. The hardware because of the architecture.. ….it’s very powerful if you take it from the start, if you make a real PS3 engine… …if you try to port it from another platform it becomes more difficult…

Heavy Rain works well on the PS3 because the engine was built for the PS3, it’s not a port. David goes on to discuss how his studio was born and raised on the Playstation, so it was more natural to go that route. Sony was also a large part of making Heavy Rain for the PS3 as Sony gave them a chance to do something different and supported them. It’s nice to hear of a solid publisher – developer relationship bringing another quality title to our consoles.

The session was a huge success as many gamers were floored by what they saw. The visuals were stunning, the gameplay looked smooth and the story looked downright amazing. Most people left that session to go play the game. Everyone I spoke to was pretty excited about what this title has to offer. It’s a purchase for me.