Video Game / Heavy Rain

Heavy Rain is the Spiritual Successor to Quantic Dream's Fahrenheit (a.k.a. Indigo Prophecy), an Adventure Game for the seventh generation of consoles. Heavy Rain itself was a PlayStation exclusive, and has been described by the creators as an Interactive Movie as well as a standard adventure game. In fact, doesn't that image look like a movie poster?

Ethan Mars is a depressed architect whose life fell apart after the tragic loss of his child Jason two years prior, for which he blames himself. He is jolted out of his stupor when his remaining son, Shaun, is suddenly kidnapped by the "Origami Killer," a notorious serial killer who uses rising rainwater to drown his young victims, then leaves origami figures on the bodies. If Ethan wishes to save his son from a similar fate, he must complete the trials set by the Origami Killer, who wishes to test just how far Ethan will go to save his child.

The story also focuses on three other characters: Madison Paige, an insomniac journalist who becomes involved with Ethan's desperate search; Norman Jayden, an FBI profiler called in to consult on the Origami Killer case; and Scott Shelby, a private eye conducting an independent investigation.

The game focuses on choices and consequences, with actions taking place via a series of Quick Time Events a la Fahrenheit. The developers stated prior to the game's release that almost all situations would have later consequences on the plot and that they are determined to let players follow through on their actions — to the point that unless all four main characters die, the story will still continue with whoever is alive. The major themes of the game are love and the idea of what is good and what is evil (in regard to the Tag Line on the poster to the right). According to the developers, they hoped to have players aim for a balance of the two rather than one extreme or another.

Despite the developers' meager sales expectations (200,000 copies), Heavy Rain sold like hotcakes, surpassing a whopping 2 million by 2011. One downloadable chapter, The Taxidermist, has been released. Others are planned but on indefinite hold.

Similar to how Heavy Rain started off with a tech demo, The Casting, Quantic Dream released a new tech demo KARA on March 7, 2012, hinting at their 2015 reveal of Detroit: Become Human. Go watch it. At E3 2012, the spiritual successor to Heavy Rain was revealed as the supernatural drama Beyond: Two Souls. Both games have received an Updated Re-release for the PlayStation 4, although this port does not include the DLC chapter The Taxidermist.

In March 2019, it was announced that the game would be coming to PC later that year, exclusively via the Epic Games Store for the first 12 months. Quantic Dream is self-publishing this port. Like the PlayStation 4 release, the PC port does not include The Taxidermist.

New Line Cinema and Quantic Dream have obtained rights for a movie adaptation, but nothing has been heard of it since early 2011.

Not related to the Hard Rain campaign in Left 4 Dead 2. Also not to be confused with Hard Rain, Chubby Rain, or Rain World (despite the latter's torrential rain).

Be warned: Since Heavy Rain is incredibly plot heavy, expect MAJOR marked and unmarked spoilers below.

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This game features examples of:

#-F

• 20 Minutes into the Future: Released in early 2010, set in late 2011.
• Abandoned Warehouse: The final chapter where the last showdown occurs and where Shaun is being held takes place in one.
• Aborted Arc: Ethan's blackouts, which stop and are never mentioned again after Shaun is kidnapped. This is due to the plot line explaining them being written out late into development.
• Acquitted Too Late: If Ethan is imprisoned and Madison and/or Norman survive without going to the warehouse, Scott will be identified as the Origami Killer - but Ethan will still hang himself in his cell before he can be released.
• Age-Gap Romance: Scott and Lauren. Scott is 44 and Lauren is 25^note according to the Japanese manual; her age is never stated in the game proper, making Scott 19 years older than her.
• All Just a Dream: Madison fighting the burglars in her apartment turns out to be a nightmare.
• All of the Other Reindeer: Jayden. It's not only Blake and Perry who can't stand him but almost everyone in the police. In Jayden's first mission he can try to engage some policemen in smalltalk only to either get coldly ignored or to receive shorthanded answers as if they want Jayden to go away.
• All There in the Manual:
  • The ages of Jayden (28) and Lauren (25) are only stated in an early character bio and in the Japanese game manual respectively, and are unmentioned in the game itself.
  • The Cutting Room Floor video released by PlayStation explains Madison's backstory as a war correspondent, as well as the Aborted Arc surrounding Ethan's blackouts.
  • The game files reveal that the "Origami Blues" and "Smoking Mirror" endings take place in the same motel, and that it is called the Saranas Motel.
• Almost Kiss: Ethan and Madison come close. It's up to the player if they go through with it.
• Always Close:
  • No matter how quickly you free Madison from Dr. Baker's restraints, he will always come in just as you are undoing the last restraint.
  • At one point, Ethan can choose whether or not to sleep with Madison. If he does so, they make love and he wakes up sometime later. If he refuses, she apologizes and leaves in a hurry. Whatever the player chooses, the cops will always get there as soon as she leaves.
• And That's Terrible: The virtual concierge has this opinion of Norman's condition.
  Concierge: Oh, one last thing, sir... You should be careful not to overindulge in you know what. It'll end up killing you if you're not careful... That would be most unfortunate, sir.
• Antagonist in Mourning: One of the possible endings shows Scott (if alive) hiding behind a tree, looking at Ethan's grave.
• Anyone Can Die: Played with. All four protagonists can be killed, but two of them have Plot Armor and cannot be killed until the end of the game, even if the player flubs certain Quick Time Events.
• Apathetic Citizens: The citizens in the game don't seem to care what happens around them unless it impacts them personally.
  • After Ethan and Jason get hit by a car, everyone at the mall comes out to see what's going on, but no one calls for help. They just stare and watch as Grace breaks down.
  • When Ethan is having a breakdown at the terminal due to his agoraphobia kicking in, everyone just walks around him, and no one asks him if he is alright.
  • When Madison escapes from an apartment fire set by Scott Shelby, several people gather to see what happened. Despite Madison coming out limping, coughing and covered in soot, not a single person stops to ask her about the fire or if she's okay.
  • During the scene where Madison and Ethan flee from the cops and escape into the underground subway station, they cross the tracks as a train is approaching. Everyone else at the station just ignores them, with only a few complaining when the two bump into them on the escalators.
  • Averted for once in "Covered Market," when Norman is chasing a suspect into a supermarket. The bystanders complain and yell at the two of them for getting in the way.
• Arc Words: "How far would you go to save someone you love?"
• Artistic License – Law: Shelby buys his asthma medicine off the shelf at a convenience store, right behind the chips and cheap enough that he can just buy one without presenting insurance information. In the USA, albuterol is a prescription-only medication that has to be acquired through a licensed pharmacy, and without insurance, a single rescue inhaler can cost up to $80.
• Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Implied in Norman's ending if he should die during the course of the investigation. Note the ending's title: "Uploaded."
• Asshole Victim:
  • Kramer has a heart attack not too long after having tried to kill Shelby and Lauren. You can choose to save him or leave him to die.
  • Blake has a couple of bad outcomes.
    • He ends up being haunted by Norman in the "Uploaded" ending.
    • He can get suspended from the force if he orders the killing of an unarmed Ethan.
  • Brad Silver, the drug dealer in the Shark trial is this if Ethan chooses to kill him.
  • The Origami Killer can count as this, considering the fact he rants to whoever has come to confront him, and shows little remorse for what he's done. It's to the point that Ethan, who reacts with guilt if he chooses to kill the drug dealer, doesn't shed any tears if he's the one to kill him at the end.
• Babysitting Episode: One of the levels has Shelby taking care of a baby whose mom has just attempted suicide.
• Bad Cop/Incompetent Cop: Other than Jayden, just about every cop in the game is either corrupt or worthless. However, they do display extreme levels of competence whenever it would mess things up for the main characters, like setting up a roadblock mere minutes after Ethan begins the first trial. This makes it an inversion of Be as Unhelpful as Possible.
• Badass Longcoat: Shelby wears one everytime outside and he certainly can wipe the floor with his enemies in his fight scenes.
• The Bad Guy Wins: If you let all of the characters die, except for Scott Shelby.
• Bait-and-Switch: Should you fail the possible fight in "Hassan's Shop" the robber will shoot his gun at Shelby off-screen. We don't see Shelby afterwards but he doesn't scream in pain or reacts in any other way. The shopkeeper and the robber both look shocked with the latter running away in panic leading the audience to believe that Shelby was just killed by him. A few seconds later he stands up and reveals that the bullet just grazed his shoulder.
• Balcony Escape: Ethan does this when the cops raid the Cross Road Motel.
• Barbie Doll Anatomy: There are a few shots where it's painfully obvious that the male character models have no penises.
• Bath Suicide: An attempted one by Susan Bowles, mother of the last victim.
• Battle in the Rain: Jayden and the Origami Killer in "The Old Warehouse." Madison and the Origami Killer is more of a Chase in the Rain.
• Bavarian Fire Drill:
  • Shelby isn't investigating the killings, he's actually the Origami Killer himself. You've been playing him collecting evidence so he can destroy it. The Fire Drill is on the player as well.
  • Also on his victims; he's a cop, they go to him even if he doesn't have a solid reasoning, because he's a cop.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Madison is the most bright-eyed, well-dressed insomniac you'll ever meet.
• Beneath the Mask: If you think Blake and Perry are nice on their first meeting with Norman, think again.
• Big Bad: The Origami Killer, the alias of Scott Shelby.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • Shelby has a couple of examples.
    • He foils a robbery early on.
    • He rescues a mother who just attempted suicide.
    • He wakes up just in time to save Lauren from his flooding car. If he chooses to.
  • Jayden, if everything is done correctly, gets one when he swoops in just in time to stop Shelby from killing Ethan or Madison.
  • Madison also gets one if she warns Ethan about the police outside the warehouse at the end.
  • Ethan also has one if only he and Madison are at the warehouse; provided she survives the fight with Shelby for long enough, he shows up right as she's cornered and saves her.
• Bittersweet Ending:
  • Two of Jayden's endings, "Case Closed" and "Resignation." In the former, he's hailed as a hero for saving Shaun, but suffers hallucinations due to ARI overexposure. In the latter, he quits his job to lead a normal life, but appears to be depressed by it.
  • "Ethan's Grave" is either this or an outright Downer Ending, considering Shaun is alive, but has lost both his brother and his father.
• Blocking Stops All Damage:
  • Averted. Even if the right buttons are pressed the characters still reel from hits they take, blocked or otherwise.
  • Despite Ethan taking the brunt of the hit from the car in "The Mall" thanks to a Diving Save, Jason still dies.
• Blown Across the Room: To the max in Face to Face. When shot, guards go flying.
• Bombproof Appliance: Madison needs to escape from a burning apartment before it explodes... Or she can climb inside the refrigerator. After the explosion, she is shown outside the building walking away. No explanation is given as to how she got out of the refrigerator.
• Bond Villain Stupidity:
  • Shelby enters his apartment only to find Lauren helpless and have one of Kramer's goons put a gun right to his head. But rather than just blow his brains out, Kramer traps Shelby and Lauren in a car (with loose ropes the former can undo fairly easily), and pushes it into the lake.
  • Shelby falls victim to this himself. If Madison is alive and encounters Shelby in his apartment he has her at gunpoint. Instead of shooting her he locks her in his secret chamber and sets his apartment on fire.
• Boring, but Practical: Ethan decides to do the Origami Killer's exciting, deadly trials to track down his son instead of simply bringing the origami figures to the police; though to be fair, he does have a point in that he doesn't have much information to give them besides the figures themselves. Norman uses his psychology degree to slowly whittle down suspects, until he finally tracks down the killer's car after the former plan falls through. Madison...simply does her research and has an informant track down information on who was renting out the buildings for the Lizard trial, which anyone could easily see was deliberately set up for the sole purpose of housing said trial. Turns out that following the paper trail actually tends to be quick and efficient; accounting for the fact she starts chasing the killer well over halfway into the game, Madison very quickly catches up with everyone else trying to find out who the Origami Killer is despite not being a trained policeman like Norman or being fed clues by the Killer like Ethan.
• Bottomless Bladder: Averted. Practically every chapter allows you to walk into a bathroom and do your business.
• Bottomless Magazines:
  • The drug dealer's shotgun runs out of bullets at a critical time making that an aversion.
  • Played straight, however, in Kramer's house. Scott's handgun has enough bullets to take out many guards without an on-screen reload.
• Bound and Gagged:
  • Norman is handcuffed to the steering wheel of a car if his interrogation with Mad Jack goes badly.
  • Scott and Lauren are both tied up in a car and are left to drown in it.
  • Madison is tied down to a table by Dr. Baker. If Madison escapes, you earn the trophy "Queen of Ropes."
• Brand X: ASTHMA brand inhalers and FRIDGE brand refrigerators, among other things.
• Break the Cutie: Shaun. After Jason's death he becomes socially withdrawn and believes his life won't be the same without his brother. His sadness gets even worse if Ethan dies in the end.
• Broken Heel: During the Covered Market chase scene, if the player fails a QTE prompt they'll slip on an obstacle.
• Burn Baby Burn: What Scott Shelby does with the evidence linking him to the Origami Murders.
• But Thou Must!:
  • Happens a few times when there appears to be a choice about what to do, but fairly egregiously before the Bear Trial. Ethan is given a few choices of things to think, including the standard "that's crazy"-type evaluations of the trial as well as "Refuse" and "Accept." Even if you choose "Refuse," and Ethan reflects on how many innocent people will die if he drives the wrong way on the highway, nothing at all happens and you still have to accept.
  • When Ethan receives the Shark Trial, he must go confront the drug dealer. While some trials give you the option to walk away as soon as you learn that it might result in harm, this one does not. After reading the note stating he has to kill someone, Ethan doesn't have the option to immediately decide he doesn't want to be a murderer and abstain from going to the location. He can only decline to kill the drug dealer at the very end of the incident.
• The Cake Is a Lie: Zig-Zagged.The Origami Killer puts Ethan through a series of brutal trials, all for the promise of saving his son if he can succeed. He actually gives all the required letters should Ethan succeed in his trials making Ethan able to locate Shaun.
  • However, upon completion of all five trials, one ending has the killer preparing to shoot our protagonist in the back as he attempts to release his son from imprisonment.
  • On the other hand, if Ethan arrives alone at the warehouse, the killer is genuinely impressed, releases Shaun without further ado and just moves on with his life, leaving Ethan alone. If he doesn't get shot by him, that is.
• Captain Obvious: Goes to Madison.
  Madison: It's a painkiller, it'll help ease the pain.
• Car Hood Sliding: Norman can do this while chasing Korda in "Covered Market". He can also be seen doing it in "Fugitive" if the player (controlling Madison) turns around while weaving through the stopped cars.
• Censored Child Death: Jason's and possibly Shaun's death scenes only use a Discretion Shot.
• Chair Reveal: Norman can discover Paco's corpse in this fashion in "Fish Tank" by turning the chair around as soon as he enters through the door, but it probably won't come as a surprise to the player if Madison is still alive, since you'll be shown a cutscene of Paco getting shot by the Origami Killer. Norman can also avert this by walking around Paco's desk and approaching his body from the front.
• Character Development:
  • Besides what players may do to characters, Lauren goes through this when she starts helping Scott and goes full retroactive Mama Bear.
  • Jayden goes through TWO:
    • One depending on if he shoots Nathaniel, where afterwards he becomes more withdrawn and angry.
    • The second happens without any player input throughout the story, where Norman will come out of his social awkwardness and become more assertive to Blake and the Captain and aggressive to uncooperative suspects.
• Chase Scene:
  • The Origami Killer and Madison can potentially have a gripping and elaborate one in the finale, depending on who makes it to the warehouse.
  • Norman and Miroslav get into a chase through a crowded supermarket that ends up in a showdown in its meat locker.
  • During the fourth trial, Brad Silver chases Ethan through his own apartment while shooting at him.
• Chase-Scene Obstacle Course: Jayden has to pursue a suspect through a supermarket. Said suspect will try to slow Jayden down by throwing things like ice, fruit, and live chickens behind himself.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • The golden watch Jayden finds on the secretary's desk near the beginning of the game. Talking to her reveals that the station traditionally awards cops with this brand and type when they are promoted to lieutenant. That becomes a vital piece of the puzzle to figuring out the identity of the Origami Killer when Norman is later attacked by a man wearing that same kind of watch. This can also throw you off track, making you think that Blake is the killer because he has the same type of watch.
  • When Norman investigates Mad Jack, before getting out of his car, he leaves a gun in the glovebox. Guess what you need to do when Mad Jack decides to use the machinery to lift Norman's car into a compactor — with Norman handcuffed inside.
  • If Ethan didn’t do all of the trials and doesn’t know the address where Shaun is being held, provided he completed at least three trials he can listen to the videos he was sent by the killer; doing this gives him the realization that Shaun is at the location nearest to the river.
  • As Ann Sheppard reveals to Madison, her son John liked to make origami dogs and call them “Max.” Guess what the password to his twin brother’s computer is.
  • Also, in a more traditional sense, the katana in Paco's office. Appears as a background object during Madison's level and is used by the Origami Killer against Norman on his level.
• Chemical Messiah: This is more of an individual thing, but Norman wears sunglasses that function as a reality warping device that assists him in investigations. The problem with this is that they seriously screw with his perception of reality and cause him to hallucinate. He gets dangerously addicted to this. To counteract this, he takes a fictional drug called Triptocaine, which functions similarly to cocaine and certain narcotics/pain meds. The Triptocaine causes him to get even more addicted and screwed out of his mind. He also suffers withdrawals from it, which have a slew of symptoms. The only ways to stop these are drinking or rinsing himself in cold water, waiting it out, or taking more Triptocaine.
• Climbing Climax: Should Madison reach the warehouse alone or with only one of the other characters, she will be hunted by the Big Bad all the way up to a high crane.
• Clueless Mystery: The game straight-up lies to you on multiple occasions. Scott Shelby is the Origami Killer, but even when you're playing as him and able to hear his Inner Monologue the game gives no hints about his true nature, which is just absurd.
• Cluster F-Bomb: Ethan occasionally delves into these when he sees what his trials entail, but he only really goes to town if you don't do all the trials and end up without all the letters of the address Shaun's being held at.
• Coat, Hat, Mask: Used by the Origami Killer when "visiting" Paco.
• Comically Small Bribe: Scott Shelby has the option of giving a five to the receptionist at a motel to tell him which room Lauren Winter's in. What's even funnier is that it works. He can also attempt to bribe Gordi Kramer's guards with a much more generous hundred at the party. They don't budge.
• Contrived Coincidence: When the Origami Killer kills Manfred in the latter's clock store, somehow Lauren gets distracted by a music box and Manfred ducks out of her line of sight just at the top of the hour, allowing the cacophony of all the clocks chiming to cover the sound of the murder.
• Controllable Helplessness:
  • In "The Doc", if Madison gets tied to the table, you can struggle against the restraints and scream, but it will be in vain, as you won't actually be able to free yourself until the doc leaves the room.
  • To a lesser extent, Scott's flashback scenes. Especially when you can't pull John out to save him from drowning.
• Convection, Schmonvection:
  • Technically Conduction Schmonduction. During The Lizard Episode, Ethan can heat an iron rod to cauterise his wounded finger; not only does he grip a hot metal rod with his bare hands, but he puts said metal rod on a wooden desk. He neither burns his hand nor does the desk ignite.
  • Madison doesn't make any great effort to avoid fire when she is escaping from the burning apartment, but her clothing can ignite without directly touching the fire.
• Conveniently Timed Attack from Behind: Jayden or Ethan can save Madison this way from the Big Bad if she survives long enough.
• Conveyor Belt o' Doom: Jayden can fight the Origami Killer on one of these if he makes it to the end of the game.
• Cool Shades: Norman's ARI displays augmented reality and haptic glove cues through his sunglasses.
• Cowboy Cop: Deconstructed with Blake all the way through. Intimidating suspects, looking for easy fitups to close cases, hollering profanities and insults at his colleagues with very little provocation... He's less of a cop and more of a thug with a gun and badge.
• CPR: Clean, Pretty, Reliable: Ethan revives Shaun in the finale pretty easily with this method.
• Crapsack World: The game's setting ends up fitting the bill if you choose the more tragic endings. One particular outcome includes Ethan and Scott being killed (the former just after rescuing Shawn), while Madison goes insane. It says something when Norman Jayden's bittersweet "Resignation" ending is the happiest of the four. This isn't the worst combination you can get, either.
• Creator's Culture Carryover:
  • The power outlets in buildings and some of the building architecture (particularly in Madison's apartment) are of distinctly European style instead of American.
  • The supermarket chase that Norman gets involved in has, at one point, live chickens present, something that is not allowed in a real U.S. supermarket.
  • There's some instances early in the game of characters referring to empty areas as "wasteland", when Americans would be calling these areas empty fields or vacant lots.
  • A number of minor characters are voiced by French actors who don't even try American accents, which may raise an eyebrow for some American players.
  • While the game is supposed to take place in the United States (Pennsylvania specifically), the license plates on all the cars are modeled after French license plates.
  • The apartment complex that Lauren lives in has a receptionist at the lobby. While a receptionist at an apartment do exist in the United States, it's exceedingly rare to find one that's not stationed at a luxury or high scaled apartment and you wouldn't exactly see one in a run down complex that has shady characters living in it.
• Credits Montage: The credits include a montage of several scenes throughout the game.
• Crucified Hero Shot: This happens to Ethan if he is killed by snipers in The Old Warehouse.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Several.
  • Madison can be tortured to death.
  • Jayden can die by falling into a car crusher or a trash compactor.
  • The same fate regarding the trash compactor can hit Shelby.
  • Adrian Baker can be killed by Madison with an activated drill through his heart.

• Cyber Space: ARI (Added Reality Interface) uses this through glasses and a glove. Its uses range from games, information storage, and virtual surroundings. The downside of using said Cyber Space for too long is that it can have permanent effects on the mind.
• Damsel out of Distress: Madison has a knack for getting herself into situations where she faces a high probability of being raped, killed, or both. But in each case, she has the ability to escape from them on her own if the player makes the right moves.
• Dark Reprise: While playing as Shelby he has his own action theme in all of his action scenes. When you play Madison and get chased by him in "The Old Warehouse" it's not Madison's but his Leitmotif that's playing, emphasizing it's all about Shelby coming for you. This is in stark contrast to the scenario of him and Jayden fighting which uses Jayden's action theme.
• Deadly Doctor: Adrian Baker. The doctor who nearly murders Madison, but leaves to answer the door midway through.
• Death as Game Mechanic: The game doesn't end with a player character's death, instead acknowledging it and including the repercussions of the character's death in the storyline.
• Death by Recognition: The mysterious Origami Killer visits a small-time crook in his office - a guy who had been renting space to Origami for his little 'games' in various derelict buildings. He goes, "Oh, it's just you..." and then chats a bit before the killer offs him so the victim cannot identify him to anyone.
• Death of a Child: The death of Ethan's eldest son Jason in the prologue, and potentially Ethan's younger son Shaun in some of the endings.
• Department of Redundancy Department: Madison has this painful line.
  Madison: It's a painkiller. It'll help reduce the pain.
• Despair Event Horizon:
  • If Shaun dies, Ethan will kill himself in every ending where it occurs.
  • Norman will also fatally overdose on triptocaine if Shaun dies.
• Detectives Follow Footprints: The introduction scene of Agent Jayden sees him following a footprint trail among other things with ARI.
• Dirty Coward: If you don't do the trials. Best example, you can refuse to do the Lizard Trial, and use your two hands to help you and Madison escape, but you end up being shot in the arm instead. The game even calls Ethan (and by extension, the player) out on it with the door leading to freedom in the Butterfly trial being labeled "Coward", should you choose not to do the trial.
• Disappeared Dad: As Shelby goes around visiting the families of the victims of the Origami Killer, the husbands of both Lauren Winters and Mrs. Susan Bowles have disappeared soon after their sons did. As much as this would seem as a standard case of Disappeared Dad, you find out later that one father actually went out as Ethan Mars did to complete the trials to save his own son, but ended up dying in the power plant in the Butterfly chapter. This is similarly implied for the rest of the fathers... except for Reza's father, the shopkeeper. He didn't dare open the box. Or he did, but didn't realize he was supposed to unfold the origami. In-Game Guide Damn It!
• Disney Villain Death: The Origami Killer can face this when Norman fights Shelby on a conveyor belt. Norman even has the option to spare Shelby but the latter will waste his chance and die regardless.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Lauren has this reaction to Shelby if/when he shows pity for the loss of her son. She later breaks down about the matter, at which point she won't turn away any comfort.
• Do Well, But Not Perfect: If you want to ensure the police don't arrive in the final mission and in turn Ethan's survival, you must make sure that Ethan arrives with either Madison or Jayden, but not both. If he arrives alone, he will end up gunned down by the police. If he arrives with both, the same will happen unless Madison is able to reach him.
• Dramatic Ammo Depletion: During the fourth trial, the shark, Ethan has to break into a man's home to kill him. Said man turns out to be an armed drug dealer. After he refuses to leave, the drug dealer punches him, pulls out a shotgun, and tries to kill him with it. He chases Ethan around the apartment destroying many of his own valuables, and corners him into a bedroom. He lines up the shot and pulls the trigger, but nothing happens.
• Dramatic Irony:
  • "A little rain never hurt nobody," said by John Sheppard in a game where children are drowned in rainwater, and shortly before he himself drowns in the rain.
  • If Ethan is the only one to make it to the warehouse, he gets shot and killed by the police after Blake thinks he's reaching for a gun. Ethan tossed his gun away after confronting Scott.
• Driven to Suicide: Ethan in three of the bad endings.
• Drives Like Crazy: The Bear trial requires Ethan to drive at 60 MPH on a rain-slicked freeway on the wrong side of the road.
• Driving Question: The Origami Killer's identity.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: Norman and Madison can be killed off in several unceremonious ways right in the middle of investigating the Origami Killer case, if the player allows it.
• Drugs Are Bad: Played with. It's Norman's overuse of ARI that's implied to be the cause of his hallucinations, and he takes Triptocaine — again, to excess — to help him deal with the adverse effects of his dives into ARI. Neither is doing any wonders for his health.
• Dueling Player Characters: Depending on circumstances, Ethan, Madison, or Norman must fight Scott a.k.a. the Origami Killer in the endgame. You control the former but you can still lose and have your current character killed.
• Duel to the Death: Should Jayden and the Big Bad fight each other in "The Old Warehouse" one of them is guaranteed to die, even if you try to save the killer.
• Earn Your Bad Ending: Most of the bad endings aren't too difficult to obtain, but "Perfect Crime", the ending where the Origami Killer gets away with everything, requires taking very specific actions across 12 of the game's chapters, including killing five major characters (most of them playable), and erasing all evidence of the Origami Killer's crimes. This is made even more complicated because the Origami Killer himself is one of the playable characters, and the actions Scott needs to take to clear his name are quite specific. The Returning to the Scene sequence in "Manfred" is particularly frustrating, as it needs to be done under a strict time limit.
• Empathic Environment:
  • The rain, obviously. It's even a plot point, as the Origami Killer's trap requires about 6 inches of uninterrupted rainfall to work, and that is more than the monthly average in all but two cities.
  • The virtual environments created by ARI are also this. In "Solving the Puzzle," where it is possible for Jayden to die from ARI overuse, as his eyes start bleeding in the real world, the peaceful forest of the simulation slowly becomes colder and windier until it's basically storming inside. By this point, it's not exactly clear whether anything Jayden sees is reality, virtual reality, or the contents of his own drug-addled mind.
• Enhance Button: Should Jayden not collect any clues in "Crime Scene", he'll just bring up a satellite scan of the scene in question and find the tire tracks.
• Ensemble Cast: The game puts you in the shoes of 4 playable characters.
• Epic Fail: Some of the Quick Time Event sequences can result in the protagonists having some major failures, and some of them not even fatal. The best example is the Covered Market chase, where Jayden can fail throughout the entire sequence and stumble his way through, even outright smacking his face on a door closing in front of him instead of squeezing through it at the last second on a success. Of course, when a real fight starts, it's probably better to not fail.
• Even Evil Has Standards: The Origami Killer's trials are designed to test the resolve of the victims' fathers. Additionally, this seems to be Shelby's motivation for investigating Gordi Kramer.
• "Everybody Dies" Ending: One of the possible outcomes. Madison and Jayden can die in several chapters while Ethan and Shelby can either both die during "The Old Warehouse" or during the epilogue.
• Evil All Along: Scott Shelby is this. Even his thoughts don't show his true colors.
• Excessive Mourning: Ethan afters Jason's death. He grows a Beard of Sorrow, breaks up with his wife and becomes overall a Broken Bird who needs psychological help.
• Exploring the Evil Lair: Several of Madison's chapters, including the Taxidermist DLC, has her exploring a suspect's house. She then finds herself Alone with the Psycho once they return.
• Expy:
  • The motives and methods of the Origami Killer are similar to those of Jigsaw, i.e. elaborate trials designed as tests of determination, morality, or sheer ability to withstand pain.
  • Norman Jayden shares a lot of similarities with Fox Mulder. Both are FBI profilers and good, honest cops who are widely disliked by fellow cops. His unorthodox methods and detective abilities also bring Dale Cooper to mind.
  • Fans of Silent Hill may compare Shelby to Douglas and Ethan to Harry Mason, right down to their outfits.
• Eye Scream: As Jayden, if you take too long on your last use of the ARI, Jayden's eyes start bleeding.
• Face on the Cover: The American box art shows all four main characters on the cover, while the Japanese box art shows Ethan's face half-submerged in water.
• Fair-Play Whodunnit: Averted. You play as the killer for considerable parts of the game and the game completely conceals this from you!
• Fake Orgasm: Madison fakes having an orgasm in order to prevent a guard from entering the room while she's interrogating his boss.
• Fan Disservice:
  • The striptease in Sexy Girl may be this more than Fanservice because Madison is being forced to remove her clothes.
  • Ethan can be seen without his shirt in his hotel room in a few of his chapters, but it's possible for him to have several burns and lacerations on his chest.
  • The sex scene between Ethan and Madison is seen as this because of how absurdly contrived the circumstances for it are and how blatantly crowbarred-in it is for the sake of pure fanservice.
• Fanservice:
  • Madison. Just damn.
    • Within minutes of her initial appearance in the game, Madison has an exceptionally long quick-time event in which she fights home invaders in her underwear. This scene has absolutely no effect on the plot.
    • Just like having her take a shower before the home invaders hit, with Madison flaunting her well-endowed upper body completely naked for quite some time.
    • Especially in the Sexy Girl chapter, where she unbuttons her shirt, rips off part of her skirt so the bottom comes to just below her ass, and does sexy dancing in high heels. It would be especially heavy fanservice if you weren't concentrating on the QTE to make her dance well.
    • When she fakes having sex by moaning, etc. in Paco's office to trick his guard from coming in, leaving Paco's mouth dropped open in shock.
    • When she's actually having sex with Ethan, again with glorious toplessness on her part. Although it's easy to miss the particular QTE input to have Ethan take off her bra.
    • Most of the time Madison walks, especially from behind. Her motion capture was done by model and actress Jacqui Ainsley ahem very well.
  • Ethan:
    • Ethan takes a shower in the beginning of the game and the player is given an extended view of his behind.
    • Assuming that Ethan is not too badly hurt, he does have a couple of other shirtless scenes.
• Fantastic Drug:
  • Triptocaine is not a real drug but it keeps Norman focused. And it glows blue.
  • ARI isn't a typical drug but its effects are implied to be one.
• Father's Quest: Invoked by the Origami Killer. He kidnaps young boys and sends their fathers on dangerous missions to find them before they drown. Several of the fathers died trying to pass the trials, and one didn't understand the message and didn't go on his quest. One of the playable characters is Ethan Mars, father to the latest victim of the Origami Killer. The killer's main motivation is to find a father that truly loves their son and would go through hell to save them. This was because his own father was a useless drunk that wouldn't lift a finger to save his brother that was trapped in a drain pipe and drowned.
• Film Noir: Looks, sounds, and feels like it. Dark, gritty, pessimistic, rainy, hard-boiled detectives, moody music, dutch angles, mystery, drugs, sex, violence. Covers all the bases, really. Scott Shelby even has a 1940s film noir theme going with his wardrobe, car, decorating, etc.
• Fingore: At one point, Ethan is challenged to cut off the end of his pinky.
• Firing One-Handed: Scott and Ethan both fire their handguns one-handed. Averted with Jayden, who shoots two-handed.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: Can potentially happen if both Madison and Jayden visit The Blue Lagoon. While investigating Paco’s office, Jayden can find Madison's fingerprints and notes that she is a journalist; this is the first moment in the game where the player discovers Madison's true occupation, since she claimed she was a photographer in "First Encounter". In the very next chapter, Ethan will discover this for himself if he sleeps with Madison.
• Fluorescent Footprints: With the help of the ARI different clues including footprints show up in view like this.
• Foreshadowing:
  • A replay bonus, though you can notice it if you're really observant, is in the beginning credits. Several characters are shown which just seem to be random people in the rain, with no actual impact on the story, perhaps there to establish the mood of the game. You later realize they are anything but random: one is the graveyard keeper who tells Scott and Lauren the story of John Sheppard, one is John Sheppard's (and the Origami Killer's) mother, and the children are the Origami Killer's prior victims. It also shows many of the places significant to the story, like the overpass crossing over the lot where the last victim is found, the playground, and the scrapyard.
  • When playing as Jayden for the first time, one of his inner thoughts has him commenting about his hands trembling and hoping he can keep them under control this time. Most players would assume it's just Jayden's nerves acting up, but it subtly hints at his symptoms of his overuse of ARI.
  • Also early in the game, you can find a DNA sample belonging to someone that mentions John Sheppard. Jayden dismisses it as "unrelated to the case".
  • Scott Shelby has an old-fashioned typewriter in plain sight on top of his desk throughout the entire game, although it isn't the one actually used to type the Origami Killer letters.
  • The mystery Sheppard brother has a band-aid on his right eyebrow, and Scott has a scar in exactly the same place.
  • There's a reason why Scott's the only character on the front of the US box that has a weapon.
  • Look at the score Norman has in the ARI mini-game when he plays it while waiting in the police station early on in the game. It's a hint that maybe the Tripto isn't what Norman's really addicted to.
  • If Hassan is killed by the robber in the chapter Hassan's Shop when playing as Scott Shelby, Hassan will say that all he wanted to do was look into the eyes of his son's killer before he died. The camera angle changes, and players see Scott looking directly down at Hassan. Which is relevant, y'know, 'cause.
  • Also in Hassan's Shop, you can use the dialogue option Shaun in which Scott tries to convince Hassan to help him by explaining that the Origami Killer has taken another child. However, this chapter takes place two hours after Ethan reported Shaun missing. It's highly improbable that Scott would know about the kidnapping since the press didn't know until the next day and the police weren't convinced it was the Origami Killer yet.
  • When Blake is about to put handcuffs on Nathaniel, it looks like the latter is about to whip out a weapon but it turns out to be a cross. In the final chapter, should Madison be absent, Ethan steps out of the warehouse and reaches to his side in pain. Blake notices this, thinking he's reaching for a gun, and orders his men to open fire.
• Forklift Fu: Mad Jack will start hauling Norman who is lashed to his own car's steering wheel to a car crusher in a forklift if you choose not to take the Triptocaine or fail the prompt.
• For Want Of A Nail:
  • Norman is only able to locate Scott because the latter had two receipts from the same gas station in his pocket.
  • Whether Scott wants to let Ethan leave or kill him depends on who else is in the area.
• Freudian Excuse: The Origami Killer had to watch his twin brother drown because their father wouldn't get off his drunken ass and help him. He puts his victims' fathers through a series of elaborate and cruel tests in order to find someone dedicated enough to do anything to save his son, i.e. do what his own father couldn't do.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Ethan's response to the Origami Killer's motivation.
  Ethan: You're mad... you're completely FUCKING MAD!
  • Madison can also tell the killer something to this effect if she is alone at the warehouse.
  Madison: John is dead, do you understand? Killing more innocent people is not gonna change that!
• "Friends" Rent Control: Madison lives in a very large and well-furnished loft apartment for a 27-year-old journalist.
• Forgot About His Powers: Apparrently Blake forgot that he has a helicopter that could chase Ethan after he escaped from his police forces following the raid at the motel.

G-L

• Game-Breaking Bug: When playing the game on the "Easy" difficulty, there is more reaction time for the QTEs and less of them to begin with. However, some of the ones that are not shown still register in the game and will count as a failed press, meaning that you have to succeed at a higher number of QTEs than you would on the other difficulties.
• Gangsta Style: Ethan uses this method of holding a pistol on the drug dealer briefly.
• Gasp!:
  • Blake practically shits himself upon seeing Norman as part of the virtual reality in the "Uploaded" epilogue.
  • Madison gets one of these when she receives the name of the Origami Killer from his mother.
• Goggles Do Something Unusual: The ARI display crime scenes and games in augmented reality.
• Go-Karting with Bowser: The meeting at a driving range between Scott and Kramer is pretty cordial even though they are at odds with each other.
• Golden Ending: The game's numerous Multiple Endings depend on what happens to each character, and there are a few variations concerning their ultimate fate. Typically, the Golden Ending will include: A New Life, Case Closed, and Origami's Grave with Lauren alive.
• Good Guns, Bad Guns: Played around with a lot throughout the game. Almost all of the characters that have guns in this game have handguns, with the sole exception of the drug lord that Ethan has to kill in his fourth trial, who uses a shotgun. Subverting the trope is actually what ends up helping Norman figure out who the Origami Killer is, if you get all of the clues with ARI.
• Good Morning, Crono: An adult example, where the very first mission as Ethan has the player waking him up.
• Gory Discretion Shot:
  • Varies. Power drill to the chest? No cutaway. Man falls into gigantic, spiked trash compactor? Cutaway.
  • Also used during the third trial. Ethan cuts off his finger just out of shot, but the actions the player has to perform, as well as Ethan's agonised screams, make the whole thing even worse than if it was shown in detail.
• Gray Rain of Depression: The only times it isn't raining in the game are the prologue, the playground, and the weather outside when Ethan checks out a new apartment with Shaun in his best ending. The rain eventually becomes a major plot point as well as mood setting.
• Grief-Induced Split: Ethan loses a son in a car accident, leading to his divorce, depression, and the eventual kidnapping of his other son by a serial killer two years later.
• Groin Attack:
  • Madison is a certified user of this trope, using it in her fights with The Doc, Leland, and the Origami Killer. She also tortures Paco by squeezing his nuts. Ouch.
  • Norman can be stabbed in the groin with a katana by the Origami Killer if most of the inputs are missed. He can put the killer on the receiving end of this by kneeing him in the groin during their second fight, but the latter shrugs it off.
• Guide Dang It!:
  • Among certain other trophies, getting the "Perfect Crime" ending requires you to kill off two of the four player characters and three of the NPCs (minimum). Good luck figuring out what exactly what sequence of events must be done to do so. Or you could just check out this guide.
  • Almost none of the trophies are labeled in game, except those that you get for 100% completion and for seeing all the endings.
• Gun Struggle: This can potentially happen in the final chapter between Ethan and Scott if only Ethan and Madison make it to the end. Regardless of if you win or lose the struggle, Ethan is shot. The game makes it look like the wound is fatal, but if Madison survives the ensuing chase scene, Ethan reappears to save her just in time.
• Happier Home Movie: Ethan can optionally turn one on early on in the game.
• Happily Failed Suicide: After being saved by Shelby the last victim's mother regains her will to live.
• Heal It With Fire: The player has the option to cauterize Ethan's wound after he chops off part of his finger.
• He Knows Too Much: The reason why the Big Bad kills Paco and possibly Madison.
• Here We Go Again!: One of Madison's endings has a new serial killer introduce himself to her, setting the start of a new investigation.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Ethan tries a remarkably unsuccessful one in the beginning to save Jason. (Set grim tone for the rest of the game: check.)
• He Who Fights Monsters: Jayden is always at odds with Blake on his stance on crime fighting, so it's kinda jarring when he threatens Mad Jack with getting away with murder.
  Jayden: Oh shit, Jack, ain't nothin' to it, just a little bit of self defense. Page one of the police manual: "kill, or be killed."
  Jayden: Do you like fireworks, Jack? 'Cause I bet them gas tanks are gonna blow up real nice! [...] We'll just say it was an accident... or rather, I'll say it was an accident because you won't be able to talk, will you Jack?
  • Of course, Alternative Character Interpretation is in play here, as Jayden won't object to Blake's methods too much unless you make him. It's also likely he's bluffing to psyche Mad Jack out. (The fact that the QTE leading to this line is labeled "IMPRESS" suggests that this is the case.)
• He Who Must Not Be Seen: Sam, Madison's close friend and contact. He is the only character to be heard but never seen.
• Hidden Villain: Figuring out the villain's identity is the whole point of the game!
• Hoist by His Own Petard:
  • Scott can potentially be killed by Ethan after forcing him to undergo the trials.
  • He can also be impaled by the same pole he tried to kill Madison with should the two confront.
  • The mad "surgeon" if Madison kills him with the drill.
  • In one possible scenario, Mad Jack tries to kill Norman by throwing his car into a crusher with a crane. If you play right, you can escape and fight Mad Jack in front of the still-running crane. If you win, his pants get caught in a tire tread, and he's run over.
• Holler Button: The former Trope Namer (formerly Press X To Jason).
• Hollywood Psych: Ethan refers to his condition, suggested to be Dissociative Identity Disorder, as "schizophrenia" on at least two occasions. Schizophrenia and Dissociative Identity Disorder are separate conditions. Justified, however, as both conditions have a lot of overlapping symptoms, and DID sufferers tend to also have schizophrenia. The blackouts are also not related to a psychological condition.
• Hollywood Spelling: Everyone is able to spell John Sheppard right on the first try.
• I Cannot Self-Terminate: The Origami Killer if Ethan confronts him alone.
• Idiot Ball:
  • Ethan Mars never requests assistance from the police, his ex-wife, his Token Romance, and cannot even attempt to guess Shaun's location unless he's at least attempted all the trials. However, Ethan does make it a point to mention that he doesn't have a lot of information to give to the police; additionally, at least two of the trials were being recorded, and for all Ethan knows the killer could decide to count his attempts as failures if he received outside help.
  • You would think that the fathers of the Origami Killer's victims disappearing after their sons are found dead would be a major part of the police investigation. But it's barely ever mentioned by the cops, and it never plays a role in their investigation.
  • Norman Jayden can be killed on three separate occasions because he doesn't bring backup. Even assuming every single cop in Philadelphia hates him, the city also has a local FBI office which he never contacts once.
  • The reveal that Shelby is the Origami Killer makes many of his previous actions nonsensical. When Lauren brings him her Origami Killer letter, Shelby tells her the truth: That it was typed on an old typewriter. Not only does this lead them to the next clue, Manfred's Clock Shop, but Shelby brings her along when he goes to murder Manfred and close that loose end. Moreover, Shelby not only has the same typewriter on his desk, he has two of them, as you find the one he actually used inside his secret room.
• I Have a Family: The drug dealer tries this when Ethan threatens him with a gun.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: In one of the endings, Norman gives up the ARI.
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Ethan blames himself throughout the game for Jason's death.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: One of the endings has the Origami Killer impaled on a metal pole.
• Improvised Weapon: You can bet if it's not nailed down, someone's going to pick it up and try to bludgeon their opponent with it in any of the game's various fight scenes.
• Informed Flaw:
  • Shelby's asthma. He uses his inhaler once, and at another moment avoids a smoker. That's the sole impact it has on his story line.
  • Madison's insomnia. She's supposed to be exhausted after getting little to no sleep for what is implied to be an extended stretch of time, but it doesn't affect her at all. At one point, she even nods off in a chair, and has to force herself to stay awake to watch over Ethan while he sleeps. Naturally, while Ethan is scruffy and glassy-eyed and Jayden gets red-eyed and twitchy at various points, Madison shows precisely none of the physical effects of even short-term insomnia. She's even totally okay to drive a bike in the rain.
• In-Game TV: Some TVs in the game show cartoons you can watch from beginning to end, before they loop over back to the start.
• In Spite of a Nail: No matter how the story develops, someone WILL always die at the warehouse. This also means that it's impossible that all Player Characters survive.
• Ink-Suit Actor: The four main characters basically look like their voice/mocap actors.
• Insomnia Episode: Madison suffers from chronic insomnia, which we mainly see in a paranoid delirium episode early in her arc.
• Instant Death Bullet: When Shelby goes to storm the Kramer mansion, all of the 20 guards are killed with a single bullet each and most of them not even being headshots.
• Instant Mystery, Just Delete Scene: Shelby's killing of Manfred isn't shown to the player while the player is controlling him, only in a later flashback, likely because it would otherwise make the fact that he's the killer far too obvious.
  • Ethan’s blackouts also count. The fact there is no explanation for them at all besides the removed supernatural plot serves to make Ethan look like a red herring to both the player and other characters, himself included, supposedly as a way to make the identity of the killer less obvious.
• Insult Backfire:
  • Jayden and Blake get some of this to show how badly they work together.
    Jayden: Blake, you are an unbalanced, psychopathic asshole!
    Blake: I'll take that as a compliment.
  • In "Covered Market", Blake tells Jayden to "fuck off", and he smiles off it.
• Interface Screw: During particularly tense moments, the displayed buttons will shake wildly, with more shaking the more nervous your character is. "The Bear" flips the button displays upside down after Ethan crashes his car.
• Karma Houdini: Any of the villains can become this, but the only one who can never be punished is Gordi Kramer. He isn't in the mansion when Scott breaks in and potentially kills his father, leaving his ultimate fate unknown.
• Karmic Death:
  • If all the playable heroes are killed, the Origami Killer walks off into the heavy rain triumphant... unless he saved Lauren from drowning, in which case she will have figured out what's going on after having compared notes with the families of the other victims, and will gun Scott down in the street.
  • Should Jayden and Shelby duke it out at the climax the former can save the latter from falling into a trash compacter. After being saved, Shelby returns the favor by trying to push Jayden into said compactor only to eventually fall himself into it, should he fail.
• Killed Off for Real: Any character that dies in the story doesn't simply cause the game to load a checkpoint, but instead continues on, and that includes the player characters. It's entirely possible to reach a Downer Ending where every major character relevant to the case kicks the bucket and the Big Bad walks away a Karma Houdini, though at that point you might be specifically searching for how to accomplish it.
• The Killer Becomes the Killed: If Ethan confronts the Origami Killer alone he may shoot him in cold blood.
• The Killer in Me: The game appears to be setting up a Type B when Ethan suspects that his alternate personality is the killer, but then subverts the trope when it turns out he didn't do it after all.
• Last Day of Normalcy: opens with a regular, saccharine-sweet day of Ethan Mars, a happy husband and proud father of two boys. Unfortunately, this just happens to be a flashback to the day when one of his sons was killed by traffic, leading to his divorce and eventually to the kidnapping of his other son by a serial killer, kicking off the main plot.
• Last Disrespects: Lauren towards Shelby if the former survives and the latter dies.
• Leitmotif: Each playable character (and Lauren) has one. Jayden and Shelby each have an additional variation for their action scenes while Madison and Ethan share several for theirs. Ethan's motif, Painful Memories, is probably the most memorable one as it also serves as the game's main theme and sees the most use. It also doubles as a Lonely Piano Piece, tellingly.
• Look Both Ways: If Jason would have looked both ways before crossing the street he probably would be still alive.
• Lost Pet Grievance: Shaun is very shaken by the death of the pet bird during the prologue.
• Liar Revealed: Ethan's discovery that Madison's a journalist…after he sleeps with her. May not be as grating as other examples of this trope, since he'll either forgive her right away, or reject her permanently.
• Life-or-Limb Decision: The Lizard trial. Quite possibly the most remembered scene in the game.
• The Lopsided Arm of the Law: The police are great at hounding Ethan and terrible at actually finding the real Origami Killer.

M-R

• Made of Iron:
  • Ethan. Depending on your actions, he can get into a car accident, break one or two ribs, tear up his arms on broken glass, collect a horrible electrical burn, cut off his own finger, and fall from a three-story building, and he'll still be going strong in the end.
  • Jayden also qualifies. Besides regularly being beaten up during most of his fights, he can also survive a hit from a sledgehammer to his head, though only once.
• The Many Deaths of You: This game might hold some sort of record for this. From being crushed by a car compactor while inside the car to taking a power drill to the pelvis, this game is certainly not for kids.
• Media Scrum: Ethan will walk into one of these if he attempts to leave his house through the front door after Shaun has been reported missing, but he can slip out the back instead to avoid any hassle (and earn the player a trophy).
• Medium Awareness: Played with a bit during the Jayden Blues chapter, during which the titular character sits at a piano and plays a few bars from his own theme song, as well as part of Ethan's.
• Meta Twist: Quantic Dream is known for having the most saccharine endings for players who go the extra mile, which makes the fact that all of Norman's endings are bitter-oriented bittersweet endings and downer endings surprising, especially when the best case involves the player FAILING to do well.
• Missing Child: The Origami Killer kidnaps young boys, traps them in a pit that slowly fills with rainwater, and forces their fathers to complete a series of extremely dangerous trials in exchange for the chance to save their son before he drowns. Some of the fathers are never seen again. Ethan Mars' son Shaun is kidnapped shortly into the game, forcing Ethan to undertake the trials himself. And he can fail them; there's a Bad Ending where Shaun is never rescued.
• Mistaken for Junkie: Brad Silver, the drug dealer Ethan is assigned to kill in the fourth trial, assumes Ethan is at his house to get drugs from him, and even tries to bribe him with drugs twice when he’s held at gunpoint.
  Brad Silver: I said a thousand times that I don’t want any junkies at my door. You wanna score, man, you gotta fucking call first.
• Modular Epilogue: The ending is a sequence of short scenes showing the lives of the four main characters and their associates after the Shaun Mars' case—for those who survived it, that is.
• Mooks: Shelby kills 18 guards when he breaks into Kramer's place.
• Morning Routine: The prologue consists of Ethan waking up in the morning and preparing for his son's birthday.
• Most Writers Are Adults:
  • Instead of kids acting much older than they're supposed to, this game has the reverse. Every ten-year-old in existence should be insulted by how the kids in this game are portrayed. Chasing a balloon? Playing in traffic? However, Jason's behavior can be justified; he was originally meant to be much younger, and this is reflected in the writing.
  • All of Shaun's inconsistencies, however, are explained with the Freudian Excuse of losing Jason and having his father put into a coma for a few months affecting his emotions.
• Motion Capture: All major character's performances are fully mocap, including the face and the eyes, just like in Avatar. And for that, the Heavy Rain team deserves props: it took half a year to get all the motion capture for this game filmed. There's an unlockable extra about it, too.
• Ms. Fanservice: Madison Paige, frequently seen in skimpy clothing.
• Multiple Endings: The game treats endings rather differently than most other games of its ilk. Instead of three or four predetermined endings, the characters will have endings which finish their arcs in multiple ways depending on your choices, and the actual ending of the game depends on what combination of character endings you end up with. That being said, many potential endings can fit into a few trope categories:
  • Bittersweet Ending: The Origami Killer is stopped, but some people are killed along the way.
  • Downer Ending: The Origami Killer gets away and kills most of the protagonists along the way.
  • There is also a downplayed version of this. The protagonists are killed or fail to find Shaun and the Origami Killer seemingly triumphs, only to learn that karma is a bitch and her name is Lauren Winter.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: The Origami Killer is stopped and the protagonists find closure.
• Murder by Inaction:
  • Madison and Norman Jayden can do this if they fight the Origami Killer in the end. The alternative is to save him and then kill him.
  • Shelby can also do this to Charles Kramer by not giving him his pills while he's having a heart attack.
• Mystery Magnet: On the hunt for the Origami Killer, Madison runs into a homicidal taxidermist, a crazy Doctor Death, and a sleezy nightclub owner and would-be rapist. In addition, depending on the choices the player makes, she might encounter the Origami Killer directly, and be confronted by an unseen stalker at a book signing who proclaims she deserves a 'worthy adversary' to fight.
• Mythology Gag: Players who watched the tech demo "Heavy Rain: The Casting" from several E3s back might recognize Lauren as Mary Smith, still voiced/mocapped by Aurélie Bancilhon.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • Nice move, Grace Mars, for giving Blake a hint that your ex-husband is the Origami Killer.
  • Jayden accusing Blake of being the Origami Killer will get him to turn in his badge.
  • If you think it's a good idea to not make him take Triptocaine, you might want to think again. As shown in "Case Closed", he'll have hallucinations from overexposure to the ARI.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
  • Way to go releasing Scott, Blake, without knowing he is the Origami Killer.
  • Blake killing Ethan while Jayden is alive results in him and Perry turning in their badges.
  • If Scott saves Lauren from drowning in his car and survives the final chapter, she will find out that he is the Origami Killer and kill him.
• No Communities Were Harmed: An interesting example: The city shown in the map is clearly Philadelphia, but no real world locations or landmarks are ever shown or mentioned in the game, and the name of the city is never said. Likewise, the street that the warehouse is on is not a real street in Philadelphia.
• Nonstandard Game Over: During "On The Loose", if Ethan is arrested for the second time or if Norman has died, Ethan cannot be sprung from jail and the player loses control of him for the rest of the game.
• Not Distracted by the Sexy: When you meet Gordi Kramer, he's watching cartoons while two women are passionately making out on the couch next to him. He couldn't care less, and eventually orders them out of the room.
• Not Quite the Right Thing: Each player character typically gets their best ending when you succeed as much as possible in their investigation. The exceptions are Scott, for reasons that are obvious once you finish the game, and Jayden, whose best ending actually involves all the heroes surviving but him not successfully completing his investigation (which results in him giving up the ARI system and retiring peacefully), unlike the ending in which he fully succeeds, in which case he's shown in the process of potentially succumbing to ARI hallucinations.
• Offhand Backhand: In Face to Face, after Shelby gets out of his car, the first thing he does is shoot a Mook without even bothering to look at him.
• Offscreen Teleportation: The game abuses this quite a bit. In a typical version of the warehouse scene, it will show the empty warehouse, you walk up to save Shaun, and the killer appears right behind you. Then, another character runs out of nowhere to save you. Also, Manfred's killing, done without Lauren noticing, even though she's in the adjacent room. Also, Norman's ghost, although that's one's justified by it being inside virtual reality.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Blake's reaction to Madison getting past his roadblock in "The Old Warehouse".
  • Also, Norman's reaction to seeing tiny virtual desk tanks in the "Case Closed" ending.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted (for no apparent reason) with the news anchor and field reporter, Glenn Sanders and Britney Sanders.
• Ominous Save Prompt: Inverted with an ominous load screen; the final level's load screen, rather than show any of the four playable characters, shows Shaun's face.
• Once More, with Clarity: Appears when Scott Shelby destroys the evidence.
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Jayden is played by a British actor who is attempting a Boston accent, but it's incomplete.
• Open the Door and See All the People: After Ethan's son is kidnapped by the Origami Killer, a mob of reporters shows up outside his door almost immediately.
• Optional Sexual Encounter: Between Ethan and Madison.
• Outrun the Fireball: Madison can do this to escape the killer's apartment in "Killer's Place" if she chooses to escape through the kitchen window.
• The Password Is Always "Swordfish": How Madison breaks into the killer's computer.
• Pet the Dog: After everyone else had seemingly forgotten about him, Kramer, having owned the construction site where he drowned, has been tending and putting flowers on John Sheppard's grave for over 30 years.
• Please Wake Up: Ethan, during his attempts to revive Shaun via CPR. If Ethan has come to the warehouse alone, Shaun ends up doing this himself moments later when he's gunned down by police outside.
• Plot Armor: Try as you might, you can't kill Ethan or Shelby until the endgame.
• Plotline Death: Jason dies as part of the story, and it cannot be avoided. Additionally, any and all of the main playable characters may die within the course of the game, depending on various actions.
• Police Are Useless: Jayden is the only law enforcement official worth a damn in the whole story.
• Pragmatic Villainy: The killer helps the victims' families by protecting them from pimps and armed robbers, and even preventing their suicides.
• Press X to Die: A couple of Schmuck Bait options.
• Press X to Not Die: The majority of the game.
• Race Against the Clock: Race against inches of rainfall.
• Red Herring: Played straight and subverted. While the characters themselves might follow what they later think are wrong leads, it is revealed that all the clues are pointing at the killer, it's just that both the characters and the player can't see the big picture until later on.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blake is red to both Norman and Perry's blue.
• Refusal of the Call: During certain segments, it's entirely possible to refrain from helping. For example, while Lauren is somewhat of a Jerkass to Shelby, seeing a thug burst into apartment probably makes you feel compelled to go check on her; however, there's nothing stopping you from just ignoring it and leaving the building...
• Relationship-Salvaging Disaster: One of Ethan's possible epilogues suggests that he's going to reconcile with his estranged wife despite the fact she's responsible for getting Blake to think he's the Origami Killer.
• The Reveal: When Shelby destroys the evidence, revealing that he is the Origami Killer.
• Rewind, Replay, Repeat: It's up to the player whether Ethan does this to discover Sean's location or gets it the first time around.
• Rising Water, Rising Tension: The villain kidnaps young boys and holds them inside a flood drain during the rain season, which slowly fills with water over several days. This means that when a new victim is kidnapped, the police and, particularly, the victim's father (who receives hints from the killer) have only limited time before the boy drowns, with the dramatic tension rising accordingly.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: "Face to Face". Shelby goes through Kramer's mansion, picking off every guard that aims a gun at him.
• Room Full of Crazy: Nathaniel's flat.
• Rube Goldberg Hates Your Guts: The method of killing little boys over a period of four days by keeping them in a sewer drain that slowly fills up with rain water certainly qualifies as elaborate, as does the trials he puts the victim's fathers through.
• Rule of Drama: The killer gradually collected a stash of evidence that he could destroy at anytime, but he destroys it all just before the climax because it makes for a more dramatic reveal: the killer was Shelby.

S-Z

• Sadistic Choice: The Origami Killer's trials. Risk your own life (The Bear and The Butterfly), hurt yourself tremendously (The Butterfly and The Lizard), kill someone (The Shark) and commit suicide (The Rat) or miss out on letters for the riddle and be potentially unable to save your son.
• Save the Villain: Madison and Jayden have the option of playing this straight or averting it. Shelby will still try to kill you, and flubbing the quick-time event will result in your character being killed at the last minute.
• Say My Name:
  • Ethan famously spends most of the second chapter shouting "JASON!" when he runs off, and in a later chapter screaming "SHAUN!" when he goes missing.
  • When talking about the killer, nobody can seem to say "origami" correctly either.
• Scary Black Man: Jackson "Mad Jack" Neville.
• Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: Carter Blake has his moments of this. The most notable is when he breaks the door of the apartment of Nathaniel Williams, a suspect of being the Origami Killer, and Jayden tells him that's a crime.
  Norman Jayden: I'm not sure that's entirely legal.
  Carter Blake: Call the cops.
• Secret Test of Character: The Origami Killer designs the tests so that only a father who is willing to sacrifice everything can save his child.
• Sequel Hook: One of Madison's endings has another killer saying to her "You deserve a better adversary. Somebody more... ferocious.". Given that the game's writer and director, David Cage, has stated a distaste for doing sequels of his games, it is highly unlikely this will ever be followed up on.
• Serial Killer: The Origami Killer and Leland White, the serial killer in the Heavy Rain Chronicles.
• Shady Lady of the Night: The first time we see Scott Shelby is when he pays a prostitute so he can ask her about the Origami Killer.
• Shaking the Rump: Madison does this when Paco forces her to strip at gunpoint. She does it to distract him so that she can club him with a lamp, though.
• Ship Sinking: Ethan and Madison, if Ethan doesn't forgive her. Shelby and Lauren, after The Reveal.
• Shoot Him, He Has a Wallet!:
  • When the player has the choice to shoot Nathaniel. Nathaniel spins around in a complete stab like manner, but just reveals a crucifix.
  • It's possible to have Ethan held up by the police in the end. He turns around, holding his wounded arm, and the snipers open fire.
• Shoot the Dog: One of Ethan's trials involves killing somebody. The guy turns out to be a drug dealer, which might sap him of sympathy, but when Ethan finally gets the chance to shoot him, he's on the floor begging not to be killed, especially in his young daughter's bedroom. It's up to the player to go through with it.
• Shoot the Shaggy Dog: If Madison, Jayden and Lauren die during the investigation and Ethan fails to locate Shaun, thus killing himself out of despair, Shelby gets away Scott-free for his crimes and Shaun drowns.
• Shout-Out:
  • The bartender that gives Jayden advice is practically identical, down to the outfit, to the bartender in The Shining. His existence as a living being is also just as ambiguous.
  • Also, Shelby shares a name with a similarly conflicted protagonist.
  • The Origami Killer's methods and trials are very similar to the Jigsaw Killer.
  • Madison can hide in a refrigerator to save herself from an explosion, much like a certain archaeologist did to hide from a nuke.
    • Another possible Indiana Jones reference occurs in the last chapter with a fight atop a conveyor belt that ends in a deadly grinder. Like in The Temple of Doom, the villain can die by reaching the end of the conveyor.
    • Yet another: Norman's last (optional) fight with Mad Jack closely mirrors the fistfight between Indy and a large Nazi soldier near a plane in Raiders of the Lost Ark. The villain in both cases dominates the fight but is killed by being caught in an advancing lethal machine (a plane's propeller in Raiders and a backhoe's treads in this game).
  • The subway entrance through which Madison and Ethan make their escape from the police is identical to the subway entrance used by Lucas Kane in the beginning of Quantic Dream's Fahrenheit. The apartment in some of the endings is very similar to Lucas's in the same game.
  • In the opening credits, a store sign has a pawprint on it that says "Naughty Dog".
  • Dr. Adrian Baker astonishingly resembles Dr. Heiter in both appearance and mannerism.
  • One of the endings is named "Tears In The Rain". The killer's usage of Origami figures is also a nod to the film, where Origami figures serve as a Signature Item Clue.
  • In the flashback with a young John Sheppard, before taking a leap while wandering around the construction site he clearly says "Yippie-ki-yay."
  • The scene where Madison is forced to do a striptease at gunpoint plays out like a darker version of a similar scene from True Lies.
  • If Jayden gets overpowered by Mad Jack the latter calls him "Mister Five-O" before knocking him out. In the German dub they changed it to "007".
• Shower Scene:
  • The game starts with Ethan having one after he's gotten out of bed, then Madison gets one of her own in her first chapter.
  • Jayden gets a brief one in “Jayden Blues” if Ethan doesn’t get arrested, but considering he does it with all of his clothes on and in an attempt to recover from some really bad withdrawal symptoms, it’s probably not as sexy as it sounds.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: If Madison is the only one to make it to the last chapter, she has the opportunity to grab a pipe and smash the Origami Killer upside the head while they're talking.
• Silent Whisper: Ann whispers the name of her son into Madison's ear. It's significant because her son happens to be the Origami Killer; the player doesn't learn his name for a few more scenes.
• Simple Score of Sadness: "Painful Memories".
• Sins of Our Fathers: Scott Shelby's brother drowned because of their uncaring and alcoholic father. And now Scott is repeating the sins of his negligence by abducting the boys of other families and leaving them to drown in the hopes that they would be saved by their own fathers.
• Soft Glass:
  • During "Face to Face," one of the guards tumbles through a window when shot and shatters it completely.
  • During Jayden's fight with the Origami Killer, Jayden is shoved from across the room into the huge aquarium built into the wall and it shatters.
  • If Madison is the one to take on the killer, he punches straight through a window to get at her.
• Soundtrack Dissonance:
  • The prologue: It's Jason Mars's birthday, everyone's happy, but one of the game's Lonely Piano Pieces is already playing.
  • This can happen while Jayden tries to escape from the car crusher. If he turns on the radio, it starts playing jaunty, upbeat music.
• Split Personality: Subverted. Ethan is suggested to have one, and certainly has a disturbing set of symptoms and an equally-concerned shrink. It turns out, however, that his other self is not the Origami Killer. These elements were originally part of a sub-plot where Shelby's presence at Ethan's accident led to an unexplained psychic link between the two; this link meant that Ethan would travel to the place where Shelby's brother died and unconsciously fold paper cranes at the same time Shelby did after he took a victim. This plot was dropped when it decided the supernatural element was unneeded.
• Stern Chase: Ethan after the police starts suspecting him of being the Origami Killer.
• Story Branching: The game branches heavily from the moment the first player character can suffer a Plotline Death.
• Stress Vomit: Ethan will vomit if you make him kill the drug dealer during the Shark trial.
• Suicidal Sadistic Choice: The rat trial requires Ethan to drink lethal poison to get the last letters for the address.
• Sunglasses at Night: Justified. Norman's ARI sunglasses display forensic information and record voice memos.
• Tap on the Head:
  • Done to Madison by Dr. Baker when she tries to investigate his house. She takes a whack to the back of the head with a baseball bat, and when she wakes up not long after, she's completely conscious right off the bat (no pun intended) and struggling and screaming.
  • If the player declines to have Ethan shoot the drug dealer, he will use the pistol to knock him out with a blow to the head instead. Apparently it doesn't occur to Ethan that this could also cause a fatal injury.
  • That's optional, but this will happen in every game to Scott Shelby before being tied to his car and thrown in a lake.
• Tears of Blood: If you take too long during Jayden's final use of ARI, his eyes start bleeding under the glasses.
• Test of Pain: The Origami Killer kidnaps young boys as a way to test their fathers, putting them through a series of bloody trials to see who behaves as a father should in his mind, i.e. enduring whatever pain and overcoming any obstacle to save his son.
• That Makes Me Feel Angry: The epilogues are composed entirely of this. Odd, because the game had made an effort to avoid this beforehand.
• There Are No Therapists: Averted. Ethan is seeing a therapist by the events of the game. The validity of the man's doctorate is questionable.
• This Is Gonna Suck: Norman's face says it all if he comes alone to the warehouse and fails to fend Scott off.
• Through the Eyes of Madness: Every single player character experiences this. Ethan is suffering disassociative blackouts and hallucinations about the killings. Norman is suffering severe hallucinations caused by drugs, withdrawal (and/or possibly virtual reality use). Madison is having night terrors or hallucinations about being attacked by killers in her apartment. Shelby would seem to be the most normal character, except that he's a deranged, obsessed serial killer and the entire storyline you're playing him through is him covering up the evidence of his crimes in the guise of a private investigator.
• Title Drop:
  • In one of the endings, if Madison lives, she writes a book about the Origami Killer investigation entitled... well, you know.
  • There's actually one right near the beginning of the game. When Ethan is picking Shaun up from school, one of his thoughts before he gets in the car is this.
    Ethan: Heavy rain. It's been the same for weeks...
• Title In: Each scene begins with the time of day (though not the date) and, starting later in the game, the amount of rainfall in inches.
• Tomato Surprise: Shelby's thoughts don't have any obvious hints about how he's the killer, at least the first time you play through.
• Too Dumb to Live:
  • Jason. He wanders off from his dad and wanders off again after being told not to wander off. Then he runs off across the street to go look at another store outside of the mall. Then after his dad calls out to him, he runs across a busy main street.
  • The game also gives you many opportunities to make very stupid decisions. Like, for example, accepting a drink from a creepy criminal doctor who hits on you.
  • John and Scott playing Hide And Seek in a construction site with No OSHA Compliance.
• Too Happy to Live: The opening of the game introduces the player to Ethan Mars, who has a successful job, is Happily Married, and a proud father of two boys whom he loves dearly. It's all smiles and laughter up until the accident that costs Jason his life.
• To the Tune of...: Listen to the main theme, especially the melody that comes in until around 0:25 and at 3:00. Then "The Other Side" from the Gattaca soundtrack. Notice any similarities?
• Trapped in a Sinking Car: A bad guy attempts to drown Scott Shelby and Lauren Winters, who have come too close to discovering his crimes, in their car. You play as Scott and must find a way to escape before the time runs out — if you are fast enough, you can even save the unconscious Lauren.
• Trailers Always Spoil: The cover art for the maligned American version. All four main playable characters are there: Ethan, Madison, Norman... and some evil-looking guy in the shadows holding a gun.
• Truth in Television: Although it's never explicitly mentioned in the game, serial killers often keep careful track of how the police are progressing in their investigation, and also try and insert themselves into the investigation in some way.
• Turn in Your Badge:
  • Blake and his boss, Perry, are getting this if the former kills Ethan while Jayden is alive.
  • Jayden can have this, too, if he accuses Blake of being the Origami Killer.
  • This also happens to Perry if all the characters die.
• Understatement: Almost everything the bartender says to Jayden. Also this line from Blake, especially if he threatened to shoot Jayden:
  Blake: Jayden and I didn't see eye to eye on much.
• Unexplained Accent: The cast features quite a few French actors playing Americans. While Lauren might be a French-American character, the Mars and Sheppard kids sport French accents that are inexplicable.
• Unknown Rival: Blake, like all cops, shows disdain towards Jayden, who doesn't acknowledge him.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: A clown at the very beginning of the game being insistent of being paid two dollars over a balloon results in a kid dying from a traffic accident and heavily implied to result in the beginnings of the Origami Killer.
• Unreliable Narrator: Every single chapter you play as Scott Shelby before The Reveal. Not only is he not really a private eye, but he was the Origami Killer the entire time. The only reason he had for investigating the case was to gather any evidence he had left so he could dispose of it. This extends to his thought bubbles, which aren't merely misleading but actively lying to you, the player, which is something of a narrative cheat regarding the plot twist.
• Video Game Caring Potential:
  • You might grow attached to these characters and want to ensure they'll get through their trials successfully and with as little pain as possible, because goddammit, a lot of what they go through physically and emotionally just looks painful.
  • Additionally, good luck holding back Mama Bear / Papa Wolf rage at seeing the recordings the Origami Killer sends you.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: On the other hand, you might want to either get everyone killed and / or suffer tremendously for your amusement, or out of spite if you dislike the game, such as having Ethan get shocked repeatedly, or cutting off his finger with a saw.
• Villainous Breakdown:
  • The Origami Killer gets really pissed if anyone other than Ethan saves Shaun, since it wasn't part of the plan.
  • How about Blake? Check out chapters: "Kick Off Meeting," "Shrink and Punches," "Under Arrest," and "Solving the Puzzle."
• Villain Respect: If Ethan manages to reach the warehouse alone the Origami Killer congratulates him for doing so and is genuinely content with the result. Even if Ethan shoots him.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Deconstruction with Jayden and Blake as while they got along the first time they met, their continuous fighting, mostly from having different methods, has drove them apart as they go on separate ways in catching the Origami Killer.
• The Voice: Sam is only heard.
• Was It All a Lie?: Lauren as she stands over Shelby's grave in one of the epilogues.
• Weirdness Magnet: Including the optional DLC, Madison is menaced by two serial killers and a rapist before she even meets the Origami Killer.
• Wham Line: Don't forget about me, Scotty.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Several examples. Nathaniel, once he's taken into custody (or killed), he's never seen or heard from again, and only mentioned once in passing. Gordi Kramer effectively vanishes from the plot after he is introduced, and is not present when Scott shoots up his house while looking for his father. Ethan's ex-wife, Grace, is only in a scant few of the game's endings and most give no resolution to her. Lt. Blake is absent from all but two of the worst endings, and in one of them he's only mentioned in a news report.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Jayden can call out Blake for his actions.
  • Captain Perry calls him out if he accuses Blake of being the Origami Killer.
• What the Hell Is That Accent?: Several characters. Ethan, Lauren and most children sound vaguely French-ish. Scott and John's father keeps drifting from Scottish to redneck. And Paco appears to be channeling Strong Bad.
• Whole Costume Reference: The outfit Ethan wears in some of the early chapters is very similar to the outfit Harry Mason wears in Silent Hill. Likewise, Scott's tan longcoat, white shirt, and red tie make him look a lot like Douglas Cartland.
• Would Hurt a Child: The Origami Killer, of course.
• Writers Cannot Do Math:
  • Behind the reception desk at the motel where Madison checks in, there is a calendar that inexplicably notes the date as Thursday Oct. 5th, 2012. First of all, the game takes place in Fall 2011, so the writers and art department weren't talking to each other, and second, Oct. 5th 2012 is a Friday. In 2011, it was a Wednesday. (The date would have at least existed if not for the fact that 2012 is a leap year, but it would still be the wrong year for the game's story.)
  • Similarly, the stamp on the letter Ethan receives from the Origami Killer is dated October 4, 2012.
  • When Madison signs into the hotel, her age is said to be 27, which matches a birthdate that comes up in the ARI database if Jayden finds her fingerprints and/or lipstick in Paco's office. Some supplementary materials alternatively give her age as 28.
  • Scott Shelby has a similarly inconsistent age given. The asset disc and official website both state that he is 45 during the game's story, but within the game itself statements of his age vary: if you believe the birthdate on his tombstone he is 44, but variations of the ending news report claim he is 48.
• Wrongful Accusation Insurance: Ethan and Madison commit multiple felonies over the course of the adventure to save Shaun / catch the Origami Killer, including several acts of breaking and entering, multiple assaults, and one premeditated first degree murder (if you choose to carry it out). It seems that a city that would tolerate a cop as obviously psychotic and unhinged as Lt. Blake has a soft spot for vigilante action.
• Wunza Plot: Shelby and Lauren. He's a Private Detective with a flair for the dramatic. She's a Hooker with a Heart of Gold who wants revenge on her son's killer. Eventually, they engage in a makeshift partnership to hunt down the killer. They fight crime!
• You All Share My Story: One of the defining motifs of the game, especially if you make it to the "best" ending path.
• You Bastard!: The "Perfect Crime" trophy. Enjoy your 100% Completion, asshole.
• You Can Leave Your Hat On: See Fan Disservice.
• You Can't Make an Omelette...:
  Norman Jayden: Blake is trying to beat a confession out of Ethan Mars! You've got to do something!
  Captain Perry: Which is more important, Norman? Finding little Shaun Mars or sparing that lowlife a few bruises? You can't make omelettes without breaking a few eggs.
• Your Days Are Numbered: If Ethan decides to drink the poison to pass the fifth trial. As far as he knows.

The Taxidermist

• Alone with the Psycho: When Leland comes home, the player is trapped until they either escape or die.
• Always Close: No matter how long Madison spends exploring the house, Leland will always come back just after she discovers his "hobby".
• Backstory Horror: Though not required to play the main story, this DLC provides a great insight as to why Madison might have difficulty sleeping.
• Foregone Conclusion: Since it's a prequel starring Madison Paige, only any of the last three endings (where she survives) are canon.
• Groin Attack: If Leland spots Madison, this is involved in one means of escape. If she escapes into the garage during the chase, she can choose to start the chainsaw and push it through Leland's crotch into his gut.
• Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: As a result of Leland's insanity and his work drying up, he now traps and pursues women before stuffing their corpses.
• Living Doll Collector: Leland.
• Multiple Endings:
  • "Sacrificed in the Name of Truth" — Madison calls the police, but is discovered and killed before escaping. Her body is found by the police, who arrest Leland.
  • "Where is Madison Paige?" — Madison doesn't get to phone Sam before being discovered and killed by Leland. She's declared missing, and Leland isn't caught.
  • "The End of Anguish" — Madison calls Sam and hides while he sends the police to the house. The police eventually arrive and save her and Leland is arrested.
  • "In the Middle of the Horror" — Madison escapes unseen and unharmed; as a result, she gets her scoop and Leland is arrested.
  • "The End of a Nightmare" — Madison is discovered by Leland, but barely escapes with her life, possibly killing him in the process.
• My Car Hates Me: If Madison is followed from the house, her bike will stall, potentially leading to her death if she fails the ensuing QTE. If Madison escapes unnoticed or kills Leland with the chainsaw, it starts without a hitch.
• Saved by Canon: The endings where Madison is killed aren't canon, as this DLC takes place two years before the main game.

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