David Cage: Horizon was a ruse
"It was definitely a wise decision."
The Horizon project David Cage told Eurogamer was not his next big project was designed from the start as a red herring.
The creative Frenchman told Official PlayStation Magazine (via CVG) that Horizon was fabricated so actors undergoing casting sessions couldn't blow the whistle on his game, like Jonathan Ross did to Fable III and Kristen Bell did to Asassin's Creed.
That the internet outed Horizon's existence only proved his point - the wily old goat.
"This is a codename that one of our partners used in casting sessions along with an unrelated script to avoid leaks from actors," Cage said. "It seems it was definitely a wise decision."
Cage said in July that Quantic Dream was working on "two very different projects". "After the success of Heavy Rain, we continue to explore how we can go further with interactive drama, working on emotion and interactive storytelling for a mature audience, but with a very different story and a different approach," he said.
Drama, dark themes and characters' feelings and psychology are still pertinent issues to Cage, but he wants to go on and explore "very different types of universes and tell different types of stories". Cage believes Heavy Rain fans will be "surprised" by his new games.
He went on to tell Eurogamer that he needed the "thrill" of a new idea to invigorate him so that he in turn could energise his team.
Heavy Rain was released to wide acclaim on PS3 in February this year. Cage wanted to work on DLC to expand his story but was urged by Sony to make the game compatible with PlayStation Move instead - it's a natural fit for the gesture-based controls.
That resulted in Heavy Rain Move Edition, released here on 6th October. A patch for existing owners of Heavy Rain can be downloaded for free, now.
Editor Tom Bramwell reviewed Heavy Rain for Eurogamer and poured out his verdict.