Heavy Rain sequel ruled out

By Fred Dutton Published 17 March, 2011

Cage wants "to explore different directions".

Heavy Rain developer Quantic Dream is not interested in making a sequel to its multi-BAFTA winning PlayStation 3 crime saga, so says studio boss David Cage.

Speaking to Spong backstage at the BAFTA ceremony in London last night - where the game picked up gongs for technical innovation, story and music - Cage revealed that the developer's next game, while "still very dark", will explore new territory.

"We created the genre," he insisted, referring to Heavy Rain's brand of interactive storytelling. "We own the genre, and we want to show that Heavy Rain was not a coincidence or a lucky shot - that it was really something that makes sense and that we can build on.

"But at the same time I didn't want to make a sequel. I made that very clear before knowing whether the game would be a success or a failure, because I want to show that it's really a genre. Which means that you can use a similar drama to tell any type of story in any genre and in any style.

"So, we are going to explore different directions. Still very dark, still for adults, but completely different from Heavy Rain. We want to satisfy our fans, but we want to surprise them too. That's our challenge."

Back in July last year, Cage revealed that Quantic Dream was working on two separate titles.

"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 explained.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (29) Latest comment 11 months ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • atrimus #1 11 months ago

    i only played the demo to Heavy Rain. while too short to form a definitive opinion, i found it to be very interesting in setting/genre and play-style, so much so that i can definitely see myself warming up to it with more invested time. so in that regard, i eagerly await what they have planned.
    Edited by 1 at 17/03/11 @ 18:38

  • lambtron #2 11 months ago

    Surprising (since it was supposed to have sold very well).

  • Powerstreak #3 11 months ago

    A sequel would make little sense with the various available conclusions for the characters, it's good that they want to move on with a similar genre, but not the same story.

    Still it would be best if people could keep Cage from going Fahrenheit on us with the storyline. If he heads that way someone in the studio must slap him.

  • rotmm #4 11 months ago

    "Heavy Rain sequel ruled out - Cage wants "to explore different directions".

    Is he going to do that by "Press Left Bumper", "X", "Square", "O"?

    ;)

  • maxx #5 11 months ago

    loved heavy rain, shame there is not a sequel..

    just hope new games they make are still based on the way heavy rain worked..

  • ChthonicEcho #6 11 months ago

    @Powerstreak

    +1. Exactly what I came here to post.

  • RobotRocker #7 11 months ago

    THANK YOU BASED GOD

  • God_Octo #8 11 months ago

    I loved Heavy Rain, and as others have said, it isn't really open to a sequel. I really want them to have a go at the war game Cage has mentioned in interviews- I think it would be a breath of fresh air amongst CoD clones.

  • DreadedWalrus #9 11 months ago

    I really, really enjoyed Heavy Rain, but there were two things I hated about it.

    1: The ending. If you're going to give your players the illusion that they have full control over the characters, don't then have the ending tell the players that "oh, and actually you did all this other stuff that we didn't show you". I thought that was a huge cop-out, to be honest.

    2: The illusion of choice. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of times when you have a genuine choice in Heavy Rain that can affect the story, but there's a lot of times also where there is no choice, only the illusion of it. Pre-releas e, I remember them saying that if a character dies, that's it. The story carries on without them. So when you play through the game for the first time there are some scenes that are genuinely tense because you don't want the character to die. But then, on my second playthrough, I wanted to see how the story would differ if I let characters die. And yet, during many of the scenes where it seems that you're escaping death through your own performance, you can touch absolutely nothing the whole scene and still succeed and survive.

    Whatever they do next, I'd hope these two problems don't crop up again.
    Edited by 1 at 17/03/11 @ 18:59

  • rockin_rob_1 #10 11 months ago

    nice to see a developer choosing not to turn every ip into a series (as great as heavy rain was) sometimes the sequels detract from or damage the original.

  • Atropos #11 11 months ago

    Powerstreak took my words and ran with them...

  • evild_edd #12 11 months ago

    Good news. This feels like a progression from Fahrenheit to Heavy Rain and on to whatever's next. Let's hope it's an upwards-curve and we see better and better stories with each release.

    As a 360 and Wii owner, I personally would appreciate it if he could make the next release multi-format for my gaming needs (or is the dev' owned by Sony now?)....

  • captain_Carl #13 11 months ago

    Loved Heavy Rain - one of my favourite games of last year - but pleased it's not getting a sequel. It doesn't need one. The story ended, it's wrapped up. Leave it alone. Not everything needs a sequel. I'm glad David sees that.

    And i look forward to his next game :)

  • jamhead #14 11 months ago

    Yup. Agree with Powerstreak et al. No point in a sequel - new story, similar style of storytelling would suit me fine.

    By coincidence I have just finished playing heavy rain for the first time in the last week. It's such an unusual game I am still not really sure how I feel about it. I enjoyed it obviously, and once I got started I didn't really stop playing. Very compulsive. But I am buggered if it all made sense to me.

    Not sure if it is me or the game yet!

  • Murton #15 11 months ago

    I always thought it was a shame that the DLC got canned, I was looking forward to learning more about the various characters and exploring their backstories.

    As for future projects, Omikron 2 please.

  • madjim #16 11 months ago

    I loved Heavy Rain and it really doesn't need a sequel, but please... can you bring back the rest of Chronicles DLC?

  • Jolly_Armadillo #17 11 months ago

    Loved the game, but I played it with move.

    Thinking this game was alot better for me because of move, I couldn't imagine it having the same appeal with a pad because you won't be doing the movements that the characters are doing onscreen.

  • Phantom_Dynamite #18 11 months ago

    Nooooooooooooooooo

    /Darth Vader

    Edit- allow I dont expect a true sequel as the story is done im Hoping for a spiritual succsessor as this was to Farenheit.
    Edited by 1 at 17/03/11 @ 20:55

  • goatjugsoup #19 11 months ago

    glad to know they are not making a cash-in sequel, heavy rain doesn't really feel like it needs a sequel (or prequel) and while I would like to spend more time with some of the chars (madison in particular) I would much rather they work on a new story of the same type of game.

  • Doctor_What #20 11 months ago

    I'll second the call for more high-quality DLC for Heavy Rain please!

  • frunk #21 11 months ago

    @DreadedWalrus

    The illusion of choice

    You could write a huge philisophical paper on this about real life. As a narrative unfolds an illusion of choice is all you need. Only when you re-run the narrative would any illusion be seen.

    i.e. in real life are your actions govered by yourself or unrolling a pre-determined destiny you are just unaware of? Since you can never "re-run" part of your life to see if a different decsion would get you elsewhere you just don't know.

    All you need to do is make the illusion convincing and you have a winner. As I rarely replay games I will probably never ever spot it. Mr Cage's clever move was to abandon the idea of "saving" in attempt to re-run an encounter "better" by having the story pick up with a different character if you went badly wrong.

    I think the whole thing is facinating.

    But there are those that will want to replay over and over again so they can "see the illusion" work. These are probably the same people that don't enjoy stage magic until they know how a trick is done. I am always curious to know how tricks are done but I know i will wreck the illusion when I find out. It's give and take.

  • Anciegher #22 11 months ago

    I hope they go multi-platform this time. I never played it since I don't own a PS3 but I would very much love to. Bring it to 360 or PC as well!

  • Kaminari #23 11 months ago

    When reading all of those strangely laudative comments, you understand why it was easy for Heavy Rain to get away with such a nonsensical scenario.

    I don't want to spoil the end because you can still enjoy the game until the final disillusion, but still... How did the killer manage to sprinkle such tights and long ventilation tunnels with thousands of glass pieces? When you'll learn the killer's identity, you too will be asking yourself the same question -- and that's just one of the many plotholes in this award-winning story...

  • captain_Carl #24 11 months ago

    After how Sony supported Heavy Rain and helped make it a success, i wouldn't be surprised if Cage stuck with them for his next game, to be honest.

  • Rack #25 11 months ago

    They invented the genre of Shenmue clones? I suppose they did in a way, no-one else copied Shenmue before them I suppose.

  • TheEarlOfZinger #26 11 months ago

    It's because they're making a prequel. ;)

  • curtlikesmeat #27 11 months ago

    Nomad Soul please.

  • kangarootoo #28 11 months ago

    "We created the genre"

    No.
    You.
    Didn't.

    I really wish he would stop saying things like that, as it makes me dislike what in many ways is a very good game, company and development direction. I'm glad it got made, I'm glad QD are making another title. I love the type of game that Heavy Rain is and wants to be, and I love the future games from all developers that its success will partially facilitate.

    But that love was born a long time ago, long before either of us had a job more creative than a paper round. Please stop saying you created the interactive fiction/drama genre DC. You just made it look pretty.

  • gjgjg #29 11 months ago

    Something new sounds better than Heavy Rain 2: heavier rain.