Heavy Rain completed by 74% of all users

By Fred Dutton Published 5 December, 2011

But only a third kept every character alive.

Nearly three quarters of all those who logged into Heavy Rain finished the game, developer Quantic Dream has revealed via an IGN infographic.

However, only a 33 per cent of the three million who played the PlayStation 3 crime drama managed to keep every single character alive while doing so.

95 per cent of players successfully completed the game's first action sequence, 65 per cent managed to rescue lead character Ethan Mars' son Shaun, four per cent saw all the game's possible endings and just three per cent earned the game's platinum trophy.

Quantic Dream's 2009 game picked up a handsome 9/10 in Eurogamer's Heavy Rain review. The French developer hasn't revealed the identity of its follow-up project yet, but has confirmed it won't be a sequel.

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 (73) Latest comment 6 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • red_shift #1 6 months ago

    I accidentally killed the detective guy when I played this. You had to go back into his VR investigation thingy to check some evidence and I obviously took too long and he died.

  • SteelPriest #2 6 months ago

    altogether now:

  • CaptainQuint #3 6 months ago

    Thanks for that.

  • dudefella #4 6 months ago

    I had a character die right at the very very end, was well gutted. So I re-did the endgame and made sure everyone survived and most lived happily ever after. Such a fantastic game.

  • Bombonera #5 6 months ago

    I am one of the 3% who got the Platinum :) Loved every minute of the game; it remains one of the most fun and unique gaming experiences of this generation. I don't think there will ever be another game like it.

  • crispyduckman #6 6 months ago

    I kept all the characters alive. Not that I gave a shit about any of them. Most disappointing game of this generation imo. Having said that, I suppose there was no way that the narrative would resonate with every gamer. I didn't connect with Ethan at all. Perhaps bizarrely, I felt a greater sense of empathy towards the lead character in Fahrenheit, which I still remember fondly.

    @SteelPriest
    Shaun! Shaun!... etc... etc...?

  • -cerberus- #7 6 months ago

    I've got a platinum for this as well. I did enjoy playing through the game and getting the best possible ending and worst possible ending once. But I strongly disliked having to replay certain segments countless of times just to get a different ending...
    Edited by -cerberus- at 06/12/11 @ 00:24

  • Jolly_Armadillo #8 6 months ago

    Played through it once, saved all characters. Afraid to playit again as it seems like a game that should only be played once.

    Random news story though..

  • bikmate #9 6 months ago

    The story and game are fantastic. I played it through twice and the only reason I didn't bother getting the platinum was because I didn't want to wait by replaying it, so I checked out the endings on youtube. Never put the disc back in, but one day I'll get that platinum trophy.

  • UkHardcore23 #10 6 months ago

    Top Game Was Heavy Rain

  • Sonic_D #11 6 months ago

    ahem..... JASON!!!

  • neilka #12 6 months ago

    The other 26% are still looking for Jason.

  • Timbercottage #13 6 months ago

    JASON!!!!!!

  • UkHardcore23 #14 6 months ago

    Jaaason Jaaaaaaaaaaason Jason, Jaaaason, Jsan, Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaason

  • Biker_Bob_1971 #15 6 months ago

    Post deleted at 13:34:05 08-05-2012

  • madsox1 #16 6 months ago

    The small percentage of players who did all possible endings, in my mind shows just how little the replay value was for this game. I hate games that once clocked (and this was pretty short) have absolutely nothing else to do in them.... not great value for my mind and I bet the one/two week trade rate for this game was very high!!

  • kingpin3000 #17 6 months ago

    Coincidently I just got this back off my friend who borrowed it ages ago. I've booted it back up and over the next few days I'm determined to get platinum.

    It is such a unique game and I can't wait to see their next project. Fingers crossed for E3 2012.

  • DrStrangelove #18 6 months ago

    Not quite a fast news day, is it?

  • RandomTerrain #19 6 months ago

    A good game and a good experience. But there's a reason only 3% got the platinum.. it's not worth getting! Seriously this is not a game that should be played that many times, especially in such a short time frame. I know it'd just ruin it for me.

    Although I feel a bit sorry for people who only got the really depressing endings. I wonder what their next game will be like.

  • gunark #20 6 months ago

    Fucking thanks for that, not completed it, really looking forward to it and now I have no need to. Jesus EG, seriously spoilers in the fucking sub heading?!? How unprofessional is that?

  • bionic_v2 #21 6 months ago

    One of the most original games to appear during current gen. Completed the game twice. Its great. Might give it another bash over Xmas

  • Wyrm #22 6 months ago

    I didn't want to replay or load old saves to keep people alive, if they died, they died, that was just what happened in my version of the heavy rain story.

  • menage #23 6 months ago

    I liked how the game worked, shame the story really doesn't add up. I can write something exciting as well only to "but that's not how it really happened" at the very end. Ruined the game for me.

  • PlugMonkey #24 6 months ago

    Every time I hear someone say this game had a "great story" it makes me want to smash my own head in with a brick.

    If this game was a film, i.e. you took out the interactive element and left only the story, it would quite rightly be panned far and wide by every critic on the planet for the appallingly broken clusterfapp it degenerates into.

    "Great stories" don't pin their resolutions on main characters doing something the audience knows full well they didn't do. That's a broken story.

    I find David Cage utterly infuriating. I hear him at conventions, and agree with every word he says about broadening the scope of gaming. I absolutely love what both Fahrenheit and Heavy Rain are trying to do in terms of developing narrative and maturity in video games. I just wish he'd hire a damn writer, because right now, he's 0 for 2 when it comes to making a "great story", and anyone who seriously thinks otherwise might want to consider borrowing my brick when I'm done with it.

    The whole point, Mr Cage, THE WHOLE DAMN POINT YOU KEEP MAKING, is that video games should not be second best to other mediums when it comes to story.

    So why are people who like your games left making excuses about your fundamentally broken narratives? THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT! Gah! Where's my brick?

  • Sharzam #25 6 months ago

    I was so annoyed when i let the girl die in the apartment. Had everyone alive at this point and then panicked as was trying to rush out of the door.

    Played with Move so that didnt help to control the situation but by god did it help immersion.
    Edited by Sharzam at 06/12/11 @ 07:54

  • Zackv4861 #26 6 months ago

    I got the PLatinum for this. I really enjoyed the game getting it just didn't feel like a grind just fun. Well done. I look forward to your next game.

  • SimonM7 #27 6 months ago

    Given how many "gamers" have a youtube derived opinion of the game, I'm surprised there are 75% of players to be had.

    Although I guess percent don't actually work that way. Well they should!

  • the_dudefather #28 6 months ago

    Keep meaning to do failure run, put no effort into any QTE that threatens a character, see how many I can kill

  • Puppaz #29 6 months ago

    First playthrough of this game felt amazing. The second time you realise just how little input your actions have, the tension that was previously in the "do this action before tragedy strikes" becomes defunct when you see it doesn't really matter if you don't do it in time.
    First time through, when you don't understand the mechanics of the game it is an intense emotional story-driven gem. Second time onwards it's just a cinematic choose your own adventure.
    Also, boobs.

  • Widge #30 6 months ago

    @madsox1 you can't really make a game like this much longer artificially. I remember MGS1 was just a weekends play, a few hours, but bloody marvelous!

  • Goonboy #31 6 months ago

    Press X to JAAAAASSSSSOOOOONNNNN

  • byakuya83 #32 6 months ago

    Post deleted at 13:34:05 08-05-2012

  • photoboy #33 6 months ago

    Loved Heavy Rain, and I did manage to ensure everyone survived to the end (including the bad guy and Ethan Mars' little finger...), but poor old Norma Jaden did end up going mad because I had him in VR for too long. :(

    The only thing stopping me from trying to get all the endings is there are so many places where the story (presumably) branches that it feels like I'd have to replay the game dozens of times to see them all.

    I did re-do the DLC level over and over to see all the outcomes, but that was short enough for it not to seem like an overwhelming task.
    Edited by photoboy at 06/12/11 @ 09:18

  • ZuluHero #34 6 months ago

    woot - Im in the third of players! /high five \o/

    Its a great game, but I'm gutted they abandoned the Chronicles DLC. The first one with Madison was really good!

  • superbeast2010 #35 6 months ago

    Post deleted at 10:57:39 01-02-2012

  • JamieR #36 6 months ago

    I finished it but i got the detective killed by the guy from the demo at the garage.

  • HisDudness #37 6 months ago

    I think 74% is a remarkably high statistic for completion. The game sold fairly well as well, so it's nice to see that there is an appetite for games like these. Will be interesting to see what the next game from Quantic Dream is like.

  • kinky_mong #38 6 months ago

  • Beano #39 6 months ago

    HR was an interesting "game" (although quite over-hyped) and I enjoyed it for what it was. But could not get myself to play it through more than once.

  • TheEarlOfZinger #40 6 months ago

    Nobody remebers the save-game crippling bug at launch then?

    Mine shit the bed about 2/3'rds in. Took it back to the shop.

  • toa_boa #41 6 months ago

    @Biker_Bob_1971
    That'll surely change for crispy when and if he gets to be a father - what really bugged me the most about Ethan was how passive he was, how much he just let things happen to him, while his world crumbled to dust.

  • Flying_Pig #42 6 months ago

    Loved Heavy Rain

    /Is in the 3%

  • DreadedWalrus #43 6 months ago

    I really enjoyed the game, but I agree with PlugMonkey about the ending. It felt like a bit of a slap in the face, considering the twist in the ending was that things were done in scenes you'd played that you previously weren't aware of, and that reveals who the killer is. The problem with this is that we'd played these scenes, and experienced them from start to finish, and therefore the game is basically saying "oh yeah and you did this stuff while you played but we didn't show you". Just felt a bit cheap. This type of twist is not new, but it needs to be pulled off correctly, and it wasn't here.

    Like I say though, I did really enjoy the game aside from the ending (maybe the other endings are different? I experienced the "best" ending, and will one day go back and play it differently), and will be getting whatever Quantic Dream does next, I was just let down by the conclusion of the story.
    Edited by DreadedWalrus at 06/12/11 @ 10:20

  • menage #44 6 months ago

    @byakuya83

    Well Seeing as shelby was the one who was supossed to have killed Manfred in the shop (in the backroom) while I was happely walking around with him in plain sight all the time it's kinda lame to say he killed him afterwards cause I clearly see he couldn't have. Or he's superfast and did in in and out in 10 seconds while she was looking at some stupid trinket/spoiler]

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-MlSrQtQG0&feature=related

  • bratmandu #45 6 months ago

    I liked the bit where you press buttons as they appear on the screen.

  • mastablasta #46 6 months ago

    It was just like dragons lair, hardly a game more of an interactive story. I got fed up by the time I was in the playground with the kid,.never played again.

  • Widge #47 6 months ago

    @menage The wiki posted just above you gives an insight (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unreliable_narrator). What you actually play through is not actually what happens, the guy doesn't suddenly go off and do it in a piece of gaming downtime. Your perception of what happens is coloured by the viewpoint of who you are playing as then, and you only get to see what he wants you to.

  • menage #48 6 months ago

    @widge

    I get that, i just find it really cheap and easy to say "it didn't happen that way" in the end. I can talk my out of everything I make up that way. Way to kill any kind of point in a whodunnit.
    Edited by menage at 06/12/11 @ 10:45

  • Pac #49 6 months ago

    I really wanted to like this game but didn't. In fact I just found the whole thing immensely depressing on every level. I couldn't connect with Ethan either and I am a father of two. Still managed to save all the characters though. I thought they deserved it after all they had done to them in the name of entertainment.

  • funkateer #50 6 months ago

    @lollage
    "I'm in the 26% that didn't complete it. It was fooking shite!"

    No, I suspect you belong to a different statistic. :rolleyes:

  • PlugMonkey #51 6 months ago

    @menage (& byakuya83)

    That's certainly the bit that I was thinking of. It is, quite literally, impossible for it to have happened how we are later shown.

    I can let this sort of thing fly if it's a minor inconsistency with a minor character, but if you do it in a whodunnit with the character who is supposed to have dunnit, that's really bad.

    To have this following on the heels of Fahrenheit serving up one of the most abysmal Deus Ex Machinas in story telling history, I'm really not sure how eager I am going to be to invest in another one of Cage's stories. One of his games, yes, but not one of his stories.

    By the end of the game, it felt like I was being taunted and toyed with by David Cage more than the Origami Killer. ;)

  • Ryze #52 6 months ago

    I lost patience in investigating using that ARI interface. It required too much Move controller twisting, and hurt my wrist.

    Maybe some day when I have the patience, I'll play through again using the Dual Shock.

    edit: Press X to Jason.
    Edited by Ryze at 06/12/11 @ 12:49

  • philreid #53 6 months ago

    And the other 26% had their fecking save games deleted when their PS3 crashed :o

    I'd love to have finished this game, but there was no way I was playing all the way through it again to get to where I was when my save game got lost.

  • makeamazing #54 6 months ago

    I really enjoyed it, and was part of that 3%.

    I think 74% is an amazing figure, really quite high in industry terms. Yes the game lacked replay value, and if like me you went for the plat trophies, it was quite hard to want to play it again... but that still didnt stop me from loving the game, and really enjoying it.

    It was one of those games where you would just stand around watching the world/tv go by... love it :) Cant wait for another...

  • TheEarlOfZinger #55 6 months ago

    @philreid

    Exactly!!! fuck that. Happened to me.

  • jammers101 #56 6 months ago

    I assume they measure this stuff through trophies and things online. How they take into account people who aren't online when they release stats like these?

  • frazzl #57 6 months ago

    One of that 33% :). Only played the game once though.

  • miiiguel #58 6 months ago

    I think I'd like this game. What I don't like is its creator rhetoric, he's so full of himself.

  • Doctor_What #59 6 months ago

    @gunark There's no spoiler there - things mentioned here were all in the pre-release hype. You've got a treat lined up for you. Bloody awesome game.

  • byakuya83 #60 6 months ago

    Post deleted at 10:03:41 30-03-2012

  • KreyAtiv #61 6 months ago

    Well I managed to keep them all alive. Didn't manage to find that evidence in the VR mode with the F.B.I. agent near the end, so had him quit it before he died.

  • v.profane #62 6 months ago

    @DreadedWalrus It's not really an unreliable narrator in Heavy Rain because you directly control (kind of) several different characters, so if anything, YOU are the 'narrator'. The only reasonable explanation is that at some point during development they had to scale back the number of endings or David Cage has never read a murder mystery before.

  • Vanqu1sh3r #63 6 months ago

    On my first playthru I got, i believe, the worst ending. Kinda killed it for me there, never went back. Still a good game to watch, never really felt I was playing as such.

  • woodyrulesok #64 6 months ago

    I lost the agent in the car crusher, it was pretty intense knowing I couldn't go back.

  • DRUNK3N-_-DRAGON #65 6 months ago

    im one of the 3 per cent

  • WadiumArcadium #66 6 months ago

    I can never understand why people don't finish games, even if I don't like it THAT much I'll still see it through to the end. Waste of money if you don't finish it I reckon.

  • Cheeseasaurus #67 6 months ago

    I am the 3%. =3

  • byakuya83 #68 6 months ago

    Post deleted at 10:03:41 30-03-2012

  • outy #69 6 months ago

    The only person I recall killing was the villain.

  • evarofzentral #70 6 months ago

    I ketp everyone alive! 'Twas a very good game, very atmospheric.

  • shadowdogg #71 6 months ago

    Seriously? Its easy to keep a character alive. I killed them off to get the trophies though.

  • Alestes #72 6 months ago

    I borrowed the game from my father and played thru the game for the first time just 2 weeks ago, and everyone survived, yay.

    Don't think I will play it any more to see things differently though, I'm no fan of QTE gameplay, which barely can be called gameplay really. And the story was overall much too depressing for my liking.

  • Mentat_Idaho #73 6 months ago

    I kept everyone alive but felt the need to go back and kill them. Didn't kill them all but letting the chick burn to death was hilarious. Maybe I'm just disturbed...