Heavy Rain

The day after celebrating his son Jason's tenth birthday, Ethan Mars (Pascal Langdale) and his family go shopping. Jason and Ethan are hit by a car; Jason dies, and Ethan falls into a six-month coma. After he wakes from the coma, Ethan, blaming himself for Jason's death, separates from his wife Grace and moves into a small suburban duplex while experiencing mental trauma and blackouts. Two years later, Ethan blacks out at the park with his other son Shaun. When he wakes up, he discovers that Shaun has been kidnapped by the "Origami Killer", a serial killer whose modus operandi consists of abducting young boys during the fall season, drowning them in rainwater, and leaving an orchid on their chests and an origami figure nearby.

Norman Jayden (Leon Ockenden), an FBI profiler struggling with addiction to a drug called Triptocaine, investigates the death of another Origami Killer victim and concludes that he died the same day as a violent rainstorm, which flooded the cell where he was kept. He estimates that Shaun has only three days to live based on weather patterns.

Besieged by reporters, Ethan checks into a motel. He receives a letter from the killer, which leads to a shoebox containing a mobile phone, a handgun, and five origami figures. The killer calls him and explains that each figure contains instructions on completing tests that will determine how much Ethan loves his son. Every time he completes one, he will receive a piece of the address where Shaun is held. The tests include driving against traffic at speed on the highway, crawling through broken glass and active electrical pylons, cutting off one of his fingers, murdering drug dealer Brad Silver, and drinking poison on camera.

Ethan meets Madison Paige (Jacqui Ainsley/Judi Beecher), a journalist who sometimes uses the motel to deal with her insomnia. She decides to conduct her own investigation into the Origami Killer. Jayden and his partner Lieutenant Carter Blake investigate suspects, but nothing pans out until Grace arrives at the station, fearing that her estranged husband is involved in Shaun's disappearance. After Ethan's psychiatrist, Clarence Dupré, reveals that his patient has a history of blackouts, Blake and his superiors put out a warrant for his arrest. Unconvinced, Jayden continues to investigate other leads.

Meanwhile, private investigator Scott Shelby (Sam Douglas) meets the families of the Origami Killer's victims, collecting the letters and other items they received when their loved ones were abducted. Prostitute Lauren Winter, a victim's mother, persuades Scott to let her accompany him. Their investigation leads them to Gordi Kramer, who claims to be the killer, but when they attempt to question him, they are knocked out and wake up in a car sinking to the bottom of a lake. After either saving or failing to rescue Lauren, Scott tracks down Gordi's father, Charles, and forces him to confess that his son was responsible for an earlier incident in which a boy was killed.

Endings

Throughout the game, the player experiences two separate flashbacks that reveal the true nature of the Origami Killer. The first occurs 34 years earlier, with twin brothers playing on a construction site after being forced out of their trailer by their abusive alcoholic father. One of the two, John Sheppard, falls into a broken pipe and gets his leg trapped just as a rainstorm causes the pipe to begin filling with water. The second occurs shortly after, with John's brother running home to warn their father, only to find him too drunk to help.

Scared and confused, the boy could only watch helplessly as his brother drowned. Thus, the Origami Killer was born: a killer who searches for a father willing to sacrifice himself. He kills his victims the same way his brother died. The boy is revealed to be Scott, who was adopted soon after his brother's death. His actions as an investigator are not meant to get justice for his victims; instead, he needs to collect the evidence of his crimes, which he later burns in his office wastebasket.

Ethan, Madison, and Norman all have the opportunity to find the warehouse where Shaun is, rescue him, and stop Scott. Ethan can arrive through his trials, Madison must survive and find the address in the killer's apartment, and Norman must survive and pinpoint the warehouse's location by using ARI to analyze the evidence he finds. If Ethan goes alone, he will save Shaun and either spare or kill Scott. Regardless of what he does, he will be shot dead by the police when he tries to escape. If all three make it, Ethan and Madison will have to save Shaun while Norman deals with Scott.

If Ethan fails to arrive, Madison will fight Scott while Norman saves Shaun; if Norman does not come, Madison will perform the rescue. Once the chapter is complete, the player will learn what happened to the characters. Each ending is determined by what occurred in the final chapter. The most positive shows Ethan and his son starting a new life with Madison, Norman retiring from the FBI to focus on treating his addiction or being hailed as a hero for saving Shaun, and Lauren spitting on Scott's grave after cursing his memory.

The most negative sees Madison and Shaun dead, Norman overdosing on Triptocaine over the guilt of not saving Shaun, and Ethan being successfully framed as the Origami Killer by Blake. At the same time, Scott escapes and remains at large if Lauren dies. Giving in to his pain, Ethan dies by suicide in his cell.