![]() We can all suspend our disbelief for long enough to get past points like that Shelby could not possibly afford to set up all his high concept torture sequences on a cop’s pension. There are plot holes that do not really matter, and then there are plot holes that undermine the story. Worst of all in terms of competent writing, it sure is a shame we have had access to his inner most thoughts for the entire game and they at no point reflected those of a serial killer. It sure is unfortunate that he develops an entirely different personality after the big twist is revealed. It sure is a shame then that Shelby, the only three dimensional character in this story, turns out to be a child murderer. He is competent, compassionate and brave, clearly too old to be putting himself in dangerous situations, suffers from serious debilitating asthma and even saves a stranger from overdosing during one aside. He is not a very deep or original character, leaning very heavily on the grizzled old PI with a heart of gold trope, but he is almost universally a favourite for people playing Heavy Rain for the first time. The fact that both are playable characters is a very important factor, as will now be discussed. Josh Washington is revealed to have the Psycho all along roughly two thirds of the way into Until Dawn. Scott Shelby, the PI, is revealed to have been the Origami Killer all along in Heavy Rain’s latter stages. ![]() All eight are playable protagonists, one of which is Josh Washington, the brother of the missing girls. Horrors beset the teens, particularly a masked figure known as the Psycho, and they must survive until morning. Until Dawn sees eight teenagers return to the Washington family lodge a year after two of their friends, the Washington sisters, disappeared. There are four (main) playable protagonists a father whose son has been kidnapped, a journalist, an agent of the FBI and a private investigator. Heavy Rain centres around the Origami Killer who kidnaps children and forces their fathers to undergo torturous trials in order to prove their love for their sons and ultimately save their lives. These games have featured in previous articles quite prevalently, so running through the plots need not take too much time on this occasion. Another elevates a good game to greatness. One of these twists ruins the story utterly with its defiance of all established logic. The focus chosen to reveal the key differences between the two is the late game plot twist.īoth games feature a twist that reveals one of the protagonists was the villain all along. Heavy Rain is the only one of Cage’s four games that is not entirely awful, so it has the honour of being compared to the Supermassive Games horror title. Yet the success of Until Dawn only further demonstrates Cage’s shortcomings. ![]() Last time, when I mentioned that while Cage’s drive to make cinematic games is wrongheaded, as it involves running away from the things that make video games such an exciting storytelling medium, I conceded that this style of game is not entirely a waste of time as the superb Until Dawn follows the same template. This one will focus on the more general problem of Cage not being a good writer (in my subjective opinion, of course). My last article focused on the tendency of sex scenes in Quantic Dream games to descend into unmitigated horror. Once again we return to the well of criticising David Cage. (Spoilers for Heavy Rain and Until Dawn).
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