We have absolutely no clue what Heavy Rain is going to be. Well, we have some idea, sure. We know that Quantic Dream’s unsettling detailed three-dimensional characters and environments recall the world on its most, dreary rain-soaked day, shades of grey and brown and green. We know that the character’s have facial expressions that dip so low into the Uncanny Valley that they stop being repellant and become entrancing. We know that the game will be played predominantly through quick time events. We know that, if Indigo Prophecy and Omikron are anything to go by, Heavy Rain’s going to be, if not good, one hell of an interesting game. Truth is, we know so little because Quantic Dream hasn’t shown the actual game to anyone besides a small handful of journalists and employees of Sony Computer Entertainment. They’ve shown two demos as examples of the technology and style that will make up Heavy Rain. That’s it. No actual game. Quantic Dream are mysterious Frenchmen, so they are.
Today, we can add some new pieces to the Heavy Rain puzzle. This concept art may not tell us a whole lot about the game’s story or what it will actually be like to play, but they speak volumes about its tone. This game is going to be unsettling.
The three color environments are spooky enough. They’re dark, lonely places. Even the hotel room is ominous, inviting at first until you spot the cracks in its ceiling. The black and white drawings are flat out disturbing in their depictions of violence. Weary policemen standing around a rainy murder scene aren’t uncommon in games. Mid-coital stabbings, and possible rapes, however, are.
Sony’s classified Heavy Rain as a “Psychological Mystery/Dark Thriller”. Seems that’s an apt description.
Much love to NeoGAFfer Cyberia for finding these.
Related links:
Feeling It: Social Versus Primitive Emotion in Videogames
In Defense of the QTE: Ninja Blade
Less Than Perfect: Jak and Daxter and The Flawed Character
Crossing the Uncanny Valley