Heavy Rain: Ohmygod She Killed Jayden!

I didn’t mean to. I really didn’t. I liked Jayden. And when that man ran off I knew it was a bad idea to follow him. But of course, I made Jayden run after him. And when we ended up in a meat locker and the man swung a crowbar at Jayden… well, I didn’t react fast enough. I won’t be getting that silver trophy for finishing Heavy Rain with all four characters alive. Poor Jayden was beaten to death because I was not quick enough to save him.

I’ve since turned down the difficulty level. I can’t bear to lose anyone else. Changing the difficulty seems to only affect the amount of time I have to react to button pressing prompts. Poor Agent Norman Jayden… I’m already planning out my second playthrough, figuring out what I would do differently.

I have already missed out on two sequences that Jayden would have led me to. Bits of story and information that I will only learn thanks to my husband, whose fingers were nimble enough to keep Jayden alive. I’m curious to see how the story will unfold now. How different will it be with one character dead? Will I ever find out who the Origami Killer is? And what if someone else dies?

I have already been thrown around in the game like en emotional doll. One moment I might be changing a baby’s diaper in a sweet, heartwarming scene… another moment I am driving a car in a frantic race against traffic so intense that I actually drop the controller from turning it too vigorously.

And the decisions are all mine to make. Jayden’s death might not have been my decision, but it was my fault. I had to stop playing a little while afterwards because I was afraid to lose anyone else.

Sure, this is “just a game” but the questions it poses are real. How far would you go to save someone you love? Would you hurt yourself?

Would you hurt others?