Deal | Crime fans, take note: Interactive thriller drops below $1 on Steam for the first time

Heavy Rain revolves around the hunt for the Origami Killer – a cold-blooded serial killer who abducts children and leaves behind nothing but an origami figure as his macabre calling card. Players experience the story from the perspectives of desperate father Ethan Mars, FBI profiler Norman Jayden, private investigator Scott Shelby and journalist Madison Paige, with their initially separate storylines increasingly overlapping as the plot unfolds. The adventure game from French studio Quantic Dream is 95% off on Steam until August 17 and costs $0.99 instead of $19.99. According to SteamDB, the highest discount previously offered was 90%, meaning the current deal marks a new all-time low.

In terms of gameplay, Heavy Rain feels less like a traditional adventure game and more like an interactive crime thriller. Players explore smaller areas, investigate crime scenes, collect clues and engage in conversations with multiple dialogue options. Action sequences, fights and chases are largely controlled through quick-time events. What makes this particularly interesting is that mistakes generally do not lead to a traditional game over. Instead, the story continues, and decisions or failed actions can even result in individual main characters dying permanently. This leads to numerous different story paths and several possible endings.

Heavy Rain was originally released exclusively for the PlayStation 3 back in 2010. Six years later, Quantic Dream re-released the thriller for the PlayStation 4, before PC players were finally able to join the hunt for the Origami Killer in 2019. German gaming magazine PC Games took a closer look at the new version at the time and awarded it 8 out of 10 points. The gripping story, well-written characters and decisions that noticeably affect how the plot unfolds received particular praise. The dark atmosphere and strong presentation were also highlighted. However, Heavy Rain was not entirely without criticism: According to the review, the actual gameplay is rather minimalist, while the sometimes clunky controls also cost it points. Several plot holes also become noticeable toward the end, while the reviewers felt that the finale did not satisfactorily resolve all of the story elements established beforehand.

Metacritic lists Heavy Rain with a Metascore of 87 and a User Score of 8.4. The Steam community's verdict is similar: 85% of more than 30,000 user reviews are positive. On the Steam Deck, the adventure game is rated "Verified" and should therefore run without issues.

Disclaimer: Notebookcheck is not responsible for price changes carried out by retailers. The discounted price or deal mentioned in this item was available at the time of writing and may be subject to time restrictions and/or limited unit availability.