10 Video Game Moments Where You Were Screwed Either Way

8. Heavy Rain - A Life For A Life

heavy rain ethan
Quantic Dream

Despite spawning a couple of hilarious memes, Heavy Rain is a rollercoaster of drama and intrigue, most of which is centred around the Origami Killer and his latest victim, Ethan Mars’ son Shaun.

Ethan is sent on a series of harrowing missions where he receives pieces of information leading to Shaun’s whereabouts as a reward. These pieces are absolutely crucial to finding Shaun and having a chance at a happy ending in one of Heavy Rain’s many possible outcomes. The trials require him to do a bunch of nasty things like chop off a finger or traverse a horrific barbed wire maze, but perhaps the most morally difficult of them all is when Ethan is sent to kill a drug dealer.

After arriving at his home you have a wildly difficult confrontation when the man tells you he has children too. Given the circumstances you’d be forgiven for taking him out anyway knowing you need the next clue to save your son, or letting him go out of compassion and hoping it didn’t bite you in the ass in the game’s final act. Either way this one was a brutally difficult call.

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Jess has been a journalist and content creator in the games industry for over 15 years and has been WhatCulture's resident Australian import and sorry cop since 2020, upping the quotient of swearing and apologising in WhatCulture Gaming's annual blooper videos considerably. She previously worked at GameSpot for 10 years, most notably hosting GameSpot News in addition to E3 live shows, and PAX panels. She regularly livestreams a variety of games on her 'jessmcdonell' YouTube and Twitch channels and hosts the 'Do It On The Day' podcast. She has won awards for her news and feature work in gaming as well as an accolade for her comedic writing (likely an admin error). She can be found on X at @jessmcdonell and Instagram at @jessicamcdonell sharing her current videogame fixations, industry insights, and videos of her cat, Karma.