Failing Every Prompt in Heavy Rain Turns It into a Comedy

We’ve all got those go-to videos tucked away for a rainy day when we need a good chuckle. You know the kind—a surefire antidote to gloom. At the top of my list is a gem titled “Heavy Rain – Covered Market [Super Klutz Edition].” It’s a classic from the NahmanJayden YouTube channel, where a player hilariously bungles every button prompt in a chase scene from the game Heavy Rain.

This video will have you in stitches even if you’re completely unfamiliar with Heavy Rain, but trust me, it’s even funnier if you know the game. Let me break it down for you (or just watch the video if you’d rather skip my explanation).

Released in 2010, Heavy Rain was a groundbreaking game from Quantic Dream, crafted by David Cage and co-directed by Cage and Steve Kniebihly. Back then, a game so focused on narrative was a novelty—outside of visual novels, which were even more niche. Heavy Rain stood out as a high-budget action-adventure, weaving a disturbing mystery around the Origami Killer, a sinister figure preying on victims during rainstorms. While it resembles a third-person combat game like the Uncharted series with its cinematic flair and quick-time events, Heavy Rain is more akin to an interactive drama. It doesn’t revolve around traditional combat. Instead, the player’s role is subdued compared to contemporary games; it’s like watching a TV show that requires your button presses to unfold as planned.

Now, if you miss those all-important button presses, fear not—the game doesn’t end with a failed state. This flexibility made Heavy Rain accessible to players who might lack lightning-fast reflexes. The developers didn’t really anticipate frequent failures, since it’s usually easy to keep up. You actually have to go out of your way to miss them. But if you do mess up, the game delights you with animations that humorously illustrate your missteps.

Unless, of course, you’re the YouTuber behind this fantastic video, who purposely misses every cue during a pivotal chase scene. The resulting chaos is comedic brilliance, to the point where I wish Heavy Rain was a straight-up comedy rather than a brooding drama. Since its release, we’ve seen games with a keener sense of physical comedy, like Untitled Goose Game and Thank Goodness You’re Here. Heavy Rain wasn’t intended to be funny, but I’d like to imagine it inspired some developers to embrace humor. The video offers pure comedic gold, and you can’t help but wonder how different Heavy Rain might have been had it leaned fully into this accidental comedy.