Heavy Rain Chronicles: Episode One - The Taxidermist

Heavy Rain Chronicles: Episode One - The Taxidermist, commonly known as The Taxidermist, is the only entry in the Heavy Rain Chronicles and was released on April 1, 2010. It is available as DLC on the PlayStation Network, included in the Heavy Rain Collector's Edition free of charge when activated via code, and the game on the Heavy Rain: Move Edition without the need to download. It is not included in the PS4 remaster or the PC release.
The Taxidermist follows Madison Paige two years before the events of Heavy Rain as she investigates Leland White, a man suspected of being the Origami Killer.
==Plot==
Sam gives Madison information on Leland, a suspect in the Origami Killer slayings, over the radio while she is driving her motorcycle. She travels to Leland's house hoping to question him but discovers he is not home. Taking advantage of his absence, Madison enters the house through the kitchen window - which shuts behind her.
Eventually, while exploring the house, the player will discover Leland's true nature by either finding several stuffed women in his bedroom or a dismembered and bloody female corpse in the tub of the upstairs bathroom. Horrified by the macabre discovery, Madison records verbal memos into a voice recorder and takes pictures of the evidence. Unfortunately, Leland arrives home promptly after Madison discovers his "hobby" and Madison has to take immediate action.
The player can choose to hide, fight and escape, or phone Sam and hide until the cops (alerted by Sam) arrive. The phone to call Sam is in the old bedroom. If hiding, it is important to be hiding in the available spots as Leland makes his rounds through each room. As Madison goes unnoticed, Leland will wander the house and may (in any given order):
* Turn on the TV, set it to a boxing match, and get a beer from the fridge. (Leland will always do this after entering the house.)
* Enter the downstairs bathroom. (Leland usually does this after the above.)
* Enter the old bedroom and take a nap.
* Enter his workroom and work for a while.
* Enter the storage room or the child's bedroom and look through the cabinets.
* Enter the bathroom and continue cutting up the dead body.
* Enter the bedroom with the stuffed women, then sit down in front of the TV and talk to them.
* Enter the bedroom with the stuffed women, sit down on the bed, and mention a potential new "friend" he encountered earlier that day to his stuffed women.
Once he has completed all of the above, he returns to his fight and his beer, and seems to sit there indefinitely. 
Leland can notice that he has an intruder in a number of ways, and will be paying attention to his surroundings as soon as he sets the television to boxing and walks towards the fridge for a beer. If Madison left drawers open, knocked over animals, didn't put the ball back in the upstairs closet, or left any other sign of her presence, it will trigger Leland to hunt for her. Moving too quickly will also alert Leland, as the floor will creak rather loudly. A good rule of thumb is to press down the R2 button just barely enough to make Madison move to stay quiet. While Leland is hunting for Madison, he will check all of the hiding spots in every room. If discovered, she will be forced into the fight/flee QTEs.
There are several ways Madison can die - usually via a stab wound. She can escape via the garage, the window at the top of the stairs, or the front door, or just kill Leland with a chainsaw found in the garage. If Leland has spotted Madison and is chasing her, the only escape is the garage.
===Endings===
* Where Is Madison Paige? - Madison is caught and killed without calling for help.
* Sacrificed in the Name of Truth - Madison is caught and killed after calling for help.
* The End of Anguish - Madison calls for help, then stays hidden until the police arrive. Even if Madison is discovered, the player can still receive this ending as long as she survives and does not escape the house or kill Leland before the police arrive.
* In the Middle of the Horror - Madison escapes without being discovered. The player also receives this ending if Madison chooses to escape through the window at the top of the stairs (which Leland will always notice) as long as Leland does not catch her.
* The End of a Nightmare - Madison is discovered, but escapes. The player also receives this ending if Leland is killed with the chainsaw in the garage. If Leland follows Madison out of the garage but she escapes, he presumably shoots himself in the head and kills himself; a gunshot is heard, and the ending newspaper reads that he died.
==Transcript==
==Death Scenes==
There are several ways Madison can die in this scenario. If she is killed, it is implied she becomes one of Leland's dolls.
* Stabbed in the stomach in the bedroom with the stuffed women.
* Stabbed in the stomach in the upstairs bathroom.
* Stabbed in the stomach in the living room.
* Stabbed in the stomach in the storage room.
* Stabbed in the neck near the back door.
* Stabbed in the stomach in the downstairs bathroom.
* Stabbed in the neck in the garage.
* Impaled with the chainsaw in the garage.
* Stabbed in the chest while on her motorcycle.
* Bludgeoned with the hook in the upstairs workplace.
==Trivia==
* Since Madison is alive during the future events of Heavy Rain, one of the last three endings is canon. Ironically, this is one of the few events aside from Jason's death and Shaun's kidnapping to be canon, as she can meet her end at the hands of Adrian Baker or the Origami Killer himself.
* According to a developer, The Taxidermist was a repurposed tech demo that was originally used to pitch the game to Sony. Quantic Dream showed a Heavy Rain trailer that appears to have inspired the DLC at the Games Convention in 2008.
* In promotional images and the trailer for this DLC, Madison is shown wearing her normal outfit. However, in the actual DLC, she dons a black biker coat.
* A glitch can occur if playing this content on the PS3 Director's Cut edition of the game. If Madison exits through the door that takes her to the backside of the garage, then returns inside through the same door, her model has a chance to begin phasing upwards once she starts ascending the stairs, eventually moving upwards past the door. The player can still hear thoughts, though attempting to switch the camera will result in an inside texture blocking the screen. The only option is to reset the game.
*The game will sometimes load its initialization screen when returning to the game's main menu from the DLC menu. It is unknown why this occurs.
*Before the Move Edition patch, the DLC used Madison's loading screen as its menu. After the patch, the menu was changed to Leland's workroom.
* A slower, lower-pitched version of Madison's action theme "The Chase" plays during the ending credits to the DLC.
* The DLC takes place on November 3rd, 2009. The newspaper at the end of the DLC which shows what ending you get (except for the "Where is Madison Paige?" article, which instead says the date November 6th, 2009) says the date November 4th, 2009, which means this DLC takes place in the months after Jason's death.
* The name Leland White is based on the character Leland Palmer from the television show Twin Peaks.
* If Madison fails to press the correct button during the QTE on the stairs, she will stop, look at Leland, then get pushed off by Leland, causing her to flip and roll down the stairs.
* Leland will always notice Madison if she attempts to escape through the window, since it will make noise when she opens it. However, she can still escape without having to fight Leland if the player escapes before Leland makes it upstairs.
*If Madison kills Leland, the ending newspaper reads that the police are investigating his death. It's presumed that Madison is not charged under justification of her actions.
* There are no trophies in the DLC.
==Gallery==
File:Taxidermist Menu (old).png|The main menu before the Move Edition patch
File:Taxidermist Menu (new).png|The main menu after the Move Edition patch
File:The End of a Nightmare.png|The newspaper shown if Madison escapes from the house after being discovered or killing Leland
File:The End of Anguish.png|The newspaper shown if Madison calls Sam and stays in the house without being discovered
File:In the Middle of the Horror.png|The newspaper shown if Madison escapes from the house without being discovered
File:Sacrificed in the Name of Truth.png|The newspaper shown if Madison is killed after calling Sam
File:Where is Madison Paige.png|The newspaper shown if Madison is killed before calling Sam
==Videos==
thumb|center|300px|Heavy Rain trailer from Games Convention 2008
==External Links==
* IMDb page for The Taxidermist
* IGDB page for The Taxidermist
it:Heavy Rain: L'Imbalsamatore
Category:Games
Category:Heavy Rain
Category:Heavy Rain Chronicles
Category:Quantic Dream