Heavy Rain: The Taxidermist is a prequel to Heavy Rain and offers about 15 minutes in gameplay with 5 different endings. It was offered as paid downloadable content for the regular version of the game and in the special edition a voucher was provided to download it for free. Gameplay is similar to Heavy Rain, but with a focus on quick pacing and split-second decisions that influence the events. The largest part is centered around investigating the house and dealing with the return of the resident. After completing the part, the player is offered to play again from certain checkpoints to discover the other endings.

This episode puts the player in the shoes of journalist Madison Paige, a character also present in the full game, and it takes place before those events. She is working on the story of the Origami Killer and goes to a house where he may be hiding.