The striptease scene was defended by Heavy Rain lead writer David Cage, who believed it succeeded in making the player "uncomfortable".

Madison Paige is described as a 27-year-old female photographer and a journalist, and is called one of the game's most "enigmatic" characters of Heavy Rain in the developer videos.

[2] Model Jacqui Ainsley described her as "strong yet vulnerable, willing to take a risk for the things she believes in", noting the ability of the player to shape her character.

After this, Madison helps Ethan to avoid the police who now believe him to be the Origami Killer, though whether she is successful depends on the player's actions.

She then visits Ann Sheppard, an old woman suffering from Alzheimer's disease and the mother of two sons, one of which drowned in rainwater in a hole in a construction site, and the other who was then adopted.

Heavy Rain Chronicles: The Taxidermist, a downloadable prequel for the game and an update to an earlier demo, stars Madison.

[4] Intended to be the first in a series, the rest of the Chronicles were put on indefinite hiatus after work on a PlayStation Move version of the main game began.

In his house, she discovers a murdered woman in a bloody bathtub, and in another room numerous stuffed and posed corpses of women.

[6] Despite wanting to avoid making the character a composite, Judi Beecher provided Madison's voice, as well as her facial motion capture.

[3] Beecher came on late to the project, and the first demo – The Taxidermist, in which Madison was voiced by Barbara Scaff – had already been made, before it was decided to recast the character.

[3] Beecher was contacted by her French agent in July 2008, after Quantic Dream had heard her voice demo and requested her, and told to audition.

[3] In one of the earliest concepts for the game, Madison visited her news office, the America Tribune, numerous times, where she could investigate possible suspects, speak to her boss, as well as write articles.

[11] After release, Matt Bradford of GamesRadar listed her, together with Ethan, as two of the best "everyman heroes" in gaming, saying they "proved that normal people can come through in the end... provided you press the right buttons.

"[12] Entertainment Weekly's Darren Franich listed her as one of "15 Kick-Ass Women in Videogames", commenting on Heavy Rain's "down-to-Earth" characters, and considering her as an "anti-Lara Croft".

[13] Mike Thomsen, for IGN, criticised Madison, calling her "[a] realistic character, but a male fantasy nonetheless", noting numerous moments where the game sexualised her, and how she didn't "seem to have any concept of her own sexual interests or wants unless they're in the context of the men who surround her".