Pairing criminal forensics and investigation with supernatural elements is hardly a fresh concept in video games. Indigo Prophecy, Deadly Premonition, and the Condemned series are some examples. However, Murdered: Soul Suspect manages to distinguish itself from the rest of the pack by letting players play as the ghost of a detective on the hunt for the serial killer responsible for your character’s and countless others’ murder. The premise alone shows potential for new gameplay and story elements we’ve might not have seen before.
Does the game truly give players an experience that’s out of this life? While Murdered: Soul Suspect does have its moments where the concept shines, it ultimately fails to excite and scare players the way it could have.
The game thrusts right in the moment where we see the protagonist Ronan O’Connor fall out of the window after he confronts the Bell Killer. It seems sudden but it tries to make up for it by giving a glimpse of Ronan’s life as he falls to his death when his life flashes before his eyes. We also get to know a bit about the Bell Killer and his infamy in a short montage. I felt like it wanted to give me seeds of motivation to help Ronan and a reason to fear his murderer, but it fell short in doing so by forgoing a proper and satisfying build-up.
It was also hard for me to sympathize with Ronan especially when it only takes him a few moments to grieve for his death and he seems to take it so lightly. He’s also the stereotypical gruff and tortured protagonist that we often see in other titles. We do get to know him, his deceased wife, and the life they had together through items you collect along the way though. However, it hardly changes a thing about how the player feels.
Lead Writer Doug Van Horne once said that the game contains “everything from slowly drawn out tense moments, jump scares, to things that are extremely grotesque.” I was looking for all of these things and I came out mostly empty handed after I finished the game. The bulk of the scares you get in the game will be from the demons, corrupted souls who consume other ghosts’ souls. You have to sneak up on them to execute them, and you have to hide inside the residue of other souls when they spot you. You have to move around residues though because demons will check if you’re hiding in any nearby. I often panic when a demon is moving towards me and I don’t have anywhere to jump to because I would have to make myself visible and let them chase me until I find another place to hide. You can also distract them by manipulating ghost residue in the environment.
While demons can be genuinely terrifying at first, it can get old really fast since they turn out to be the only foes in the game. The combat and gameplay during demon encounters does not evolve as you progress, so you’ll be relying on relatively the same tactics. It also does not make sense how demons seem to ignore other ghosts in its presence and only want to consume Ronan’s soul.
At some point in the game, you get paired up with a young medium named Joy. It would have been interesting to have Ronan help her fight against the Bell Killer and other living foes too. The only moment where you do “fight” the latter proved to be uneventful to say the least.
The story of Murdered: Soul Suspect isn’t difficult to figure out especially if you’re familiar with the genre. When you’re pointed to a suspect in the most obvious manner, it’s easy to tell that when it’s designed to be a red herring. The characters are flat and were made to fill stock roles in a mystery game. I was dissatisfied with how the Bell Killer was handled in the game. There’s a reason behind his bland personality though and it will be revealed at the end. We do see the terrible murders he committed in flashbacks. However, it lacks the grotesque factor to effectively disturb players and it doesn’t help that we can’t see the Bell Killer face or hear him speak to send chills down our spines.
Some of the spirits you encounter can say interesting and creepy things, but it ends up feeling forced to some degree. There’s a bunch of twists at the end that’s supposed to shock you. While I didn’t see one of them coming, it ended up to be an “oh” moment instead of one that’ll incite a gasp of disbelief from its players. It was poorly set-up and I believe it could have had more impact if it was executed properly.
The investigative aspect of the game is underutilized. There’s no consequence for following the wrong lead. You’re tasked with collecting a number of clues in an area and prompted to select the most relevant ones to progress. It can either be too easy or too difficult because of its obscurity. It doesn’t matter though because the mantra “try and try until you succeed” certainly applies here. I failed picking relevant clues several times and I virtually had unlimited attempts to try again using the process of elimination instead of critical thinking. There are shield icons in the bottom though and it decreases every time you make a mistake. It serves as a rating for your detective work in each area, but it does not affect the game’s narrative at all or at least provide an incentive for the player.
I was looking forward to help other spirits resolve their “unfinished business” thinking that some detective work would come into play. All you need to do is read minds, look at objects, and find the relevant clues. I hoped that Ronan’s investigative skills would be an advantage that other ghosts don’t have. However, solving their “unfinished business” is as easy as collecting stuff. It would have been nice to have Joy around more as a partner-in-crime to help other ghosts and interact with the living world. Unfortunately, she’s only around when the plot calls for it and you just follow her around for the most part. The game could have built a dynamic like one we’ve seen in Beyond: Two Souls with Jodie and her spiritual entity Aiden.
Airtight Games heavily emphasized the idea that playing as a ghost won’t make players feel superior over the living. Being dead has its advantages and disadvantages. However, this emphasis is hardly felt throughout the game. We don’t get a feel of how it’s like to investigate before Ronan was killed and Joy can’t be utilized at all during gameplay. Sometimes you do feel superior because you don’t need to rely on a living person to get through an obstacle or puzzle. You only see it in cut scenes, but never in action. Players sort of accept what they can and can’t do just like in any other video game.
As a ghost, Ronan has access to a variety of abilities like mind reading, manipulating objects, eavesdropping, teleporting and influence. Reading minds and eavesdropping can help you gain insight on a particular case. You can also influence people to do what you want by selecting a relevant clue. However, it also has no consequence and the only people you can influence are ones that progress the story.
You can also possess a cat in the game similar to how you can possess rats in Dishonored, but there’s no time limit. This helps you reach places that are impossible to get to. Ghosts can’t walk through everything in the game. In order to enter a building, its doors and windows must be opened since all the structures in Salem are “consecrated.” There are also times when you cannot pass because of large objects and structures in the form of ghost residue. It’s not that difficult to figure out how to overcome these obstacles when you can teleport and possess a cat.
The area of Salem itself is limited and there isn’t enough room to make the most out of your abilities. While you can explore parts of the town in between areas, the game will force you to stay on path. There was a time when the game told me that the “area was not installed” and it took 45 minutes of waiting to play again. It was strange considering the PS4 told me it was done installing the game. It happened in an area that I was supposed to go because I was merely following the objective, so it’s not like I went off tangent.
The dialogue element in the game seems useless since there’s also no consequence for asking in a particular order or favoring one over the other. It seems like you have a choice, but at times you’re forced to go through every single question. The developer might as well make it a cut scene. On the same vein, the transition between actual gameplay and cut scenes can be weird at times since it isn’t seamless. Cut scenes seem to be used a lot even during small moments in the game. I was playing the game on the PlayStation 4 and I saw noticeable quality problems like blurry colors at the bottom during a couple of cut scenes.
Murdered: Soul Suspect didn’t need to have the most original and compelling story out there to succeed. The greatest disappointment lies in how much it underutilized its potential to introduce brand new gameplay elements since it could have been Beyond: Two Souls meets L.A Noire. It fumbles on so much of the fundamental aspects that I think it’s unlikely for it to be revived for a sequel to get things right. People might pick this game up when there’s nothing else to play like a B-movie horror title in Netflix. In the end, Murdered: Soul Suspect will most likely stay buried in gaming history and forgotten.
Final Verdict:
5/10
Murdered: Soul Suspect was developed by Airtight Games and published by Square Enix. It is now available on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One for the suggested retail price of $59.99. A copy of the game was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.
