Murdered: Soul Suspect Review

Murdered: Soul Suspect follows the story of Ronan O'Connor, a detective with a shady past. He gets murdered following a lead to catch the killer who has shaken the infamous town of Salem to it's very core; the relentless serial murderer, the Bell Killer. In death, he meets his already dead wife, who explains to him that he cannot "move on" without solving his own murder. So Ronan, being stuck in this limbo as a ghost, sets out to solve his murder and catch the Bell Killer. With the help of a fellow ghost, Abigail, Ronan comes to terms with being a ghost and using his abilities after death to do as he must. Abigail warns him of 'demons' who will try to take his soul, so he must either avoid them at all costs, or exorcise them. He is also told that any strengths he had whilst he was alive, are abilities in death. 

Carrying on from that aspect, the game didn't seem to expand on it; which is a real shame because they could have made really good abilities, or explain Ronan's skills better. He had powers such as being able to piece together what happened at a location because of the "memory residue" left behind, and evidence that you can examine. Ronan sets himself a goal to find out what happened at a scene, collect all the evidence and connect it all together, discovering why someone was there and where they might be going next. Ronan is also able to regain access to his memories of evidence when needed. These may be the abilities Abigail was on about, in particular being able to analyse a scene and re-access important evidence from memory, because when he was alive he was a detective. However, this is sadly unclear, and personally, that it could have really added to the story if they expanded on this. One thing that did annoy me was it seemed one ability was just thrown into the equation: teleportation. Ronan made an offhand comment about everyone apart from him being able to teleport and then suddenly you are told how to do it too. There was no development, it just felt… thrown in which was disappointing.

The demons are scary as shit (like my grandmother/mother’s driving). The look of them, the way they are contorted and kind of have a creepy twitch is, in my opinion, purely terrifying. As stated previously, you either have to hide from them (by possessing people or cats, or hiding in ghost residue) and then run for your life (or soul to be exact) when the coast is clear, or come up behind them and exorcise them. It’s possible to activate a raven, which cries out and holds the demon's attention for you to either sneak past them, or walk up behind them and complete the exorcism. I frequently found myself just running away from them and hoping for the best, because they were a real hindrance most of the time, which is the point, but they could make things unnecessarily. What made things worse was the only way you can exorcise the demons is from behind - if they notice you, you're done for. There is no way of attacking them and you have to hide from them until they give up trying to find you. If there was a way to still attack them even after they've noticed you, I wouldn't mind, but there isn’t. It would have been nice to have the choice of either hiding or attacking but alas, rather than freedom, the environment dictates which one you will need to go for.

Whenever a demon appears, you hear this loud screech (which never failed to make me jump) and the music would dramatically change, adding more suspense to the gameplay. The music in general is very fitting, creating an atmosphere for the player which makes you feel afraid at the appropriate times, in particular, that edge-of-your-seat feeling for tense moments. The graphics are fantastic. Everything is rendered amazingly, especially the touch of transparency to the ghosts which really adds to the effect. 

Ronan, as a character, is very deep and has many layers. The same goes for some of the other characters, but Ronan is the most apparent. He isn't straightforward good or bad like other characters in video games. He has a past, which is revealed throughout the game. The body language of other ghosts he talks to can be quite annoying. It doesn't tend to fit in with what they are saying. It feels like body language is added just for the sake of being there making it uncomfortable to watch. Also, some of the extra characters in the game looked identical. Aside from being annoying, it was sometimes quite confusing knowing who they were.

In a particular cutscene, Ronan walked through somebody and they shivered as he passed through them. I really liked that because it's adding aspects of ghost connotations into the game. However, during any other cutscenes or actual gameplay, there was no continuity of people shivering when Ronan walked through. This might seem petty, but I would have enjoyed the experience even more by adding small details like that. Also, in one level, a man in a jail cell was saying he could see the ghosts in the corner of the room, but didn't mention myself as Ronan when I walked by him. If he had turned around and looked at me, then I think that would have been a really nice touch to the game. In general, it would have been more pleasing to have more AI interactivity.

In terms of length Murdered: Soul Suspect isn’t nearly as long as some other similar titles in this genre, but don’t let that put you off. My gameplay was longer than an average player because I am a very inquisitive video gamer (my nickname is actually Inspector Clouseau). I searched the town of Salem thoroughly; completing side missions that helped other ghosts to move on, and gathering collectibles. The collectibles are interesting because each set have their own story to tell, which differs from how most collectibles work in other games. I saw one comment on a YouTube trailer for the game that they felt like the these were more akin to side missions because of this. The main story itself I found very intriguing. I would continue playing just to find out what happens next, like I would with a TV show, episode after episode. Being set in Salem, finding out the historical stories about the town, fictional or not, was very interesting as a lover of fiction and history. 

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the game. I can understand why some individuals are complaining about the campaign length as I've heard the average game time is under 3 hours, but I took around 4 or 5 hours to complete it. The story and side missions make up for the short length. Furthermore, the side missions and collectibles give the characters more depth and uncover more of their story. The lack of AI interactivity doesn’t let it down, but it would have really made the game that more interesting. I liked the characters, I loved the stories and I enjoyed the supernatural edge to this crime solving game. Being able to fight off the demons more than one way would have the game less infuriating and more enjoyable.