Murdered: Soul Suspect Review - Elementary
The premise of Murdered: Soul Suspect is intriguing to say the least: you play as Ronan O’Connor, a detective who gets murdered by the very serial killer he is hunting down, the “Bell Killer”. In fact, the game begins with Ronan’s death, his life flashes before your eyes and, before you can make sense of what is happening, Ronan turns into a ghost.
Instead of leaving the real of the living and joining his late wife in the afterlife, something is holding Ronan back - the fact that his murder remains unsolved, and the Bell Killer still at large. Whilst he may not be able to interact with objects or directly communicate with living people anymore, Ronan can still investigate crime scenes, search for clues, possess people and read their thoughts to help him solve the case. The big question is, does Murdered: Soul Suspect’s premise hold any substance, or is it nothing more than a cheesy ghost story?
Right off the bat, Murdered: Soul Suspect’s presentation doesn’t leave a good first impression; textures are basic and rather flat, facial animations are definitely sub-par and the gloomy, almost black-and-white aesthetic of the game isn’t very interesting to look at. In addition, whilst Ronan’s character design is detailed and well animated, every other character is lacking in attention to detail. Background characters and random pedestrians look absolutely terrible, with robotic walking animations and no sense of purpose other than to breathe fake life in the seemingly empty city of Salem. Secondary characters fare a little better, but the game’s mediocre presentation doesn’t help in delivering the characters’ emotions and feelings to the player.
What Murdered does well in its presentation, however, is the ambiance of the places you visit during your investigation. Locations feel appropriately creepy and seeing remains of the old city and its former inhabitants constantly reminds the player of the disturbing history of Salem during the witch trials. Whilst the world may not be the best looking one, even when compared to last-gen, it definitely plays its part very well and helps sell that haunting feeling Murdered is going for.
At its core, Murdered: Soul Suspect is a detective game. You go from crime scene to crime scene collecting clues, possessing people and using your ghost powers to re-live specific moments which could help with the investigation. This makes Murdered a very easy game to pick up and play as it rarely gets more difficult than walking around a room looking for objects you can interact with to collect clues and making sense out of those you have found. The downside of such a simple game is that it leaves much to be desired.
There are moments in which you have to sneak past or execute demons who are hunting for your soul, but the whole stealth system isn’t very good and adds little to the game. These sections are more frustrating than they are challenging but, luckily, there aren’t that many in the story and they don’t take very long to complete. With the exception of a few “puzzles” to traverse the environment to reach the next story bit or to reach a hidden collectible, there isn’t much more to Murdered‘s game play other than walking around and pressing X to collect clues.
As a ghost, you are able to walk through the majority of walls and objects which makes it very hard to get stuck or fail to find a crucial clue you need in order to advance. In fact, its pretty much impossible to fail in Murdered. Since you are already dead, nothing can kill you or even be a danger for you except for the previously mentioned demons and a few demonic floor traps used to block off areas. When piecing a story together, the player can just keep on trying to select any piece of evidence until you find all the relevant ones. The only downside of making a mistake is that you lose one “police badge” which has no effect on story or gameplay - a final score isn’t even calculated and there is no good detective/bad detective system in place like L.A. Noire. Ultimately, the very forgiving nature of Murdered makes the game feel way too easy at times, but the upside is that this way the player is focused on the story, which is where Murdered: Soul Suspect truly shines.
Aside from the main story line, there is plenty to discover about the city, other mysteries and Ronan’s life, from his troubled childhood all the way to when he meets his wife and joins the police force. Collectibles are scattered everywhere and are also quite easy to find, and the mysteries you uncover and solve are all quite creepy, while finding out about Ronan’s life makes it nigh impossible to dislike him. It’s good that there are all these collectibles and side quests to do, because the main story is really short - the whole game took me just about 6 hours to finish and that is including some side quests and collectible hunting.
Despite the short length, Murdered‘s story is engaging from the start and will keep you guessing until the very end. Some of the plot twists are a little too predictable, but I am sure that once the noose starts to tighten, some revelations will catch you off-guard. The characters are all likeable, particularly Ronan and Joy - a young teen girl you run into early on who is able to see and interact with ghosts. Both characters are hard to hate and grow on you quite quickly as they work together to catch the infamous Bell Killer.
Regardless of how good the story may be, Murdered: Soul Suspect doesn’t offer much, especially considering the price point. The game has lots of really good ideas and clever gameplay elements but the more clever ones often feel under-used and underwhelming, leaving a lot more to be desired. I loved possessing people, reading their mind and influencing their decisions, however, I was only able to do so a couple of times in the entire story, whereas most crime scenes were little more than a fancy treasure hunt for clues. It really comes down to how much you value story over gameplay. Murdered: Soul Suspect doesn’t offer much more gameplay than a TellTale point-and-click adventure game, but its story is engaging, clever and original and its lead character is deep and complex.
I definitely enjoyed my playthrough; I was able to see past a lot of the game’s flaws just because I loved examining crime scenes and collecting clues to paint the whole picture. Like a good mystery novel, once you start, it’s hard to put it down.
The story is definitely worthy of being played through, however it is very difficult to recommend it at full-price. Perhaps it’s best to wait for a sale.