Games that afford the player ghostly powers can be extremely compelling on paper. Remember Geist? Good times. The game was an interesting yet flawed account of a counter-terrorism scientist who was forcefully removed from his body, and thus granted spectral, supernatural powers of possession. It was a cool idea, but I remember feeling as though there wasn’t quite enough interesting gameplay to sell the whole “ghost” mechanic effectively, nevermind offer a single-player campaign that stayed interesting once your play-clock reached double digits. In a lot of ways, Murdered: Soul Suspect falls into similar traps: some less problematic, but others far more severe.
Perhaps one of its biggest differentiator is plot; Murdered: Soul Suspect is unabashedly a detective story. This certainly isn’t a bad thing by default, and despite main character Ronan O’Connor’s clichéd tough-guy mannerisms, the initial setup is perfectly well-done and engaging. Essentially, Ronan has been tracking a criminal known as the Bell Killer, and upon being slain by his target early in the game, wakes up to realize he’s entered the shadow realm as a ghost. Shortly thereafter he meets his ghost-wife — also tragically axed by the same killer — who explains that his spirit will hang in limbo until his “unfinished business” is dealt with. It’s a bit trite, sure, but enjoy it — these moments with wifey are among the most emotionally polished in the game.
From there you’re set loose, unto the sprawling land of Salem Massachusetts. Actually, it’s far from the type of town you’d expect to make a great sandbox (trust me, I’ve been there), and unfortunately this becomes quite evident as you play. Murdered’s world, it seems, has been painstakingly designed to feel authentic while simultaneously blocking you from exploring much of it at any given time, and in today’s gaming age it’s a strategy that just doesn’t work. I give Airtight Games credit for not sinking to Lost Planet 3 levels of invisible wall usage, but that’s hardly a compliment worth bragging about.
Instead, Salem is filled with demons who hinder your progress in various ways; some reside in walls to specifically prevent you from passing through them, while others are literally embedded in the earth to block or at least re-route your path. The odd thing is, demons can often be bypassed extremely easily — a quick possession of a nearby human to walk past one, for example — making their presence almost pointless at times. Sure, they can kill you and vice versa, mainly by sneaking up from behind and performing a Dementor’s Kiss type of action, but if the game really wants to block you from an area, it’ll instead designate it as “consecrated,” and therefore inaccessible. Not an invisible wall, but close.
Still, general access to spectral powers is executed nicely, and in the moments where you do feel unshackled and free, passing through walls and possessing people (or even cats) can be a great deal of fun. I’m not kidding about the cat gameplay, either; playing as a cat is an oddly thrilling and enjoyable experience. I’m a bit befuddled by why such effort went toward cats when other gameplay areas are sorely lacking, but perhaps it’s best I don’t question it — just make sure you try cat possession.
Of course, this is still a detective story at heart, and in your quest to solve your own murder you’ll often be asked to hunt for clues at crime scenes or other sites of criminal atrocity. At first the concept seems great; I genuinely enjoyed hunting down meaningful artifacts or frisking individuals at a murder scene for “ghostly residue” that could lead to important info. Unfortunately, I soon realized that it was impossible to fail. Upon selecting an “incorrect” choice, the game defeatedly repudiates your detective abilities and instead slowly reveals the correct path through process of elimination. Since there’s quite literally no punishment for failure while investigating, I found it tough to resist just being purposely wrong until I was eventually right. It saves time, energy, brain power, and unfortunately, costs enjoyment.
Perhaps worse is that many crime scenes border on insult to player intelligence with the obviousness of their construction by the game’s developers. In some cases, important items or areas are blatantly highlighted by yellow police tape, while in another the game literally asks you how a mangled body crushed by a massive hunk of sedimentary rubble was killed. By this time I had already mastered the formula to Murdered’s detective work, and between looking for obvious clues and purposely failing to quickly get the right answer, I felt unstoppable.
There’s a modest bit of puzzle solving to be done in Salem, and though none of it was particularly brain-bending I will note that some puzzles are clever and don’t do anything technically “wrong” in terms of their implementation within Murdered’s spooky world. In a few cases there are multiple ways to complete an area, be it through possession or clever traversal of mazes or unblocked walls, and all said and done these the free-wheeling segments are some of Murdered: Soul Suspect’s best moments. It’s just a shame they don’t show up all that often.
Unfortunately, it is tough to recommend this game despite its fleeting strengths, and when the credits rolled I felt more bored than particularly engrossed or moved. Ronan’s tale wrapped up nicely enough, but the reality is that the story lost me just a few short hours after it began. Considering the game’s lack of ability to hold player interest in most areas (albeit a few shining portions of ghostly freedom), you’re pretty much looking at a decision to either rent this game or skip it entirely. If you’re a mystery fanatic with a penchant for the supernatural then you may find something to love, but otherwise I’d hold off for a PS Plus or Steam sale. For ten bucks, this game is a bargain.
Griffin Vacheron is a Writer for CraveOnline. You can follow him on Twitter @novacav.
PC copy provided by publisher. Murdered: Soul Suspect is available on PC, PS4, Xbox One, PS3, and Xbox 360.
