This detective game is a delight to play, but with stealth mode being your best line of defence, the game becomes one track and monotonous.
Murdered: Soul Suspect is about detective Ronan O’Connor, who was killed while investigating a serial murderer known as The Bell Killer. Ronan is back as a ghost to solve his own homicide case so that he can find peace and be reunited with his dead wife. With the protagonist being a ghost, this limits your fighting options as your punch goes through whatever you try to hit and neither can you pick up any weapons. So your true weapon is reading people’s mind and piece together this mystery.
Though the game is set up on present day era, it feels like you’re watching a Humphrey Bogart movie with some scenes in black and white, the city of Salem always flooded with thick fog and, of course, Ronan and his Fedora hat. The quest is quite simple — find clues. Based on your detective skills you are ranked according to the number of badges awarded to you. If you correctly unravel the clues without making any mistakes you receive three badges. What leaves you a bit confused is even if you get the answer wrong and receive less badges, you aren’t penalised. This leaves you wondering, what is this flawed ranking system all about and does it really benefit you in any way.
There will be times when you will face demons and so be prepared to encounter their scary shrilling scream. Beware, apart from screeching, they also suck your soul and kill you the second time… Basically game over. To tackle the demons, you have to go on stealth mode. Either you avoid them by hiding in stationary remnants of other spirits, which also doubles up as a teleportation device, or you sneak up on a demon and take its spirit out. Unfortunately, this is as violent as the game goes.
Other interesting element of this game is Ronan’s full of attitude sidekick, Joy. With your invisible presence and ghostly powers and her ability to actually touch and feel the real world, both have to work as a team, which itself can be quite a challenge. What keeps the game interesting is the banter between the two.
Based on technical aspects and scary demons, it keeps the game moving but it starts to get boring. Lack of a map makes things more frustrating as you have no idea if you are on the correct path or you are just wasting time.
The graphics initially keep you glued to the screen but once accustomed to the smoky grey environment, it starts to become dull and predictable. It would have been better if the game makers had added a bit more action or fighting modes. Also the slow pace of the game tends to bog things down. Murdered: Soul Suspect is a decent game if you have a lot of time in hand and patience, otherwise it is average at best.
