Murdered: Soul Suspect – ghost detective

A survival horror version of L.A. Noire may be one of the most original game concepts in years, but does the high-concept idea actually work?

So here’s an unusual idea for a game: imagine you were playing as Bruce Willis in the original Die Hard movie, but you got killed halfway through… and then kept on fighting. The final game that’s emerged from that germ of an idea is very different from the initial concept, but thankfully it’s just as unique. You still play as a detective, but one that has a more cerebral approach to police work – when both alive and dead.



The game, or at least the preview demo, begins with Ronan O’Connor being thrown out of a window in Salem, Massachusetts. His mysteriously strong assailant then follows him down to the street and shoots him several times with his own gun. The only thing is Ronan actually gets to watch all this happen via an out of body experience, only finally turning into a ghost as the bullets pierce his body.

It’s a great opening and we’ve genuinely no idea what kind of game it’s going to be when the intro is over, which is not something we’ve experienced for a very long time. The set-up may recall Capcom’s underrated portable title Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective but as it turns out Murdered is most reminiscent of L.A. Noire, except obviously you don’t get to do much in the way of face-to-face interrogation.


Instead Ronan loiters around the crime scene, listening and watching as his fellow police officers – including his own brother – begin their investigation. As a ghost Ronan cannot physically interact with anything, although of course he can observe unseen. The demo shows him examining his own corpse, and introduces the deduction mechanic which floats a number of related words onscreen for the player to select and prove they understand what’s going on.

Although Ronan can’t control them in any way he can possess other people and see the world through their eyes, which proves handy for eyeballing a policeman’s notepad for further clues.

His most powerful ability though is to retrieve memories from people, by stimulating them with one of his own. Using this ability on a female witness he learn details that the police are unaware of, namely that the killer was in the house looking for something and that Ronan only got in the way – rather than being his actual target.

Another deduction has to be made at this point, to verify what Ronan has learnt that the police don’t know, and this time you have to put the various pieces of information into chronological order. Again this seems a case of proving to the game you understand what’s going on, rather than necessarily working out anything new for yourself.

Having learnt everything he can from the crime scene Ronan then attempts to enter the house to look for more clues. However, the game’s fairly picky about where he can and can’t go (it has to be really or you’d be floating your way around the whole of Salem). Certain areas are blocked off by ghostly obstacles and you can’t enter any house unless there’s an open door or window (something about the residents guarding their homes against evil spirits).

Murdered: Soul Suspect – game over from the beginning

Once inside though, in this case by simply following a police officer, you’ve full freedom to pass through walls as if they weren’t there. Further clues are found inside, but so too is a sub quest that involves a mysterious ghostly girl scrawling equally mysterious hieroglyphics on a wall. While another clue is only obtained by a spot of poltergeist activity that involves turning a cooker on, which attracts the attention of another resident.



Murdered isn’t just a detective story though and it does feature combat, although not of the mortal kind. Lurking inside the house are several demons and Ronan can only defeat them by sneaking up on them from behind. This is where the walking through walls comes in extra handy, but particularly interesting is the ability to possess a human and use them as cover – since the demons don’t know you’re in there – before jumping out and tearing the evil spirit apart.

After dispatching his spectral opponents Ronan then settles down to more police work, discovering the metal baseball bat that he attempted to use to defend himself. It’s been bent in two, suggesting that not only is the hoodie-wearing killer unnaturally strong but presumably, given the theme of the game, supernaturally so.

Learning that there was a direct witness to the murder, who was hiding out of sight the whole time, Ronan discovers her location by examining a cork board that reveals a memory of her asking for sanctuary at the local church. Luckily she left via an open window, allowing Ronan to follow her. Although that’s the point at which the demo ended.

Once over it’s hard to know what to really think, especially as the preview was purely hands-off. That makes it hard to judge how difficult the puzzles and combat are, but the overall impression is of an extremely bold and innovative game. The graphics aren’t great (there’s no sign of any next gen versions) but the script is quietly impressive, with an adult tone and a willingness to mimic the basics of police procedural TV shows that more action-based games would never bother with.


Developer Airtight Games have a spotty history – ranging from the awful Dark Void to the mostly successful Quantum Conundrum – but of all the games due out next year this is the least derivative. And for that reason alone it deserves your attention.

Formats: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC

Publisher: Square Enix

Developer: Airtight Games

Release Date: Early 2014

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