Murdered: Soul Suspect. You've likely stumbled across the title at a local bargain-bin and chances are, that's it. A lower-tier title produced by Square Enix, the stealth adventure game didn't really make much of a splash. Mixed-to-negative reviews, the company that developed it, Airtight Games closed their doors less than a month after its release. Sad stuff, Airtight was also known for Dark Void, a flawed but ambitious third-person shooter. But, in the interest of remembrance, did Soul Suspect really deserve falling into such obscurity? I, myself, ignored the title until only a month ago, but thought it looked enticing enough to at least pursue, albeit much later than Airtight would've thought ideal. Beggars can't be choosers though, so in this review, let's take a look at Murdered: Soul Suspect.
As I've once described, Murdered is a stealth adventure, but to expand on that and denounce that, I will say it's also done in a third-person view and is vaguely applicable to the stealth genre. The video-game is, in-fact, more like something Quantic Dream or Tell Tale would conjure up, though, with less linearity. The stealth is half-baked and is about the only thing that actually offers-up any challenge throughout the whole experience. In-fact, it's so half-baked and disproportionate I almost wish they would've scrapped it away altogether. One of the biggest criticisms reviewers had for the game was the challenge, or lack there-of. If Airtight Games would've taken a more cinematic-approach to the narrative like the other titles I mentioned, instead of trying to force off-putting game elements into it like stealth, it wouldn't have been as big of a deal. The issue with the game-play mechanics is that they feel like an afterthought, and feel like something they felt they had to do, and not something that was well-incorporated.
Murdered: Soul Suspect's story is what's interesting, you play as a man named Detective Ronan O'Conor in a fictionalized version of a town called Salem. His wife was killed during a trifle between two men when she's stabbed in the chest with a knife. This left Ronan beaten up and alone, and left him on high-pursuit of the town's infamous serial-killer, dubbed as The Bell Killer. Because his fixation, Ronan, who had already been rough-around-the-edges, makes the reckless decision to chase after the Killer without backup, and their confrontation leads to the Detective being sent on a Trip to Belize and being chucked out a window to his death. Sounds like the end, but like The Crow, Detective Ronan O'Connor's soul isn't at rest, and it needs to be before he can join his wife Julia in the great beyond.
Out from his body, Detective Hakusho is a ghost detective that can collect newspaper clippings and poltergeist T.V. sets. But, it's not all fun and games for our friendly ghost because he can't really communicate or do a whole lot of things by himself. That's when he meets Joy, a young girl with the ability to speak to ghosts. Together, they knit together our little outfit, and the game's all about them figuring out who the Bell Killer is.
The storyline is unique and I can't really think of a video-game like it, and with the other variables they bring into it, as well as the payoff, I'd go ahead and tell you that it has a good story to it. I consider it as the Exhibit A of why someone might want to offer Soul Suspect a second-look. That, and the acting and characters aren't so bad. In-fact, I like Ronan and Joy, which is why I wish it would've been more strictly story-driven. Everybody else doesn't have a whole lot of character development to them, but I think most of them have all they need, with the concept in-mind. Perhaps the Bell Killer's build could have also had more for itself. The length of the video-game is only about 6 or 7 hours, and that includes the amount of time I goofed off or got lost. Thing is, I was actually invested and immersed in the whodunnit, which is why I keep saying, if they would've approach it in some other way, it would've made for a solid-work.
Walking about the town of Salem, you'll ask yourself a lot of different things. Why can the civilians walk through walls? Why is there so many newspaper snippets scattered around the town? Why are their hundred year old cannons lying around the sidewalks in this modern-day story? Is it because the town's underdeveloped? Why does an underdeveloped town need hundred year old cannons? And you'll never find answers for any of that.
The investigations aren't very fleshed out, and it's like a less complex version of the Sherlock Holmes games, but with these things, it's at least fun to be on the ride and make predictions. The only big problem with them is I've found myself stuck more than once because whatever it is I am looking for is obscured and/or when I approached it the first, second, and third time, I wouldn't receive a command prompt to engage it.
The town isn't very big, but I constantly find myself getting lost because how indistinct everything is, and the side-missions should have been a lot better than what they were. In-general, the game-play is neither here nor there, and it depends mostly on finding notebook pages and things like that, which usually comes off as a lazy way to tell a storyline in a video-game. The game-play isn't fun, and as I've reiterated a million times, forces undercooked stealth and hidden items onto it, muddying up what makes it unique.
I'm not really selling you on this, am I? It's likely because, while your story is Exhibit A on why to play it, there's a lot more evidence on why not to. Would I recommend Murdered: Soul Suspect? Yes.
Murdered: Soul Suspect isn't a great game, and with its flaws, it's debatable if it's even worth being called a good one, but you don't see a storyline like it often and I enjoyed that aspect of it a fair bit. Had they played to their strengths and opened wider on their glimpses of brilliance, instead of trying to meet the quotas of what a game has to be, perhaps more would have talked about it.
As I've once described, Murdered is a stealth adventure, but to expand on that and denounce that, I will say it's also done in a third-person view and is vaguely applicable to the stealth genre. The video-game is, in-fact, more like something Quantic Dream or Tell Tale would conjure up, though, with less linearity. The stealth is half-baked and is about the only thing that actually offers-up any challenge throughout the whole experience. In-fact, it's so half-baked and disproportionate I almost wish they would've scrapped it away altogether. One of the biggest criticisms reviewers had for the game was the challenge, or lack there-of. If Airtight Games would've taken a more cinematic-approach to the narrative like the other titles I mentioned, instead of trying to force off-putting game elements into it like stealth, it wouldn't have been as big of a deal. The issue with the game-play mechanics is that they feel like an afterthought, and feel like something they felt they had to do, and not something that was well-incorporated.
Murdered: Soul Suspect's story is what's interesting, you play as a man named Detective Ronan O'Conor in a fictionalized version of a town called Salem. His wife was killed during a trifle between two men when she's stabbed in the chest with a knife. This left Ronan beaten up and alone, and left him on high-pursuit of the town's infamous serial-killer, dubbed as The Bell Killer. Because his fixation, Ronan, who had already been rough-around-the-edges, makes the reckless decision to chase after the Killer without backup, and their confrontation leads to the Detective being sent on a Trip to Belize and being chucked out a window to his death. Sounds like the end, but like The Crow, Detective Ronan O'Connor's soul isn't at rest, and it needs to be before he can join his wife Julia in the great beyond.
Out from his body, Detective Hakusho is a ghost detective that can collect newspaper clippings and poltergeist T.V. sets. But, it's not all fun and games for our friendly ghost because he can't really communicate or do a whole lot of things by himself. That's when he meets Joy, a young girl with the ability to speak to ghosts. Together, they knit together our little outfit, and the game's all about them figuring out who the Bell Killer is.
The storyline is unique and I can't really think of a video-game like it, and with the other variables they bring into it, as well as the payoff, I'd go ahead and tell you that it has a good story to it. I consider it as the Exhibit A of why someone might want to offer Soul Suspect a second-look. That, and the acting and characters aren't so bad. In-fact, I like Ronan and Joy, which is why I wish it would've been more strictly story-driven. Everybody else doesn't have a whole lot of character development to them, but I think most of them have all they need, with the concept in-mind. Perhaps the Bell Killer's build could have also had more for itself. The length of the video-game is only about 6 or 7 hours, and that includes the amount of time I goofed off or got lost. Thing is, I was actually invested and immersed in the whodunnit, which is why I keep saying, if they would've approach it in some other way, it would've made for a solid-work.
Walking about the town of Salem, you'll ask yourself a lot of different things. Why can the civilians walk through walls? Why is there so many newspaper snippets scattered around the town? Why are their hundred year old cannons lying around the sidewalks in this modern-day story? Is it because the town's underdeveloped? Why does an underdeveloped town need hundred year old cannons? And you'll never find answers for any of that.
The investigations aren't very fleshed out, and it's like a less complex version of the Sherlock Holmes games, but with these things, it's at least fun to be on the ride and make predictions. The only big problem with them is I've found myself stuck more than once because whatever it is I am looking for is obscured and/or when I approached it the first, second, and third time, I wouldn't receive a command prompt to engage it.
The town isn't very big, but I constantly find myself getting lost because how indistinct everything is, and the side-missions should have been a lot better than what they were. In-general, the game-play is neither here nor there, and it depends mostly on finding notebook pages and things like that, which usually comes off as a lazy way to tell a storyline in a video-game. The game-play isn't fun, and as I've reiterated a million times, forces undercooked stealth and hidden items onto it, muddying up what makes it unique.
I'm not really selling you on this, am I? It's likely because, while your story is Exhibit A on why to play it, there's a lot more evidence on why not to. Would I recommend Murdered: Soul Suspect? Yes.
Murdered: Soul Suspect isn't a great game, and with its flaws, it's debatable if it's even worth being called a good one, but you don't see a storyline like it often and I enjoyed that aspect of it a fair bit. Had they played to their strengths and opened wider on their glimpses of brilliance, instead of trying to meet the quotas of what a game has to be, perhaps more would have talked about it.