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This narrative-driven adventure game with good production values may be too short and light on action for many.

PlayStation 4 Review: ‘Murdered: Soul Suspect’

I first got a look at Airtight Games’ Murdered: Soul Suspect at Square Enix’s booth, at the 2013 E3 Expo. It was actually the second year in a row that I watched an Airtight Games presentation at Square Enix’s booth, and the highlight of my time there. Murdered: Soul Suspect is essentially a narrative-driven, supernatural detective thriller. Players take on the role of Ronan O’Connor, a rough-around-the-edges Salem police detective who’s just been murdered by the town’s brutal serial killer. Unable to move on in the afterlife, Ronan must get to the bottom of the events that led up to his death.

Murdered, Soul Suspect, Playstation 4, PS4As I am a fan of immersive narrative in video games, it’s not a surprise that Murdered: Soul Suspect piqued my interest. The playthrough I witnessed at the 2013 E3 Expo was essentially the beginning of the full game, so there were few initial surprises when I began my time with the full release. For the most part, the game controls just like any other third-person action adventure game, though there is no combat, or even jumping, when you control Ronan.

Ronan does grow in his new form and quickly learns the art of possession and teleportation. His street-smart past also allows him to influence the thoughts of the living and unlock hidden memories.

Murdered, Soul Suspect, Playstation 4The majority of your time in Salem with Murdered: Soul Suspect is spent finding clues and reading minds. Except for the occasional demon slaying, the game is essentially a point-and-click adventure with third-person action game controls.  Luckily the main plot is interesting and there are a handful of side quests and unlockable ghost stories for completionists to experience. While the town is adequately populated, there really isn’t that much to do in the game. Though Murdered isn’t priced like an episodic installment, and Ronan’s story is appropriately concluded, the game really begs for a continuation. I would have loved to have spent more time in the town, but unless you didn’t find all of the artifacts, there’s not much reason to return.

Murdered, Soul Suspect, Playstation 4The relative lack of action is likely to cause many gamers to dismiss the game, because what action there is, like dispelling demons, is relegated to Quicktime event sequences. After spending a good amount of time with TellTale’s adventure games, I am fairly familiar with this tactic and it’s not a real deal-breaker for me. What I will say, is that beyond the higher production value, Soul Suspect is essentially on par with TellTale’s recent entries and, in some ways, reminds me of a bigger-budget version of Zombie Studios’ Daylight. While Murdered is longer than a single TellTale episode and a single playthrough of the indie game Daylight, it isn’t the length you would expect from similarly priced games.

Murdered, Soul Suspect, Playstation 4Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent with Murdered: Soul Suspect, but it’s really too short of an adventure to justify the investment. While the game utilizes a good amount of motion capture, voice acting, and a number of other big ticket technologies, it’s still essentially a pretty small game. The simple puzzles and overall lack of gameplay depth leave narrative as sole reason to buy this game. To be fair, it is a pretty good story, particularly if you’re a fan of thrillers and dark fiction like Edgar Allan Poe. Again, that narrative is really all you’re paying for, and unfortunately, with a handful of bigger titles just having been released, Murdered is likely to be lost in the fray.

 

Murdered: Soul Suspect is rated M (Mature) by the ESRB Blood, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Use of Alcohol. This game can also be found on: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Windows PC.

About Lance Roth

Lance Roth has over 10 years experience in the video game industry. He has worked in a number of capacities within the industry and currently provides development and strategy consulting. He participated in all of the major console launches since the Dreamcast. This videogame resume goes all of the way back to when they were written in DOS. You can contact Lance at RPGameX.com or [email protected].

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