Murdered: The Usual Suspects?

After reading the largely disparaging reviews that have centered around the recent release of Square Enix's Murdered: Soul Suspect, I decided to pick it up and give it a whirl on the Xbox One to see if this detective game truly missed the mark.  While Murdered may not have hit all of the high notes that I would have hoped for playing as a ghost-detective trying to solve my own murder, it delivered a fun experience in a new type of 3rd person action-detective game.

Let me begin by saying that I have come to expect great things from Square Enix (See: Tomb Raider, Just Cause 2, Deus Ex, to name a few) so I was going into this game with high expectations.  Even with that in mind, the faults that I found were in no way game breaking, but rather led me to wonder if the developer could have went a step further in implementing several aspects of the game. 

In Murdered: Soul Suspect, you play as Detective Ronan O'Connor, who is killed in Salem by the notorious Bell Killer, and cannot pass to the other side until he figures out his murderer's identity.  Enter the spirit of Ronan's dead wife Julia and a host of other NPC ghosts, all who try to help or hinder Ronan's journey to solace.  It's not the most original of supernatural tales, but it is entertaining and complimented by numerous side quests which involve helping other spirits to pass to the other side.  Ronan's tale becomes more interesting the more that you explore, which is something that is necessary to solve the riddles of Square Enix's sandbox Salem. 



Regardless of the things that could have been taken to the next step (possessions, a truly open world, a reward system) Murdered: Soul Suspect was a thoroughly entertaining game that got me attached to the character (albeit later in the game) and even enthralled with the stories of other ghosts who has lost their way.   

While it may not have blown my mind with fantastic new innovations, Murdered: Soul Suspect has certainly set a baseline for what I will expect from any future paranormal murder mysteries.  Supernatural, I'm looking at you.  Besides, how many other games have you played as a ghost, evading demons while trying to solve your own murder and help other ghosts pass on?  I'm going to guess zero.


Overall Rating: 7.5

The Scholarly Gamer

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