Detective Ronan O'Connor has not had a very good day. To be fair he hasn't had that good a life either, with a shady highly-suspect past and the love of his life dying far too young, but this day has been particularly bad. A serial killer called the Bell Killer is on the loose, and just when Ronan was about to catch him he got thrown out a third-storey window and shot multiple times with his own gun. In that order. Now he's a ghost, and instead of moving on and joining his girlfriend he's got some unfinished business to attend to - namely, finding his killer and bringing him to justice. Which is going to be difficult since he can't talk to anyone, touch anything, doesn't know anything about the guy, and weird demons are hunting him. Oh, and if he doesn't complete his unfinished business he'll be a ghost forever. Great.
 |
| I think that's what they call "an out of body experience". Also, AAAAAH |
An early shock in the demo was that I didn't experience all this via a cutscene, instead it took place though an almost Walking Dead-like mix of movement and QTEs. Stumbling about after falling out of the window, I escorted Ronan to the door only to notice that he was also laying in the middle of the road. Both me and Ronan quickly got what was going on and tried to climb back into his body, which seemed to respond to his touch. Through a few quick-time events I got some limbs working... only for the masked Bell Killer to loom overhead and put far too many bullets into Ronan and making the whole world go black. A quick credits-based life-flashing-before-my-eyes experience and a brief expository reunion with Ronan's missus and I was all set to finish some unfinished business.
First though a cute girl ghost distracted my attention and I followed her down an alleyway. Typical widower. It was here I discovered various interesting facts about my (well, Ronan's) predicament. First of all, he can't enter buildings that have been blessed (lovely excuse to stop players running through every building) and there are real-world objects and ghost objects. Real-world walls, barriers etc can simply be walked through, but ghost versions can't - at least until the girl (whose name I forgot to jot down, sorry) gives you the ability to magically remove them. Then she gave me the bad news: if I don't conclude my unfinished business in a certain amount of time I'll never get to move over to the Happy Place, and there are demons hunting my soul. Great. Now then, on to some actual gameplay.
Playing Murdered requires taking on a mix of gameplay styles. The first I encountered, and would again at the end of the demo, are "investigations". Ronan's a detective after all, and like other detectives in games (Batman: Arkham Asylum, LA Noire, The Wolf Among Us, Sherlock Holmes) he gets to investigate crime scenes. Unlike Batman, Cole, Bigby Wolf and Robert Downey Jnr however Ronan is of course dead, so while that allows him no-questions-asked access to see everything he can't touch anything or talk to anyone, so he has to use others for that goal. The first crime scene investigation is of course his own murder. Overhearing conversations is good, but steering them was better by possessing people and suggesting things (or getting them to peek at things). Not to mention checking out the few pieces of evidence, including Ronan's body. No one seemed to really know anything though, and I didn't learn much other than a cop called Baxter hated my guts and my Lieutenant brother will be looking for the killer too.
 |
| Damn NHS dentists |
I wasn't going to get any answers out in the street, so I followed the sergeant into the apartment building where Ronan was investigating before his unscheduled ejection through the window. I also nearly jumped out of my demo pod as soon as the sergeant closed the door, but no spoilers on that. I was definitely pleased though by the freeform exploration I was allowed to do. As promised, now I was inside the building I could go anywhere, and while I needed the stairs to go up or down floors I could nose through what I wanted which was pretty cool - even possess the nosy neighbours and read what was on their minds. There were other ghosts to talk to, like one creep hiding in a kid's closet, as well as a few collectables that opened up stories about events that happened in the building. The only odd thing I noticed were weird blue shadows hanging in the air, like echoes of ghosts past. Then I tried to go upstairs and their use presented themselves.
The third gameplay type after investigation and exploration is, basically, a stealth game. I was attacked by one of the demons I was previously warned about, a hideous creature looking like the Grim Reaper from Peter Jackson's The Frighteners after a lot of dental work. After they've got Ronan's scent you have to hide in those blue memories I mentioned and dash between them so the demon doesn't catch you and try to devour your soul. After they lose you they'll begin prowling the corridors, and that's when you can sneak up and take them out from behind. Ronan's got a ghostly version of Batman's Detective Vision of course so it's not too difficult - at least not right at the beginning.
Making my way to the top floor I encountered my girl ghost guide from earlier admiring some mysterious symbols on the walls, which she tried to hide but I brought back. I don't know their significance yet but the girl seemed pretty freaked out by them. Whatever, it was time for another investigation. Just what exactly was the Bell Killer doing in this apartment? After checking out a few pieces of evidence I got to piece together a memory of what had happened there, and evidently the killer was after some girl. Ronan interrupted him and paid for it, but in doing so apparently allowed the girl to escape through the window. Just who is this girl, and why did the Bell Killer want her? All questions for the final release, since that's where the demo ended.
 |
| Linda, what have I told you about drawing mysterious ghostly symbols on the wall? Cut it out! |
I can't deny I had fun with Murdered: Soul Suspect, and I particularly like how action-less it really is right now - it's more of an adventure game with a few stealth aspects so far. Nevertheless questions do remain about how Airtight Games will keep the gameplay interesting over a long period of time, and whether they can successfully mask the linearity present in what should be a pretty free-form exploration adventure. Despite being able to walk through most walls I did feel like I didn't have much freedom where to go, especially when I tried to walk away from my murder scene and was simply turned around by the game without explanation.
There's definitely potential here for an interesting and unique adventure, but we won't be able to tell how it all holds together until the final game ships. I'm looking forward to it, and I'm hopeful the fun I had will stay fresh over several hours of gameplay. Murdered: Soul Suspect is out June 6th for PC, 360, PS3, PS4 and XB1, and I'll be sure to check it out when that day comes. Go on Airtight, make a fun AAA ghostly detective adventure. We need one.
Most Anticipated Feature/Element: Seeing how deep all of Ronan's ghostly powers go.
