Murdered: Soul Suspect

I really liked the look, the atmosphere, and the story behind Murdered: Soul Suspect, but I really hated the interface and the game elements.

The game gets an A for effort, but unfortunately the same can't be said of the core gameplay mechanics, which are dull and repetitive. The storyline is engaging, but other than that there's not much to write home about. [Aug 2014]

A solid premise let down by rote design. [Issue#250, p.64]

This is a game that needs to be approached with the right mindset in order to be fully and properly understood. Murdered is an interactive movie with a story straight out of the best 90's b-reel supernatural horror flicks that dominated the video store of an era long bygone. The challenge level is extremely low but the mood and nighttime atmosphere the game evokes are hard to deny. Destined for Steam Sale must-buy status, Murdered is a game that will engage you and take you back to a simpler time, even as it celebrates its b-movie heritage and paper-thin actual gameplay.

Overall, Murdered: Soul Suspect is an enjoyable but simplistic mystery adventure which, although it features a well-detailed game world and well-written plot, is far too short for its own good. It's a game which I'd recommend to fans of this genre, but only at sale price.

Murdered: Soul Suspect discloses an interesting ghostly-noir soul and an original action-adventure detective body, but its investigations are too easy and their dynamics are too shallow to entertain for more than six, seven hours.

Murdered: Soul Suspect is an interesting game somewhere between a spy story and a ghost mystery. The events are intriguing enough, but gameplay-wise the game pretty much consists of doing the same thing over and over again, for the small amount of time requested to see its end.

An entertaining thriller that does not leave its mark as hoped.

There's a lot of potential and the game's concepts are genius. But the game itself is too easy, too simple and that's a pity.

Finally a game with a large publisher behind it that deliberately resists the mass market! Unfortunately Murdered has not become the game that it could have been.

By no means is Murdered: Souls Suspect one of the best titles of the year, but it's one of the most likeable ones.

Murdered is a one-note game bent on repeating the same formula over and over again.

There’s a fun game to be had with the right mix of these elements — ghosts, crime-solving, a troubled cop and a serial killer — but Murdered: Soul Suspect just isn’t really it.

Being a ghost in Murdered is enjoyable in fits and starts, yet the use of your powers is brutally limited, resulting in an almost entirely scripted and therefore watered-down afterlife experience.

A less than successful attempt at what could have been a novel concept. [Aug 2014, p.57]

Murdered: Soul Suspect is the newest addition to the small field of triple AAA adventure titles and offers some pleasant new surprises but an uneven storyline, poorly developed characters and unfocused gameplay keeps this game from rising above mediocrity.

I really wanted to like Murdered: Soul Suspect, but -- like L.A. Noire -- it's a detective game that manages to gets its most essential quality absolutely wrong. The backdrop of Salem lends a lot to its central mystery, but at no point will Soul Suspect ever put your deductive skills to work. That's fine if you're indulging in an episode of CSI, but I like my thinky games to require more than just passive interest.

The story is genuinely interesting and kept me playing far after the fun had drained out of the game. But in all honesty, I cannot recommend it. With a couple tweaks, this could have been an awesome game, but as it stands Murderer: Soul Suspect is dead on arrival.

Murdered has some really strong foundations but not enough real substance. The game lacks atmosphere fit for this kind of game and the story takes you down a really obvious road. Hiring a BAFTA winner, Jason Graves, who was responsible for Tomb Raider's music, didn't help. Murdered: Soul Suspect is a big disappointment - a weak thriller and a far-too-easy adventure game.

The triple-A presentation is hindered by monotonous gameplay, stilted PC controls and stupid action bits. [Issue#244]