Murdered: Soul Suspect
Of all the disappointing games on this list, Murdered: Soul Suspect is the most heartbreaking because of the promise it had. It looked beautiful on the PS4 (it was one of the first games I played on the system, so cut me some slack), it was a story-driven adventure, and the story driving said adventure was captivating. Although the cliche of a ghost solving their own murder is hardly unique, the story of Ronan O’Connor was interesting enough to drag me through to the end.
Sadly, the “gameplay” connecting each of the former cop’s investigations was barebones at best, boiling down to “walk there, look at this” with little to no variation. Sometimes demons would show up in groups of three, but a surprise wedgie was enough to send them away for good. Aside from collecting some admittedly interesting memorabilia, there just wasn’t much to do aside from following the story.
The logic that players were expected to follow when answering questions was also ridiculous, often looking for obvious answers such as “a murder was committed” rather than more astute observations like “the murder was committed at night” or something similar. Some answers were so simple that it was too easy to overthink and not choose the offensively obvious answer.
If Airtight Games were to take another stab at the series and actually bother to create compelling gameplay, I would be all set to jump back into the world of Salem, Massachusetts and interact with the ghosts that haunt the historic city. Until then, Murdered: Soul Suspect will always be the little title that almost lived up to its promise.
-Christian Law