Murdered: Soul Suspect is a multi-platform computer game developed by Airtight Games. The global publisher of the project is Square Enix. The release of Murdered: Soul Suspect in Russia and the CIS is handled by the "1C-SoftClub" holding. The product was released in early June 2014 for PC, as well as for seventh and eighth generation consoles.
Murdered: Soul Suspect tells the story of detective Ronan O'Connor. While pursuing a dangerous criminal known as "The Bell Killer", O'Connor tragically dies, shot by him. However, even though his life has ended, the detective does not move on to the other world but remains on this earthly plane as an incorporeal spirit. O'Connor comes to the conclusion that this is no coincidence - he hasn’t completed his mission, which means he must finish what he started and catch the maniac-killer. Only then can he cross the boundary that separates him from his beloved wife, who passed away shortly before his own death.
Murdered: Soul Suspect is not an action game in the strictest sense. Rather, it is a thoughtful and even slow-paced adventure in which the player is required to do what every detective does – search for clues and conduct investigations. But the protagonist of Soul Suspect has one problem – he has no body, which means he cannot participate in the investigation directly. Nevertheless, Ronan gains new abilities that he previously only dreamed of. For example, he can possess other people to nudge them towards making certain decisions. The detective can also read thoughts and delve into the memories of his "victims" – by the way, without causing any harm to them. And most importantly, O'Connor is capable of passing through walls and other objects that have not been blessed by the superstitious inhabitants of Salem – the town where the main events of Murdered: Soul Suspect unfold.
As mentioned earlier, the main task for players is to find clues. They are the key to proceeding through the storyline. Having gathered all or almost all of the "evidences", O'Connor must compare them using the information obtained – after all, he is a detective. If the clues connect with each other, the gameplay resumes; if not, the player cannot progress until they piece together the "crime picture". Mistakes are not punished by penalties, but if they are made repeatedly, the player will lose the opportunity to earn a prestigious achievement or unlock a new milestone.
In addition to the main storyline, in which O'Connor investigates the circumstances of his death, there are side missions. Players can choose to ignore them – no one forces us to take them on. But they are quite interesting in themselves, and if the "main path" has become a bit tiresome, then as an alternative, the additional tasks are a good fit. Of course, there are also missions like "find 10 phantoms" (O'Connor, among other abilities, is gifted with the power to see ghostly "prints" of objects, items, and people), but there are also full-fledged quests where deductive skills need to be applied. It should be noted that many requests for help come from other ghosts, of which Salem is literally brimming.
Generally, the ghosts we encounter do not display aggression and cannot harm O'Connor. Unless, of course, they have transformed into demons. Demons are souls of people who have lingered too long at the border between this and the otherworldly realms. If they see an ordinary spirit, they try to consume it, with O'Connor often being such a spirit himself. To fight demonic enemies, you can sneak up on them from behind, but sometimes demons notice the hero, and then all that’s left is to run. After a while, they fall behind the detective if he skillfully hides among the phantom clusters. But if the creatures do catch up to O'Connor, then… The only option left is to restart from the last save.