Video Game of the Day is a daily show available on Amazon Alexa devices and here on this website. Each day, we briefly discuss the history of a single game, randomly chosen. If you would like to listen on your daily flash briefing, you can enable Video Game of the Day here: https://amzn.to/2CNx2NJ.
Transcript:
Hello and welcome! My name is Katosepe and I’ll be your host for today’s Video Game of the Day.
Little can engross people like a good mystery. Whodunnit murder mysteries, twists and turns, any kind of secret that needs to be discovered can push a player on to the end of a game. This is a trick that the horror genre has used forever but other genres can use it effectively too. Today’s game is a game that uses its central mystery to propel gamers forward even when the rest of the game may not be quite up to snuff. Today’s game is Murdered: Soul Suspect, developed by Airtight Games and released on the PC, Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360, and Playstation 3 in 2014.
Murdered: Soul Suspect has players take the role of Detective Ronan O’Connor in a fictionalized version of the town of Salem. While about to finally catch a serial killer known as the Bell Killer, Ronan is killed. As he returns to this world as a ghost, he learns that the only way for his spirit to move on is to discover the true identity of the Bell Killer.
Murdered: Soul Suspect is played in the third person and has many different aspects to it. Ronan can explore several areas around Salem, learning about its history and occupants along the way. When you reach crime scenes, the game enters a detective mode where you must examine all of the pieces of evidence around the scene. As a ghost, Ronan has certain abilities available to him such as temporarily possessing people in order to eavesdrop and even read minds of people around the scenes. Murdered: Soul Suspect also has combat and stealth segments as well throughout the game.
By finding collectables scattered throughout Salem, you can discover plenty about the game’s lore and history. There are over 300 collectables to find including clues and side cases. While this can help to pad out the run time, the game is not very long, with even completionist playthroughs often taking only about 10-11 hours.
Murdered: Soul Suspect received mixed reviews when it released. The gameplay was panned by most critics, usually citing the ease of the game and the poor combat sections. The story was often praised however and the general feel of a review often came down to how much that person was sucked into the story. User reviews have been much more positive, with Steam currently showing a Very Positive review score with 85% of players recommending it. While a sequel was originally discussed, the poor reception of the game ended those talks and caused Airtight Games to close down only a month after release.
Thank you so much for listening and thank you to Geoff for requesting today’s episode. If you want to request a game or just stay up to date on the projects I’m working on, follow me on Twitter @vg_oftheday. Archives and transcripts for every episode are available on videogameoftheday.com. Don’t forget to check back here tomorrow for another Video Game of the Day!
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Devin "Katosepe" Sloane is a long time gamer and host of the show Video Game of the Day. He firmly believes Darklands is the pinnacle of gaming achievement and this is a hill he will die upon. Where his nickname came from is a secret to everybody.
