The 2010’s was a great decade to be a gamer especially since we had so many titles from various different genres that ended up appearing on game systems like the PS4, PS3, Xbox One and Xbox 360. It should also be noted that Square Enix had its share of high profile video games from the 2010’s decade including Final Fantasy XV (2016), Tomb Raider (2013), Kingdom Hearts III (2019) and more. One of Square Enix’s most interesting and arguably underrated titles from the 2010’s was Murdered: Soul Suspect from 2014 which was developed by Alright Games. Murdered: Soul Suspect is game felt like a cross between L.A. Noire and Silent Hill because the overall atmosphere and tone of the game was dark and ghoulish. There is no question that Murdered: Soul Suspect was darker than L.A. Noire (2011) considering the fact that players control someone who has been violently killed and worked as a detective in the spiritual realm. The story for Murdered: Soul Suspect highlights the rough life that the main protagonist Ronan O’Conner had growing up getting arrested for crimes such as assault & battery and receiving gang tattoos all over his body before working for the Salem Police Department.
In the beginning of the game Ronan O’Conner is murdered by the main antagonist known as the “Bell Killer” after he attempted to confront him without backup from anyone on the Salem police force. Afterwards, Ronan O’Conner’s soul leaves his body and he is in shock that he’s dead and communicates with various other murdered victims from the spiritual realm. Throughout, the game O’Connor develops his supernatural ghost abilities where he could posses, influence and read the minds of other people as he tries to solve mysteries and gather clues in relation to the Bell Killer. Players could travel to multiple locations including a graveyard, church or even an apartment building. Ronan was assisted in developing his abilities throughout the game by a little ghost girl Puritan descent named Abigail Williams who was later revealed to be the Bell Killer. The story for Murdered: Soul Suspect was could be completed within a few hours and the game did not have much of a replay value and the game itself felt pretty repetitive. If Murdered: Soul Suspect had multiple endings like Heavy Rain (2010) that would have made the quality of the game somewhat better. The story in general for Murdered: Soul Suspect was pretty good but Ronan O’Conner was a character that people would probably have a hard time relating to. Murdered: Soul Suspect is a game that clearly catered to a niche audience of gamers who love to sequel later down the line. However, its known fact that the developer for Murdered: Soul Suspect had shut down their studio back in July 2014 about a month after the game’s release. As the 2010’s decade progressed the mystery-thriller crime genre declined in popularity with more preference being given to fantasy based action-adventure and RPG games in general.
Gaming Hearts Collection 