Road to Release – Murdered: Soul Suspect

While fans might not have expected Airtight Games to go supernatural thriller on the haunted town of Salem, Massachusetts, Murdered: Soul Suspect might prove the exact change of direction the studio needs to capture gamers, especially since some of the industry veterans that formed Airtight Games back in 2004 came fresh from development of Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, one of the most beloved Xbox games of all time.

Since starting the studio, Jim Deal and the rest of the team developed and released Dark Void with Capcom, Quantum Conundrum with Murdered publisher Square Enix, and most recently Ouya-exclusive roguelike rhythm title Soul Fjord. With development on Soul Fjord and Murdered: Soul Suspect running alongside each other, you might worry that the ghostly tale of a detective on the trail of his own killer could get a little silly.

Thankfully, Murdered: Soul Suspect has always had procedural, investigative gameplay at the forefront. Players take on the role of Detective Ronan O'Connor whose haphazard involvement in a robbery brings his life to an end just in time to catch the killer.

Ronan gets trapped in "Dusk", a limbo world Ronan and other spirits inhabit in the town of Salem, Massachusetts which has its own supernatural history and a less than stellar track record with public executions of witches.

With numerous E3 awards under its belt, Murdered: Soul Suspect carries high expectations on its ghostly shoulders, but it'll be up to players to help Ronan unravel the mystery surrounding his and the deaths of others while doing battle with demonic forces. And believe me, Salem might as well be the demonic capitol of the Northeast.

 

Murdered: Soul Suspect drops players in Salem, Massachusetts, a town well-known for its own paranormal history. Salem has served as the backdrop for countless media centered around every kind of horrific event you can imagine. While Salem hasn't had many opportunities to appear in video games, Murdered probably couldn't have chosen a better setting for Ronan's tale of spiritual sleuthing.

Like any good horrifying locale, Salem was founded at the site of an ancient Native American village and saw a steady rotation of leaders up until the American Revolutionary War. Of course, everyone knows Salem for its fierce Puritan belief that witchcraft was real and that people who appeared to be possessed by demons should be drowned or hung.

In fact, almost two dozen people, mostly women, were executed on the grounds that individuals around town believed them to practice witchcraft. Robert Calef documented the hangings:

"And now Nineteen persons having been hang'd, and one prest to death, and Eight more condemned, in all Twenty and Eight, of which above a third part were Members of some of the Churches of New England, and more than half of them of a good Conversation in general…"

Today, the citizens of Massachusetts celebrate Halloween and the memory of the town's witchcraft trials with lavish and extravagant decorations, costumes, events, and even a parade. Now that Murdered: Soul Suspect hero Ronan O'Connor is dead like the witches of Salem, I wonder if he finds the All Hallows' Eve celebrations funny.

 

Square Enix and Airtight Games released a 25 minute walkthrough of Murdered: Soul Suspect during last year's E3 convention, so check out all the gameplay you'll need to see ahead of release in the video above. Eric Studer, senior design producer on Murdered provides the play-by-play to lead us through the demo.

At Gamescom, Airtight Games and Square Enix revealed "The Witness" trailer, detailing the challenge Ronan has uncovering his own murder and the first lead players have on the trail. This trailer shows off how Ronan can use possession to his advantage.

"The night that sonofabitch killed me, I thought I could take him, I thought I knew what I was dealing with, I thought it started and ended with me… I was wrong." Ronan O'Connor might be on the trail of his own killer, but many more could fall by the murderer's hands if players don't follow up on every lead.

If you only watch one video before Murdered: Soul Suspect lands on store shelves on June 3rd, make it this overview "101 Trailer" to get the information you need without spoiling Ronan's story or the mysterious town of Salem, MA.

 

While the mystery will unfold for players, Murdered: Soul Suspect features one hell of a set up. When you consider what it would be like to become a ghost, a newly dead soul with an entire life behind you and an entire afterlife ahead of you, you might know true fear.

While Ronan O'Connor has the detective skills to follow his murderer and bring him to justice, you'll be solving a lot more than your own death in the game. The Salem serial killer has been dubbed "The Bell Killer" and uses a different means to end his victims lives, but Ronan gets unceremoniously thrown out a window.

Ronan's back story is told through a series of flashbacks with a focus on his many tattoos, but eventually he hits the pavement and even encounters his deceased wife, Julia, who starts Ronan on the journey of discovery that will unveil the identity of the Bell Killer and bring him to justice.

Segmenting investigative gameplay, Airtight Games have included stealth sequences where Ronan uses ghostly abilities to avoid demons while side missions involve helping other dead trapped in limbo to move on into the afterlife. The narrative will continue to expand with each new Bell Killer victim, in addition to collectable items and the Salem environment itself.

While mystery continues to surround Murdered: Soul Suspect and Ronan's story, we can't wait to discover the true identity of the Bell Killer. For more, read our recent hands-on preview from March.