Murdered: Soul Suspect is a graphic adventure developed by the now-defunct studio Airtight Games and published in 2014 by Square Enix for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

The game is played from a third-person perspective controlling a detective from the police department of the fictional city of Salem. At the start of the game, Ronan is murdered by 'The Bell Ringer,' a serial killer terrorizing the city; however, Ronan returns as a ghost after being told by his late wife, Julia, that he must solve the mystery of the Bell Killer before he can reunite with her.

*Murdered* received mixed reviews; most criticism focused on the stealth sequences, its short length, and low difficulty. The game also received praise for certain aspects of its story and original concept.

Gameplay[edit]

Set in a fictionalized version of the real city of Salem, Massachusetts. Locations to explore include a church, an apartment building, a cemetery, a police station, and a museum. The player completes levels to progress through the game.¹ There are hundreds of collectibles in the game, including 'Ghost Girl Messages' and items in each area that reveal various ghost stories.² As Ronan is a ghost, he can read the minds of the living and possess the bodies of cats.³ Each area must be investigated, and clues are collected in a manner similar to the video game *L.A. Noire*.⁴

Plot[edit]

In Salem, a serial killer known as the Bell Killer has murdered several women. Police detective Ronan O'Connor encounters the killer in an apartment, but is thrown out of the window and shot seven times with his own gun. He returns as a ghost and his late wife, Julia, tells him that he must first discover the identity of his killer before he can reach the other side. With the help of Abigail, the ghost of a Puritan, Ronan learns to use his ghostly powers. He soon realizes that a young medium named Joy was in the apartment, witnessed the struggle, and is now hiding in a church. Ronan visits her and is surprised to discover that she can see and hear him.

Joy is searching for her missing mother, Cassandra—another medium who had been assisting the police with the Bell Ringer case. He initially refuses to help Ronan but later decides they could make good allies. Ronan discovers that Baxter, an officer who hated him, had been working with Cassandra. The search for Cassandra leads them to Ashland Cemetery, where they encounter the ghost of Sophia, a girl drowned by the Bell Ringer. Ronan's powers allow him to see flashbacks of the murder. Sophia reveals that the killer asked her for a 'contract'.

Reviewing Cassandra's journal leads them to a psychiatric hospital to find a surviving victim, Iris. With their help, they deduce that the killer is murdering mediums. Ronan goes to the museum to see an exhibition on the Salem Witch Trials. There, he deduces that the killer is executing his victims as if they were witches; one of his flashbacks reveals that Baxter hid something in the museum, making him the prime suspect.

Back at the church, Ronan sees that the Bell Ringer has killed Iris and the priest. I try to defend her. With the help of the church cat, Ronan finds a key and discovers it opens the gate to an abandoned mansion: the House of Judgment, where the old judges lived during the Puritan era. There, Ronan uncovers evidence that the murders have been occurring for hundreds of years.

Ronan discovers Baxter's corpse and his ghost, who reveals he was killed by the Ringer while tracking him. He also clarifies that Cassandra is alive and hiding in a safe house. In the basement, a flashback reveals that Abigail had been imprisoned there before being hanged; her crime was accusing several innocent people of being witches. Abigail rang a bell, vowing never to stop until it tolled for all the witches; to achieve this, she made a pact with demons and gained inhuman powers.

Ronan returns to the museum to discover that his brother-in-law Rex—possessed by Abigail's spirit—is the Bell Ringer, and is preparing to hang Joy on the gallows. Ronan and Abigail battle by inflicting painful memories upon one another. These memories reveal that Abigail possessed many people to commit the Bell Ringer murders. Among the possessed was Ronan himself.

Abigail summons a demonic portal to swallow Ronan, but she falls in herself and goes to hell..

Joy is safe and later reunites with her mother. Ronan can finally reunite with his wife, Julia.