History VideoGame / MurderedSoulSuspect

''Murdered: Soul Suspect'' is a 2014 VideoGame, published by Creator/SquareEnix and developed by Airtight Games, which released on UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows, UsefulNotes/{{Xbox 360}}, UsefulNotes/PlayStation3, UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, and UsefulNotes/XboxOne.

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/murdered_soul_suspect_artwork_logo_2863.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:250:''[[Music/DanBull Woke up in a murder scene, a ghost interred in Purgatory, a dude determined to determine who has murdered me]]''...]]

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: The Bell Killer is copying the deaths from the Salem witch trials, which is why all his victims are women, and the methods of killing include hanging, crushing, drowning and burning. In reality, no one was killed by burning or drowning in the witch trials, and several of those executed were men.

''Murdered: Soul Suspect'' is a 2014 VideoGame, published by Creator/SquareEnix and developed by Airtight Games, and scheduled for release on UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows, UsefulNotes/{{Xbox 360}}, UsefulNotes/PlayStation3, UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, and UsefulNotes/XboxOne.

* DeaderThanDead: Ronan can "execute" demons he manages to get the drop on. Whether this actually destroys the corrupted ghost or just forces them to cross over is unclear.

* GoodColorsEvilColors: Human ghosts are blue, demons are red. Subverted, however, in that some of the ghosts are {{Asshole Victim}}s.

* SuspiciousVideoGameGenerosity: Averted. The hiding spots first appear when the demons are introduced, so the logical assumption is that where there are hiding spots, there'll be demons sooner or later. This is not the case — hiding spots are all over town while demons are mercifully rare. Since the two are not connected lore-wise either, it makes the world feel less like a game that only caters to the player. However the ravens occasionally seen ''are'' a sign that there are demons ahead and you'll have to use them.

As he searches for the truth about the night he died, Ronan comes a [[ISeeDeadPeople teenage medium]] named Joy who's looking for her missing mom. Joy is the only living person Ronan can interact with (given that he's dead and all), which comes in handy for investigating crime scenes and the like.

* AncientConspiracy: [[spoiler: The Bell Killer has been operating for over three hundred years.]]

** [[spoiler:To be fair, in one of the side investigations you find out that the woman is a murderer herself and likely didn't want to attract police scrutiny.]]
* AssholeVictim: Several of the ghosts that you can talk to are this, including [[spoiler:the BigBad, Abigail Williams.]]

* BittersweetEnding: Zig-zagged. No matter what happens, Ronan is still dead. Nothing you do is going to change this. Then again, he goes to heaven with his wife so...

* BookEnds: Shortly after his death, Ronan fails to reunite with his wife in heaven and then asks a few questions to Abigail which ended when a portal of hell opens. [[spoiler: The game ends in reverse, Ronan again interrogates Abigail and then sends her to hell via the portal she opens. Following this, he heard the voice of his wife, finally being able to cross over and reunites with her]].

* ChekhovsGun: When you meet Joy, the fact that her scream can affect ghosts is listed as a clue. [[spoiler: Cut to the very end of the game, where that clue is what you must use to influence Joy]].

** [[spoiler: While not a Demon, Abigail uses several living hosts to carry out her murders on mediums.]]

* DraggedOffToHell: Ronan can suffer this if he is not careful to avoid the demon arms reaching out of the ground. [[spoiler: This is Abigail's final fate.]]

** In the beginning of the game, a hell portal opens up randomly after Ronan speaks to Abigail. [[spoiler: Come the end of the game, Abigail reveals she can open them.]]

* ItsAllAboutMe: [[spoiler:Abigail]] seems to have this mindset. [[spoiler:She]] sees nothing wrong with using [[spoiler:her own powers]] to ''falsely'' condemn other people to death, then actually has the nerve to say that [[spoiler:she]] is ''better'' than the people that [[spoiler:she killed.]] [[spoiler:She]] even has this mindset when confronted by the leader of the Salem townspeople when he comes to visit [[spoiler:her in jail.]]

* KarmaHoudini: The first side mission involves Ronan helping a ghost discover where her body is, along the way discovering her killers. Unfortunately, being a ghost and not having met Joy at this point (and never getting around to telling her when he does,) there's nothing he can do about it so the killers get away scot free. There's also a StalkerWithACrush who's implied to have [[MurderTheHypotenuse Murdered The Hypotenuse]] repeatedly, and even though he died at some point he has no problem with it because now he can continue stalking her for life without her ever knowing.

* PersonalityPowers: According to Abigail, the unique powers that a ghost has are based on the talents they had before they died. Ronan's power appears to be {{psychometry}} (memory reading of places) and mind reading, to fit in with being a detective. [[spoiler:Abigail herself, as [[KidsAreCruel an absolutely horrible human being]] who focuses on manipulation, has far stronger DemonicPossession powers enabling her to better control her victims and the ability to summon [[HellGate hell pits]].]]

* ReformedButRejected: Baxter adamantly refused to see Ronan as anything but a common criminal even after he became a cop. Made a bit more reasonable because Rex helped sweep Ronan's past under the rug so that he ''could'' become a cop - he'd have been rejected outright with his rap sheet.

* SalemIsWitchCountry: In the BackStory, the trials executed several [[ISeeDeadPeople mediums]], falsely accused of gaining their powers from a DealWithTheDevil. [[spoiler: The BigBad is the ghost of Abigail Williams, the girl who condemned several women to their death with her accusations during the trials, who is possessing people to kill mediums as the [[SerialKiller Bell Killer]].]]
* ScarsAreForever: Some ghosts retain the wounds that killed them in life. For example, Ronan, who was shot, has seven bullet holes in his chest, and Rose, who was burned at the stake, is still on fire and burned badly in several places. [[spoiler: Baxter, who is shot through the eye, also retains that wound in his ghost form.]]

* StoryBranching: The game has actually been compared to {{Gamebooks}} -- as being a choose your own adventure game with only one ending, since even if you choose the wrong clues in crime scenes it has no effect on the story; you just keep choosing more clues until you do get them.

* SuspiciousVideoGameGenerosity: Averted. The hiding spots first appear when the demons are introduced, so the logical assumption is that where there are hiding spots, there'll be demons sooner or later. This is not the case - hiding spots are all over town while demons are mercifully rare. Since the two are not connected lore-wise either, it makes the world feel less like a game that only caters to the player. However the ravens occasionally seen ''are'' a sign that there are demons ahead and you'll have to use them.

** {{Discussed}} by the morticians examining his body - one is trying to analyze the meaning of each tattoo, while the senior of the pair brushes it off as meaningless since he's now dead.
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Baxter doesn't appear to be looked upon favorably by the rest of the police, though considering his {{Jerkass}} behavior it's not really surprising.

* {{Gamebook}}: The game has actually been compared to one of these books -- as being a choose your own adventure game with only one ending, since even if you choose the wrong clues in crime scenes it has no effect on the story; you just keep choosing more clues until you do get them.

* StandardFemaleGrabArea: Played completely straight (although in ghost form, but still...)

* SuspiciousVideoGameGenerosity: Averted. The hiding spots first appear when the demons are introduced, so the logical assumption is that where there are hiding spots, there'll be demons sooner or later. This is not the case - hiding spots are all over town while demons are mercifully rare. Since the two are not connected lore-wise either, it makes the world feel less like a game that only caters to the player.
** However the ravens occasionally seen ''are'' a sign that there are demons ahead and you'll have to use them.

* ChooseYourOwnAdventure: The game has actually been compared to one of these books - as being a choose your own adventure game with only one ending, since even if you choose the wrong clues in crime scenes it has no effect on the story; you just keep choosing more clues until you do get them.