Parents' Guide to

Murdered: Soul Suspect

By Chad Sapieha, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 16+

Supernatural mystery suffers design issues, weak writing.

Game Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Windows 2014
Murdered: Soul Suspect Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this game.

  • Murdered: Soul Suspect Game: Screenshot #1
  • Murdered: Soul Suspect Game: Screenshot #2
  • Murdered: Soul Suspect Game: Screenshot #3
  • Murdered: Soul Suspect Game: Screenshot #4

Community Reviews

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age 12+

Based on 2 parent reviews

Philip W.
Philip W. Parent of 13-year-old
March 31, 2023
age 11+

Not worth the m rating very few f-bombs and similar amount of swearing to a pg-13 movie

The game is overall a great game with only 1-2 f-bombs that were dropped around the beginning and your kids probably hear worse at school it the language was not worth the m rating and it isn’t very violent other than the fact that the main character dies at the beginning and it depicts a few deaths throughout the game if your kid wants to play it I say let them as long as you are comfortable with your kids hearing a couple f bombs and language that would be in a pg-13 movie along with some graphic scenes

This title has:

Great messages
Great role models
Jonathan_Bailey
Jonathan_Bailey Parent of 13, 15 and 16-year-old
July 29, 2014
age 13+

Really nothing a 13 year old can't handle, unless they're easily scared.

My son got Murdered Soul Suspect really cheap, and has had a good time with it from what I've heard. I've watched the gameplay, there's almost no violence you partake in at ALL. You do disintegrate floating wraith things, but that's about the extent. There is however depictions of violence in cut scenes, and in the fact that your character is murdered at the start of the game, and you play the entire game as a ghost. Because the game takes place with you dead, you encounter a lot of creepy beings, ghosts, wraiths, and other things as well, but not nightmare material. If you kid can handle some spooky stuff, it should be totally fine.There is some mild drugs, such as cigars and alcohol, but nothing in depth. The swearing is fairly mild, it does reach extreme levels, but it's nothing that kids don't hear at school. The main character is also a good role model, as he's working for justice to try to find and stop his, and many others, murderer, and have him brought to justice.

This title has:

Great role models
See all 2 parent reviews

What’s It About?

MURDERED: SOUL SUSPECT puts players in the shoes of Ronan O'Connor, a reformed criminal now serving as a detective for the Salem police force. He's murdered in the game's opening moments, thrown from a fourth-floor apartment window by a masked killer. Waking as a ghost, he's stuck in limbo until he completes unfinished business from his life -- namely, finding the person who killed him. Thus begins an otherworldly investigation that leads Ronan around the streets of Salem, where he learns that he has some pretty interesting powers, such as the ability to pass through solid objects, possess the living, and see the ghostly remnants of objects from troubled events of years gone by. He also meets plenty of other people stuck in limbo and decides to put his investigative powers to use by helping them solve the mysteries of their deaths, sending them floating up into a bright light when they're successful.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (2):
Kids say (5):

Murdered: Soul Suspect is bursting with promise that's never realized. The notion of playing as a dead detective working his own unsolved murder is tantalizing. And it's refreshing to see a game meant for older players that eschews constant fighting for something more cerebral -- namely, searching for clues and putting them together to solve mysteries. Add a few cool ghostly powers to help the character along -- for example, possessing people of interest to read their thoughts, influence them, or look through their eyes to see what they see is undeniably cool -- and you have a recipe for what should be a great game. Sadly, it never quite comes together.

The story relies on pretty much every gumshoe trope imaginable and delivers each through bland dialogue and surprisingly dull and repetitive thoughts that run through the heads of most of the people Ronan can possess -- a problem for a game that relies so heavily on storytelling. Making things worse are a host of design issues, such as the lack of an in-game map (which makes finding your way around Salem much harder than it needs to be). There also are half-baked, wholly unnecessary combat scenes with Ronan sneaking up on demons that feed on ghosts' souls to "execute" them. Happily, these fighting sequences are infrequent. There are some interesting kernels here that warrant a look for grown-up gamers searching for something a bit different, but even then Murdered: Soul Suspect isn't worth the full price.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the violent nature of the game's flashbacks. Although they aren't interactive, the content discussed in cut scenes and flashbacks is gruesome. What kind of impact could this content have on players?

  • What do you think happens when people die? The game features ghosts as they would appear in real life. Does this game present them in a way you'd imagine?

  • Families also can talk about being a detective. What sorts of qualities and traits might make someone good at solving crimes? Do you think a person with a criminal past might be better at figuring out how criminals think?

Game Details

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