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Murdered: Soul Suspect’s chief creative officer has admitted that he’d never even heard of Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective when work on the project began, telling VideoGamer.com that he was relieved when he discovered the two games shared little in common.
“I wasn’t even aware of Ghost Trick until we were well underway on this project,” said Matthew Brunner, VP of Airtight and chief creative officer of Murdered, “and then someone says, ‘Have you played this?’ And I was like, ‘What the hell is this? … It made me nervous when I first found out about that.”
But despite sharing a similar concept to Ghost Trick – both games see a ghostly apparition attempting to discover the truth behind their murder – Brunner claims that Airtight’s game is “very different” to Capcom’s.
“I’d say the high concept there are some similarities,” he continues, “but when it comes down to the look, the feel, the vibe, [and] the actual gameplay, it’s very different… [Manipulation] is not a big part of the game. There’s a little bit of environment manipulation but it’s minimal.”
One of the biggest differences, Brunner claims, is that Murdered is far less puzzle-focussed than Ghost Trick.
“There are puzzle elements but I wouldn’t call it a puzzle game,” he adds. “Honestly, we designed [Murdered] so it felt like an investigation. Intrinsically, if you think an investigation is a puzzle then yes, I guess it could be a puzzle game at some level. But because ‘puzzle game’ usually implies a very different kind of gameplay…
“This just requires you to pay attention to clues and think about what they might mean, and we have worked really hard to embed many, many mysteries in the broader mystery so that as you’re unfolding these smaller mysteries they all build into one big reveal at the end.”
Murdered: Soul Suspect is due to release on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC in early 2014. And although its launch date puts it behind the release of next-gen consoles, Brunner believes the game ‘looks better’ than some Xbox One and PS4 titles.
