Murdered: Soul Suspect takes place in a fictionalized version of Salem. Played in a third-person view, the player navigates the protagonist, Ronan, around town. There are multiple areas in Salem to explore, such as a church, an apartment building, and a graveyard. The player completes levels in order to progress further into the game.[2] There are hundreds of collectibles in the game, including 'Ghost Girl Messages' and various different types of scraps of paper which contain information about Ronan's life.[3] Since the character is a ghost, he has a number of ghostly abilities such as teleportation and possession.[4] Each area has clues to collect to progress through the level and the story; the clues are found in a way similar to L.A. Noire's investigation sequences.[5]