It doesn't seem to have much in common with a bombastic 1980s action movie classic, but thanks to an unlikely brainwave upcoming spooky mystery adventure Murdered: Soul Suspect can thank Bruce Willis for its existence, developer Airtight has revealed.
The idea for the game, which follows a dead detective solving his own murder, came about when Yosuke Shiokawa, a designer working at Square Enix in Japan, was watching Die Hard. "He was thinking about interesting ghost stories and coincidentally was watching the movie Die Hard," Eric Studer, the game's producer explained to Eurogamer. "It wasn't so much the action of the movie, it was more about the tenacity of the character John McClane, his willpower and his strength of character."
Studer continued: "Shiokawa-san thought, well what if McClane had become a ghost trapped in this building? Because of who he is as a man he wouldn't just give up. He wouldn't just stop. He'd continue fighting. He'd continue finding a way to overcome his new limitations and bring his killers to justice. That was the start of it all. This strength of the character and then this desire to tell an interesting mystery ghost story."
Shiokawa then brought the idea to Airtight for development. In keeping with its ghostly hero, Murdered: Soul Suspect will let you walk through walls and even read the minds of other characters as you try to unearth the conspiracy behind your death. It's out for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC this spring.