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Tech

‘Murder’ Is a Game About the Ethics of Putting Down Sentient Killer Robots

MURDER, it beeped.

The trailer for Murder, a short, dystopian point-and-click adventure from developer Peter Moorhead, opens with a death knell for a robot: a computerized and glitched-up crooning of "Daisy Bell."

That song should be symbolic to anyone who's seen 2001: A Space Odyssey or anyone who knows the early history of IBM. It's the first song a computer's ever sung, and ostensibly the first instance where people could mistake a machine's non-sentience for something a bit more.

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That possible sentience is where plenty of horror stories crop up, and it's where Murder finds its start: the game begins when a robot finds reason to kill, and when a robot finds a "self" that can be killed. Much like Blade Runner, the game acts out a morality play about sentience and choice starring humans and robots.

It's not terribly original by any means. Regular fans of dystopian films and games can find many of its scenes predictable and familiar. That said, the game plays and looks spectacular for adventure games in its class. The pixel art is crisp, colors vibrant, and gameplay very familiar to people who have played any similar cyberpunk point-and-click adventures. And lines are fully voice-acted.

At $2.99 ($2.50 from the Humble Store), the game's an instant purchase if you're any fan of dystopian robo-revolution stories. Just don't expect it to serve you anything haven't already seen somewhere else before.