Murderous Pursuits – Beginner’s Guide

This guide aims to inform new players of each intricate part of the game, Murderous Pursuits. By the end of this guide I hope you will have picked up on some new knowledge that you can apply to your own game.
I’ve kept hints pretty minimal as to not give too much away.

About the Game

All credit goes to StealthRanger1032!

Murderous Pursuits is a kill or be killed stealth-em-up multiplayer assassination experience aboard the H.M.C.S. Brittanic – a time travelling ship visiting our prehistoric past. Tonight is the night of Queen Victoria’s Jubilee celebrations so a ship-wide party is underway. However all is not well on the vessel – the masterful masked murderer Mr. X has revealed himself to you and his plans to hijack the mission. On this night, he seeks a worthy partner in crime to do most dastardly deeds. First, you must prove yourself in a little game of cat and mouse. However, you’re not the only one vowing for his favour. So dispose of your competitors with the utmost poise and politeness for they are a threat to your quest. Nevertheless at the end, there can only be one winner. So may the most magnificently murderous win.

Basic Controls

The basic controls on how to play Murderous Pursuits can be found in the game tutorial. Nevertheless, here is the controls for playing the game:

• Walk – WASD
• Fast walk – Hold Space + WASD
• Sprint – Hold Shift + WASD
• Ability 1 – Q
• Ability 2 – E
• Favour table – F
• Close hint – X
• Scoreboard – Tab
• Chat – Return
• Menu – Esc
• Attack or interact – Mouse 1
• Target lock – Mouse 2

Caption – These are the basic controls shown in the in-game tutorial.

Target Lock

Struggling to stay locked onto a target or want to attack a quarry in a crowd? Use target lock!
To apply a lock hold the Right Mouse Button and hover over the character you want to lock to then release it. Cancelling a lock is as easy as tapping the Right Mouse Button again. However, if you lose sight of your quarry you have 2.0 seconds before your lock is lost.

Other than that, there is nothing much more to say about controls. They’re basic and easy to understand. Gamers should pick up this common key layout quickly.

Basic UI

Basic Movement

In order to go anywhere in Murderous Pursuits you need to choose a mode of movement. Currently in the game you can either: walk, fast walk or run. These are the base speeds of each one:

• Walk – 2.00 m/s – the slowest but most exposure efficient movement.
• Fast walk – 2.44 m/s – a brisk walking speed that consumes exposure twice times as fast. This movement is great for getting where you need to go in a hurry.
• Run – 2.84 m/s – the fastest but most obvious movement. While running your exposure rises five times as fast as a walk. So sprint sparingly!

The Hunt

Winning Condition

At the end of ten minutes the candidate with the most favour wins the game. So be sure to maximise your favour by deftly killing your quarries while stunning your hunters for bonus favour.

How it Works

At the start of the hunt you will be assigned a quarry and a hunter. Throughout the course of the hunt:

• Use the quarry tracker to hunt your quarry.
• Use the hunter indicator to detect nearby hunters.
• Use your intuition to take note of player models or identities.
• Use target lock to mark a target, to kill a quarry or to stun a hunter in a crowd.
• If you kill a quarry it will take time before your next target is assigned.
• If you get stunned by your quarry they will no longer be your target, a new quarry will be assigned.
• If you become exposed both your quarry and hunters are alerted of your presence.
• Only high scoring players may be assigned two hunters at a time.

Gamemode Specfic Mechanics

The hunt has its own set of specific mechanics unique to the gamemode, these are the:

• Quarry Tracker.
• Ability to Stun a Hunter.

These unique mechanics will be covered in the following sections.

Free-for-All

Winning Condition

In a free-for-all the candidate with the highest favour at the end of the ten minute match wins. So be sure to deftly kill your fellow candidates in the most creatively cruel ways to maximise your favour.

How it Works

At the start of a free-for-all every other player is both your hunter and your quarry. Therefore, this is indeed the most murderous gamemode. Throughout the course of a free-for-all:

• Use the hunter indicator to detect nearby players and kill them. 
• Use your intuition to take note of player models or identities. 
• Use target lock to mark suspicious characters or to kill a fellow candidate in a crowd. 
• If you kill a player you’re awarded the favour for the kill and your victim respawns as normal. 
• If you become exposed all other players can see your location. Expect to get swarmed. 

Gamemode Specific Mechanics

Free-for-all has its own set of specific mechanics unique to the gamemode, these are that:

• All other players are both your quarries and your hunters. 
• Hunter indicator displays the status of all player hunters in the game.

These unique mechanics will be covered in the following sections.

Elimination

Eliminate your fellow candidates in five rounds of eliminations.

Winning Condition

In an elimination the candidate with the highest favour at the end of the five round will win. In this gamemode it is important you stay stealthy and kill fellow candidates quietly as to not draw attention to yourself.

Round Ending Condition

A round of elimination ends when either one survivor remains or the three minute timer runs out.

How it Works

At the start of an elimination round all players spawn concealed inside a vignette and only have one life. Therefore, this gamemode is a real test of your ability to strategise your movements and kill while concealed. Throughout the course of a elimination round:

• Use the hunter indicator to detect nearby players and to see whether players are hiding or not. 
• Use your intuition to take note of player models or identities. 
• Use target lock to mark suspicious characters or to kill fellow candidates in a crowd. 
• If you kill a player you’re awarded the favour for the kill and they’re eliminated for the round. 
• If you get eliminated by a player you’re out for the round and enter spectate mode. 
• As more players are eliminated or time pases, a capture point spawns into the game. 
• Capture point spawns in one of two locations. 
• Win round by either eliminating all other players or capturing the point. 
• Rounds automatically end after three minutes of play. 

Gamemode Specific Mechanics

Elimination has its own set of mechanics unique to the gamemode, these include:

• Players only get given one life per round. 
• Capture point spawns in during each round. 
• Eliminated players enter spectate mode. 
• Hunter indicator displays status of players and whether they are eliminated. 
• Last survivor bonus of 10 favour is awarded to the winner of each round. 
• Games are played over five rounds.

Caption – Shows the stages of the capture point over a round. Once captured you kill other players with a T-Rex chomp.

The Capture Point

Once captured the point automatically kills all other players alive at the end of the round. This point spawns into the round either when:

• Half of the players have been eliminated from the round. 
• In-game timer reaches 90 seconds before the round ends. 

When either of these conditions is met it will spawn in for 30 seconds in one of two locations on each map. Exactly where it is spawning is marked on your HUD as well as how long you have before it is spawned in.

If you are close to the capture point you can capture it by interacting with it, this takes 8 seconds. When the capture symbol is full red then it has been fully captured and eliminates all other players. Capture point kills give 5 favour per kill in addition to the last survivor bonus of 10 favour.

Helpful Hint – Capturing Points

Capturing the point when there is other players around you puts you at risk of elimination. You can cancel capturing a point but this takes 0.5 seconds which could be all they need to kill you.

Helpful Hint – Point Pies

Before capturing a point place a pie nearby to protect you while capping. In a 1v1 situation this is a tie breaker which guarantees you win by either elimination or capturing the point.

Quarry Tracker

The quarry tracker aids the hunter in his hunt of their quarry in the hunt. The tracker displays which floor your quarry is on, by aligning the centre of the green bar to the centre of the tracker gives their direction. A quarry’s proximity is measured by how full the bar becomes, full and flashing means your target is close. While if the bar is slowly filling this means you’re getting closer to your quarry.

Keep in mind, the tracker only takes you to the quarry’s location, it is up to your deduction who your target is. So keep on the lookout for any non-NPC actions or quarry movement that breaks your close proximity.

Caption – This is what the quarry tracker looks like in the hunt.

Helpful Hint – Quarries

When approaching a quarry lay outside their detection range. Keeping the quarry tracker fixed on your target you can figure out where they are and who they are.

Hunter Indicator

The hunter indicator assists you, as a quarry, by informing what your hunters are doing and if they are close. There are many states the indicator will be in over the course of a game, so it’s important to know what each means:

• Grey question mark – a hunter has hidden themselves in a vignette. Be extra careful around vignettes from now, because your hunter could be anywhere. 
• Grey one skull – a hunter is actively pursuing your position. However they’re not close enough to trigger your hunter indicator. 
• Grey multiple skulls – multiple hunters are actively pursuing your position. Now is not the time to give yourself away, instead slip into the shadows. 
• Red one skull – a hunter is nearby! Keep cool and lookout for any suspicious activity because they’re very close. Choose to fight, flight or die wondering. 
• Red multiple skulls – many hunters are on top of you! Don’t panic because they might not know who you are. Keep an eye out and stun any who dare approach you. 

Caption – This is what the hunter indicator looks like in free-for-all. For hunt it’ll be one/two symbols.

Helpful Hint – Hunters

When a hunter triggers your indicator keep a sharp lookout. Be ready to identify them and put an end to their murderous masterplan before they execute it.

Identifying a Player

Now you know what each indicator does and how it works. However, like any good hunter or quarry in this game, you’ll need to be able to identify players without relying on indicators. So… How do you identify player identities at a distance? Simple, look for certain actions possible for a player but impossible for an NPC.

So what are commonly used player identifiers in the game? In Murderous Pursuits there are many ways you can give yourself away as a player, including:

• Weapon pickups – if I see anyone pick up weapons I instantly know you’re a player. So please, avoid falling for the weapon box traps. 
• Attacking – again a dead giveaway to nearby players. In hunt you maybe fine killing quarries in the open but in other game modes that is a different story. 
• Attackers twitch – occurs when a player accidentally attacks in vignette. It not only kicks you from vignette, but makes you look silly waving at thin air. 
• Abilities – area of effects abilities, disguise and pies are a great way to give yourself away. Don’t be the dude who disguises dangerously. 
• Arrested – pretty simple. If you’re guilty of a crime, I’ll be sure to make quick time to punish your poor performance. 
• Erratic movement – NPCs know where they are going and players sadly do not. If you keep changing your mind or don’t settle I know who to look for. 
• NPC reactions – after each murder any NPC in the immediate vicinity will react. If you’re the only one in a room not reacting, then I know you were the killer. 
• Vignette twitch – occurs when a player accidentally moves in vignette. This usually results in you panicking back into vignette and giving me your locale. 
• Vignette pie – commonly players place pies in vignettes to defend their position. While in doing so you give it away to players who pay attention. 
• Standing in doorways – players stand in doorways to monitor adjacent rooms. Keep in mind a player in vignette could see your stationary statue. 
• Teleportation – what is a multiplayer game without a little player teleportation. To be fair during games nearly all players will be high on some sort of pingerz. 
• Running – NPCs don’t run, why should you? Seriously, fast walking is superior. 
• Exposure – nothing says I’m a player more than literally exposing yourself. 

Helpful Hint – Exposure Fishing

A strategy that means to intentionally expose yourself to your quarry or hunter. Then use their overconfidence to lure them into an arrest, ambush or pie trap. Can backfire though.

Disposing of Players

Now you know the identity of your target, the next step is how to approach them. So, how does one approach a fellow candidate for a kill? There are many options, including:

• Despicable Disguise – out of the target’s line of sight use disguise. Then casually approach your target like an NPC, they’ll never know you’re it. Follow up with a target takedown. 
• NPC Escort – travel with a group of NPCs to your quarry’s locale, making it harder to pinpoint your identity. Capitalise on this confusion with a swift kill. 
• Flash ‘n’ Dash – approach your target and use flash to render them useless. Even if they know it’s you, they’re powerless to stop you. 
• Counter Charge/Coward – make yourself obvious to your target. When close activate counter so that their attack is flipped into a kill. 
• Pie Present – using an NPC escort and under the cover of Bobby plant a pie under the feet of your target. All they can do is run away or taste the pie. 
• Just Jam’em – using an NPC escort approach your target. When near activate disrupt to jam their hunter HUD. They will be confused who is the hunter. 
• Vignette Hop – get closer to a target by hopping into nearby vignettes. When they approach your position ambush them for bonus favour. 
• Arrest Attraction – under the cover of Bobby trick your target into attacking you. While they get arrested plant a pie near their feet or ready your flash for easy pickings. May not work on experienced players. 

Helpful Hint – You’re a Player Too

As a player yourself you must keep on a look out if your fellow candidates decide to use any of these tactics. Be ready to swiftly foil their plans before they get too comfortable.

Vignettes

Vignettes are areas where you can blend into your surroundings and figure out the identity of players. Entering one takes 0.5 seconds while if you’re exposed it takes an additional 1.0 second to hide. After this time your exposure will begin to decrease. While in vignette you conceal yourself from your quarry’s hunter HUD, preventing them from tracking your position. This makes vignettes excellent ambush positions. Mr. X loves deft kills and will award 5 additional favour for any quarry killed from vignette.

Beware that any movement or attack in vignette will kick you out, making you exposed to your quarry’s hunter HUD. If your quarry is nearby enough to detect you moving out of or into vignette then you’re as good as exposed, they know it’s you.

Types of Vignettes

In Murderous Pursuits there are three main types of vignettes, these are:

• Single vignette – small circle – tend to be in halls or corners of a room. Usually is filled with no more than 1 NPC at a time. 
• Long vignette – long rectangle – tend to be along walkways or walls of a room. Usually is filled with no more than 4 NPCs at a time. 
• Large vignette – large circle – tend to be in open areas and choke points. Usually filled with no more than 4 NPCs at a time. 

Caption – This is what a single vignette looks like. All vignettes are marked with dashed outlines.

Helpful Hint – Vignette Numbers

If a vignette has more NPCs than usual, be suspicious. There maybe hunters hiding in it, so it pays to always tread lightly around crowded vignettes.

Helpful Hint – Vignette Choice

When choosing a vignette to settle in opt for less populated ones. Why? Hunters maybe hidden and crowds are easier to reveal, so stay stealthy.

Exposure

Exposure steadily increases over time while you are outside of a vignette. The rate your exposure increases depends on your movement. If we assume exposure is out of 100 points, 0 points while in vignette and 100 points while exposed. Then this is the rate each movement increases your exposure level:

• Stationary – 2.0 points per second ~ 50 seconds till exposed 
• Walking – 1.9 points per second ~ 53 seconds till exposed 
• Fast walking – 3.8 points per second ~ 26 seconds till exposed 
• Running or sprinting – 10.0 points per second ~ 10 seconds till exposed 

Additionally exposure effects the bonus receive from killing a quarry. This bonus favour ranges from 1 to 5 depending on your exposure level. Generally, the less time out of vignette the more bonus favour is awarded. Note any kills while exposed give minimal favour.

If you don’t monitor your exposure level then you will become exposed. While exposed your quarry and hunters see you marked on their HUD. Quarry kills while exposed give minimal favour in Mr. X’s eyes. If your quarry is exposed you’ll see a green target icon appear, while if your hunter is exposed then a red skull icon will appear.

Caption – This shows the difference between becoming exposed (left) and being exposed (right).

Extra ways to end up Exposed

In Murderous Pursuits there are also other ways to become exposed, these are:

• Getting arrested – being caught by Bobby doing diabolical deeds will leave you exposed and defenceless. 
• Humiliating – after humiliating a quarry’s corpse you’ll be left exposed. 
• Attacking an innocent passenger – Mr. X dislikes you attacking NPCs so you’ll be left exposed after a fumbled attack. 

Helpful Hint – Sprinting

Sprinting is a speedy way to become exposed, so do it sparingly. Only run to an arrest, to ambush a quarry, or to quickly reposition but that’s about it.

Guards

Throughout your stay on the H.M.C.S. Brittanic you’ll become quite acquainted with your new Bobby friend. He’ll both be your protector and worst nightmare…until he falls asleep. It is then all hell breaks loose on the ship floor. But before you start slaying quarries while Bobby slumbers it’ll be helpful to know how guard AI works.

Guard AI Cycle

Every guard you see in Murderous Pursuits is operating on exactly the same patrol cycle. These are the stages of a guard’s patrol:

• Patrolling – active – guards march at a speed of 0.6 m/s to a series of fixed rest points. Usually these rest points are ~20 seconds away from each other. 
• Resting – active – at a rest point guards are awake for ~10 seconds before they fall asleep. 
• Sleeping – deactivated – before resting is complete guards quickly scan around before falling asleep for ~20 seconds. Be sure to capitalise on this opportunity. 
• Arresting – deactivated – guards run at a speed of 4.0 m/s to the crime. While apprehended you’re held hostage for 5 seconds before you can move. Total arrest down time is ~15 seconds so be sure to snag this opportunity. 

When do you know you’re in a guard’s detection radius?

Guards have a detection radius of 10 metres which can become deactivated if they are either sleeping or arresting. If you’re within a guard’s area of detection while they’re active a red whistle will appear on the bottom of the screen. While if this area of detection is deactivated the red whistle becomes a grey crossed whistle. That is the universal signal to start dealing in diabolical deeds.

Caption – This shows the difference between guard active (left) and guard deactived (right).

Helpful Hint – Guard Immunity

Guards can protect your position as a quarry or hunter. While guarded use pies to kill a quarry or humiliate a hunter. Alternatively, just wait till Bobby nods off or walks far enough away.

Weapons

Each game you start with a low favour weapon and new, higher favour weapons are scattered in boxes throughout the environment. Every weapon you pick up has a different bonus favour value ranging from 1 to 5 favour. This is indicated on the weapon icon over the boxes.

If you kill a quarry with a weapon you are granted bonus favour for weapon. After each kill the favour table updates and the equipped weapon returns to the lowest favour weapon. It is important to note that if you get killed with a weapon you keep it for your next life, all is not lost.

Helpful Hint – Weapons

Throughout games always look out for high favour weapons. They may be hiding in smaller rooms so be sure to snag them when given the chance.

Scoring

For every murderous pursuit you have a chance to move Mr. X more with the many bonuses. In essence the more creative and cunning the kill is the more of Mr. X’s favour you’ll earn. The many favour bonuses include:

• Ambush – 5 favour – execute a quarry while hiding in a vignette.
• Backstab – 4 favour – sneak up behind a quarry and kill them from behind.
• Kill streak – 3 favour – murder many without being killed, arrested or stunned.
• Used ability – 2 favour – activate an ability assistant to aid in a quarry kill.
• Quarry exposed – 1 favour – punish clumsy quarries by killing them quickly.
• Exposure – 1 to 5 favour – the less exposure the greater the bonus kill favour.
• Weapon – 1 to 5 favour – high favour weapons give greater bonus kill favour.

So in your quarry killing campaign be sure to snag as many of these bonuses as possible. Remember only the most murderous and crafty candidate can become Mr. X’s lacky.

Helpful Hint – Ambushing

Ambushing a quarry from vignette adds 10 bonus favour to a kill. When given the chance to kill while concealed, seize the opportunity to maximise your favour.

Abilities

In the game lobby you can choose two abilities to aid in your murderous pursuits. There are two main types of ability: area of effect abilities and other abilities.

AOE Abilities

• Reveal – 45s – reveal the true identities of your quarry or hunters within a 5-metre radius. Upon activation it takes 0.5 seconds for player’s identities to be revealed. If your quarry or hunters are revealed they stay exposed for 10.0 seconds before the effect wears off. 
• Disrupt – 45s – temporarily scramble the HUD of players within a 5-metre radius, preventing them from tracking hunters. Disrupt takes 0.5 seconds to deploy but when active the scrambling effect lasts for a total of 8 seconds. 
• Subvert – 60s – clear the effect of all abilities within a 5-metre radius. Subvert takes 0.5 seconds to deploy but when active it prevents all players affected from using abilities for 5 seconds. 
• Flash – 90s – stun all players within a 5-metre radius, rendering them useless. Flash takes 0.5 seconds to throw but while active it immobilises players for 3 seconds. Since the effect lasts for a short period be sure to quickly dispose of your target before it wears off. 

Helpful Hint – Using AOE Abilities

By using these abilities you give away your position because all characters within the effect radius are shown with visual effects except for you.

Other Abilities

• Counter – 75s – if a quarry or hunter is nearby use counter to deflect their attacks for 3 seconds. Counter kills will grant an additional 2 favour for using the ability. 
• Humiliation – 0s – after a quarry kill you can humiliate their corpse which will give 5 additional favour. However, to gain this favour you have to humiliate for 5 seconds so make sure no hunters are nearby before beginning. Additionally humiliation will leave you exposed so sneak to the nearest vignette or you’ll be humiliated. If you humiliate while exposed you only get 3 additional favour instead of 5. 
• Pie bomb – 75s – place a deliciously deadly trap that will explode when a quarry or hunter crosses its 2-metre detection radius. Placing a pie takes 0.5 seconds which lasts 60.0 seconds before expiring. Pie bomb kills are awarded 10 favour and its possible to get more than one target with a pie. Making it a great arrest bombing weapon. 
• Disguise – 60s – conceal yourself from other player’s hunter HUD for 20 seconds. Changing into and out of a disguise takes 0.5 seconds so be sure not to activate it around your quarry or hunters. Beware that you may be concealed from the hunter HUD doesn’t mean you are invincible, you can give yourself away many ways. Eliminating a quarry while in disguise will grant an additional 2 favour for using the ability.

Caption – Abilities reading left-right: counter, disguise, reveal, humiliate, flash, disrupt, subvert and pie bomb.

Perks

Perks are passive ways to improve your performance on the playing field. These perks are slowly unlocked through leveling up and can be equipped in the game lobby. Only one perk can be selected at a time that can change how your game plays, these perks include:

• Incognito – slows the rate that exposure increases by 15.0% granting you an extra 8 seconds walking time before becoming exposed. 
• Scavenger – upon respawn always have the highest favour weapon already equipped. This saves your from scavenging for weapons yourself and is the first perk you earn. 
• Gambler – upon death, respawn with a randomised set of fully charged abilities. So will you try your luck at this wheel of fortune? 
• Chameleon – upon death, respawn as a totally different character. Great at keeping your appearance unpredictable but is less effective on skilled players. 
• Resourceful – reduces the cooldown times of all abilities by 5.0 seconds. Keep in mind this buffs abilities with short cooldown times more than abilities with longer ones. 
• Determined – if you lose sight of target locked characters they remain locked for 6.0 seconds. That is a 4.0 second buff over the base target lock value. 
• Nimble – fast walk speed is buffed by 3.0% while sprint speed is buffed by 5.0%. Exposure increases at the normal rate for these buffed movements. 

Caption – Perks read left-right: incognito, scavenger, gambler, chameleon, resourceful, nimble and determined.