Wired Productions and LKA are back after the success of The Town of Light to bring players face to face with horrors of loss and war with their new dark psychological thriller Martha is Dead. The game recently made headlines as the game will be heavily modified for PlayStation due to some of the game’s content that’s been deemed too disturbing, luckily for you gorehounds, the copy I was sent is unaffected by the modifications! I want to thank Wired and LKA for the reviewing opportunity!
Martha is Dead takes place in Italy in 1944 where players take on the role of Giulia, a young woman obsessed with a local legend surrounding the lake near her family’s vineyard. While trying to set up a camera to capture the ghost of a lady in white, Giulia finds her identical twin sister Martha in the lake dead and after recovering her body and through confusion, she assumes the identity of her now-dead sister while everyone else assumed that she (Giulia) died. Giulia learns her sister was murdered and now must uncover the truth to her sister’s death while the horrors of war, loss, and guilt haunt her.
The controls for Martha is Dead handles nicely and the occasional reminder of what buttons to use also helps with the experience especially with the camera and film developing mechanics and responds very well which is what you would want in a first-person game.
The game’s sound is good, the soundtrack is amazing with a mix of original, old 1940’s German and Italian songs on the radios, and music by Aquasonic, a band that plays entirely underwater that helps give a beautifully eerie touch. It should be noted that the default audio language in the game is Italian but it can be switched to English if you wish to.
The art of Martha is Dead is truly spellbinding and the light engine used for the game is definitely doing its job right so when you’re under the Tuscan sun, you can almost feel the warmth of it but when you’re in the woods at night, the chill up your spine is very real.
Speaking of chills, when it comes to the horror elements of the game, it’s darker and can be slightly disturbing if you’re not ready for it or if the subject manner bothers you as there are nightmarish imagery with graphic depictions of gore, death, suicide, usually shown in a surreal way, almost like a fever dream but still unsettling. If you don’t want to see that, get the PS4/PS5 version of the game, but if you think you can handle it, the Xbox One/Series X/S and PC versions will have it.
Overall my experience with Martha is Dead has been pretty good. The story is a good thriller with a wonderful backdrop of WWII happening which would explain some of the tension for the characters. Taking pictures with a camera and developing them is a big part of the gameplay experience and I love it and would love to have more of a “free-roam” where I can just enjoy wandering the woods and countryside taking pictures and then developing them.
On my scale of 1-10, Martha is Dead is a 10 for the unique story and setting, amazing art, soundtrack, and not being afraid to tackle subject matter others would shy away from but at the same time NOT making it the key part of the story.
Martha is Dead is out now for PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series X/S. Again it should be noted that the content for the game on the PlayStation version is edited heavily while in the PC and Xbox versions it’s not.
In the event, that you or someone you know has had thoughts of suicide, please contact The Suicide Prevention lifeline or check out MentalHealth.Gov
