When I first started out my playthrough for Martha Is Dead, I was a bit prepared after trying out their limited-time demo. It’s a good thing that I was because LKA developed a title that really brings a psychological hit to the horror genre. I’ve played a lot of horror games, but something about the somewhat short experience this game provides is going to be hard to forget. Let’s get into the good and the bad from Wired Productions newly published title.

Story

Twin sisters, Guilia and Martha, grew up in 1940’s Italy. In the midst of war with a father that is an army General and a mother that acts much more strict than their father, it isn’t an easy childhood. For whatever reason, their mother grew fond of Martha and blamed everything she could on Guilia. Perhaps it was because Martha was deaf, but the bias was apparent.

One late evening while Guilia was taking pictures by the lake, she saw a body in the water! Once she brought them ashore, she saw that it was her sister Martha. In a small state of shock, she took her necklace that said Martha and put it on just before her parents arrive at the scene. Confusing Guilia to be Martha and their deceased daughter to be Guilia, she now finds herself in the awkward position of pretending that she is Martha - the beloved deaf daughter.

Now, she battles her guilt while trying to find the answer to many questions. Who killed Martha? What really happened by the lake that morning? Why was Martha in Guilia’s dress? How long can she pretend to be Martha? These personal battles rage within while the war around their country trickles through their lives as well. Can she survive long enough to find any of the answers? Does she even want to, or better yet deserve to, live?

I’m not going to lie or provide any spoilers, but this story was a roller coaster from start to end! While there were some moments I did know what was going to happen, the answer at the end of a series of clues and sometimes even gathering up the clues themselves did not go as I expected. There are some really good twists and crazy moments throughout the entire experience.

Gameplay

The majority of the game is just adventuring through the map and completing tasks from your objective. Movement is done with basic controls and you can run by holding the shift key. However, there isn’t a guide to tell you where to go and only some quests get markers on the map, so make sure you are paying attention to your task at hand. If you decide to roam through the woods when you have things to do in the house, the game will let you do that.

Other than the times that it is a normal day, there will be Nightmare sequences to experience. These sequences always bring out a different form of controls that are ultimately handled naturally with the regular movement controls. Just note that when you are in a Nightmare sequence, you are in for a bad time with the game and are about to experience something pretty messed up!

Interacting with objects will require you to get close to it and look at it just right. Once you see the icon change to a hand, you hold down the interaction button until it fills all the way up. This was one of my gripes with the game because it seemed like they could have increased the hitbox of these interactions. Sometimes it was annoying trying to find just the right way to look at something to interact with it.

You are also given a camera in this game, which can be taken out at any time to take a picture of anything you want. You will get different lens and film types as you progress, along with different camera skins that can be found in the game. Taking pictures of certain areas will provide hidden secrets and this will sometimes require the right film to be used. A lot of times there is an icon that shows you where you can take a picture of something, but there are some hidden picture moments to find as well.

Once you take a picture, you have to head into the darkroom and develop the film. They do a really simplified version of this process for the sake of time and easement on the player. The same can be said about the camera as well. These aspects of the game are simplified to the point that it tells you what you need to take a proper picture of key moments.

The only time the controls for the game didn’t feel smooth and it was difficult to use was when I tried to use the bike. This is supposed to help you get around faster, but I found myself walking or running around most of the game. It is an optional mode of transportation and I would just suggest avoiding it altogether.

Audio and Visual

I did listen to the intro in the default voice language, Italian, before switching it over to English. From what I can tell, all the voice work is really well done and fitting to the characters. I also enjoyed the music that was in the game. Perhaps enjoyed is the right word for the music they played when things got intense because that music style I nicknamed “broken string music” did an amazing job giving me the creeps!

The aesthetic of this game is both eerie and beautiful. I loved the scenery during all of the daytime sequences and being able to properly enjoy the sight of the forest and house. But with the same amount of quality as the beauty aspects of this game, the rough and gory aspects got which made the scenes all the more intense.

Replayability

While there is a bunch of choices to be made near the ending sequences that might provide a different ending for the game. Other than that, I don’t see this game having much replayability as the mystery of what is going to happen next and getting to the truth of the questions won’t be there anymore.

What It Could Have Done Better

Overall, the game felt a little short. While the experience it provided was great throughout the whole six hours it took me to beat it, I thought there would be more to accomplish overall.

Other than length, as I mentioned before the interaction hitboxes were just simply frustrating and should be expanded on. I can only think of a few times where there were multiple things to interact with that having bigger hitboxes may be a problem, but I can remember a bunch of times that I had to line up just right before I could interact with something.

Verdict

Martha Is Dead is a memorable experience that is not for the faint of heart! Some of the actions that this game makes you take, whether it be during a nightmare sequence or in actuality, can be pretty messed up and hard to handle. They also deal in some heavy subjects when it comes to the story as well. While the overall experience is one I am glad to have gone through, please prepare yourself mentally before starting this game. I know that a lot of horror games come with the same warning label, but this game means it. That said, I would definitely recommend this game to any horror fan that can handle some intense experiences.

Martha Is Dead is now available on PC via Steam, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.