Review: Martha is Dead is a deeply disturbing game that isn’t for everyone
A cynic would say that Sony’s apparent demand that Martha is Dead be censored was actually one of the best things that could happen to the game.
It’s fair to say that developer LKA’s horror title was flying under some players’ radars until the news broke last week, and now a level of mystique has surrounded the title, with some wondering exactly what could be so shocking to lead to such actions.
Having now played through the game, we can safely say that although we may not necessarily agree with the decision to cut any part of the game, we can absolutely understand why such a decision was made. Put bluntly, Martha is Dead is one of the darkest games we’ve ever played.
The story opens with the protagonist Giulia discovering her sister Martha’s corpse lying in the river near their house. Already, we can’t say much more than this, because there’s a fairly big twist right at the start of the game that has a huge impact on how both the player and Giulia will handle the rest of the story.
Needless to say, however, the majority of the game focuses on trying to find out exactly what happened to Martha and who was responsible for her death.
The entire game is played in a first-person perspective, and could be lazily described as a walking simulator, albeit one with a little more freedom than most. While there’s still a fairly linear story to follow there are also a series of side quests that can be discovered and optionally taken on.
They’re worth tracking down, too, because the main story will only take around 4-5 hours to complete and this is a compelling world that deserves to be inhabited for longer than that.
The house where much of the game is set – located in the middle of Tuscan woodlands – is beautifully detailed, its 1944
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