Martha is Dead

If you've heard anything about the new horror game Martha is Dead, it's probably that it's so gory and gruesome that Sony demanded edits before it could come to PlayStation consoles. For that reason (and that reason alone), this small indie game has gone from complete obscurity to a lot of people's must-play list. After all, who doesn't want to play the game that's so gross and over-the-line that a first-party developer had to step in? But don't be tricked by the salacious headlines, because Martha is Dead is not what it seems. Aside from a few shocking moments that are guaranteed to get the people on Twitter talking, this is a surprisingly tame horror experience with a scary number of game-breaking technical problems. On the other hand, at least something in this over-hyped game is genuinely frightening.

I'm not going to lie; I have no idea where to start when it comes to Martha is Dead. I suppose we should begin with the titular character, Martha, a deaf and mute 21-year-old who we learn has an identical twin-sister named Giulia. The two of them live with their affluent parents in Italy during the height of World War II, with their high-ranking father working with the German forces and their mother addled by prescription drugs back at home. And just when it seems like things couldn't possibly get any drearier, Giulia discovers her sister's lifeless body while taking pictures of the nearby lake. That's right, Martha is dead.

It's what happens next that ultimately sets this game into motion. Instead of telling the truth, Giulia decides to put on Martha's nametag and quite literally take the identity of her dead sister. As you can imagine, this comes with a number of complications, starting with the fact that she now has to pretend to be deaf and can no longer speak. She also can't be caught doing any of her old hobbies, such as playing piano or taking pictures around the family's large, wooded estate. But even with all this in her way, Giulia is determined to solve the mystery of her sister's death and reveal all of the family secrets.

Now, before you take to the comments section to complain that I spoiled the whole story, believe me, this isn't even scratching the surface of what's going on in this game. This is one of those horror stories where reality and fiction begin to blur together, so much so that it's often hard to know what to believe at any given time. Giulia's investigation is full of contradictory facts, all of which are punctuated by nightmarish moments that seem random at first, but ultimately play a big part in getting to the bottom of this convoluted case.

Click For the Full Picture Archive

A lot of the investigation feels like a first-person graphic adventure game, where Giulia completes various quests by picking up items and uncovering new clues. She's aided in this quest by her trusty camera, which plays a pivotal role in almost every aspect of this mystery. So much of the game is about not only setting up the perfect pictures, but also developing them in the dark room. This is a lot more involved than just taking snapshot with your smart phone, because Giulia will need to perfectly line-up each shot, adjust the focus and even fiddle with the aperture. And just in case you think that's a hassle, the game is quick to remind you that taking and developing photographs is a whole lot more complicated that Martha is Dead makes it look.

This game is at its best when you're investigating the surroundings, picking up useful items and taking important photographs. The quests are fun to solve and will send Giulia all over the family's large estate. And the more you poke around, the more optional side-quests you'll discover that have nothing to do with Martha's mystery. For example, there's a whole sub-plot that involves Giulia helping the resistance fighters defeat the German forces. This involves cutting communication lines, spying on her father's intel and even using morse code to send secret instructions. I like these kinds of unrelated side missions. They help flesh out Giulia's world and better connects the World War II backdrop.

That said, the way some quests are resolved seemed a little too convenient. One instance of this involves a bike, which we're told has a flat tire. This means that we're going to need to find an air pump to get it working again. Or ... you can do what I did and just ignore that quest completely and wait for it to resolve itself. And that's exactly what happens. When the game needs you to ride that bike into town, it totally ignores all that stuff about finding an air pump. And while that's probably for the best, I couldn't shake the notion that some of the game's quests are little more than busywork.

Click For the Full Picture Archive

Of course, that's far from the only problem I have with Martha is Dead. As a story, this game is kind of a mess. This is a horror game more concerned about style and atmosphere than actual scares. The game has two or three extremely graphic moments that are designed to grab headlines, but the rest of the game is little more than looking for items and solving simple quests. This will be interspersed with seemingly random moments that heighten the horror elements, but don't really add much to the story.

It doesn't help that the central conceit is the very definition of flimsy. Giulia's decision to impersonate her dead sister makes little sense at the start and only gets worse as the facts come out. None of this is helped by the incredibly frustrating ending, which decides to spend the final moments lecturing the audience about something everybody agrees with. Martha is Dead is a game that desperately wants to be darker and more socially-minded than it actually is, and I fear that the headlines of Sony censorship will only drive more people to it. The problem isn't that the game is too graphic or violent, but rather that it's not gory enough.

And that brings us to the part of the review where I'm forced to talk about Sony's bone-headed decision to demand edits. In case you're wondering, the gruesome moments in question haven't been cut from the PlayStation versions. The change seems to be how interactive they are. While the Xbox and PC versions have you interacting with the analog sticks and trigger buttons, PlayStation owners will see these scenes presented as little more than a cinema. Does this make a big difference? No, not really. We're basically trading a quick-time event for a cinema. That said, the fact that Sony decided to butt in at all is stupid, especially when you see the offending parts in context.

Click For the Full Picture Archive

Unfortunately, that's not the worst part of this game. I don't know if it's just the PlayStation 4 version, but Martha is Dead looks bad and runs even worse. Visually, the game always looks like it's being rendered without any of the textures in place. What's worse is that the animation chugs when walking around, to the point where I ran into parts that would freeze for seconds at a time. Again, this may run better on other platforms, but the version I played always felt like it was a few seconds away from crashing.

And that brings me to my biggest complaint -- Martha is Dead has a bad habit of crashing. Actually, it's worse than that, because the crash will sometimes corrupt the save file. I ran into this issue right at the very end where I couldn't even load into the auto-save because the game would keep crashing. I restarted that level four different times before I was finally able to make any progress. There were a few hours there where I genuinely believed I wasn't going to be able to see the ending. This game needs a major tune-up, and fast.

To its credit, Martha is Dead is good at setting a creepy atmosphere and keeping the player engaged. While not as scary as I would have liked, I was never bored and enjoyed completing most of the quests. The mystery is genuinely compelling, too. Sure, the central conceit makes almost no sense when you think about it, but it does lead to an intriguing adventure. Best of all, the game is dripping with style, especially when it comes to framing key moments in extremely unique ways. There are a lot of good ideas here, even if the whole thing is nearly derailed by performance issues and a questionable third act. Martha is Dead is a real mixed bag.