As absolutely stacked as this month has been for video game releases, one that I have been specifically looking forward to has been Martha is Dead. Aside from being a game that caught my eye with its announcement trailer, the demo made a great impression on me during the previous Steam Next Fest and was even the topic of my first article here.

The only experience I wanted was for the same mixture of feelings I felt playing the demo to be maintained during the full game. Although there were some technical problems and certain elements that might feel potentially underutilized to some, I am very happy to say that the game delivered where I was hoping it would.

If you haven’t read my initial preview of its demo before or aren’t familiar with the game, it is a first-person psychological thriller that takes place in 1944 Italy. The main character is Giulia, who is trying to figure out what happened to her twin sister Martha. There are a lot more unique and defining elements, but I’ll go over those when I talk about the story. In terms of gameplay, you can mostly look forward to walking around and interacting with various items.

Markers are placed on things that can be interacted with and pressing or holding the space bar enlarges these markers to make it easier for players to see them. Not everything is marked though, so you won’t need to spend time opening 100 empty drawers just looking for items.

There is variety in how you interact with things. Most simply require you to move close enough for the marker to turn into a hand symbol, while others will extend this to a more immersive interaction such as pressing certain keys or dragging your mouse for example. Every one of these interactions felt like they were implemented amazingly well and I think a big reason for this is because they’re used sparingly.

In my preview article, I compared them to interactive games such as what developers like Quantic Dreams or Telltale Games are known for. Those latter games rely heavily on QTE aspects to build tension and foster immersion to the point of using them for mundane actions. Martha is Dead similarly uses scenes like this for the same end goal, but uses them only in key moments. Whether I’m taking a roll of film out of a camera, climbing a telephone pole, or doing something truly disgusting, the spare usage makes these moments stick out a lot more and feel like fresh gameplay breaks.

Speaking of cameras, another crucial part of the gameplay is the camera you use. There are a lot of moments that call for you to take a photo and it’s also encouraged to simply explore the beautiful setting and take photos. There’s a lot of inspiration from actual cameras that make this a bit more complicated than simply pointing and capturing. Not only can you interact with the exposure, aperture, and focus, but additional adjustments can be added on from the type of film you use to the various lens and filters.

This also leads to the process of developing the photos in a dark room. It is simplified a bit from the actual process, but you still go through the motions of projecting a negative image onto photographic paper and then using a chemical bath to complete the process. It’s as oddly relaxing as it is extremely terrifying to be in a darkroom in a scary game. It’s also a great reminder that plenty of things look scary when they’re in a negative image.

Some other gameplay elements are ones I covered before. A few moments in the game turn into an on-rails running segment. All but one of these takes place in a weird dream-like state where you’re running in a dark forest that consistently splits into two paths. Each path represents a word and the goal is to make a sentence.

It was easily the weakest part when I played the demo and it’s also the weakest part here. The great news is that there really are only a few of these. I think they accomplish the goal of breaking up the gameplay in a unique manner, but I also think they’re unnecessary. My favorite was the only one that sticks out differently and I similarly enjoy that it was only used once and felt more unique.

Something else I previously covered was playing with the puppets/marionettes. These segments in particular left a huge impression on me and I was eagerly awaiting to see more like them in the full game. As simple as moving them around and having them choose dialogue options and actions sounds, the huge disconnect between these charming wooden marionettes, Giulia’s child-like voiceover, and the horrific themes and events they cover is incredible. I can’t go more into detail without getting into spoilers but they’re very memorable and fun.

One side objective required the repeated use of a telegram machine. It’s a very small part but it was unique and strangely fun enough that I feel the need to mention it. I was actively looking forward to using a telegram machine and I don’t believe I will ever feel that way again. It’s just another example of how dedicated the developers were to creating a story that believably takes place in the setting.

This leads me to a helpful, albeit buggy activity. Early on you’re able to start riding a bicycle to get around the map faster. The map isn’t huge by any means, but it can be a bit tiresome walking through the same winding paths in the woods. Using the bicycle saves a lot of time and it does feel fun to pass everything so quickly. Unfortunately, it doesn’t feel great.

The camera sets right behind the handlebars and I cannot explain how awkward it is to turn and see her wrists. The handling wasn’t much better as I frequently got caught on or stopped on random spots on the ground. Conversely, I could build plenty of speed to reach places the bicycle wasn’t meant to go, including the surrounding areas which were meant only for background. I also bypassed a crucial scene by riding a bike into the woods when I wasn’t supposed to. I only noticed because I got caught in the terrain and could not get off the bike, which led me to load a save and choose to walk instead.

Thankfully, the gorgeous visuals make a strong case for taking your time. Everything looks photorealistic or at least pretty close to it. As someone who will interact with anything I can to hear the unique dialogue, I was motivated even further just to have a better look at every bottle of wine and painting.

I’m sure I could spend a lot of time just taking screenshots or in-game photos of the vegetation and trees outside too. For better or sometimes gruesomely worse, the characters you see close-up look amazing. Even the clouds and the few cows you see look great.

That’s only taking into consideration the models and textures. The lighting is also a huge reason why the game looks fantastic. Walking through the woods during the day is breathtaking while doing so at night is unnerving. Moving from a dark area in the house to a naturally well-lit one is as comforting as the sun and the opposite is always a little tense. A great example of that last one is the shivers I had each time I left the darkroom.

Outside of gameplay, the visuals are wonderful in cutscenes. Nearly every single one that I watched felt like a scene straight out of a horror movie with wonderful camera angles that lent themselves well to haunting moments.

Potentially at the cost of these wonderful visuals is some small lapses in performance for the gameplay. I do want to state that I did play on a mid-range graphics card and used the game’s automatic graphic detection option which gave me a mix of high and ultra settings. This gave me a 30-45 FPS range, although I did experience some dips when moving around fast in some tight spaces or when holding certain objects in hand. Bringing down the graphic settings to medium barely improved the overall FPS and only slightly alleviated some problems.

I chalk it up to a demanding performance because, once again, the game looks so good. Still, a very noticeable hiccup is the pop-in. It’s especially noticeable outside with rocks on the ground. Cutscenes that show Giulia talking to the camera also settled around 20-25 FPS. Taking it down to medium settings didn’t seem to help and at low settings, it simply replaces these sequences with text on the screen.

As potentially cheap as that last bit sounds, it works great because its voice acted and the voice acting is amazing. There is an English dub option and what I’ve heard of it sounds decent. However, I had to play the game with the default option of Italian voice acting and English subtitles. One of the bigger marketing points is the authentic Italian voice acting and for very good reason. Whether it was Giulia and her inner thoughts or the German-siding radio announcer, I was hooked on every piece of dialogue.

The music and sound effects are also perfect additions. There are plenty of music tracks that are reimagined or inspired by classic Italian tracks from the time period. Atmospheric tracks also do wonders for making you uncomfortable. Aside from the visuals, what makes the most gruesome scenes the most memorable is the uncomfortable plucking of strings and the sound effects that bring the horrors on the screen to life.

Finally, there is the reason for all the uncomfortable moments, the story. It’s hard to not go into spoilers because this is the type of game that you want to discuss and break down the story with other people after you finish it. What I can say is that it masterfully combines the historical setting of Italy during World War II with supernatural folklore and psychological thriller elements.

That’s not to say that some parts of the story don’t give me pause. There is one particular scene that was also in the ending of the demo that feels very out of place with everything else. For all intents and purposes, I want to say it’s a plot point that didn’t go anywhere. If that is the case, I can’t deny that it leaves me disappointed.

At the same time, it’s possible that any dangling plot threads are meant to be left dangling. There are a lot of elements present and they play off of each other very well. This story manages that just fine even after adding in the sprinkle of dreams and nightmares bleeding into realism. Thinking it over, even the smallest and at times seemingly pointless or strange things can be reasonably tied into the story.  The more I think about it the more I really enjoy the story.

There was also a moment where I felt like I completely understood what was going to happen and then it’s as if the story just started running and kept me guessing until the end. It was a very awesome feeling and it nailed exactly what I want from a thriller story.

It is worth noting that it can be very gruesome and it deals with multiple tough topics and scenes. It’s gruesome enough that part of the game had to be altered on PlayStation consoles. The PC copy I played was not censored and did show a warning about the content in the game. There is also a scene that has its own extra warning before the chapter it’s in and for me even offered a censored version. Needless to say, this isn’t a game for the faint of heart.

Martha is Dead uses an intriguing story, enthralling voice acting, immense respect and dedication to the time period, and beautiful visuals to offer an experience like no other. Unfortunately, the performance issues and glitches are as hard to ignore as the weaker gameplay parts. I also find myself with little desire to replay it after experiencing it.

Yet, I’ve found myself thinking about it all day. The story won’t leave my mind and I’m looking at certain elements more fondly than I initially had. Any small frustrations I have feel more minuscule when thinking about the topics of the game and how well they were handled. Martha is Dead hit the mark for nearly everything I wanted it to and that makes me so happy. Even if I don’t want to replay it, at the very least I do have something to let me take some cathartic photos of trees.

A PC Review Copy of Martha is Dead was provided by Wired Productions for this review.

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Martha is Dead

29.99

8.5

Score

8.5/10

Pros

• Beautiful Visuals
• Incredible Voice Acting
• Thrilling Story
• Gameplay Keeps Itself Fresh

Cons

• Some Performance Problems
• On-Rails Segment Feels Weird
• The Bicycle is Buggy