- Publisher: Wired Productions , LKA
- Release Date: Feb 24, 2022
- Also On: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
- Unscored
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Apr 7, 2022This game will not leave you feeling indifferent. It’s a gripping narrative that has a great world to enjoy. Not for the faint of heart, but sometimes the best stories aren’t.
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Feb 24, 2022By immersing the player into this woeful world, LKA has created a beautiful, contemporary work of visual art that is a must for casual players and learned historians alike. Characterized by innovative storytelling and a determination to push the boundaries, the game is not for the faint of heart. Beautifully animated and contemporary in its chaos, it taps into the darkest parts of the human soul in a way that hits hard but entices the player to keep coming back for more – even if you know you really, really shouldn't.
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Feb 24, 2022Martha is Dead meets every expectation and exceeds most of them. It is a true ghost story, perfectly designed to demand you keep playing while making you want to stop. Its near-flawless design sets a new benchmark in the quietly, weirdly, horrible.
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Feb 24, 2022Martha is Dead is not a surprise, but a confirmation of what LKA had already shown it can do in The Town of Light.
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Feb 24, 2022Martha is Dead very impressively combines visual beauty, psychological horror and the tragedy of war in the "walking simulator" subgenre.
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Feb 24, 2022A brilliantly narrated thriller, coupled with stunning photorealism, that brings us to the border between reality and the supernatural, for the best and nothing but the best.
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Feb 24, 2022Martha is Dead captivates and always leaves you wanting more. It is also, without a doubt, one of the hardest and most deeply themed games I have ever played, bordering on the unbearable at various points. A story like few others, a universe not so explored and unexpected and original twists.
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Feb 24, 2022The story of Martha is Dead reflects upon the horrors of war. It's a magnificent psychological thriller, that makes historical events evident. It also attempts to voice the quiet terror that women experience in fascist countries.
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Feb 25, 2022Martha Is Dead lives or dies by its core narrative and ability to immerse the player in it. I like the way it mixes the personal with the historical. I appreciate the care with which the developers have constructed the game world and I even like most of the photography-focused challenges. But, for me, the individual elements do not come together to form a coherent video game. Inconsistencies exist because the narrative needs to move forward. There’s frustration around the mechanics. Martha Is Dead is worth playing for its narrative but I want developers LKA to focus on a more streamlined experience for their next project.
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Feb 24, 2022This is a hard moment to experience and there are many more throughout Martha is Dead, but none of these are implemented for shock value. All of these moments are carefully thought-out and relevant to the story and exploration of Giulia's mental deterioration. Ultimately, Martha is Dead is a game with simple mechanics that tells a difficult but important story that's well worth experiencing. That said, those interested in playing this game should consider doing so on Xbox or PC if possible, as these platforms are offering the game in the way it's intended to be experienced.
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Feb 24, 2022Even with some hiccups which are normal coming from a tiny studio, Martha Is Dead has a strong personality and it offers a story that will soak our brains for a long time. It's not for the faint of heart, that's for sure.
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Feb 24, 2022Intriguing and often disturbing, Martha is Dead makes for a worthwhile narrative experience, barring some issues.
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Feb 25, 2022While a terrible murder is what sets the events of Martha is Dead in motion, the real focus of the game is Giulia’s psyche and how it was affected by past and present thraumas. LKA’s new adventure might not be suited for everyone due to the brutality of certain scenes, but it is certainly courageous and competent.
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Feb 24, 2022We repeat: approach Martha is Dead with the right awareness. It is a work that thrives on illusions, which often changes appearance, which suggests playful stimuli and then moves elsewhere, in a schizophrenia that deceives but involves. It is a cruel game, narratively imperfect, and at the same time quite courageous, as well as not very lenient towards the (very difficult and very delicate) subject it deals with. Get closer to Luca Dalcò's creature knowing that an adventure awaits you where lies and truth move in symbiosis, in a whirlwind of verbal, physical and mental violence. It hurts. Martha is Dead hurts a lot.
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Mar 8, 2022Martha Is Dead is a good adventure thanks to its deep look into the mind of a character under stress. Aside from performance issues and missed opportunities, the game has great attention to detail and careful pacing.
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Feb 28, 2022Martha Is Dead has an interesting story full of disturbing themes and uncomfortable moments. It may suffer from the monotony and has several technical issues, but the story is worth it; if you can stomach that is.
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Feb 24, 2022Mix between a Walking Simulator and a slightly more gameplay-oriented production, Martha is Dead is a narrative adventure reminiscent of Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice for the psychiatric theme, What Remains of Edith Finch for the neat and engaging subject, and the many games horrifying to the gory scenes that we find everywhere. The story of Giulia and Martha is shocking, while the game mechanics with the camera will especially delight photography enthusiasts. A remarkable adventure!
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Feb 24, 2022Martha is Dead is a suggestive adventure game: the narrative plot is very interesting, as well as the way the story is told. Too bad about the gameplay not being too in-depth.
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Feb 24, 2022LKA has created an initially very solid mystery that gradually sinks into incomparable morbidity and an unfortunately more dispersed conclusion.
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Mar 16, 2022In contrast to the sunny Tuscan countryside, Martha Is Dead is a melancholic drama with few bright aspects, but it adheres to the norms of interactive storytelling games more that we would like. Although it makes some small steps forward compared to the developers' previous game, they are not enough to make it stand toe to toe with the top representatives of the genre.
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Apr 25, 2022Martha is Dead, despite struggling to hold my attention at times, is a well crafted game, with incredibly detailed visuals and models, an interesting cast of characters, and an unsettling but highly intriguing story to tell. If you're a fan of psychological thrillers and horrors, then Martha is Dead will undoubtedly be your cup of tea.
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Feb 25, 2022In the end Martha is Dead feels like an arthouse movie, when you have to decipher the game yourself, while having all kind of emotions. Whether you'll like it or not is very hard to tell.
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Feb 24, 2022Martha Is Dead succeeds where many AAA fail: original aesthetics, immersive soundtrack, a strong and very actual message. Too bad for some technical issues, especially in the console version. Luckily, these are small stumbles that can be easily fixed.
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Feb 24, 2022Martha is Dead will leave you psychologically scarred. Whether you enjoy the process depends on your constitution and hatred of bicycles.
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Feb 24, 2022Martha is Dead is an unflinching and utterly absorbing ordeal to be endured rather than enjoyed.
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Apr 13, 2022Shocking content aside, Martha is Dead is a traditional walking simulator and it's no stretch to say that the movement is on prepared rails.
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Mar 31, 2022Authentic environments, pleasant music and visuals will only get you so far. The second part of the story is very predictable, but the narrative is presented in such a confusing manner, that the first part becomes incomprehensive in hindsight.
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Feb 28, 2022After The Town of Light, LKA’s team of male writers decided to try their hands at writing another woman with mental health problems, touching upon issues like pregnancy, menstrual cycles and abortion. The overall message seems to be about caring for one’s mental health — something I’m sure we can all get behind — but the mechanics are too peripheral and the script is too confusing, gory and horrific for a tale that is ostensibly about a woman’s interior journey. By the time credits rolled, I was not convinced that the version of Giulia’s story present here was one worth telling or experiencing.
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Mar 11, 2022While I don’t believe it to be intentional, Martha is Dead seems to buck that relationship between the horrific and the comedic by steeping players in a narrative so hopeless, so nihilistic, so stripped of identity, that it almost begins to play a game of emotional ‘chicken’, daring you to flinch first.
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Feb 24, 2022Martha is Dead starts off strong, with an intriguing story amid a tumultuous backdrop, and a main gameplay mechanic with a ton of room to evolve. Unfortunately, the game squanders every opportunity it has to develop its story or gameplay in interesting ways, instead relying on overplayed tropes and unnecessary mechanics. While Martha is Dead's disturbing imagery might not deserve censorship, its creators betray the trust that it asks of its players, ultimately delivering a shallow experience that does more harm than good.
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Jul 1, 2022Despite a promising hook and a convincing immersion into 1940s Italy, Martha Is Dead caters to a tiny audience willing to put up with disturbing themes, game-crashing bugs, and little sense of adventure.
| This publication does not provide a score for their reviews. | |
| This publication has not posted a final review score yet. | |
| These unscored reviews do not factor into the Metascore calculation. | |
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Feb 24, 2022There are plenty of grievances I haven’t had room to mention, nor to stress the cumulative misery of clunky writing combined with cheap attempts to go beyond the pale. Even if it weren’t so needlessly and extensively graphic, there’s a fixation on things that can go wrong with a woman’s body that would still leave a sour taste. The story as a whole is a series of rug pulls, but ones which left me standing nonplussed while the rug puller lurched haphazardly from foot to foot. A parade of ghost sharks, clumsily jumped. I suspect Martha Is Dead will be remembered as the game where you peel a dead woman’s face off, but it’s better off forgotten.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 38 out of 67
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Mixed: 17 out of 67
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Negative: 12 out of 67
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Feb 27, 2022Same as their last game The Town Of Light this is just awful! This studio has no place in the games industry
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Feb 26, 2022
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Feb 26, 2022