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Martha Is Dead key art: the upside-down face of a young woman with a pearl necklace, as if seen through dark water

Psychological horror

Martha Is Dead

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A twin's death, a Tuscan lake and a war closing in.

Platforms
PC, PlayStation, Xbox
Price
Paid
Rated
Mostly Positive on Steam (79% of 3,963 reviews); Metacritic 73 on PC
Length
about 7 to 9 hours
Players
1
Made by
LKA
Released
2022
Visit the game's site Steam

What frightens In 1944 Tuscany the desecrated body of Martha is found drowned in the lake, and her twin Giulia is left alone with grief, a family secret and the local legend of the Lady of the Lake, while scenes of blood, dismemberment and self-harm break into her quiet countryside.

Content: gore, dismemberment, self-harm, suicide, war violence, disturbing imagery.

Martha Is Dead is a first-person psychological thriller from LKA set in Tuscany in 1944. When Martha is found drowned, her twin sister Giulia must face the loss, the mystery of her death and her own secrets, through photography, folklore and memories that blur into nightmare as the war draws closer.

About Martha Is Dead

Martha Is Dead is the second game from LKA, the Italian studio behind The Town of Light, published by Wired Productions in 2022 on PC, PlayStation and Xbox. It is played by default in Italian with subtitles, and its setting is built from real places and the history of the last years of the war in Italy.

Giulia is the daughter of a German officer living in a villa in the Tuscan countryside. One morning her twin sister Martha is found drowned in the lake, her body desecrated. Giulia is left with the shock of the loss, the fallout of a murder and secrets of her own, while German and Allied forces fight ever closer.

Much of the game is quiet and beautiful. You walk, cycle and row around the countryside, and photography is central: you take pictures with a 1940s camera and develop them in a fully working darkroom, and what the photos show moves the story on. Then the quiet breaks. Puppet-theatre sequences replay repressed memories, tarot cards and symbols summon the spirit of the Lady from local folklore, and some scenes show graphic violence to bodies, including self-harm.

It is a slow narrative game about grief and the horror of war more than a game of scares. It suits players who want mature, story-led psychological horror and who are ready for its hard subjects.

How to play Martha Is Dead

  1. Explore the villa and the countryside on foot, by bicycle and by boat, following the story's tasks.
  2. Take photographs with the camera, choosing lens, focus and film, and develop them in the darkroom.
  3. Look at your developed photos closely; they reveal clues and move the investigation on.
  4. Read letters and newspapers and listen to the radio to follow the war around you.
  5. Play out the puppet-theatre scenes to bring back Giulia's memories.

Screenshots

Martha Is Dead screenshot: a woman's hands hold an old twin-lens Rolleicord camera on a tripod
Martha Is Dead screenshot: the stone wall of a Tuscan farmhouse with flower pots and a garden hose, a hill town in the distance under blue sky
Martha Is Dead screenshot: Giulia stands at the enlarger in a darkroom lit red, with trays and bottles on the tiled benches

Tips

  • Use the map and the diary to keep track of what to photograph next.
  • Take your time; there is no fail state, and the countryside holds side stories.
  • Look at the store's content warning before you start; some scenes are very graphic.

Questions

Is Martha Is Dead a horror game?

It is a psychological thriller with horror in it: grief, folklore, the war and some very graphic scenes, rather than monsters or chases.

Is Martha Is Dead very graphic?

Some scenes show blood, dismemberment and self-harm, as its store page warns. The game recommends an adult audience.

Can I play Martha Is Dead in English?

Yes. Italian voice acting is the default, but there is English voice acting and subtitles in many languages.

  • first person
  • 1944
  • italy
  • tuscany
  • world war ii
  • photography
  • twins
  • folklore
  • story rich
  • italian voice acting

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Martha Is Dead is played on wiredproductions.com and its makers' stores; this page links to them and is not part of it. Pictures are from the game's own pages and remain its owner's. Terms and pictures.

Sources: store.steampowered.com, wiredproductions.com, metacritic.com