This was a disappointment.
Gotta start by pointing out that performance on PC is absolutely abysmal. Terrible performance on all graphics settings even with a a graphics card well overpowered for this game even on ultra. Massive frame rate drops, rubber banding, blurs and crashes. Game doesn't work at all with DX12 and hardly works on DX11. It sputters its way through. Audio drops, texture pop in. There's a litany of complains on the Steam forums or on countless websites about performance. Seems it was never fully rectified and at its worse renders the game completely unplayable.
If you are willing to push through the technical issues, you're rewarded with a delightfully mediocre experience. An inconsistent, slapdash story that tries to weave too many threads into a story that's never really cohesive and atmospheric enough to remain spooky. Tracking down maps and telegraphing morsecode to resistance fighters just isn't what I'm looking for in this sort of spooky walking sim. Too much detracts from the scary atmosphere and the shit performance gives ample amounts of frustration.
On Ultra settings the game is quite pretty, the music quite good and when you get the scares they are scary. Rarely cheesy or goofy. They stay in the moment and deliver suitable spooks. There's good moments here. It's why Martha is Dead is disappointing rather than just bad. There's some charm. There's some stuff you'll remember. But you'll spend more time lamenting that it wasn't better.
Gotta start by pointing out that performance on PC is absolutely abysmal. Terrible performance on all graphics settings even with a a graphics card well overpowered for this game even on ultra. Massive frame rate drops, rubber banding, blurs and crashes. Game doesn't work at all with DX12 and hardly works on DX11. It sputters its way through. Audio drops, texture pop in. There's a litany of complains on the Steam forums or on countless websites about performance. Seems it was never fully rectified and at its worse renders the game completely unplayable.
If you are willing to push through the technical issues, you're rewarded with a delightfully mediocre experience. An inconsistent, slapdash story that tries to weave too many threads into a story that's never really cohesive and atmospheric enough to remain spooky. Tracking down maps and telegraphing morsecode to resistance fighters just isn't what I'm looking for in this sort of spooky walking sim. Too much detracts from the scary atmosphere and the shit performance gives ample amounts of frustration.
On Ultra settings the game is quite pretty, the music quite good and when you get the scares they are scary. Rarely cheesy or goofy. They stay in the moment and deliver suitable spooks. There's good moments here. It's why Martha is Dead is disappointing rather than just bad. There's some charm. There's some stuff you'll remember. But you'll spend more time lamenting that it wasn't better.
jogo forte sem duvidas, alguns pontos me fizeram destacar as coisas ruins nesse jogo ou q poderiam melhorar, algumas delas como, pré carregamento de locais para evitar queda de fps no jogo foi a principal coisa q me deixou morgado na game play, coisas do genero de n explorar tao bem a mecanica de fotografia, ela ta la em maior parte para quem quiser brincar de fotografo e ter a paciencia para usar a camera cm mecanicas da epoca em q se passa o jogo, mas com o decorrer da historia vc percebe q o foco n é so o uso da sua camera, e sim o plot pessoal q o jogo deixa para todas as pessoas q possam precisar de alguma ajuda, muito bem explorado o conceito das dificuldades q geralmente podem estar ao nosso lado e nao vemos, poderia existir mais jogos com estes focos e serem mais apreciados pelas outras pessoas
todo o enredo é mto bom mas sinto que faltou o medo no game achei mto suave parecendo mais um walking simulator
Esse jogo só nao foi melhor por conta da perfomance tenebrosa que ele tem, mas tirando esses pontos é um jogo mt bom e meio complexo, o final te deixa pensante
Can Totally Imagine My Some Of My Male Classmates Sending This To Our Class Rep Named Martha Because Of All The Times She Scolded Them For Doing Stupid Crap
This is just a game of one gag after another. But it left a scar on me.
However, this is not your typical horror game, and it addresses mental health troubles.
However, this is not your typical horror game, and it addresses mental health troubles.
I thought this was going to be more of a horror game. It opens with a warning, asking if you want to censor (aka skip over) some of the more graphic scenes. I chose yes, and I'm glad I did. This was more of a mental health game than a horror game. Let's try to get that to catch on as a genre.
Martha Is Dead is a really powerful experience that left a lasting impression on me. The story is the game’s strongest aspect, touching on themes of loss, war and personal identity in meaningful ways. This game features female body horror delivered in a no-nonsense manner, creepy dolls, and truly spectacular set-pieces that is a delight to horror fans like myself.
While the gameplay could have been improved and the horror elements could have been further emphasized, the game is still meaningful and thought-provoking gaming experience.
While the gameplay could have been improved and the horror elements could have been further emphasized, the game is still meaningful and thought-provoking gaming experience.
This scarred me emotionally in the best possible way. There's a scene towards the end that is the most sickening thing I've ever witnessed in a videogame. And it doesn't have an ounce of gore. The only bad thing I have to say about it is that the developers clearly wanted to go even darker, especially with the ending. I understand why they used restraint, but I think the game would have been even more powerful if just went all the way with it.
One of the most twisted and psychologically fucked up games I’ve ever played. Diabolical and an amazingly original horror game.
como jogo "investigativo" é perfeito, mas como terror, falta o terror kkkk
Uma das melhores histórias de jogos de terror, tudo é muito bem encaixado com a gameplay, final muito surpreendente.
This game definitely leaves you thinking and wondering what is real. You really don't know what to expect from the game either.
Definitely one that I'm glad was made as it does focus on mental health and how you shouldn't be afraid to ask for help, no matter how alone you feel just asking for help makes all the difference
Definitely one that I'm glad was made as it does focus on mental health and how you shouldn't be afraid to ask for help, no matter how alone you feel just asking for help makes all the difference
Loved it
Pep's Season of Spooks - Game 16
A sad and disturbing psychological horror that starts strongly with a "whodunit" regarding the fate of the titular Martha. Sadly, the game really starts to fall apart as the psychological themes become more and more prevalent, and by the end the game goes into some incredibly misguided places regarding mental health and lost me completely.
It's a real shame as the rest of the game had me highly invested, with the use of photography and a darkroom being a particular highlight. The unusual location of wartime Italy also adds some interesting historical context to the story. It's just a shame that all the good elements of the game will be overshadowed by it's reputation of being "the game that got censored by Sony".
Don't get me wrong, there are indeed a few gruesome, highly disturbing moments within the game, but I don't feel like they are there simply for shock value. They serve to highlight the mental deterioration of the player in a way remniscient of old psychological horror movies such as Repulsion and Possession. As a side note, I thought it was funny that the only scene that the game asked if I wanted to be censored was actually one of the tamer scenes.
I want to be able to recommend this, but the sheer misguided misery of the game's final act sadly outweighs the positives. When you add in some unnecessary padding it makes the game even harder to advocate. Martha Is Dead's intentions are good, but it falls flat on it's face at the final hurdle.
Scary Rating 3/10 - Overall Rating 5/10
A sad and disturbing psychological horror that starts strongly with a "whodunit" regarding the fate of the titular Martha. Sadly, the game really starts to fall apart as the psychological themes become more and more prevalent, and by the end the game goes into some incredibly misguided places regarding mental health and lost me completely.
It's a real shame as the rest of the game had me highly invested, with the use of photography and a darkroom being a particular highlight. The unusual location of wartime Italy also adds some interesting historical context to the story. It's just a shame that all the good elements of the game will be overshadowed by it's reputation of being "the game that got censored by Sony".
Don't get me wrong, there are indeed a few gruesome, highly disturbing moments within the game, but I don't feel like they are there simply for shock value. They serve to highlight the mental deterioration of the player in a way remniscient of old psychological horror movies such as Repulsion and Possession. As a side note, I thought it was funny that the only scene that the game asked if I wanted to be censored was actually one of the tamer scenes.
I want to be able to recommend this, but the sheer misguided misery of the game's final act sadly outweighs the positives. When you add in some unnecessary padding it makes the game even harder to advocate. Martha Is Dead's intentions are good, but it falls flat on it's face at the final hurdle.
Scary Rating 3/10 - Overall Rating 5/10
7/10
It's one of the best "historical games" I've ever played. At times it's kinda naive in its storytelling, and perhaps it's too ambitious towards its ending but undoubtedly it has design and narrative intuitions that are so great, intelligent, and moving that I couldn't but enjoy it.
The game revolves around identity, (historical) agency, and remembering. The loss of self is associated with a loss of memory, and the game as a whole deals with remembering something that is usually forgotten in current history and historical games, i.e., marginalised individuals, frailty, mental ilness, and so on. The game is about war but it's not a war game: it's about a girl, someone that history usually forgets. All we do as we play is striving to remember: we mostly take photos, develop them, read things, re-enact overlong technological practices that are now long gone. Remembering is both diegetic and extra-diegetic: Giulia strives to remember and playing itself is an act of remembering.
The puppets make this convergence of theme, narrative, and gameplay even more explicit: playing with them is an analogon of playing the game, in both we uncover terrible forgotten truths. And both are dramatically linear, hauntingly suspended between reality and fiction, and pre-determined by someone (the designer or Giulia herself, both are puppet masters within their respective textual framework).
The greatest thing is that playing with these puppets is the only way to remember what actually (?) happened. In a similar guise, we play with the game to remember someone who's usually forgotten, a puppet of history among others, whose agency was denied.
Censored content is something you shouldn't miss: please play uncensored versions of the game.
[Podcast incoming for all the Italian speakers interested ;)]
It's one of the best "historical games" I've ever played. At times it's kinda naive in its storytelling, and perhaps it's too ambitious towards its ending but undoubtedly it has design and narrative intuitions that are so great, intelligent, and moving that I couldn't but enjoy it.
The game revolves around identity, (historical) agency, and remembering. The loss of self is associated with a loss of memory, and the game as a whole deals with remembering something that is usually forgotten in current history and historical games, i.e., marginalised individuals, frailty, mental ilness, and so on. The game is about war but it's not a war game: it's about a girl, someone that history usually forgets. All we do as we play is striving to remember: we mostly take photos, develop them, read things, re-enact overlong technological practices that are now long gone. Remembering is both diegetic and extra-diegetic: Giulia strives to remember and playing itself is an act of remembering.
The puppets make this convergence of theme, narrative, and gameplay even more explicit: playing with them is an analogon of playing the game, in both we uncover terrible forgotten truths. And both are dramatically linear, hauntingly suspended between reality and fiction, and pre-determined by someone (the designer or Giulia herself, both are puppet masters within their respective textual framework).
The greatest thing is that playing with these puppets is the only way to remember what actually (?) happened. In a similar guise, we play with the game to remember someone who's usually forgotten, a puppet of history among others, whose agency was denied.
Censored content is something you shouldn't miss: please play uncensored versions of the game.
[Podcast incoming for all the Italian speakers interested ;)]
a história é mais ou menos intrigante, especialmente no seu arco final. porém, absolutamente todas as mecânicas do jogo me cansaram demais. revelar as fotos era sempre muito enfadonho, e não preciso nem falar do telégrafo.
God this game affected me some sort of way