Six years after the release of the intriguing The Town of Light, whose review you can read here, the independent Italian studio LKA returns with another game inspired by true events as creepy as they are painful. We talk about Martha is Deada title that will probably be familiar due to a recent controversy: its version for PS4 and PS5 is censored, but the versions for PC and Xbox platforms have no changes.
Today we are so used to the presence of violence, sex and strong themes in video games that it is strange to think that this continues to happen. What makes the content of this work so extreme? Is it worth playing the version with changes and censorship of Martha is Dead on PS4 and PS5? What are we missing if we do? Let’s talk about all that.
What is it Martha is Dead?
This work is a graphic adventure exploration in the first person about the horrors of war, the weight of a traumatic childhood and a terrifying identity crisis. It has horror elements, but it’s mostly a psychological drama.
The story takes place in Italy during World War II. The protagonist is Giulia, the young daughter of a German army officer and an Italian woman. One day, when she went to the lake to take photos, she discovers the corpse of her twin Martha floating on the water. Following a strong impulse, she decides to pass herself off as her sister. To the rest of the world, Giulia is dead. She thus begins to explore her home and the surrounding forest to discover the reasons for Martha’s death, remember her tragic past and revive the folk myth of ‘The White Lady’.
The gameplay consists mainly of exploring the objects in the scenarios to discover little by little the history of the characters. Photography plays an important place. Taking photos with an old camera and developing them in a dark room—following steps very true to the actual process—is something we’re going to do many times in the approximately six hours it will take to finish the game. There are also activities such as tarot reading, sending messages using Morse code and participating in puppet shows. The care taken to accurately represent the time and place in which the game takes place is incredible. The default option for voices is in Italian and the lead actress does a fantastic job. The music is also noteworthy.
Is it worth playing the censored version of Martha is Dead on PS4 and PS5?
If the concept of this game catches your attention, they should try to play it on a platform that respects the original vision of the creators. However, that doesn’t mean the censored PlayStation version is worthless or ruins the experience.
The censorship he suffered Martha is Dead on PS4 and PS5 it does not cut much content from the game. Mainly, it removes the interactivity in a couple of especially brutal and violent scenes. There are two specific moments in the game in which the protagonist performs actions that can be very disturbing. In the Xbox and PC versions, we must do them “ourselves” following the instructions on the screen, pressing buttons and moving the ‘sticks’. In the PlayStation versions these actions happen automatically.
That’s pretty much it. The PS4 and PS5 version of Martha is Dead It’s no less violent or disturbing than PC or Xbox because of this censorship, it just takes control away from us during those moments.
In addition to these changes, we have the option to further censor the game if we don’t want to see these scenes so strong. If we activate this option on PlayStation, the game will cut specific scenes and show another one with a blurred effect. This option to censor the game appears before starting the first game, but can be turned on or off from the options menu. If you are sensitive to violent or potentially disturbing content, we recommend turning it on. The skipped moments are really strong and have a lot of gore.
We will describe these changes in more detail below.
What changes does the censored version of Martha is Dead have on PS4 and PS5 compared to the Xbox and PC versions?
In addition to being potential minor spoilers, the moments described below may be uncomfortable for some readers. If you prefer not to know what happens, we recommend skipping this section:
The PlayStation platform version of Martha is Dead has the following changes, regardless of whether we enable censorship or not:
- A scene where we rip the face off a corpse and put it on our own is not interactive on PS4 and PS5, it is on Xbox and PC.
- A scene where we undress a woman’s corpse, cut open her womb, and extract a misshapen fetus is not interactive on PS4 and PS5, it is on Xbox and PC.
- A dialogue mentioning masturbation in the chapter ‘The Church’ has been completely removed on PS4 and PS5. It remains intact on Xbox and PC.
If we activate the censorship option, the game will have the following changes:
- It won’t show the scene where we rip the face off a corpse.
- It won’t show the scene where we cut open a womb and pull out a fetus.
- The scene showing an abortion is deleted.
- The scene showing the death of someone being hanged is deleted.
- The camera has a blurry effect showing a baby during the said death scene.
Now that you know what you can lose depending on the version you play of Martha is Deadone question remains: Is it a good game in spite of everything?
Is it worth playing, censored or not?
This is a very unusual game. Essentially, it’s more reminiscent of first-person exploration games misnamed ‘walking simulators’ —such as Gone Home
If you like this genre of video games, you can find a great story in Martha is Dead. But it is one full of cruelty and sad moments. Its depressing tone and violence reminds us of some Italian films of the seventies, which had no problem showing the worst of humanity and attracted attention with really impressive scenes.
On a technical level, it is no wonder. According to reports, the game looks great on next-gen consoles with HDR enabledbut the PS4 version leaves a lot to be desired. Blurry textures are common and ‘bugs’ are the order of the day, including some that can completely ruin the game. The Spanish localization is not well done. There are poorly translated sentences and that can be a problem when solving some puzzles.
The developers promised to fix many of those issues with patches after release. We hope so. Another problematic element is its representation of people with mental illnesses, something that surprises us considering the theme of the studio’s previous work.
Martha is Dead It is a work that seeks to be taken seriously, with or without the censorship that it has on PS4 and PS5. Its extreme violence serves a narrative purpose, and the story is as depressing as the actual events it references. It may not be to everyone’s taste, but it is definitely a very interesting game.
Item made with a code from Martha is Dead for PlayStation 4 provided by Wired Productions.
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