Martha is Dead surprises you in several ways. Unfortunately, not all of them are good. The main surprise to me was that this isn’t, at its core, a horror game. It certainly features uneasy moments, and in those moments, when it is able to create a suffocating, oppressive, haunting atmosphere, the game is at its absolute best. This is particularly well realised during the story’s first couple of days, when it evokes a sense of dread as you wander around the woods near the lake at night. During those moments, the game absolutely delivers in the emotional response it ‘forces’ out of the player.

From those moments on, however, the game reveals itself to be something different. In essence, and eventually in tone, Martha is Dead morphs into a drama about human suffering that attempts to share a message in a somewhat artistic way. That message, in the end, relies more on your own interpretation of the story than on any specific, pre-determined conclusion, since you’re literally the one deciding why some things happened the way they did. This adds an extra layer of frustration, because it can easily render some plot twists and story beats virtually meaningless depending on what you decide. It is an interesting design choice, but not one I would choose to have in a game like this. So here we have a double whammy of disappointment: not only does the game gradually move away from its original horror vibe, it also rests on the player’s shoulders the responsibility of wrapping up the story themselves with little regard for narrative consistency.

Other shortcomings pile up on top of this. At least on console, there is a barrage of technical problems. From poor frame rate, to screen tearing from to texture glitches to breaking the map by simply exploring it, there are a host of issues that, alongside the janky mechanics, make it obvious that this game needed a bit more cooking time before release. Additionally, a couple of the puzzle segments were infuriatingly obtuse. Here I'm particularly talking about the spy mission, which is doubly frustrating because not only does it bear no weight on the story whatsoever (just the illusion of it), it requires you to know actual morse code in order to solve it. This also creates a pacing problem, with the game halting its tension to become a mechanically challenged exercise in box ticking for no real reason. Likewise, the photo mechanics are a neat addition and make narrative sense, but like the morse code puzzle, the level of realism they were going for doesn’t necessarily lend itself well to a game of this nature.

These may seem like a serious deterrent to enjoying the game as a whole, and some do affect the experience. But despite all this, I was still able to appreciate my playthrough. When everything clicks, Martha is Dead is an awesome, eerie adventure that makes brilliant use of its sound design and fantastic visuals to lure you into its world. The WW2-embroiled rural Italy works as the perfect backdrop for this type of story, and on occasion the game is very successful at playing with your mind in order to make you feel uncomfortable and unsettled. Even if I take issue with the spoilery way the game warns you of certain upcoming scenes, it is undeniable that there are 2 or 3 moments here that make for unpleasant viewing, horrifying even if you’re not used to these types of titles. Any game able to raise the hairs at the back of my neck will always be worthy of praise in my book. The sad part is that this happened less and less frequently as I progressed through my playthrough, not due to exposition but to change in tone.

In the end, Martha is Dead tells an interesting story for most of the time, but a misleading one for anyone going in expecting a genuine ‘horror’ experience from start to finish. It can reach high, unsettling, haunting heights, but it never does it often enough to become lastingly impactful. Technical hurdles and a couple of really obtuse puzzle moments also hold it back, but the main disappointment here is that, above all, this feels like a missed opportunity to present something truly special. 7/10