Martha Is Dead
Martha Is Dead is a dark first-person psychological thriller, set in 1944 Italy, that blurs the lines between reality, superstition and the tragedy of war.
As conflict intensifies between German and Allied forces, the desecrated body of a woman is found drowned… Martha!
Martha is dead, and her twin sister Giulia, the young daughter of a German soldier, must alone deal with the acute trauma of loss and the fallout from her murder. The hunt for the truth is shrouded by mysterious folklore and the extreme horror of war that draws ever closer.
What will prevail?
Features
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Unashamedly authentic voice acting in Italian
The first Indie game to launch using the native Italian language as the default setting – for full immersion into the story and the characters.
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From the creator of The Town of Light
The second game from LKA, the award-winning developer of “The Town of Light” and specialists in reality-based narrative games focused on tough subjects.
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Deep and dark multi-layered narrative
Martha Is Dead is an exploration of loss, relationships and the psychological undertones of a dark period of history through the eyes of a young woman who seeks the truth, but who also has secrets of her own to hide.
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Explore a detailed recreation of the Italian countryside
Freely explore the breathtakingly realised Tuscany countryside on foot, by boat, or bike. Grounded in reality, Martha Is Dead’s setting and historical context are inspired by real facts and places that have been faithfully reconstructed in true LKA fashion.
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Play with dolls
Play with numerous marionette sequences in the puppet theatre to remember repressed memories.
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Mixing folklore with superstition
Unlock symbols and use tarot cards to unveil new aspects of the game and to summon the spirit of The Lady.
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A backdrop of War
Collect newspapers, telegrams and listen to the radio to keep updated on what is occurring in the world during the war.
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Virtual photographic greatness
Take pictures for the sheer pleasure of doing so, and also to progress through the story and discover more about the game world. A simulator will guide you through 1940s photography, where you’ll be able to develop your actual photos through a fully working in-game darkroom!
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Authentic Italian music of the era
Immerse yourself in a deeply evocative and atmospheric soundtrack containing underwater music specialists Between Music and their Aquasonic project; The Town of Light composer Aseptic Void and his moody yet spinetingling tones; and held together in true vintage style featuring reimagined versions of classic tracks including Schubert’s Ave Maria, O Bella Ciao, with original tracks written and sung by Francesca Messina, AKA 90s disco star, Femina Ridens.
Read More: Best Cinematic Female Protagonist Games.
Break Bounds: Exile 越界：流放者
Game Introduction：
This is an Early Access game. It’s kind of interactive story game. Players will take on the role of a legendary character in a near-realistic sci-fi-set world, learning about himself and others, and about their relationship to the world, through dialogue with other characters, psychological analysis, environmental exploration and combat; unlocking the great mysteries hidden about the world, and the character himself. In Break Bounds: Exile we have experimented with different artistic approaches to presenting different scenarios in the game to give the product a more dramatic effect. For example, we used 3D scenes to suggest a stage and 2D characters to suggest that the characters were actors on a stage, and we also used different art forms, both figurative and abstract, to show the difference between the real world and the dream world.
Version Introduction：
The game is currently 1.5 to 2.5 hours of gameplay, which consists of basic worldview background disclosure, basic plot construction, basic environment exploration and puzzle solving, basic psychological puzzle solving, basic interaction with scenes and characters, and basic action and combat. The pacing of the game starts with a soothing storyline and ends with a very first battle, combining psychological puzzle solving, interaction and basic combat elements, allowing players to immerse themselves in the world created by the game relatively quickly.
In the future, the full version of the game will further upgrade the environmental exploration and puzzle solving as the plot progresses, increase the level and complexity of the psychological puzzle solving, improve the complexity of the game’s action and combat gameplay, open up regional map exploration, open up item collection, open up prop synthesis and more.
Game Features and Pricing：
The biggest highlights of the game at this stage are the immersive game design, multiple gameplay styles and unique narrative, including the seamless connection between cinematic footage and actual game play, the musical atmosphere, and the enhanced immersion of the plot. The Early Access stage of this game is priced at around 30% to 40% of the full version, aiming to provide the best purchase price for those who have supported us since the early days of the game’s promotion, and we sincerely thank you for your support.
Follow-up Game Version Introduction：
The full version of the game is designed to be around 20 hours in length, and the gameplay will be heavily expanded from the existing one. The full version of the game will feature around 50 characters, all of whom will have their own stories, performances, interactions, and more. There will be over a hundred background characters.
The full version of the game will have 8 to 10 chapters, guided by multiple main storylines interspersed, each chapter will be represented by a unique style and different expressions, and the tasks to be completed in each chapter will be relatively independent.
We will do our best to bring you an emotional and playful experience with laughter and tears, sadness and joy, which takes place in a virtual world but is nevertheless engraved in your heart.
Read More: Best Cinematic Choices Matter Games.
Morphine
Morphine puts us in the shoes of an 18-year-old high school student who experiences a lot of bullying in his class. I think the idea of putting school bullying in the focus is commendable as not many video game use it for storytelling purposes. It should also be noted that it was mainly developed by Kerim Kumbasar - upon completion you can read his notes saying the game is based on his own experience.
Now, Morphine is, first and foremost, one of those first person exploration games. It is not an FPS in its true sense as shooting enemies is kept to a minimum. It is more about walking, interacting with objects and minimalistic puzzle solving. We relive the many times Peter was bullied by his classmate, Ted and these are often followed by dream-like sequences with a giant rabbit that is akin to the one in the film Donnie Darko. The main jumpscares are attributed to the appearance of this otherworldly creature.
– Real player with 3.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Cinematic Indie Games.
Morphine is the first and only game made by Kerem Kumbasar - a name that we see in nearly every available space of this game - a Turkish indie developer. For a one man project and a first trial at unity to produce something presentable, I’d say that it is a semi-success. The game has some imaginative value and is brave enough to take the risk of undergoing a psychedelic horror display, but it has its unforgivable parts which led me into casting a downvote.
To arrange a non-spoiler summary, our character is a high school student with some background and popularity issues. He is the subject of constant bullying for his whole high school experience, because why not? He is insecure and intolerant, with an impending psychosis on the side. The game invites us to go through a psychedelic journey in his memories, eventually bringing us to the point where he decides to get violent. It should be noted that the name of our protagonist is a bit ambiguous, since the names of our protagonist and antagonist got mixed-up half-way through the game. For the most part, he is referred as Peter - the bully being Ted, yet nearing the end game, our silent nerd is called as Ted and the bully is called as Peter. It is quite frustrating. It might be declared that they were the same and the one person altogether, but that really doesn’t fit into the story, so… if anyone managed to get that part, inform me.
– Real player with 3.6 hrs in game
Summer of ‘58
A very scary game!
Great Jump-scares!
Got so scared at times!
Perfect to play alone and at night!
Story kept me wanting to find items and continue playing!
Have played through it twice will do it again for sure!
Highly recommended to all of you wanting a scare!
Loved it!
– Real player with 4.0 hrs in game
OMG this game is a masterpiece in the Horror Community for sure. i bought Bundle after playing “you must " and god they are brilliant in their work. now my Expectations are much higher for upcoming games. now installing “Find yourself " :).
buy on actual price or on sale both games are worth buying and scare them who says -what so scary about this games !! .
thanks you for making such a wonderful game looking forward to play your next projects. ( yes this is a new tool to scare my cousins).
– Real player with 3.9 hrs in game
UnearthU
A strange experience, if you’re interested at all I’d recommend not reading much more about this
– Real player with 2.2 hrs in game
This is a “game” much in the same way a walking simulator or a VN is, so just fair warning.
I am currently on Day 4 and will update again when I get to Day 7.
I will not spoil specifics.
The “game” is best experienced as intended: do each day without changing clocks or anything. Do Day 1, and then do Day 2 the following day when it unlocks. Complete all exercises with honest intent, to include the writing prompts and meditation exercises.
There is a narrative and character and background amidst what feels like real mindfulness concepts. The blend between the real and fictional is intriguing and keeps me coming back each day. The layout of the exercises feels intended, with the motivational video leading into the discussions/lectures by KARE, then a meditation/breathing exercises that inevitably lead you to ruminating about what KARE just talked about, a writing prompt that sometimes gives you pause about wanting to be completely truthful, and a final checklist of items that you’re more than likely just going to click through without actually implementing.
– Real player with 1.5 hrs in game
Alfred Hitchcock - Vertigo
Ed Miller, a writer, came out unscathed from his car crash down into Brody Canyon, California.
Even though no one was found inside the car wreckage, Ed insists that he was traveling with his wife and daughter. Traumatized by the event, he begins to suffer from severe vertigo. As he starts therapy, he will try to uncover what really happened on that tragic day.
Prepare yourself for a most disturbing investigation inside the human mind: truth is sometimes worse than madness.
Features:
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An original story about obsession, manipulation and madness, inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece Vertigo.
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Live a powerful narrative experience paying tribute to the visual and storytelling techniques of the thriller genre.
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Investigate through the vision of three characters: everyone has a different story to tell.
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Explore several timelines to cross-check the events and separate reality from deceptive memories.
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Developed by the award-winning adventure game studio Pendulo Studios.
Farewells
“Farewells” is a narrative adventure game with the main character boy who comes and goes to his real life and the worlds of video games, and the player advances the game through the multi-layered world.
INTRODUCTION
A boy is playing video games all the time in his room without consideration for the worries of his family. While controlling the boy, the player also controls the video games that the boy plays. The story of this game continues with the “reality in the game” and the “game in the game” are embedded in each other within the multi-layered world, focusing on the role of the characters appearing in video games.
STORY
By advancing through various “in-game games” such as FPS, RPG, Horror, etc., the boy himself and his reality will begin to change. From the experiences gained in the games, the boy begins to solve problems with his family. At the same time, characters from the game gradually appear in the boy’s room, and his world gradually becomes a mixture of reality and the worlds of the games he is playing. The story weaves through this nested structure and focuses on the existence of characters in video games.
CONCEPT
During playing a video game, players always meet and part with many characters. When the player completes a game, the game’s characters also leave the players by being released from the game’s narrative and role. This is a work that unravels the strange relationship between players and the characters of video games formed by this interaction of separation.
CW
This game features battlefields and horror scenes like FPS games and horror games.
Features
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The game allows you to play multiple game genres: FPS, RPG, horror, and it requires you to control the game accordingly.
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Explore the main character’s house, solve family problems and get new games.
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TPS, Top-Down View, FPS, Pixel, the visual experience of all game genres will appear at the same time.
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However, the story unfolds whether you play video games or not. Your own Farewells.
I Saw Black Clouds
I Saw Silver Linings
It doesn’t show its hand until it will have tested the patience of many, but I think in the pantheon of modern FMV titles it’s sufficiently interesting to recommend (with some caveats).
Consider me an avid indie FMV game dabbler . Over time I’ve realised that the real beauty of such interactive films, much like VR games, isn’t that they continuously break new ground towards some singularity future entertainment form. It’s that indie creator spirit that flows through their design and writing and all the quirks and eccentricities that come with that. I’m British, so I always love the underdog.
– Real player with 9.6 hrs in game
As a big fan of FMV games, I give this a 6 out of 10. So a mild recommendation mostly for other fans of the genre. There are just too many elements here that could be improved on to rate it any higher, some of which have been mentioned in other reviews.
There are some tracked playthrough stats like tact and honesty that are poorly explained in relation to the game, to the point I don’t think they have any impact other than reflecting choices you’ve made. There’s no situation where you aren’t tactful enough to continue down a certain path or anything like that. But at the same time there are the stats of denial and acceptance that determine your ending. So some of the stats matter and some don’t and that’s never really made clear.
– Real player with 8.1 hrs in game
Lucidus Mortem
1930’s, Samuel, a man with occult beliefs and very revolutionary ideas is contacted by S. Gordon-Stenfield an elderly man desperate for the suicide of Alice, his daughter.
Together and through a voodoo ritual they send Samuel to a world where only people who have died violently can access.There he will try to recover Alice’s soul so she can rest in peace… But the story Samuel will discover as he enters that world will make him realize that nothing is what it seems.
Features:
Football Game
With its visuals, storytelling and soundtrack, Football Game is a stylistic, dark, neat little point’n’click adventure game.
Definitely a recommendation from me.
Apperantly Pros and Cons is a popular thing so:
*Pros:
-A great, fittingly dark soundtrack that is especially pleasing if you already like its genre.
-A relatively short and simple story which is, at the same time, open to multiple interpretations.
-Puzzle elements are nice, since, as pointed out by another reviewer, they make sense, not too hard for just being hard or easy to be easy, you probably won’t get stuck at all and will feel satisfied after solving the puzzles.
– Real player with 3.1 hrs in game
Football Game is an engaging point&click adventure and I think you will be happy to get it around $2. I would describe it as a psychological drama. Luckily it was less about the football and more about the characters. For a relatively short game, it has an enjoyable narrative that complements a gloomy atmosphere. You can even interact with few items in the environment that have little purpose to the actual plot. Overall a competent game with a satisfying ending.
Most of the puzzles were very intuitive. I only got stuck once but otherwise, the logic got me through everything else. Sometimes you have to pay attention to the dialogue to get a solution. I am not a huge fan of reading but there was no overwhelming amount of text. You could probably beat the game around 1 hour unless you get stuck on last puzzle like me. The interface worked really well and I did not have any technical issues. Although I would like to see indicators next to borders so I know where the exits are.
– Real player with 2.6 hrs in game