New indie horror game Martha is Dead is out today, and according to Wccftech’s own Rosh Kelly it’s a scary good time, but unfortunately, PlayStation owners won’t get to experience the developers’ full vision of the game. As we learned earlier this month, Martha is Dead is partially censored on PS4 and PS5, and now that the game is out, we know exactly what moments Sony objected to.
As many suspected, a scene present in the Martha is Dead demo in which you peel off a person’s face, as well as another scene detailed in the game’s ESRB rating where you cut open a woman’s womb and pull out a fetus, were subjects of Sony’s ire. Both scenes are still in the game, but they’re no longer interactive. Developer LKA is also offering a fully censored mode, that removes these scenes altogether, as well as other scenes depicting heavy topics such as suicide and self-harm.
One thing that may raise eyebrows, is that while Martha is Dead’s violent scenes are still present in some form on PlayStation, mere references to masturbation have been cut altogether. The masturbation-related content is limited to dialogue — you don’t see anything — but they’re made in reference to patients at a psychiatric hospital, which was apparently deemed “inappropriate.” LKA’s founder Luca Dalcò described the exact context of the cut references…
These [psychiatric hospitals] were places where patients were compulsorily admitted and where they often spent their entire lives. They were total institutions, like prisons, restricting every facet of a person’s life and, as such, masturbation was one of the few things patients were able to do.
In terms of this specific scene in Martha is Dead, the player walks in a field dotted with huge crosses with mask-wearing dolls hanging from them. A voice-over narrates the experience of living in an asylum, commenting that ‘there was this one young woman who would pleasure herself all day long… incessantly, to the point where she would bleed. It’s important to note this is a very dramatic moment in which the suffering of the forgotten is recounted. Unfortunately, part of this speech will not be present on the PlayStation version of the game.
Martha is Dead is available now on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, and PS5. The game remains uncensored on PC and Xbox (Wccftech’s review was conducted on PC).
