Don’t be fooled by the title – I Am Dead is a very bright, uplifting game about putting together memories of characters who passed away. The game is developed by Hollow Ponds and Richard Hogg, the creators best known for Hohokum and Wilmot’s Warehouse, and published by Annapurna Interactive. Play as Morris Lupton, a museum curator who died presumably moments before the game starts. As Morris, you meet up with your old dog sparky in the afterlife, who explains the whole plot of the game to you. The island, thought to be a dormant volcano, is in danger of erupting unless Morris and Sparky can get a ghost of the afterlife to become the new spirit of the island to keep the volcano from erupting.
Morris and Sparky travel all across the island to listen to the memories people have of those they have lost. Each memory has an item associated with it and Morris has to find those items to collect the memory of this person. This is where the game gets really cool. The main form of gameplay in the whole game is how you can select an object and zoom through it. Meaning you can zoom in on an object and see what is inside of it. In fact, you can slice through an object and see it layer by layer.
The attention to detail in this mechanic is amazing and quite honestly, impressive. There are objects everywhere in the game, almost all of which you can select and examine. Most of those that can be examined will have something interesting about them, whether it be an item needed for the story or just a gag for fun.
The gameplay is very light, and not intensive at all. Swap between areas, select one and observe the area for people and objects. To find out what object you have to look for, find people who are in the midst of remembering someone, go into their memory and find the object of importance in that memory. I Am Dead is never really trying to trick you – they give you the image of the object on the side of the screen after the memory. You will have to work a little bit to find the object, but it’s not arduous and quite fun.
There is also a collectible type mechanic where you have to find island spirits called Grenkins. Grenkins are found when you slice an object at the right amount of depth and at the right angle. There is a little image for each one when Sparky sniffs it out and it can be a fun little mini game to match the silhouette with the object. It can also get a little difficult, though.
The visuals of I Am Dead are very beautiful and actually a big part of the game as a total. The graphics are very simple but very bright, colorful, and uplifting. It also aids in the message of the game that everyone will be remembered. It also portrays death as a very peaceful and serene experience to go through, with nothing to be afraid of.
Overall, I Am Dead is a very fun, relaxing, and beautiful game. It’s a great game to play while just winding down from the day, that’s where I found myself playing it most of the time. It’s not trying to be groundbreaking but it does offer a refreshing new style of game that doesn’t take all of your energy or attention. You can tell a lot of love and hard work went into making this game.
8/10
Check Out the I Am Dead Trailer:
I am Dead is available for the Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store for $19.99.
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I'm a second-year student at Michigan State University and, I grew up mostly on Nintendo games, specifically GameCube and Wii. My favorite games growing up were Super Mario Sunshine, Luigi's Mansion, Wario World and Super Smash Bros Melee. Nintendo was a huge part of my upbringing, but that did not prevent me from trying other consoles. I built my own PC for gaming when I was around 13 and that is where most of my gaming resides nowadays, I do however have a plethora of consoles because some games are meant to be played on a TV. My favorite Video games right now are the first Portal and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but that tends to be malleable.
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