PC Gamer UK 01.2021 @InternationalPress75

That’s a pretty ominous introduction

to I Am Dead, but it’s more upbeat

than it sounds. Sure, there is talk of

ghosts, the afterlife and morality, but

it handles these topics with heart and

a sprinkle of silliness. It’s nowhere

near as dark as the

name implies.

You play as Morris

Lupton, an ex-museum

curator who has

unfortunately died and

now finds himself as a

ghost haunting his

home, the quaint

volcanic isle of

Shelmerston. The afterlife isn’t quite

as peaceful as Morris thought, the

island’s ancient guardian has decided

to retire, meaning that the volcano

will erupt unless another guardian is

appointed. It’s up to Morris and his

ghost dog, Sparkly, to find a

replacement and save the lovely

seaside town from total destruction.

The best candidates for the

position are Shelmerston’s deceased

residents, but the only way to ask if

they are up for the role is to first

conjure up their spirit. With Morris’

ghost abilities, you need to delve into

the memories of the living who knew

the deceased, locate the objects the

ghost cherished when they were

alive, and then summon them from

their eternal slumber. It sounds like

a lot, but I Am Dead makes it as

streamlined as possible,

with some free-

roaming along the way.

The game divides

the island into five

chapters, each

exploring an area that’s

home to one of

Shelmerston’s ghosts.

These scenes are

bursting with character, like a park

that’s been turned into an outside art

exhibit, or a lighthouse that doubles

as a yoga retreat. Alongside memory

delving, Morris can also peer inside

objects with a strange ‘slicing’ ability,

similar to X-ray vision. Couple this

with his ability to float, and you can

satisfyingly swoop around each area,

peering into buildings and clicking on

objects for further inspection.

When you click on an item, it will

pop out of the scene and turn into a

tactile vignette you can pivot and

zoom in on and inspect from every

angle. Zoom in on a computer and

you can see all its circuits inside, or

inspect a grass lump and find a

burrow full of rabbits. These little

wonders are a joy to find, and there

are hundreds of items to inspect.

Scanning each and every one is

worth it for the jokes and surprises

that have been hidden away, and I

Am Dead’s quaint world never makes

you feel like you have overstayed

your welcome.

TREASURE TROVE

I Am Dead is essentially one long

treasure hunt, but each object is more

than just an item on a checklist. After

finding out that an ex-Shelmerston

resident, Ogden Beckett, would be a

potential candidate to be the island’s

protector, I find that a chap named

Henry has a fond memory of him

that I can rummage through.

Learning that Ogden was an avid

multi-instrumentalist, specialising in

the sousaphone, I set on finding his

trusty bronze mouthpiece. With

some light deduction work each item

is easy enough to find, but what make

these objects more meaningful are

the memories attached to them.

Henry remembered Ogden

because of how wonderfully he

played in Shelmerston’s brass band,

and the mouthpiece reminds him of

those good times. Each object in I

Am Dead comes with its own happy,

sad, or bittersweet tale that really

fleshes out the person you’re

summoning back from the dead.

These items represent how we

remember those who have passed on

with all we have left of them: objects

and our memories. There’s no

mention about how any of the ghosts

died, the focus is on who they were

when they were alive, and I Am Dead

is very touching in that respect.

NEED TO KNOW

WHAT IS IT?

A hidden-object puzzle

game about exploring

the afterlife

EXPECT TO PAY

£16

DEVELOPER

Hollow Ponds and

Richard Hogg

PUBLISHER

Annapurna Interactive

REVIEWED ON

i5-2500K, 8GB RAM,

GTX 670

MULTIPLAYER

No

LINK

iamdeadgame.com

75

With leisurely puzzles

and gentle humour, I Am

Dead explores death in a

light-hearted way. And

I’m grateful for it.

VERDICT

Morris can also

peer inside

objects with

a strange

‘slicing’ ability

I

love the laid-back vibes of hidden-object games. I like the feeling

of easing into a scene and taking my sweet time searching for a

long list of items. I Am Dead is a hidden-object game that keeps

the puzzle elements of the genre, but is about finding out what

small curiosities mean to people as much as spotting objects. It’s

a game about death, but also how we remember people after they are

gone through the things they leave behind.

GHOST TOWN

I AM DEAD is a playful exploration of

life in limbo. By Rachel Watts

SLICE OF LIFE

Here are some of the cool objects you can open in I Am Dead

TOASTER

I wish I had a toaster that

could fit six slices of bread,

I’d be unstoppable.

OVEN

Zooming in on this oven

reveals a pie baking inside.

It’s a vegetable one at that.

DIVING HELMET

I really hope that skull

doesn’t belong to this diving

helmet’s previous owner.

I Am Dead

REVIEW