I Am Dead: Spooky puzzle fun for PC and Switch in the test

Is death a new trending topic in indie games? After the outstanding Spiritfarer some time ago, I Am Dead is the next game that is all about life and death. But is this virtual nirvana implemented as successfully as in the competition? We explored the islanders' memories, talked to ghosts and examined all kinds of objects.

Table of contents

1 Death is just the beginning 2 Memento Sparky 3 Beautiful life after death

The Death is just the beginning

On the tiny island of Shelmerston in the middle of the Atlantic, Morris Lupton and his dog lead a peaceful life as a museum curator. He has since passed away, but that does not prevent him from being the protagonist of I Am Dead, nor from walking further on the island.

When he meets the ghost of his four-legged friend Sparky and she meets him Discussing the need to find a new guardian spirit for the island, or else the volcano will erupt in its center and throw all residents into disaster, Morris is happy to go to find a new candidate for the job. Five people who have also died or their ghosts come into question. In order to recruit them, however, the dissimilar duo has to dig into the memories of the living residents and find so-called mementos - objects that meant a lot to the deceased or their relatives.

Memento Sparky

As a ghost, you can look into and under objects. In this burrow, the furry inhabitants take a nap. Is there a wanted memento here? Source: PC Games In practical terms, this means that we move the camera with the left stick and slide over objects and people with the right stick like a mouse pointer. With the push of a button, we select goals and then learn more about them. As a ghost, Morris has the wonderful ability to see not only inside closed objects, but also inside the minds of islanders. In order to know which mementos Sparky and Morris need to track down, it is first necessary to comb through the memories of the NPCs. It's very simple when it comes to play: You use ZR and ZL to rotate cartoon-like still images until they look right. Once the object of desire has been identified from memory, the search begins. For spoiler reasons, we limit the examples to tasks from the first level of the game, the lighthouse. A participant in the yoga class remembers the deceased's beloved collection of Buddha statues. If we research further, we find out that the fourth, smallest Buddha disappeared after vacuuming.

You turn the camera with the left stick and select everything you want to examine more closely with the push of a button and the right stick . Source: PC Games The solution is quite obvious: So we look for the vacuum cleaner, look deep into the bag and find the little Buddha there. Later the search game becomes more difficult and you really have to look carefully and carefully analyze the environment. In addition to the main quest, in which we find the mementos, we look for little lucky spirits that only show up when we solve picture puzzles. In every room with such a spirit, a scheme appears in the lower right corner. We then have to look for an object and "cut open" it with our X-ray vision and turn it so that it coincides with the diagram. You can already tell: The degree of complexity of the gameplay in I Am Dead is manageable, but it is also a puzzle adventure.

Nice life after death

The surroundings are nicely designed and there is a lot to discover. For example little lucky spirits that are hiding everywhere. Source: PC Games Anyway, the presentation is beautiful: In bright colors and impeccable cartoon design, there are many loving details to be discovered in the game world, and the sound design is also appealing: Whenever Morris looks into an object, a subtle sounds but satisfying rustle. The setting is also successful, but there are only English voices. At least the lyrics are in German, so that younger players can still follow the plot. With its calm presentation and thoughtful subject matter, however, I Am Dead is more appealing to the older generation.

Control turns out to be a disruptive factor, zooming and rotating is very slow and adjusting the viewing angle feels awkward and little intuitively. In addition, the basically beautiful X-ray mechanics is hardly varied and the stories about the deceased could have been a little more in-depth. Sparky and Morris, however, are a very charming protagonist couple and gathering together the parts of the soul that are flying around like a flock of sheep on the pasture is a lot of fun.

My opinion

By Katharina Pache

Editor in Chief

[email protected] I Am Dead offers a beautiful setting and a nice story on top of that. If only the controls were better! Everything is so slow and cumbersome. With I Am Dead you better use your mouse and keyboard, with Switch you were unlucky. I find the idea behind the game very charming and I also like the visual implementation. Overall, the stories in I Am Dead are almost a little too sweet and sentimental and full of warm feelings. Spiritfarer is more adult and also deals with negative emotions around death and more complex relationship structures. But that's just a different game with a different narrative approach, and some people certainly prefer the more optimistic and smooth framework of I Am Dead. A word about the duration of the game: With about three to six hours you can finish the game very quickly, theoretically you can of course still look for all the little lucky spirits on the island. I Am Dead (PC) 7/10

Graphics - Sound - Multiplayer - I Am Dead (NSW) 7/10

Graphics - Sound - Multiplayer - Pros & Cons Colorful, beautiful game world Sympathetic Heroes Good sound design Nice x-ray mechanics Nice gameplay for younger players Slow, cumbersome controls on Switch Story remains quite superficial Hardly any variance in the gameplay More pros & cons ... Conclusion Quiet puzzle game with suboptimal controls and little gameplay variance