With LKA’s Martha is Dead now available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series and PC (read Harrison’s take on the game here), you’re probably wondering just what Sony had LKA cut in order for the game to be published on the PlayStation. There’s been speculation ever since the news came out as to what’s missing, and IGN managed to speak to publisher Wired Interactive to find out just what was cut and why.
For one, the video circulating of a player having to cut off a face was indeed one of the interactive scenes that was cut for the PS4 and PS5 release, along with a scene where the player must cut open a corpse’s womb. In addition, references to masturbation were cut, and the PlayStation version of Martha is Dead features more detailed content warnings at the start of the game than either the PC or Xbox Series versions.
On top of that, an optional censored mode was added to the PS4 and PS5 versions that would remove the face peeling and womb cutting scenes, alongside scenes depicting miscarriage and suicide. In fact, all versions of the game feature an option to censor scenes of self-harm near the game’s final act, but the Xbox and PC versions don’t have the expanded censored mode found on the PlayStation.
When approached by IGN, Wired Productions’ marketing head Neil Broadhead stated that these requested changes came with Sony itself. “The changes in content were made as a result of conversations with PlayStation in the lead up to our launch. Although the changes were not planned and the modifications did result in a slight delay in being able to start production on the physical edition, PlayStation fully supported us to help minimize this delay.”
Keep in mind that this was after Martha is Dead had gone before the ESRB, and had been given a Mature rating. The process for a game to be published does involve having the game be presented to Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, etc. in order for the game to be allowed to be sold on their respective digital platform. It’s not typical for a company after the game has been assigned a rating to ask for changes.
Nevertheless, LKA’s founder and CEO Luca Dalcò stated that the modified scenes are a very small part of the game, and that the changes made “[do not] distort the gaming experience.”