I Am Dead

 Switch
Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 21 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 21
  3. Negative: 0 out of 21
  1. Vandal
    Oct 15, 2020
    72
    I Am Dead offers an interesting game proposal, but even if original, its structure feels a bit outdated.
  2. GameCritics
    Nov 16, 2020
    70
    Overall, the keywords for I Am Dead would probably be ‘charming’ and ‘quirky’. It isn’t a horror adventure nor a sad one, even though there are little doses of melancholy here and there. Instead, it’s a light puzzler that features some interesting game mechanics, and others that feel more appropriate to a casual mobile title — an easy recommend to casual players who are short on time and don’t mind a bit of repetition.
  3. Nintendo Life
    Oct 16, 2020
    70
    A very interesting game indeed, I Am Dead isn't top-tier indie magic but it's a hide-and-seek sandbox that will reward you the deeper you go. It's refreshingly content-rich, what with the Grenkins to find and riddles to solve for committed players. An appealing sense of place and strong visuals are only spoiled by some misplaced attempts at quirkiness and some minor control issues. Overall, though, I Am Dead makes us long for the sweet embrace of the reaper. Wait, no. It's just a rather enjoyable game. That's it. Not that other thing. Good god.
  5. Gameblog.fr
    Oct 14, 2020
    70
    Ricky Haggett's I Am Dead offers a nice walk on a fictional island through the eyes of the recently deceased Morris Lupton, hoping to find a new Keeper to prevent a volcan's eruption. With it's dog Sparky and a clever mechanic of zooming into almost every item, house or people you can see, I Am Dead is a short but relaxing puzzle-adventure. We simply hoped the extra challenge was more rewarding.
  6. Washington Post
    Oct 8, 2020
    70
    Dipping in and out of this humble puzzler is the way to go since it can otherwise be easy to lose sight of the charms of a fairly ordinary environment.
  7. Gaming Age
    Feb 8, 2021
    58
    If you don’t mind the narration and you’re able to get into the narrative, then you’ll probably delight in uncovering all the neat objects and stories this island and its inhabitants are hiding. For me, though? It never quite hits the mark. I Am Dead has some interesting ideas, and it executes on a lot of them, but taken as a whole, it’s just not as good as it could be.
  8. Nintendojo
    Dec 11, 2020
    58
    Clearly a lot of thought was put into this game and it is enjoyable to discover that. Unfortunately, I Am Dead’s repetitive gameplay, awkward controls, and short story that left me feeling discontent made me overall a bit disappointed.
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  1. Eurogamer
    Oct 8, 2020
    I Am Dead, with its ghosts, its world of objects, large and small, curiosities charged in some ways by the people who owned them, speaks to this very clearly, for me at least. It speaks of the ways that conversations with the dead go on. The way rituals and responsibilities take on new and perhaps confusing dimensions. More than anything it is a reminder of that bright contradiction - that death has absolutely everything to do with life. [Eurogamer Recommended]

Awards & Rankings

82
#82 Best Switch Game of 2020

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 15 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 15
  3. Negative: 3 out of 15
  1. EnigmaXtreme
    Oct 11, 2020
    8
    Despite having one of the most morbid titles I have ever heard, I Am Dead is the latest example of game publisher Annapurna InteractiveDespite having one of the most morbid titles I have ever heard, I Am Dead is the latest example of game publisher Annapurna Interactive emphasis on heartfelt storytelling. Our story focuses on Morris Lupton, curator of the Shelmerston Museum, a small island off the North Atlantic and like the name suggests, he is no longer with us. But that doesn’t stop him from talking and more importantly, slicing through everything, and that’s the main feature of the game, being able to pick pretty much anything and explore into its very core.

    Morris is reunited with his deceased dog Sparky, who has gained the ability to speak to him as well apparently all animals can talk we just can’t understand them. But Sparky comes with a warning, Shelmerston’s volcano which has remained dormant for centuries has suddenly stopped being dormant and will wipe out the town, its citizens and even worse, all the tourists and their selfie sticks.

    The volcano is threatening to erupt because the custodian of the volcano is slowly fading away and it is up to Morris and Sparky to find a new spirit and ask them to take over. They have several people in mind, citizens of the island who have also passed away over the last few years and to converse with their spirits they need to find mementos from when they were alive. The mementos are introduced from the memories of the people who knew them well.

    In the several areas we explore with Morris and Sparky, we find people with thought bubbles popping out of their heads. This gives us a little trippy slideshow of this person’s memories with the recently deceased and the memento that we need to find, thankfully you won’t have to look under every nook and cranny in the area to find it as they are in the same vicinity. After finding five of them, we play as a flying Sparky who rounds parts of their spirit like an ecto-sheep dog, rinse and repeat until the credits.

    There isn’t much challenge or strategy with I Am Dead and honestly, there really doesn’t need to be. It’s more about the sights and the people we meet along the way, it goes to show that even after we’ve passed on we are never truly gone, our stories, our legacies will be remembered by the people around us, sometimes even for centuries. The design of the world is incredibly basic, with a simplistic vector style that doesn’t even have any shadows, but honestly, I don’t hold that against the game. Because the main spect of the game is to slice into all kinds of objects you are going to be seeing the inside of anything from watermelon to a walkie talkie, so pretty much all the objects in the world were created with a full inside as opposed to just an object layer with a texture on top. There is an added layer to at all with hidden secrets known as Grenkins, little hand-drawn creatures that pop up when you slice a certain object in a particular way

    I Am Dead will only last you a few hours, but every moment is a heartfelt affair with some very interesting personalities living on the island like a Yoga Assistant Robot, a Glove Loving Fox or a Fishperson with a fondness for toast. For a game focused primarily on death and the afterlife, I Am Dead is simply brimming with life and much like the memories in the game, I won’t soon forget it.    … Full Review »
  2. Prosymnus
    Dec 26, 2020
    0
    Literally unplayable. I've spent the last 20 minutes trying to get past the opening stage. There is no option to advance. **** this game.
  3. Brnlv
    Feb 13, 2021
    1
    I'm surprised by the generally positive tenor of the critical discussion around this game. As someone who's a dedicated Annapurna InteractiveI'm surprised by the generally positive tenor of the critical discussion around this game. As someone who's a dedicated Annapurna Interactive fan, I'd been really looking forward to it from the trailer... existential subject matter in a colourful, charming seaside world? Count me in.

    But what I didn't know is that the narrative offering is hamstrung by several uniformly tedious mechanics: namely, slowly scrubbing through the characters' anecdotal "memories" to reveal each objects you need to find, and then searching the large, teeming, busy play area from top to bottom looking for each object. It's video game 'Where's Wally?'. In a bad way.

    Everything that the player must do to move the story forward is, unfortunately, boring. When you're stuck, you circle each area endlessly (couldn't there be a hint mode where your dog barks when you're getting warmer, or something?). Some of the item locations are infuriating. And so, progressing the story is drained of enjoyment.

    This is an awful video game.    … Full Review »
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