In I Am Dead, the departed live on in the memories of others and the artifacts they leave behind. While that statement is soberingly relatable, the game’s evocative island environment and delicate storytelling treats the subject of the afterlife with an alluring buoyancy. This dreamy narrative adventure by Hollow Ponds and Richard Hogg largely hinges on a single mechanical twist: the ability to dive inside physical objects like a magical MRI machine, revealing their innards slice by slice. It makes for a gentle journey and slow-burning meander through the history of an island and its dormant volcano.
I Am Dead’s publisher Annapurna Interactive has established a firm presence in the indie scene with projects that lean towards the “art game” genre. While this one is no different in that respect, it uses the casual hidden object genre for a meatier type of game with meditative qualities. Diving into objects is a novel gameplay trick, and brief jumps into the minds of characters to learn more about those who have passed on feels like a fresh approach, even though it amounts to mostly looking and listening.
The game takes place entirely on the island of Shelmerton, though it presents a diversity of locales and personalities. Players take the role of the deceased Morris Lupton and his (also dead) dog Sparky, now tasked with finding a suitable new “custodian” spirit to maintain the peaceful slumber of Shelmerton’s resident volcano. I Am Dead's custodian-elects are introduced and framed via memories of the people who knew them in life, and players seek out and assemble their imbued essence in objects that were meaningful to them. Morris’ former role as Shelmerton Museum curator means that he’s the perfect reluctant detective for this quest, a pleasant and friendly middle-aged soul full of anecdotes about his community.
The visual design here is all soft edges, simple textures, and bulbous characters, reminiscent of the team’s previous games and often enough to prompt a smile or chuckle on its own. That energy is matched by a dawdling and playful soundtrack which heightens I Am Dead’s zestful nature, though some interludes do dwell on regret, anger, and sadness. This is all to say that the game’s tone is wholesome yet multifaceted, despite the cute and colorful façade available in screenshots.
There’s hesitation to describe I Am Dead as a full-on puzzle game, though levels do contain optional riddle sequences with pun phrases to ponder; for instance, a yoga poster describes a “resting robin,” and the answer to it is the skull of a person named Robin tucked into a diving helmet. There are also “Grenkins” to search for, spirit blobs which are collected by attempting specific slices into an object. These feel fiddly and usually amount to guesswork, though Sparky will always alert Morris if a Grenkin is nearby.
Unfortunately, that fiddly quality is exacerbated with Nintendo Switch controls, which do not feel like the perfect fit to I Am Dead’s gameplay. The left analog stick swivels and pushes the camera around objects or locations while the right stick or d-pad focuses specific items, which is always tricky with smaller targets. The lack of any controller sensitivity settings compromises ease of use here, and it seems like a missed opportunity to exclude touchscreen controls entirely, which would have made the gameplay exponentially smoother.
All the same, nothing in I Am Dead relies on quick reflexes. Morris floats through each scene in first-person perspective and the trigger buttons zoom in and out through various structures and ephemera. Almost every little object has been designed with a delightful level of detail, revealing wires and diodes in walkie talkies, caterpillars munching inside lettuce heads, or tiny figurines hidden in suitcases. There’s a similarly rich variety of flavor text, with just as much narrative and context tucked into most objects, optional text which fleshes out the world even further.
Most of Shelmerton’s residents have worthy miniature tales to unravel, threads which are less fluffy than some earlier encounters might indicate. It makes for a game that is mature yet whimsical, exploring known and unknown impressions left on a community by those who have passed on, and the complete tale is a fulfilling one with a creative narrative finale. For such a high concept game mechanic, it’s frustrating that the controls aren’t as intuitive as could be, but it’s nothing that compromises I Am Dead’s colorful portal into North Atlantic island life.
I Am Dead releases on Nintendo Switch, PC/Steam, and the Epic Games Store on October 8th. A digital Nintendo Switch code was provided to Screen Rant for the purpose of this review.