Though the terracotta floor tiles are worn, and the plaster on the walls is pockmarked with age, it's gorgeous here. Umbrellas sit in a large urn beside the cold marble fireplace, but there's no need for them today; today, sunshine pours in through the unshuttered windows and everything it touches is bathed in its golden glow. Two oversized, squishy leather chairs bracket a small table upon which a fan oscillates - slowly and without much enthusiasm - blowing a light breeze into the centre of the bright room. Beside that stands an upright piano - it looks well-used but in good repair - and while there are candles dotted around, this neat and modest dining room boasts a stately electric candelabra that sits directly above the dining table. A dining table with a body on it.

While not wholly unexpected - this is called Martha Is Dead, after all; the dead-ness is baked right into the bloody title - the sight of the corpse in the coffin is somehow all the more unsettling given the mundane backdrop of this bright, homely place. Our protagonist, Giulia, doesn't say anything as she passes by it, even though her head has been full of Martha since she awoke that morning. Instead, she steps out of the rustic Tuscan home and out into a lush courtyard with citrus trees and giant clay urns and a stunning, green vista.

Now, I know what you're thinking because I felt it, too. It's the classic horror bait-and-switch, isn't it? The game will draw us in with its stunning recreation of 1940s Tuscany, a world stuffed with colour and charm, just long enough to let us get comfortable before the sun sets and things get spooky. It's Horror 101, and wholly predictable.

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Town of Light developer LKA has dropped a new video teaser for its upcoming psychological thriller, Martha Is Dead.

The trailer doesn't give away much, but it does touch upon the Tale of the White Lady, "the spirit of a murdered, tortured soul whose one goal is to seek a moment's relief by dragging others into the water to suffer the same fate".

The "savage story" told in the video is reportedly based upon a real-life Italian legend, which is purportedly passed down through from generation to generation much as it's done in this trailer, with the young Giulia badgering her grandmother to tell her the spooky story of "a drowned maiden, murdered in a fit of jealousy by her lover who now stalks the shores of the lake where she suffered in her final moments".

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Town of Light developer LKA has confirmed its new WW2-set, first-person psychological thriller, Martha is Dead, will be coming to Xbox Series X next year, alongside the previously announced PC version - and there's an unsettling new trailer to accompany the news.

Martha is Dead unfolds in Tuscany, 1944, against the backdrop of the ongoing conflict between German and Allied forces. The story begins as the body of a woman, Martha, is found by the side of a lake, deep in the Italian countryside. Players, cast in the role of her twin sister, must deal with the repercussions of the murder, "all whilst the horror of war draws ever closer".

"Along the way," LKA explained back at the time of the game's announcement, "she will encounter situations and discover things no one should have to... mortal death was the easy path compared to this one marred by mental and emotional distress which lingers on."

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LKA, the developer behind harrowing narrative experience The Town of Light, has unveiled its next endeavour: first-person psychological thriller Martha is Dead, which is currently expected to release some time next year.

Like The Town of Light before it, Martha is Dead seeks to ground its narrative (which offers a mix of "history, superstition, and psychological distress", according to LKA) using real locations and events. This time, however, the story unfolds in Tuscany, 1944, as the conflict between German and Allied forces during the second World War wages on.

Following the discovery of a drowned woman in the area, her twin sister - the daughter of a German soldier - is forced to deal with "the acute trauma of loss, while the truth of the brutal murder is shrouded by mysterious folklore and the extreme horror of war draws ever closer."

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