Set against the backdrop of Hollywood’s arty and seedy culture, Sam Barlow’s latest adventure into the interactive video-watching simulator is a masterfully crafted mystery, once again about a young woman. Marissa Marcel is the young and later aging starlet of three in-game masterpieces of cinema over four decades, all three of which were never released. Your job while playing Immortality is to watch clips of the movies and piece together the plots, not only of Ambrosio, Minsky, and Two of Everything but also of Marissa’s life.

Unlike the game that started it all for Barlow, Immortality keeps you in the scene, and in fact, tells you to glance at all the details of each set, rehearsal space, interview, table reads, and even personal behind-the-scenes footage. Described as match-cut gameplay, you can pause the footage at any time and select an object or person you want to see more of, either earlier or later in the timeline. Not a perfect Edgar Wright-style match-cut, but generally, whatever detail you select will throw you over to another shot with something comparable. Do you appreciate the look of an apple in 1999? There is presumably another one in an almost entirely unconnected scene back in 1968.

On the surface, the thread that percolates throughout the plot is Marissa, but I think it is reasonable to say there is more going on throughout Immortality. As was asked and will be obeyed, I’ll avoid the major story spoilers, but as let-on from the outset, not everything is as it seems. Beyond the plot of a not-so-holy monk, the lover of a now-dead artist being questioned by the cops, and whatever Two of Everything is supposed to be about, there is a hidden uneasiness to the whole story.

Aged 17, the model-turn-actor joins the casting of Ambrosio, and thus she’s on her way to stardom in an Italian-infused flick of religion desecrated by sex, death, and coveting. Based on M.G Lewis’ The Monk and directed by a Hitchcock-like figure, the film was supposed to be a big hit, but like all of Marcel’s films, it was never released. If sold to you well enough, that mystery would be tantalizing enough to pull you into the life of the Tuesday Weld or Geena Devis-like starlet. If not, the mysterious gap between 1970’s Minsky and 1999’s Two of Everything before Marcel’s disappearance should clinch it.

Set free to find details on the young woman’s life, you cling to fragments of the plot that may have you like a snake chasing its own tail. With the mystery and match-cut gameplay, Barlow’s signature FMV detail-driven storytelling is key throughout. Be it the set dressing, precise exposition hidden among film-making jargon, or the exposition for each of Marissa’s films, the focus is on all the particulars at any given moment. Subtitles, aspect ratios, and even film quality follow the eras of filmmaking magic.

Where Immortality departs from Barlow’s previous work, such as Her Story, is its ability to keep you in the world without Viva Seifert’s unstable acting in the melodrama. Manon Gage and the rest of the cast are helped by the raw film set backdrop, but very little dialogue perforates the illusion of actors playing actors who are acting. Similarly, the intuitive controls aptly akin to a basic Premiere Pro-like suite or standard video player provides familiarity to ease you into gameplay. Especially when each film is overindulged with symbolism and talk of tortured artists like all art-house flicks of the time.

Barlow’s cinematic aspirations, unlike his previous two search box-centric attempts, are adequately achieved and keep pace throughout, despite what may seem tangential initially. Playing back, nudging, rewinding, fast-forwarding, and generally exploring makes the act of what seems like watching three fake movies within a game more interactive than it originally may sound. Discovering and piecing together the multi-layered narrative spread throughout with nothing more than your own fascination with fruit guiding you through the underbelly of the story is a gimmick that can only be done once. Immortality‘s gameplay and storytelling almost rival the likes of Lucas Pope’s Return of the Obra Dinn, in that regard.

Ultimately, Sam Barlow’s Immortality puts aside the triple-A sphere’s conventional idea of cinematic games, instead using real actors to achieve what has been done for more than 100 years. With Marcel seemingly aging better than Aniston and a scarcity of control remapping, there are imperfections if you scrutinize hard enough. Though, it is hardly the biggest horror of Immortality. Maybe not perfection itself, but indeed a masterpiece for the leading craftsman of the early 21st century FMV revival.

A PC review copy of Immortality was provided by Half Mermaid for this review.

Phenixx Gaming is everywhere you are. Follow us on Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Also, if you’d like to join the Phenixx Gaming team, check out our recruitment article for details on working with us.

Phenixx Gaming is proud to be a Humble Partner! Purchases made through our affiliate links support our writers and charity!

Immortality

$19.99

9

Score

9.0/10

Pros

• A masterfully crafted piece of storytelling
• Intuitive controls similar to any video player
• The attention to detail, especially the change of subtitles

Cons

• You're out of luck on button remapping