Immortality Reviews
Immortality is the antithesis of the belief that games are an art form, as its lofty attempts to establish prestige are built upon the language of another medium entirely (cinema). It relies on the spectacle of the project alone and not the substance, leaving an empty shell confident in but not convinced of its own self-importance.
For creator Sam Barlow and his studio Half Mermaid Productions, the push to eccentric cinematography continues with Immortality, as the video game elements fade further into the background. Some may find this odd collection of indie flicks enticing, but many will be disappointed by the lackluster interactivity.
Immortality is a one-trick pony when it comes to gameplay, but there's a brilliant story buried beneath its hundreds of film clips.
What you’ll end up taking away from Immortality is going to be unique to your experience. The conclusions you draw will be the subject of conversations with friends for days, even weeks, to come. It surprises just as often as it confounds, and that in itself makes this a rather extraordinary experience. It’s also perhaps one of the purest examples of video games as art we’ve seen to date: a piece of art about artists. Does that make for an enjoyable experience? Not always. At times it’s drawn-out, boring, a chore, even, as you obsess over every bit of footage available to you. But are we glad we’ve played it? Absolutely.
Immortality is yet another brave venture to deliver an interesting and experimental take through the gaming medium, even if it stumbles in its execution.
While Immortality can't consistently maintain its tempo, Sam Barlow & Co.'s avant-garde approach to FMV game design & storytelling remains a genuine achievement.
This title is a rare form of film and game melded together in such a creative way. Because this game plays so simply, there really isn’t much that goes wrong here. If you enjoy a self-paced investigation experience with little hand-holding, make sure to check out Immortality.
Sam Barlow's Immortality switches digital footage for celluloid film, and it's a better fit. His fixation with scrambled narratives has found its natural home, not in the realm of computers, those ghost-free machines, but here, on coils of vulnerable tape.
Sam Barlow's latest creation tries to improve on his previous work "Her Story", and the result is an adventure full of interesting puzzles and beautiful tales that will keep you fully engaged until the very end.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Immortality finds creator Sam Barlow building on the found-footage FMV framework of Her Story and Telling Lies in ambitious and surprising new ways. That boldness pays off in the frame-shifting narrative, which encompasses three meticulously crafted feature films, their creation, and the sinister truth of what happened to the woman who starred in them. But the "match cut" system you use to navigate between clips and discover new ones means the actual process of piecing together the story is messier and less satisfying than in his previous work.
Immortality is a game that anyone interested in compelling narratives should check out. The story of Marissa Marcel and her journey from unknown model to rising star, and then her unexplained disappearance into pop-culture obscurity is one that will enthrall players and stick with you long after the credits have rolled.
Immortality is an unusual adventure game with strong David Lynch vibes, and a non-linear narrative style that leaves you clueless in the face of deep and mysterious thriller drama.
Review in Russian | Read full review
The latest game from the creator of Her Story and Telling Lies has you piecing together the puzzle of a missing movie star
I’m not sure I’ll ever stop wondering about the snakes, the apples, and every other prop laced with subtext. I think that’s what Immortality set out to do; transform how many of us think about, and approach, all forms of media – as well as the people who play a part in shaping it, and shaping our lives in the process.
The non-linear narrative is a double-edged sword in Immortality, leaving us with brilliant moments of discovery but also points where the experience is "dismantled". Despite this, it is a truly unique game, essential for those who want to delve into the narrative possibilities of the medium.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
The latest game from Sam Barlow and Half Mermaid builds on what you've come to expect while also subverting its own genre in clever ways.
Immortality is a thoroughly mesmerizing mystery and one of the most surprising video game stories of 2022.
Immortality on PS5 retains all of its exceptional features and adds more to it- thanks to the effective use of Dual Sense haptics and audio. Its unique gameplay mechanics allow players to non-linearly piece together the three movies and – crucially – the events that happen between them. The game’s eerie apparitions superimposed onto the image and the way it pieces together the three movies non-linearly make it a must-play for fans of FMV games and cinephiles alike. However, its lack of tutorial makes it quite a bit tedious as finding new clips at the end keeps getting trickier.
Even though I wasn’t blown away by Her Story or Telling Lies, Immortality has proven itself to be Sam Barlow’s best work to date, by a landslide. On paper, this game might sound pretentious, but it is truly a piece of art. Immortality has captivated me in a way that few games in recent memory have. Even though I unlocked the “True Ending”, I still keep finding myself going back for more, and with each revisit, I do indeed find more secrets. Immortality won’t be to everyone’s liking, but for those of us who love a good mystery and narrative adventure, this game will get under your skin and have you thinking about it for a long time.
Immortality is a love letter to a certain way of making and intending cinema, but it's also an almost perfect experiment that aims to blend the languages of cinema and video game into a single one.
Review in Italian | Read full review