Immortality Reviews
A true achievement in game design and interactive fiction, Immortality is a gorgeous and haunting magic trick that sets a new standard for the medium.
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.
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.
Immortality gets under your skin; flickers subliminally in your head. It becomes a part of you, whether you want it to, or not.
it's without a doubt one of the best games I have played in 2022 and delivers a mysterious and enjoyable experience from start to finish. courtesy of Xbox game pass, almost everyone can easily play this amazing game. no excuse not to play Immortality!
Review in Persian | Read full review
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
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 has a thought-provoking narrative; it features unassuming but difficult to master gameplay design, and there’s a harrowing truth to discover, plus plenty of additional mysteries to uncover over subsequent playthroughs. It’s an incredible experience, and I urge you to try it for yourself.
A stunning creation that elevates not just the genre but also the whole industry of story-driven games. If Immortality becomes a cult classic nobody will be surprised.
Review in Russian | Read full review
The new cinematic horror narrative experience from Sam Barlow is finally upon us. How does it measure up to past work or the genre/industry?
Immortality is easily Sam Barlow's best game to date and, when you consider the delights he's served up previously, well, you get an idea of just how good this one really is. It's a dazzling display from any angle you to choose to admire it; top-notch acting, brilliant writing, a core mechanic that's complex but carried off with style and grace, intuitive controls that draw you into your role...just remember to avoid spoilers, dive into the mystery of Marissa Marcel completely unsullied, and you're in for one of the most exquisite gaming experiences of this year, or any other, by quite some distance.
When I began this review, I wondered if Immortality would live up to the hype I had created in my mind. Luckily, it did. The characters, the narrative, and the completely unique experience that it odders… this game is special. Visual. Intuitive. Genius. Half Mermaid (and Barlow in particular) has upped its own ante, and I legitimately have no idea what the studio could do next. This studio is one of the rare true artists in our little industry.
Immortality is an extremely difficult project to evaluate, to make understood, and, above all, to recommend. Taken as a video game, it has obvious limitations to the point where it can hardly be compared in the same way as 99.9% of what the market offers. However, it is precisely in its being an exponent of this reduced 0.1% that it asserts its uniqueness. An FMV adventure as a restorer, grappling with a mystery that can transport you into a magnetic story. Undoubtedly not a product for everyone, but for those few it may be unforgettable.
Review in Italian | Read full review
There’s no denying that Half Mermaid Productions and Barlow have a knack for serving truly unique gameplay experiences, but they go beyond merely having their quirky style serve as a gimmick and crunch on which a game like Immortality can lean on. There’s actually an incredible amount of obvious care that has gone into making it something that folks will want to get through by providing a narrative that in all of its nonlinearity is shocking, but most importantly, very compelling, for as overused as that adjective is in gaming.
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.
It wouldn’t work at all if the player hadn’t put in hours of preparation, although some might find their patience is stretched before the penny drops. Charlotta Mohlin (Agents Of SHIELD) deserves praise for her extraordinary work in these scenes, alternating between malevolent entity and misunderstood victim. Underpinning it all is a breakout performance from Manon Gage. If she wasn’t utterly convincing as the story’s doomed ingénue then the whole narrative would fall apart. Immortality is a remarkable moment in gaming and it’s hard to imagine how Sam Barlow could ever top it.
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.
Immortality brings with its ambitious, mature and daring production a critical and unique narrative experience, and manages to bring art cinema closer to video games like no other interactive film until then. The title is a must-have for any movie lover who is interested in the potential for the intersection of this medium with video games, as well as mystery adventure fans open to dealing with the irreverent eroticism and conceptualism of this work.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review