Review

Immortality is the latest game for Dan Barlow and the team at Half Mermaid. I’ve been aware of the studios work and while Immortality is the first game from the studio I’ve played I was initially excited to see the return of ‘FMV games” as they are a fond nostalgic memory of my childhood, here’s looking at you Mega CD.

Immortality immediately begins with a content warning which I found a welcome inclusion on the part of the developer, while it may scream of ‘snowflake culture’ to many, it’s also a reminder that much like the game itself, art impacts our lives in a very real way. To me however, much like the “parental advisory” label on a record, it only increased my desire to experience the content.

The games main menu is immediately on theme as navigating the menu moves the image in the background forwards frame by frame with the scene completing when you actually start the game.

First impressions count for a lot in the modern gaming landscape, so packed is the market with content that getting off to a good start is essential and Immortality does just that. The core facet of Immortalitys gameplay comes across as refreshingly unique and honestly kept me playing well into the early hours of the morning the night I started the game.

Initially the game is daunting, I watched a clip, entered image mode, selected an on screen item which led me down a cinematic rabbit hole, the logic of which I was left to discover myself, this may sound like a criticism but it isn’t, too often games lead us by the hand, Immortality certainly isn’t one of them. If anything the games tutorials are too basic and are more instructions on how to navigate it’s footage as opposed to helping you understand the game itself.

The scenes aren’t moved between in any semblance of order, nor are the clips bound by movie. You may select a flower in a scene from “Ambrosio” but be taken to a scene in “Minksy” which also contains a flower, and many lack a revelation about the games actual plot. This an often leave you feeling confused and somewhat lost, but as you do start to uncover both the initial mystery and the hidden plot you’ll dive into each clip enbolded by discovery.

While the winder narrate may elude you for a while one thing that will becoming immediately clear is the love of cinema that drives Sam Barlow to create games. Each of the three movies presented in the are game stylistically different on a core level. The care with which this game has been crafted is immediately obvious.

As you shift between movies even the subtitles change, this may seem like a subtle bit of attention to detail but it’s appreciated not only for it’s artistic merit but also because it helped me discern which movie was which and therefore immediately keep track of where I was in the timeline of Marissa’s life. Each of the three movies reflect perfectly the style and creativty of it’s respective period.

Immortality’s narrative, as the very embodiment of nonlinear story telling is sensational, mechanically as a game it’s exceptionally repetitive, clip after clip, scrub through the footage, point and click ad nauseam, but when broken down to core mechanics even Mario would sound boring. I would sum up the mechanics of Immortality as thematically tedious as demanded by framing device of the game being the moviola.

One unique challenge of Immortality is the feeling of progression, or lack there of, it’s possible to ‘complete’ the game without unlocking every available clip and as each players experience with the game will differ depending on which items in shot draw your eye you may not unlock the same clips in the same order. Often it can be difficult to work out if you’re actually getting anywhere and you may be confused by a discovery for hours only for it to suddenly fall into place upon discovering a new clip. The game does features some mechanical clues to aid you, controller vibration, looping into certain essential scenes more frequently but the biggest help are it’s audio cues. So crucial are these that I’d recommend playing the game using a headset, milage may vary depending on your sound set up, but my OLED tv’s speaker system wasn’t up to the task.

I discovered what happened to Marissa, to almost no fanfare save the achievement popping, which may seem underwhelming but the true mystery at the heart of Immortality isn’t Marissa at all. Saying any more than that would ruin it. I’d advise you to discover it yourself, especially as at the time of writing the game is available on Xbox Game Pass.

The love of cinema is something that came to mind so frequently while playing Immortality that I often wondered why Sam Barlow makes games at all, when his passion appears to lie in movies, however upon reflection I find that a rather unfair opinion given that this story could have only been told in this form. In no other medium could the story of Marissa been so impactful or utterly unsettling.