What happened to Marissa Marcel? That's the central crux of the splendid video-game-slash-interactive-movie(s), Immortality. It's a rare treat, anchored by an exceptional lead performance from the actor Manon Gage, in which you attempt to solve the mystery of what happened to a promising actress who starred in three movies, none of which ever saw the light of day, and then promptly disappeared.
Your task here is to peruse mountains of recorded footage — both scenes from the aforementioned movies as well as behind-the-scenes archives — and unlock further scenes by pausing the film and clicking on points of interest as you see them. If you click on a wine glass, you'll unlock another scene that includes a wine glass, and so the ones most difficult to unlock are those tied to the more unique or specific items.
You're never quite sure what will be unlocked next. So, you'll perhaps see a climactic scene from one of the three movies, and then next witness a table reading where actors discuss the motivations of a character for an entirely different film. Because the scenes are unlocked in no particular order, it's utterly bewildering for much of the time you'll spend with it, but it's a testament to the quality of the writing, the performances, and the reverence and authenticity of the movies here that we remained enthralled all the same.
It took us seven hours to reach the point where the credits started rolling, and if you're anything like us then when they do you may well be somewhat bamboozled. It's easy to miss important details. But even after the ending you can continue scrubbing footage, and we recommend you do. There's a plethora of secrets hidden in this wonderful game, and finding them is required to understand the truth. And that's the joy of the whole thing.
It sounds ridiculous, but as we got sucked into Immortality's tangled web, there were times we forgot the movies we were watching weren't real. It's an astonishing accomplishment, really, and one we can't recommend highly enough.
Comments 15
Fantastic experience, the ambition to effectively make 3 movies and the way the AI in the background works is staggering. If your thinking about trying it out, avoid anymore detailed info/watching a playthrough and enjoy!!
I love how FMV video games have made an (admittedly niche) comeback.
My GOTY for 2022, a grown-up game for grown-ups. Manon Gage isn’t the only great performance, they are very good all round and I even quite enjoyed the films when I’d assembled them in order. Obviously there’s more to it than that, but it’s hard to describe without spoilers. Safe to say that if you think you’d like it, you probably will.
@Fyz306903 as an FMV fan alot of then are a bit rubbish but Sam Barlow knows how to do a good story.
Her story
Telling lie
Immortality
i played it on gamepass. Didn't manage to get to the end as i lost interest rewatching and re-clicking but it did suck me in for a while there
Great atmosphere indeed! Very original, quality game. After a few days I was done with it, because randomly stumbling upon the right pieces became more and more lucky shots instead of being able to control the whole thing. Up to that point it was amazing though.
This is now officially on my radar. Nice review!
I played this one already via Netflix phone app, its one of the few games that worked via mobile format for me. Pretty gripping eventually with some creepy moments, plus main actress is phenomenal.
Played this on PC, will agree it was great.
Hail to Siskel & Ebert.
Last FMV game I played was Beyond Zork. Others like Blown Away, Phantasmagoria, 7th Guest and Myst were also interesting during that time. The most famous one was the Dana Plato one. A definite choose your own adventure niche of titles.
A word of caution, this really wont be for everyone.
There are fantastic performances all round, and some could argue the strengnth of the performances and the method of revelation alone make it worthy of a great score. Ultimately the 'gameplay' involves watching and arranging clips of these films, and it just wasnt enough for me despite the fantastic air of mystery and discovery.
Ooo really tempted to buy this one, but I’ve got so much in my backlog already 😬
This was potentially my favorite ever experience I’d played with Gamepass. Remarkable game!
I'd recommend playing this, and Barlow's other games, with a group of friends if possible. Getting to talk through theories and disscussing what other leads to follow up on next can give you a greater perspective on what is going on through the story. Plus being able to share exactly what makes this game exciting with others helps you avoid spoiling those detail for anyone else!
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